In every gym around the world, at any given time, you can see men and women sweating it out with their backs on a mat doing crunches.
The trouble is that many of them have very little to show for it.
Despite the hours many people spend in doing sit-ups in the hopes of getting flat abs, the dream remains elusive.
If crunches aren't the answer, than what is? Can you get flat abs without doing crunches? This may come as a shock to you but the answer is a resounding Yes! The reason is that in order to get flat abs the most important thing is to lose your excess belly fat, not to build your abs muscles.
Sure, strengthening your abs is important not only for appearance's sake but also for your health.
However, if you're really serious about getting flat abs, you need to spend your time burning off belly fat, and crunches aren't the way.
The truth is that belly crunches are a low intensity exercise which doesn't really strain the abs muscles all that much.
Why do you think even unfit people can do 50-100 crunches? To burn belly fat you must look past your abs muscles and at your body as a whole.
You either burn fat from all over your body or none at all.
Therefore, you need to workout in a way which truly exerts your entire body and not just your abs.
It doesn't matter if you burn fat by doing leg exercises or stomach exercises.
You will lose belly fat in the same way.
That's why you don't need crunches to get a flat belly.
What you do need is to spend your workout time doing hard, strenuous workouts (within reason, of course).
If you're not sweating, it means that you're not really pushing your body to burn fat.
And let's face it, when was the last time you sweated while doing crunches? Get off the mat and hit the free weights or the treadmill.
You will be much closer to having your dream abs than with any crunches.