There's an idea held by people that in order to lose weight you have to suffer.
You have to dedicate yourself to a rigorous diet that cuts out everything worth eating, and you have to sweat and burn with free weights and machines for hours a day, for months on end, to get any results.
It's an almost martyr-like attitude, a resignation to pain and frustration that often defeats people before they even start.
Which is why Shaun T's Hip Hop Abs is such a welcome change of pace; instead of laboring with weights you dance to good music.
Shaun T claims this can help you burn off the calories and get a ripped core-is he right? First off, let's take a look at the basic ideas behind Hip Hop Abs.
What drives this workout is the belief that great music and fun dance moves will motivate you to work harder and longer than a traditional workout.
The greatest workout program is the one you stick with, and Shaun T has attempted to create a program that you will actively enjoy so as to maximize your chances of not quitting.
The workouts themselves are performed standing, and involved dance routines that focus on your core.
The idea is that your core is targeted is through endless contractions and leg kicks, so that after 45 minutes of dancing you've burned calories and scorched your abs.
So can Hip Hop Abs help you lose weight? The answer seems to quite obviously be yes, in that any protracted period of exercise or physical activity will burn calories and thus help you lose weight.
Will Hip Hop Abs help you develop a ripped core? I believe the answer to that depends on your condition going in, how much you weigh, and how much weight you want to lose.
The truth is that for your abs to show you have to have very low body fat percentage (11% or lower).
So your results will depend on where you are when you go into the workout.
The key here is that this is billed as a fun workout.
If you enjoy dance, if you find the idea of gyms, crunches and weight lifting off putting, and you think that a dance and music based routine could keep you motivate, than Hip Hop Abs may just be for you.