Losing Belly Fat the Wrong Way - Avoid These 4 Ab Exercises

Are you wasting time performing countless of ab exercises that don't help you lose belly fat or develop six pack abs? Do you know that some of these abdominal exercises do more harm than good?

Exercise is important. But it's not the only determining factor in developing ripped or six pack abs. Everyone has abdominal muscles. If they are covered with fat, no amount of ab exercises can get rid of it. If you want to see visible abs, the fat has to go. Nutrition or diet is the key to losing belly fat. Ab exercises only condition the underlying muscles.

Here are 4 abdominal exercises to avoid:

1. Sit-ups

2. Crunches

3. Torso twists or machine-based twisting exercises

4. Machine-based ab exercises

All of these abdominal exercises do not burn belly fat and some of them are even dangerous!

1. Sit-ups

Sit-up is the most popular and yet, the worst abdominal exercise. Why is it so? When performing a sit-up, the ilipsoas muscle often does the majority of the work while the abs are not optimally recruited.

The ilipsoas muscle originates on the lower back. The sit-up pulls on the lower back with each repetition, especially when the feet are held down or anchored, or the repetitions are performed quickly in a jerky manner. Too many sit-ups can result in strength imbalance between ilipsoas muscle and abdominal, poor posture and lower back pain.

2. Crunches

Crunches are another popular ab exercise, but they do not get rid of belly fat or develop six pack abs. Doing too many crunches, too often, can be harmful. Whenever you crunch, spinal flexion causes compression of disks between your veterbrae. Over-crunching can lead to hunch back (poor posture) and herniated disc (lower back pain). This can be compared to someone rounding his back without bending knees when picking up something from the floor, and thus hurting his back.

3. Torso twists or machine-based twisting exercises

Contrary to what many people believe, torso twists, either with stick or machine, and side bends with dumbbells, do not get rid of love handles or burn belly fat. Hence, they are no good for reducing the waistline and are not effective for developing obliques.

4. Machine-based ab exercises

Like any of the above mentioned exercises, you don't lose belly fat or develop sexy abs by working with ab machines. Typically, machines with grabbing handles on the side or in front of your body for support are ineffective. As you become tired, you tend to use your arms and lower back (prone to injury) to perform the abdominal exercise while leaving out your abs. As the machine stabilizes the body, your stabilizer muscles are not trained to work together with other core muscles. Excessive use of ab machines can lead to strength imbalances and injuries.