Josh Bowen: The Core — The Center of Our Universe, Volume 2

Read: “The Core: The Center of Our Universe,” Volume 1

It takes 250,000 crunches to burn 1 pound of body fat. 

If I did 200 crunches a day, everyday for the next 4 years I could hope to burn 1 pound of fat. Not exactly the best return on investment. In fact thats not worth my time or anyone else’s, So why are so many people under the impression that crunches, sit-ups give you a lean sexy core? Not sure the answer but it is the wrong impression we are getting.

As I mentioned in the last post the tissue is not best loaded the way we do crunches. It is actually best loaded the other direction. So this is all a matter of purpose. We have to ask ourselves; “What is the purpose of doing this exercise?”

If the purpose is to do crunches to burn your body fat off, you better get use to doing a lot of them. If the purpose is to work the abdominal muscles then you can expect that crunches will strengthen that motion greatly the more you do them. But are they the best option?

Maybe? Maybe not. Again this is all a matter of purpose. Which leads me to programming and more specifically core programming.

From an anatomical view the “core” is a group of muscles, at the center of the body that move in conjunction with other muscle group (particularly the extremities). I believe we short change ourselves by only looking at the center of bodies to strengthen our core. You must realize that our entire body is our core. All muscles move in harmony with eachother to create movement, they do not and have never acted in isolation.

So to give you a visual of what I am talking about picture this. Your abs are really sore after a good workout and you go to the grocery store and reach on the top shelf for something. What do you notice? Your abs contracting or bracing as you lift your arm overhead to pull something off the shelf. Ok another example; you take your groceries to the car, you open the car door and you notice that you can feel your abs contracting as you open the door. “But I only thought the abs or “core” were worked when we bend over?” Your core’s purpose is to decelerate movement, so as you reach for something your core is decelarating the movement for acceleration to occur. One more visual.

Let’s say we are working out, doing squats. Your abs are still sore and while you are squatting I add resistance to your left shoulder (as if to push you over) what do you notice. Your abs or “core” engaged. It is decelerating the movement so you don’t fall over. Moral to the story is situps and crunches are not the only way to develop your core muscles. In fact doing core movements on the ground (as in a plank) is not the only way to work your core. I would be willing to bet that you would get more from core programming on your feet than you would on your back. To back my claim, how many times a day are you laying on your back? One and that is to go to sleep. Point made.

Let’s talk about purpose:

In order to get to where we are trying to go, we have to have a purpose behind it. So if we are talking about core program design and specific workouts we can do targeting that part of the body, we have to have rhyme and reason. So what is the point of you doing crunches? If its to build abdominal strength/endurance in that particular motion, I would say that is a great purpose. If it is to burn body fat and give you an 8 pack, I would find a better purpose. So let’s evaluate a variety of goals and where core programming would fit in.

Purpose #1: Reduce Body Fat to Uncover 8 Pack

Well if all you are doing is crunches than your rate of return is minimal. The key to body fat reduction lies in nutrition not exercise. We cannot out exercise a bad diet. Genetics will always play a role but most of us are not genetic marvels that can eat what we want and still stay lean. However, to increase the likelyhood of the reduction of body fat, using more muscles will burn more calories. So, doing core exercises such as wood chops would be great for the metabolic increase, at the same time strengthen the areas we are looking to target.

Purpose #2: Strengthen My Core

We could all agree that most of us do too much sitting and not enough moving. Even I, a driver of 40,000 miles per year, can be put into this category and that includes my workouts 6 days a week. So with that said, we could use some core strengthening. A variety of exercises can be use here, from the floor to the feet; crunches, moving planks (holding for 1 minute doesn’t make alot of sense), wood chops, deadlifting, overhead pressing all come to mind. I would weight heavy on the exercises on your feet versus the ones on your back. These will help dramatically with your lower back pain, as most people hurt their back on their feet and not their back.

For those that don’t like reading all my babble here are the takeaways from this post:

1. Good nutrition is better than crunches at making your abs visually seen

2. Core work on your feet has endless possibilies to keep things fresh and improvements coming

3. Movement is key, your body does not move in isolation

4. JB is a really cool, smart guy (Humor makes the world easier to take ladies and gents)

5. Fitness is fun, no denying that