July 29, 2020 • 34 mins
A flat stomach displaying four, six or even eight (!) square abdominal muscles is considered by many to be the holy grail of exercise. It is all too common for many of us to spend a lot of time focusing of this region leading to wasted time and the risk of injury down the road. In this episode, Tom runs through 9 common mistakes that people tend to make when working on their abdominal region, and offers some advice on how not to fall into the traps that many of us find ourselves in when it comes to focusing on a specific part of the body during our exercise routine.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Fitness Disrupted, a production of I Heart Radio.
I am Tom Holland and this is Fitness Disrupted. My
guess is many people will listen to this podcast just
looking at the title, and that is how fitness magazines
(00:26):
have operated for years. Were used to back when there
were many fitness magazines and fitness products that promise flat abs.
That has pretty much driven the business right along with
weight loss. Weight loss and flat abs, and the two
are obviously connected, but it's the holy grail, the six
(00:49):
pack or the flat abs, just toning that midsection. So
many people want it. And again, that is how so
much of the fitness industry has positioned itself, and it
is the perfect topic for Fitness Disrupted. Now I have
(01:10):
touched upon it, it crosses over on so many other podcasts.
I'm gonna give though nine of the top mistakes I
have seen over the years, and in future podcast there's
a couple of these that are that are great. We're
gonna talk about crunches that I will blow out even
more and deal with in a specific podcast with more studies.
(01:34):
I have one great study, just perfect study for this show,
but I want this to be quick and informative. And
with the takeaways, and at the very end of the show,
I'm going to give you my go to what I
have been doing for decades and that has totally worked
for me and worked for my clients as well, and
as part of my new book, The micro Workout Plan. Okay,
(01:54):
these are things that have been proven through yes, anecdotal,
but wait till I give you that that. He can't wait,
kind of want to do it right away. But it's
the way we're gonna end the show talking about crunches specifically.
But it's this stuff that works. I promise you when
you apply everything I talked about, it works. It works.
(02:15):
You gotta give a time, you gotta be consistent, and
you have to listen. Okay, you have to follow yes
the science and yes the anecdotal, and then what works
for you and what you will do consistently. And that's
different for diet, that's different for exercise, and it's different
for ab exercises. There's so many options, but I'm gonna
give you the ones that have been proven to work
(02:37):
and be really effective and and lower on the injury scale.
That's gonna be a part of this as well. All right,
So let me just give a story I've given before.
Some of you may have heard it, but it bears
repeating because it plays right into the show and a
couple of the mistakes as well. So back when I
was a trainer many years ago New York City, I
started training an up and coming actor and this guy
(02:57):
wanted nothing more than flat abs, and he had a
couple extra pounds and and he wanted to, you know,
get that six pack. And he was young enough that
it was gonna be easier, right because he was in
his mid twenties at the time. And he said, I
want to do two thousand crunches a day. And I said,
what are you talking about? What are you talking about?
(03:19):
And he said, well, I just read that Antonio Sabato
Junior did a thousand and so we're gonna do two thousand.
I'm gonna do two thousand, and by the way, you're
gonna come up with a plan for me. And you're
not only gonna come up with the plan all the
different types of crunches and ab exercises, you're gonna do
them with me. And I said, you know what, that's
actually gonna take longer than an hour, and so it's
(03:40):
like two he said I don't care. Then we're gonna
do two sessions back to back, and we're gonna do
two thousand crunches. Now. I bring this story up for
several reasons. First of all, it was ridiculous, and I
say that nineteen hundred of those were wasted time. And
this is extremes. We always learned from the extremes. I
begged him not to do it, wrote this in a
(04:01):
couple of my books, but he was adamant, and I said, okay,
well we'll do this. And I would say, you're wasting
definitely the second hour, if not, you know, forty five
minutes of the first. Uh. But I was young. I
was just starting as a trainer. You did what the
I didn't have the leeway to do what I wanted
to do. That takes a while. You're working for a gym,
(04:23):
and you do what the client says as long as
it's not gonna hurt them. And this wasn't gonna hurt him.
It just it was a waste of time and money
in my opinion, even at the time. But we did it.
He didn't see the results because he didn't do the
things I'm going to talk about. He didn't change his diet.
He didn't do enough cardio, And it does not matter
how many crunches you do, you cannot achieve a flat ABS.
(04:46):
You will get a strong mid section underneath that wayer
you are trying to get rid of. All right, great
way to start it, and extreme extreme two thousand crunches.
So for those of you who are slaving way crunches
and not see being the results, here's great news. Stop
and do the things I'm going to tell you to do,
(05:07):
and avoid the things that I'm going to tell you
so many of you do over and over. I saw
it in the gym this morning. Quick break, we'll be
right back. Top nine AB mistakes. I remember looking at
(05:31):
two different magazines. They were Fitness Magazine two different years,
years apart. I'd say it was the same month. It
was like January two thousand five and then January, and
the cover was almost identical with the huge blowout the top.
You know, the most prominent headline on the cover of
both magazines, same magazine, different years, same month, abs how
(05:55):
to get flat abs. It's it's as I started the
show by saying, it's something many people want. Now, here's
the number one mistake you're making when you try to
get to to reduce your midsection, to get rid of
those love handles, to decrease your abdominal adpocity, the fat deposits. Okay,
(06:17):
the number one thing is that's all you do. If
you just do abdominal exercises and you don't take what
I call the three pronged approach, it will never happen.
It can't physically for most people unless you're sixteen years
old twenty. But for most people who are listening to
the show who have that issue, who are a little
(06:37):
bit older, you have to take a three pronged approach,
and it goes with everything. When it comes to exercise
and fitness and being balanced, it's what you eat, it's
how many cowies you burn, and then it's the abdominal exercises.
But the abdominal exercises are a distant third when it
(06:58):
comes to achieveing a flat mid section. There's so many
people who have flat mid sections, even older, just due
to genetics and how much they eat or don't eat.
So in other words, they are not even doing crunches,
they are not doing planks, they are not doing any
abdominal exercises. But because of the ectomorph body frame. For
(07:19):
many of them, they are the skinnier type to begin with,
and then they don't consume as many calories as even
many people think. And then they probably move a lot
during the day that neat non exercise activity thermogenesis. So
my point is very simple. You need to take a
three pronged approach to reduce the fat deposits around eurype
(07:41):
don layer, which by the way, is like the most
unhealthy place we can have excess fat, which is what
one reason why men die earlier than than females than
women because we tend to carry it more there. Women
as they age, it starts to shift over there with
the hormone changes and things like that. But you need
to do your cardio to burn calories and strengthen your heart.
(08:03):
But to burn calories when it comes to reducing the
fat deposits around your midsection, Secondly, you need to reduce
your calories through your eating, and then third a distance. Third,
as I said, that's the abdominal exercises, and I will
get to what and how much shortly. But if you
don't change those first two things, you will not achieve
(08:23):
your results. Here's the great takeaway finishing up number one.
When you change all three a little bit, that's sustainable.
That works just like everything else. Weight loss, if you
only change your diet, if you only try to reduce
by thousand or two thousand crazy calories per day, unsustainable
(08:44):
and not gonna work long term. If you just do exercise,
you're not gonna you know, hundred calories per mile, five
to six hundred calories per hour for the most part.
I know your watches are telling you differently, quite often wrong.
We've done shows on that as well. But when you
burn a couple hundred more through exercise, when you reduce
(09:05):
and take in a couple hundred or more or less
every day, and then you add in the abdominal exercises,
that's success. Okay. Number two, and had to start with
that one, by the way, that sets the tone for
everything three pronged approach sustainable. Number two, you are spending
too much time doing them. So if you are spending
(09:29):
thirty minutes even twenty minutes doing abdominal exercise, unless you're
a professional fitness person, that's way too much time. The
number one reason people get for not exercising is lack
of time. Now you need to be doing full body
workouts to get as strong from head to toe and
build that lean muscle that's more metabolically active. That will
(09:50):
actually help significantly reduce your midsection. And you need to
be burning calories through cardio as well as strengthening your heart.
So again, unless you're doing two hours a day every day,
spending twenty minutes on abdominant exercises is way too much.
And I have used my own rule of thumb for
years now, and it's a basic ten percent rule. So
(10:13):
if you are someone who is working out, going to
the gym or doing it at home for thirty minutes,
forty five minutes, sixty minutes roughly, of that time, in
my opinion and experience should be abdominant exercises. You're doing
thirty minute workout three to four minutes, and if you
do it correctly, that is all you need. And if
(10:34):
you're changing your diet a little bit and you're burning
calories a little bit more, that's all you need three
to four. If you're doing an hour, I'll take six
to seven minutes roughly and again, NonStop, not wasting time,
effective exercises, that is all you need. Micro workouts. Okay,
(10:55):
and let me say this too, the micro workouts are
done throughout the day. I've been doing it that way
again since I was fourteen fifteen years old. So when
you're you say, well it's not enough. It's totally enough.
But when you do the three to four minutes wake
up in the morning, I go down to my home
Jim boom, there's a set done, I start my day,
(11:19):
and I finished my day oftentimes not all the time,
but oftentimes with the workout I will give you at
the end of the show. So it's working it into
your day. Common theme of this show. It's not just
about going to the gym. Those days are over. You
can if you want, but it's what we do outside
that makes all the difference in the world. All right,
(11:40):
Number three seen this for decades. The person who is
doing the hundred let's call them crunches, but that's being generous.
Hundred pulse things neck ups on a stability ball in
the middle of the gym. And as I've said before,
or I see the first couple and I know exactly
(12:02):
that this person is just they have that high number
in mind. I'm gonna do fifty, I'm gonna do seventy five,
I'm gonna do a hundred, but they're not quality. They're
focused on quantity rather than quality. And I would much
rather you do ten really good ones than one hundred
poor ones. And the ones that are going to change
(12:24):
your body and strengthen your body. It's not momentum, it's
not as many reps as possible. The goal is to
recruit the muscle fibers. The goal is to overload and
challenge the muscle fibers. So if you're just using momentum
and bouncing and using you know, gravity and just swinging
(12:45):
yourself through the movement, that's not gonna cut it. That's
not gonna do it. And here's a great secret, especially
for you men out there, pilates. I taught Matt Pilates
for a couple of years. I took pilates, the machines,
all that kind of stuff, and it connected me to
my abdominals incredibly, because you need that neuromuscular connection. I
(13:08):
often talk about people who are stronger are recruiting more
muscle fibers. That's where it starts. So the short of
it is, the more advanced you are, the more you
utilize good form over time, the fewer repetitions you have
to do. To get the same, if not greater results,
(13:29):
then the beginner, you're doing it better. You are recruiting
more muscle fibers with every single repetition. And that's why
I am such a stickler for good form and why
I'm such a proponent of slower repetitions. It's about connecting
with the muscle fibers. And here's one takeaway I'll give
you to finish this one up. If you want to
(13:50):
do a hundred, that's fine, but I want you to
do four different kinds. I don't want a hundred of
the same horrible stability ball bounces. I want five of this,
of this, of this, and of this better. Yet we're different.
Five sets of twenty repetitions, slower, better, and you're gonna
(14:14):
see greater results. All right, How to throw this one?
In number four? You're relying on supplements. Let me say
this loud and clear. There is no supplement that will
help you reduce your abdominal region to any major degree
(14:34):
at all. It does not exist, not legally. Have to
throw that caveat there and the ones that are illegal.
I want to go too deep into this. There's always
a cost, and generally a significant one. You should never
forget that there are no shortcuts and is never in pillform.
(14:55):
There's there's no six pack in pillform. Save your money.
That is the snake oil is the ultimate snake oil
when it comes to flat abdominals, and it's still on TV.
I still see these products and you say, how can
they make those claims? They can, and a lot of
times they do get sued, but they've made so much
(15:17):
money that by the time the lawsuit hits, the payout
pales in comparison to the profits. But don't waste your money,
your time, or sacrifice your health. There is no pill
that will help you lose that weight around your midsection.
It doesn't exist. Okay, all right. Number five and I've
(15:41):
I've used this one before when it comes to just
the gym in general, but now it's your abs in particular.
You don't mix up your routine. You don't use the
equipment to help your abdominals at the gym. And this
is tied into I personally believe and have always lived
by do the majority of your abdominal exercises at home
(16:01):
because the body weight ones that require no equipment are
some of the most effective. I will talk about that
the abs are actually one of the regions that you
really need nothing. And I will talk about the plank.
But that being said, I like to mix it up.
I like to do different things. But I don't spend
much time at all at the gym on my abdominals
(16:24):
because I'm doing it at home. And it's actually the
two that really make the difference. You want to make
a significant difference. And you are someone who goes to
the gym, you know many are not as much as
years passed, but it's what you do at home to
those micro workouts. You know, waking up doing a set,
you might go to the gym, do a couple of
minutes as I said, ten and then one or two
(16:45):
more in the evening when you feel like it. But
I do cable crunches, I will use a medicine ball,
I will get in the occasional although very occasional, abdominal machine.
I will use dumbbells and do chops, different things. But
I'm using that equipment at the gym that I do
not have at home. That is what I'm paying for
(17:07):
or take a class. But let me say this, by
the way, not only did I used to do that
two thousand crunches with that client. Many many, many years ago.
I used to teach half hour AB classes, and as
I wrote my book Beat the Gym many years ago,
that's like twenty minutes too long. Half hour of AB classes.
They don't really exist anymore as far as I've seen,
(17:28):
or they're slowly dying out, and for good reason. It
is a waste of time that you can do it
so much better full body workouts throw in ABS than
doing a full half at work. All right, final break?
What are we on now? That was number five? All right?
We got four more and then I'm gonna finish up
with my simple routine. You're gonna go that's way too simple. Hey,
(17:49):
it works. I always have to give you that takeaway
whenever possible. Last break, We'll be right back. Abs, abs, ABS. Right.
I cannot tell you how many times I've written about ABS,
(18:11):
how many lectures, how many contributions to so many different
just publications online or print, and I get it. I
want to say a fifty one. I have to say this.
It has been harder for me than ever before. Two
look like I did when I was thirty thirty five.
(18:34):
The turning point for me was like forty two I'll
tell that story one day, but it was like, Okay,
I get it now, right, But I'm not saying it
can't be done. But the more aspirational your abdominal region
is the way you wanted to look, the more consistent
(18:55):
you have to be. It really is that simple. But
at sixty, you know, fifties six seventy six pack might
not be the way you want to live. Your wife listen,
I like my red wine alcohol and you know, do
a whole separate show on that. Have yet to do it.
That makes the six pack when we are older, exponentially
(19:17):
more difficult. And again topic for another show, great topic
for another show. Okay, number six, number six, you don't
plank unless you have some incredible, you know, medical reason
for not doing so. Every one of you listening to
the show needs to do planks, and there are infinite variety.
(19:38):
I did do an entire podcast on that, the Power
of the Plank. If you have not listened to that one,
you really should. No equipment front and back of your core,
and it is super effective. And as I say about
every great exercise beginner to the advanced, infinite number of
ways to change it around. It works. It works, and
(20:01):
it's free. Can you do them anywhere? That is a
great component of your micro workout. You don't have to
carry anything around with you. You You don't have to go
to the gym to do them. And please don't spend
five minutes at the gym planking when you can do
that at home and you have other things to challenge
your body. I will say it until the day I die.
(20:24):
One of the incredible, you know, misunderstood things about exercise
is the variation component that we need to mix it
up now. I did a show on muscle confusion. Yes,
you need to build that base of strength, and you
want to get good at something first physically as well
as psychologically both you need to mix it up all right,
(20:46):
So planks, planks, planks, learn how to do them right
by the way, I did a plank video google Tom
Holland three minute perfect plank. I think we're like fourteen
million views and that three minutes. That's long. I personally
one minute. I have gotten up to two as far.
I could do more, but again, studies no reason to.
(21:10):
It's about consistency. One minute for most people way more
than enough. And actually I talked about studies where ten
to fifteen second, planks gonna work wonders for so many people. Okay,
you need a plank, all right, And that leads perfectly
into number seven. And this is an incredible, you know
issue in the entire six pack world, trying to achieve
(21:31):
those flat apps. You do exercises that are too complicated.
I get it. It sells magazines, it sells products. It
makes trainers look tough and and you know unique, and
I know you can't be bored, but guess what, there's
a way to mix them up. But it's the basic
stuff that works. Planks. Now, I could make a plank
(21:52):
ridiculously difficult, and you can balance on something, as I say,
and wear a weight vest and hang from this and
get a kettlebell and do all this stuff. But what happens,
It goes right back two what I was talking about
about muscle fiber recruitment. You're not targeting the muscles you
are trying to target. You're trying to just not die.
(22:15):
For so many people, you're like, oh my gosh, this
is so difficult, and so it's your arms. How many
people listening who do plank feeling their shoulders that the
shoulders is the limiting factor. So That's just a small
example of we want to focus and just if you're
doing a biceps curl, I just want you to feel
it in the biceps. I don't want you to feel
it anywhere else. If that is the goal. Now, of
(22:37):
course we can do compound moves, and we can you know,
do upper and lower together. But my point is very simple.
I see people in the gym doing abdominal exercises that
they truly don't have the ability to do correctly. And
I'm all for challenging yourself, and I'm all for being
you know, unique and varying stuff, but there are two
things that happen when you do exercises to you soon.
(23:00):
As far as difficulty or that are too hard. As
far as difficult you know, too soon and too many
reps and all that kind of stuff, I should say, uh,
you decrease the effectiveness because you're not recruiting the muscle
fibers you're truly trying to. And secondly, you dramatically increase
your risk of injury. And I'll say it over and
(23:21):
over again when it comes to the core, You're not
gonna necessarily throw out your back doing that crazy Russian
twist while you know, doing nine other things at the
same time. But two months down the road, your back
is going to seize up and you're not going to
you know, necessarily say, oh my gosh, it was that
exercise I did in that class or the video that
(23:42):
felt a little weird. I wasn't sure I was doing
it right. I was probably using a weight that was
too heavy, and issues happen. So keep it simple, keep
it simple, all right. You don't want to get hurt,
all right. Number nine saw this today, have seen it,
talked about it with some friends. Also, it comes up
all the time. Side bends, you know, holding that weight,
(24:03):
bending to the side, coming back up. My dad does it.
You know, I'm not a fan the side bends. You're
trying to target your obliques. You're trying to target your
side baggies, whatever you want to call the muffin top.
You know, I get it. But let's do rotation type stuff, chops,
(24:24):
even bicycle crunch. Bicycle crunch is one of the most
effective exercises that works those three areas. Everyone's trying to
work and there's the whole debate on can you work
different areas, can you focus or does the muscle you know,
contract entirely debate for another time, but let's just suffice
(24:45):
it to say, six pack rectus abnominous sides of your
abs obliques and throw in the lower because that is
the holy grail for so many people. But the movement
of the bicycle crunch hits all those three areas, okay,
So rather than doing side bends, I would rather even
the oblique type crunches, there is some rotation, there's a
(25:10):
curve to the movement. You're not going up and down
side to side. You're internal and external obliques they run
on diagonals, Okay, They're not straight up and down, and
I would rather you move in the direction that those
fibers move in. So I don't do side bens. I
never have. I don't do them, and I would just
recommend there are better exercises, more effective. Chops are more
(25:33):
advanced for many people. But just the regular oblique crunch.
You know, when you're on your back, you cross your
left leg over your right bent knee, You put your
right hand behind your head and you do your right
oblique and then you switch, or you throw both knees
to one side bent, put your opposite arm behind your head,
and you do those oblique crunches better. There's a little
(25:55):
bit of a curve and arc to it. That's what
I prefer. Okay, we'll get into the side into that
later down the road, and let's just finish it up here.
Have to finish here. You don't crunch. Now, this goes
against so many articles out there's so many experts that
you should never crunch. And this is the study I'm
gonna bring up. Such a great way to end the show,
(26:15):
perfect way everything that Fitness Disrupted is about. Because you
hear about these studies and you get these people who
it is one of the easiest way you want to
get on TV. You want some pr, you want some media,
and listen, I'm the first person who understands the value
of that, spent decades doing it. And you want to
get in the media, you want some pr. Just talk
about how bad crunches are for you. You want people
(26:37):
to click on your article how bad crunches are for you.
And then let's cite some studies, right because no one's
gonna look at them except people like me. All right,
So I'm not talking full sit up and I'm not
talking putting your feet underneath something. You know, like your
bed and doing the full sit up and you're just
more using hip flex ers and legs and momentum, and yeah,
(27:02):
you're gonna hurt yourself. If you saw my crunch, there's
like two inches of movement, you know, the chin stays
off your chest, you're looking up at the ceiling and
you're just lifting your shoulder blades off the ground, hands
either in front of your body or behind your head. Okay,
and I'm contracting my abdominals. So there is not much
spinal movement at all, which goes to this study. So yes,
(27:26):
there are so many people out there saying you should
never crunch, so bad for you, and studies support this.
So here's one of the major studies that they are
referencing some or they just they've heard their studies. Here's
the title of the study. I love this. Intervertebral discarniation
(27:48):
studies on a porcine model exposed to highly repetitive flexion
extension motion with compressive force. All the hallmarks of a
great study. Just the title. You love it? Do you
know what poor scene means? Okay, for those of you
don't pigs studying pigs, Okay, I'll just start with um. Okay,
(28:11):
and and listen, studies are often time done on animals.
Doesn't mean we throw them out by any means. But
let's just talk about pigs. A lot of times they're done.
You know, um, rats, mice, I'm trying to say, other animals,
but like pigs, we walk upright, we're starting to get
some issues right off the bat, right off the top,
i should say. And this was, by the way, in
(28:31):
clinical biomechanics two thousand one January. And what they found
was they took the spine that the pigs were dead. Okay,
they removed the spines from the animals, and they subjected
them two thousands of bending cycles in a lab thousands
thousands outside the body. Not normal movements, compressive. Now, again,
(28:53):
this is how many studies are done. And the majority
of the spinal discs experienced either complete or partial her ation. Okay,
pigs out of the body. Thousands of repetitions I'm talking
ten a couple of times a week, not a huge
range of motion. And by the way, many of the
other studies, most of the other studies that these anti
(29:15):
crunch people talk about, they are all with animal spines
outside of the body. Again, we don't dismiss it outright
because of that. But let's question it. I'm fifty one,
I've been doing crunches for many years. I'm injury free.
It works for me. That's an equals one. I get it.
But I've had hundreds of other clients, thousands over the
(29:36):
years if you count classes and just the number of
years and books and videos, and they can work. You
have to do them right, just like running is not
bad for you. And when we talk about running, people run, oh,
three times a week, three miles. Hello. If you do
crunches correctly, three sets of twenty repetitions three times a week,
that's like five minutes. It's thousands of repetitions, and it's
(29:59):
an natural and it's with good form. I love it.
Perfect way to end the show, all right, So let
me give you my personal I do a hundred. I
do sets of a hundred, not two thousand anymore. And
that was because of him. But I do and have
done for decades. And again this is me. Might not
work for you, but when you combine it with the
(30:21):
healthy eating and the cardio and all of that kind
of stuff over time, I think you'll be shocked at
the results you see. So I do four sets of
twenty five generally speaking, and again difficult to do over podcast,
but I do basically twenty regular crunches. Then I'll do
twenty five oblique to one side, oblique to another side,
(30:41):
and then I'll finish up with maybe reverse crunches or
double crunch where it's upper body and lower body together.
And then, as I've talked about on other shows, I'll
take that same four exercises and I'll just mix it up.
I'll start with an oblique, then I'll do the regular crunches,
then I'll do the oblique, and then i'll do the
double crunch. It feels different just changing up the order,
(31:04):
and I generally keep that format. So I will do
some kind of rectus abdominus. I will do some variation
on obliques for twenty on each side, and then I
will do, you know, something that involves the lower body
a little bit more, the lower abs a little bit safe.
I don't do leg lifts another podcast episode, but I
(31:28):
keep it simple and I may do a hundred a day.
I may do five hundred. I may do a hundred
in the morning, may do a hundred when I walk
into the into the office the studio. I may do
a hundred at three o'clock and then a hundred or
two hundred, you know in the evening, I mix it up.
That's me my I have to do more my job.
You don't have to do as many. But let me
(31:48):
end all of this insanity with this. It's about being healthy.
Stop worrying about how the abs look in the mirror.
And if you're someone with back pain, as so many
people have an experience, that is the first reason for
doing core exercises, abdominal exercises, planks, it's to be healthy,
to be to be pain free. Secondly, it's to be
able to enjoy your activities of daily living, walking, playing
(32:12):
with your kids, anything you want to do. And then
third your recreational activities. Hey, your sports, your runner, you
want to play tennis. You want a strong core so
that you can do those things. And six pack doesn't
necessarily mean you're gonna have that. You can be out
of balance, you can have a weak lower back, you
can be too tight your muscles. So it's about enjoying life,
(32:37):
quality of life. Okay, yes we want to be a
healthy way, Yes we want to look our best, but
start with the behavioral change. Don't focus on how you look,
don't focus on that scale, Be consistent, do a basic
micro workout, ab routine off you know, most days of
(33:01):
the week, and you'll see incredible results. Enough, we'll talk
much more about this. I've done some shows, you know,
scroll through the Plank one. I told you about lots
of different stuff about ABS. But it's one of those
things that people try to make really complicated. They pervert
the sciences, the pork poor scene, uh studies shows and
(33:21):
it's it's about consistency, and it's about changing those three things,
the three pronged approach. Eat a little healthier, move a
little more, do some abdonnal exercises. Your life will change phenomenally.
Thank you so much for listening. I know, I know
it's it's it's that consistency thing. But when it doesn't
change your life dramatically and it's all about feeling good,
(33:45):
that's that's kind of great. All Right, Please rate the show,
subscribe to the show. You want to reach out to me.
I'm getting ready to a bunch of shows on questions
that you're sending to me. I love it. Thank you
for those. Uh. Tom h fit is Instagram is well
as Twitter. Fitness disrupted dot com is the website you
can go to and again, remember we are in control
(34:09):
of three amazing things. How much we move, what we
put into our mouths, and our attitude, and that is awesome.
I'm Tom Holland. This is Fitness Disrupted. Believe in yourself.
(34:29):
Fitness Disrupted is a production of I Heart Radio. For
more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart
Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
Welcome to Fitness Disrupted, a production of I Heart Radio.
I am Tom Holland and this is Fitness Disrupted. My
guess is many people will listen to this podcast just
looking at the title, and that is how fitness magazines
(00:26):
have operated for years. Were used to back when there
were many fitness magazines and fitness products that promise flat abs.
That has pretty much driven the business right along with
weight loss. Weight loss and flat abs, and the two
are obviously connected, but it's the holy grail, the six
(00:49):
pack or the flat abs, just toning that midsection. So
many people want it. And again, that is how so
much of the fitness industry has positioned itself, and it
is the perfect topic for Fitness Disrupted. Now I have
(01:10):
touched upon it, it crosses over on so many other podcasts.
I'm gonna give though nine of the top mistakes I
have seen over the years, and in future podcast there's
a couple of these that are that are great. We're
gonna talk about crunches that I will blow out even
more and deal with in a specific podcast with more studies.
(01:34):
I have one great study, just perfect study for this show,
but I want this to be quick and informative. And
with the takeaways, and at the very end of the show,
I'm going to give you my go to what I
have been doing for decades and that has totally worked
for me and worked for my clients as well, and
as part of my new book, The micro Workout Plan. Okay,
(01:54):
these are things that have been proven through yes, anecdotal,
but wait till I give you that that. He can't wait,
kind of want to do it right away. But it's
the way we're gonna end the show talking about crunches specifically.
But it's this stuff that works. I promise you when
you apply everything I talked about, it works. It works.
(02:15):
You gotta give a time, you gotta be consistent, and
you have to listen. Okay, you have to follow yes
the science and yes the anecdotal, and then what works
for you and what you will do consistently. And that's
different for diet, that's different for exercise, and it's different
for ab exercises. There's so many options, but I'm gonna
give you the ones that have been proven to work
(02:37):
and be really effective and and lower on the injury scale.
That's gonna be a part of this as well. All right,
So let me just give a story I've given before.
Some of you may have heard it, but it bears
repeating because it plays right into the show and a
couple of the mistakes as well. So back when I
was a trainer many years ago New York City, I
started training an up and coming actor and this guy
(02:57):
wanted nothing more than flat abs, and he had a
couple extra pounds and and he wanted to, you know,
get that six pack. And he was young enough that
it was gonna be easier, right because he was in
his mid twenties at the time. And he said, I
want to do two thousand crunches a day. And I said,
what are you talking about? What are you talking about?
(03:19):
And he said, well, I just read that Antonio Sabato
Junior did a thousand and so we're gonna do two thousand.
I'm gonna do two thousand, and by the way, you're
gonna come up with a plan for me. And you're
not only gonna come up with the plan all the
different types of crunches and ab exercises, you're gonna do
them with me. And I said, you know what, that's
actually gonna take longer than an hour, and so it's
(03:40):
like two he said I don't care. Then we're gonna
do two sessions back to back, and we're gonna do
two thousand crunches. Now. I bring this story up for
several reasons. First of all, it was ridiculous, and I
say that nineteen hundred of those were wasted time. And
this is extremes. We always learned from the extremes. I
begged him not to do it, wrote this in a
(04:01):
couple of my books, but he was adamant, and I said, okay,
well we'll do this. And I would say, you're wasting
definitely the second hour, if not, you know, forty five
minutes of the first. Uh. But I was young. I
was just starting as a trainer. You did what the
I didn't have the leeway to do what I wanted
to do. That takes a while. You're working for a gym,
(04:23):
and you do what the client says as long as
it's not gonna hurt them. And this wasn't gonna hurt him.
It just it was a waste of time and money
in my opinion, even at the time. But we did it.
He didn't see the results because he didn't do the
things I'm going to talk about. He didn't change his diet.
He didn't do enough cardio, And it does not matter
how many crunches you do, you cannot achieve a flat ABS.
(04:46):
You will get a strong mid section underneath that wayer
you are trying to get rid of. All right, great
way to start it, and extreme extreme two thousand crunches.
So for those of you who are slaving way crunches
and not see being the results, here's great news. Stop
and do the things I'm going to tell you to do,
(05:07):
and avoid the things that I'm going to tell you
so many of you do over and over. I saw
it in the gym this morning. Quick break, we'll be
right back. Top nine AB mistakes. I remember looking at
(05:31):
two different magazines. They were Fitness Magazine two different years,
years apart. I'd say it was the same month. It
was like January two thousand five and then January, and
the cover was almost identical with the huge blowout the top.
You know, the most prominent headline on the cover of
both magazines, same magazine, different years, same month, abs how
(05:55):
to get flat abs. It's it's as I started the
show by saying, it's something many people want. Now, here's
the number one mistake you're making when you try to
get to to reduce your midsection, to get rid of
those love handles, to decrease your abdominal adpocity, the fat deposits. Okay,
(06:17):
the number one thing is that's all you do. If
you just do abdominal exercises and you don't take what
I call the three pronged approach, it will never happen.
It can't physically for most people unless you're sixteen years
old twenty. But for most people who are listening to
the show who have that issue, who are a little
(06:37):
bit older, you have to take a three pronged approach,
and it goes with everything. When it comes to exercise
and fitness and being balanced, it's what you eat, it's
how many cowies you burn, and then it's the abdominal exercises.
But the abdominal exercises are a distant third when it
(06:58):
comes to achieveing a flat mid section. There's so many
people who have flat mid sections, even older, just due
to genetics and how much they eat or don't eat.
So in other words, they are not even doing crunches,
they are not doing planks, they are not doing any
abdominal exercises. But because of the ectomorph body frame. For
(07:19):
many of them, they are the skinnier type to begin with,
and then they don't consume as many calories as even
many people think. And then they probably move a lot
during the day that neat non exercise activity thermogenesis. So
my point is very simple. You need to take a
three pronged approach to reduce the fat deposits around eurype
(07:41):
don layer, which by the way, is like the most
unhealthy place we can have excess fat, which is what
one reason why men die earlier than than females than
women because we tend to carry it more there. Women
as they age, it starts to shift over there with
the hormone changes and things like that. But you need
to do your cardio to burn calories and strengthen your heart.
(08:03):
But to burn calories when it comes to reducing the
fat deposits around your midsection, Secondly, you need to reduce
your calories through your eating, and then third a distance. Third,
as I said, that's the abdominal exercises, and I will
get to what and how much shortly. But if you
don't change those first two things, you will not achieve
(08:23):
your results. Here's the great takeaway finishing up number one.
When you change all three a little bit, that's sustainable.
That works just like everything else. Weight loss, if you
only change your diet, if you only try to reduce
by thousand or two thousand crazy calories per day, unsustainable
(08:44):
and not gonna work long term. If you just do exercise,
you're not gonna you know, hundred calories per mile, five
to six hundred calories per hour for the most part.
I know your watches are telling you differently, quite often wrong.
We've done shows on that as well. But when you
burn a couple hundred more through exercise, when you reduce
(09:05):
and take in a couple hundred or more or less
every day, and then you add in the abdominal exercises,
that's success. Okay. Number two, and had to start with
that one, by the way, that sets the tone for
everything three pronged approach sustainable. Number two, you are spending
too much time doing them. So if you are spending
(09:29):
thirty minutes even twenty minutes doing abdominal exercise, unless you're
a professional fitness person, that's way too much time. The
number one reason people get for not exercising is lack
of time. Now you need to be doing full body
workouts to get as strong from head to toe and
build that lean muscle that's more metabolically active. That will
(09:50):
actually help significantly reduce your midsection. And you need to
be burning calories through cardio as well as strengthening your heart.
So again, unless you're doing two hours a day every day,
spending twenty minutes on abdominant exercises is way too much.
And I have used my own rule of thumb for
years now, and it's a basic ten percent rule. So
(10:13):
if you are someone who is working out, going to
the gym or doing it at home for thirty minutes,
forty five minutes, sixty minutes roughly, of that time, in
my opinion and experience should be abdominant exercises. You're doing
thirty minute workout three to four minutes, and if you
do it correctly, that is all you need. And if
(10:34):
you're changing your diet a little bit and you're burning
calories a little bit more, that's all you need three
to four. If you're doing an hour, I'll take six
to seven minutes roughly and again, NonStop, not wasting time,
effective exercises, that is all you need. Micro workouts. Okay,
(10:55):
and let me say this too, the micro workouts are
done throughout the day. I've been doing it that way
again since I was fourteen fifteen years old. So when
you're you say, well it's not enough. It's totally enough.
But when you do the three to four minutes wake
up in the morning, I go down to my home
Jim boom, there's a set done, I start my day,
(11:19):
and I finished my day oftentimes not all the time,
but oftentimes with the workout I will give you at
the end of the show. So it's working it into
your day. Common theme of this show. It's not just
about going to the gym. Those days are over. You
can if you want, but it's what we do outside
that makes all the difference in the world. All right,
(11:40):
Number three seen this for decades. The person who is
doing the hundred let's call them crunches, but that's being generous.
Hundred pulse things neck ups on a stability ball in
the middle of the gym. And as I've said before,
or I see the first couple and I know exactly
(12:02):
that this person is just they have that high number
in mind. I'm gonna do fifty, I'm gonna do seventy five,
I'm gonna do a hundred, but they're not quality. They're
focused on quantity rather than quality. And I would much
rather you do ten really good ones than one hundred
poor ones. And the ones that are going to change
(12:24):
your body and strengthen your body. It's not momentum, it's
not as many reps as possible. The goal is to
recruit the muscle fibers. The goal is to overload and
challenge the muscle fibers. So if you're just using momentum
and bouncing and using you know, gravity and just swinging
(12:45):
yourself through the movement, that's not gonna cut it. That's
not gonna do it. And here's a great secret, especially
for you men out there, pilates. I taught Matt Pilates
for a couple of years. I took pilates, the machines,
all that kind of stuff, and it connected me to
my abdominals incredibly, because you need that neuromuscular connection. I
(13:08):
often talk about people who are stronger are recruiting more
muscle fibers. That's where it starts. So the short of
it is, the more advanced you are, the more you
utilize good form over time, the fewer repetitions you have
to do. To get the same, if not greater results,
(13:29):
then the beginner, you're doing it better. You are recruiting
more muscle fibers with every single repetition. And that's why
I am such a stickler for good form and why
I'm such a proponent of slower repetitions. It's about connecting
with the muscle fibers. And here's one takeaway I'll give
you to finish this one up. If you want to
(13:50):
do a hundred, that's fine, but I want you to
do four different kinds. I don't want a hundred of
the same horrible stability ball bounces. I want five of this,
of this, of this, and of this better. Yet we're different.
Five sets of twenty repetitions, slower, better, and you're gonna
(14:14):
see greater results. All right, How to throw this one?
In number four? You're relying on supplements. Let me say
this loud and clear. There is no supplement that will
help you reduce your abdominal region to any major degree
(14:34):
at all. It does not exist, not legally. Have to
throw that caveat there and the ones that are illegal.
I want to go too deep into this. There's always
a cost, and generally a significant one. You should never
forget that there are no shortcuts and is never in pillform.
(14:55):
There's there's no six pack in pillform. Save your money.
That is the snake oil is the ultimate snake oil
when it comes to flat abdominals, and it's still on TV.
I still see these products and you say, how can
they make those claims? They can, and a lot of
times they do get sued, but they've made so much
(15:17):
money that by the time the lawsuit hits, the payout
pales in comparison to the profits. But don't waste your money,
your time, or sacrifice your health. There is no pill
that will help you lose that weight around your midsection.
It doesn't exist. Okay, all right. Number five and I've
(15:41):
I've used this one before when it comes to just
the gym in general, but now it's your abs in particular.
You don't mix up your routine. You don't use the
equipment to help your abdominals at the gym. And this
is tied into I personally believe and have always lived
by do the majority of your abdominal exercises at home
(16:01):
because the body weight ones that require no equipment are
some of the most effective. I will talk about that
the abs are actually one of the regions that you
really need nothing. And I will talk about the plank.
But that being said, I like to mix it up.
I like to do different things. But I don't spend
much time at all at the gym on my abdominals
(16:24):
because I'm doing it at home. And it's actually the
two that really make the difference. You want to make
a significant difference. And you are someone who goes to
the gym, you know many are not as much as
years passed, but it's what you do at home to
those micro workouts. You know, waking up doing a set,
you might go to the gym, do a couple of
minutes as I said, ten and then one or two
(16:45):
more in the evening when you feel like it. But
I do cable crunches, I will use a medicine ball,
I will get in the occasional although very occasional, abdominal machine.
I will use dumbbells and do chops, different things. But
I'm using that equipment at the gym that I do
not have at home. That is what I'm paying for
(17:07):
or take a class. But let me say this, by
the way, not only did I used to do that
two thousand crunches with that client. Many many, many years ago.
I used to teach half hour AB classes, and as
I wrote my book Beat the Gym many years ago,
that's like twenty minutes too long. Half hour of AB classes.
They don't really exist anymore as far as I've seen,
(17:28):
or they're slowly dying out, and for good reason. It
is a waste of time that you can do it
so much better full body workouts throw in ABS than
doing a full half at work. All right, final break?
What are we on now? That was number five? All right?
We got four more and then I'm gonna finish up
with my simple routine. You're gonna go that's way too simple. Hey,
(17:49):
it works. I always have to give you that takeaway
whenever possible. Last break, We'll be right back. Abs, abs, ABS. Right.
I cannot tell you how many times I've written about ABS,
(18:11):
how many lectures, how many contributions to so many different
just publications online or print, and I get it. I
want to say a fifty one. I have to say this.
It has been harder for me than ever before. Two
look like I did when I was thirty thirty five.
(18:34):
The turning point for me was like forty two I'll
tell that story one day, but it was like, Okay,
I get it now, right, But I'm not saying it
can't be done. But the more aspirational your abdominal region
is the way you wanted to look, the more consistent
(18:55):
you have to be. It really is that simple. But
at sixty, you know, fifties six seventy six pack might
not be the way you want to live. Your wife listen,
I like my red wine alcohol and you know, do
a whole separate show on that. Have yet to do it.
That makes the six pack when we are older, exponentially
(19:17):
more difficult. And again topic for another show, great topic
for another show. Okay, number six, number six, you don't
plank unless you have some incredible, you know, medical reason
for not doing so. Every one of you listening to
the show needs to do planks, and there are infinite variety.
(19:38):
I did do an entire podcast on that, the Power
of the Plank. If you have not listened to that one,
you really should. No equipment front and back of your core,
and it is super effective. And as I say about
every great exercise beginner to the advanced, infinite number of
ways to change it around. It works. It works, and
(20:01):
it's free. Can you do them anywhere? That is a
great component of your micro workout. You don't have to
carry anything around with you. You You don't have to go
to the gym to do them. And please don't spend
five minutes at the gym planking when you can do
that at home and you have other things to challenge
your body. I will say it until the day I die.
(20:24):
One of the incredible, you know, misunderstood things about exercise
is the variation component that we need to mix it
up now. I did a show on muscle confusion. Yes,
you need to build that base of strength, and you
want to get good at something first physically as well
as psychologically both you need to mix it up all right,
(20:46):
So planks, planks, planks, learn how to do them right
by the way, I did a plank video google Tom
Holland three minute perfect plank. I think we're like fourteen
million views and that three minutes. That's long. I personally
one minute. I have gotten up to two as far.
I could do more, but again, studies no reason to.
(21:10):
It's about consistency. One minute for most people way more
than enough. And actually I talked about studies where ten
to fifteen second, planks gonna work wonders for so many people. Okay,
you need a plank, all right, And that leads perfectly
into number seven. And this is an incredible, you know
issue in the entire six pack world, trying to achieve
(21:31):
those flat apps. You do exercises that are too complicated.
I get it. It sells magazines, it sells products. It
makes trainers look tough and and you know unique, and
I know you can't be bored, but guess what, there's
a way to mix them up. But it's the basic
stuff that works. Planks. Now, I could make a plank
(21:52):
ridiculously difficult, and you can balance on something, as I say,
and wear a weight vest and hang from this and
get a kettlebell and do all this stuff. But what happens,
It goes right back two what I was talking about
about muscle fiber recruitment. You're not targeting the muscles you
are trying to target. You're trying to just not die.
(22:15):
For so many people, you're like, oh my gosh, this
is so difficult, and so it's your arms. How many
people listening who do plank feeling their shoulders that the
shoulders is the limiting factor. So That's just a small
example of we want to focus and just if you're
doing a biceps curl, I just want you to feel
it in the biceps. I don't want you to feel
it anywhere else. If that is the goal. Now, of
(22:37):
course we can do compound moves, and we can you know,
do upper and lower together. But my point is very simple.
I see people in the gym doing abdominal exercises that
they truly don't have the ability to do correctly. And
I'm all for challenging yourself, and I'm all for being
you know, unique and varying stuff, but there are two
things that happen when you do exercises to you soon.
(23:00):
As far as difficulty or that are too hard. As
far as difficult you know, too soon and too many
reps and all that kind of stuff, I should say, uh,
you decrease the effectiveness because you're not recruiting the muscle
fibers you're truly trying to. And secondly, you dramatically increase
your risk of injury. And I'll say it over and
(23:21):
over again when it comes to the core, You're not
gonna necessarily throw out your back doing that crazy Russian
twist while you know, doing nine other things at the
same time. But two months down the road, your back
is going to seize up and you're not going to
you know, necessarily say, oh my gosh, it was that
exercise I did in that class or the video that
(23:42):
felt a little weird. I wasn't sure I was doing
it right. I was probably using a weight that was
too heavy, and issues happen. So keep it simple, keep
it simple, all right. You don't want to get hurt,
all right. Number nine saw this today, have seen it,
talked about it with some friends. Also, it comes up
all the time. Side bends, you know, holding that weight,
(24:03):
bending to the side, coming back up. My dad does it.
You know, I'm not a fan the side bends. You're
trying to target your obliques. You're trying to target your
side baggies, whatever you want to call the muffin top.
You know, I get it. But let's do rotation type stuff, chops,
(24:24):
even bicycle crunch. Bicycle crunch is one of the most
effective exercises that works those three areas. Everyone's trying to
work and there's the whole debate on can you work
different areas, can you focus or does the muscle you know,
contract entirely debate for another time, but let's just suffice
(24:45):
it to say, six pack rectus abnominous sides of your
abs obliques and throw in the lower because that is
the holy grail for so many people. But the movement
of the bicycle crunch hits all those three areas, okay,
So rather than doing side bends, I would rather even
the oblique type crunches, there is some rotation, there's a
(25:10):
curve to the movement. You're not going up and down
side to side. You're internal and external obliques they run
on diagonals, Okay, They're not straight up and down, and
I would rather you move in the direction that those
fibers move in. So I don't do side bens. I
never have. I don't do them, and I would just
recommend there are better exercises, more effective. Chops are more
(25:33):
advanced for many people. But just the regular oblique crunch.
You know, when you're on your back, you cross your
left leg over your right bent knee, You put your
right hand behind your head and you do your right
oblique and then you switch, or you throw both knees
to one side bent, put your opposite arm behind your head,
and you do those oblique crunches better. There's a little
(25:55):
bit of a curve and arc to it. That's what
I prefer. Okay, we'll get into the side into that
later down the road, and let's just finish it up here.
Have to finish here. You don't crunch. Now, this goes
against so many articles out there's so many experts that
you should never crunch. And this is the study I'm
gonna bring up. Such a great way to end the show,
(26:15):
perfect way everything that Fitness Disrupted is about. Because you
hear about these studies and you get these people who
it is one of the easiest way you want to
get on TV. You want some pr, you want some media,
and listen, I'm the first person who understands the value
of that, spent decades doing it. And you want to
get in the media, you want some pr. Just talk
about how bad crunches are for you. You want people
(26:37):
to click on your article how bad crunches are for you.
And then let's cite some studies, right because no one's
gonna look at them except people like me. All right,
So I'm not talking full sit up and I'm not
talking putting your feet underneath something. You know, like your
bed and doing the full sit up and you're just
more using hip flex ers and legs and momentum, and yeah,
(27:02):
you're gonna hurt yourself. If you saw my crunch, there's
like two inches of movement, you know, the chin stays
off your chest, you're looking up at the ceiling and
you're just lifting your shoulder blades off the ground, hands
either in front of your body or behind your head. Okay,
and I'm contracting my abdominals. So there is not much
spinal movement at all, which goes to this study. So yes,
(27:26):
there are so many people out there saying you should
never crunch, so bad for you, and studies support this.
So here's one of the major studies that they are
referencing some or they just they've heard their studies. Here's
the title of the study. I love this. Intervertebral discarniation
(27:48):
studies on a porcine model exposed to highly repetitive flexion
extension motion with compressive force. All the hallmarks of a
great study. Just the title. You love it? Do you
know what poor scene means? Okay, for those of you
don't pigs studying pigs, Okay, I'll just start with um. Okay,
(28:11):
and and listen, studies are often time done on animals.
Doesn't mean we throw them out by any means. But
let's just talk about pigs. A lot of times they're done.
You know, um, rats, mice, I'm trying to say, other animals,
but like pigs, we walk upright, we're starting to get
some issues right off the bat, right off the top,
i should say. And this was, by the way, in
(28:31):
clinical biomechanics two thousand one January. And what they found
was they took the spine that the pigs were dead. Okay,
they removed the spines from the animals, and they subjected
them two thousands of bending cycles in a lab thousands
thousands outside the body. Not normal movements, compressive. Now, again,
(28:53):
this is how many studies are done. And the majority
of the spinal discs experienced either complete or partial her ation. Okay,
pigs out of the body. Thousands of repetitions I'm talking
ten a couple of times a week, not a huge
range of motion. And by the way, many of the
other studies, most of the other studies that these anti
(29:15):
crunch people talk about, they are all with animal spines
outside of the body. Again, we don't dismiss it outright
because of that. But let's question it. I'm fifty one,
I've been doing crunches for many years. I'm injury free.
It works for me. That's an equals one. I get it.
But I've had hundreds of other clients, thousands over the
(29:36):
years if you count classes and just the number of
years and books and videos, and they can work. You
have to do them right, just like running is not
bad for you. And when we talk about running, people run, oh,
three times a week, three miles. Hello. If you do
crunches correctly, three sets of twenty repetitions three times a week,
that's like five minutes. It's thousands of repetitions, and it's
(29:59):
an natural and it's with good form. I love it.
Perfect way to end the show, all right, So let
me give you my personal I do a hundred. I
do sets of a hundred, not two thousand anymore. And
that was because of him. But I do and have
done for decades. And again this is me. Might not
work for you, but when you combine it with the
(30:21):
healthy eating and the cardio and all of that kind
of stuff over time, I think you'll be shocked at
the results you see. So I do four sets of
twenty five generally speaking, and again difficult to do over podcast,
but I do basically twenty regular crunches. Then I'll do
twenty five oblique to one side, oblique to another side,
(30:41):
and then I'll finish up with maybe reverse crunches or
double crunch where it's upper body and lower body together.
And then, as I've talked about on other shows, I'll
take that same four exercises and I'll just mix it up.
I'll start with an oblique, then I'll do the regular crunches,
then I'll do the oblique, and then i'll do the
double crunch. It feels different just changing up the order,
(31:04):
and I generally keep that format. So I will do
some kind of rectus abdominus. I will do some variation
on obliques for twenty on each side, and then I
will do, you know, something that involves the lower body
a little bit more, the lower abs a little bit safe.
I don't do leg lifts another podcast episode, but I
(31:28):
keep it simple and I may do a hundred a day.
I may do five hundred. I may do a hundred
in the morning, may do a hundred when I walk
into the into the office the studio. I may do
a hundred at three o'clock and then a hundred or
two hundred, you know in the evening, I mix it up.
That's me my I have to do more my job.
You don't have to do as many. But let me
(31:48):
end all of this insanity with this. It's about being healthy.
Stop worrying about how the abs look in the mirror.
And if you're someone with back pain, as so many
people have an experience, that is the first reason for
doing core exercises, abdominal exercises, planks, it's to be healthy,
to be to be pain free. Secondly, it's to be
able to enjoy your activities of daily living, walking, playing
(32:12):
with your kids, anything you want to do. And then
third your recreational activities. Hey, your sports, your runner, you
want to play tennis. You want a strong core so
that you can do those things. And six pack doesn't
necessarily mean you're gonna have that. You can be out
of balance, you can have a weak lower back, you
can be too tight your muscles. So it's about enjoying life,
(32:37):
quality of life. Okay, yes we want to be a
healthy way, Yes we want to look our best, but
start with the behavioral change. Don't focus on how you look,
don't focus on that scale, Be consistent, do a basic
micro workout, ab routine off you know, most days of
(33:01):
the week, and you'll see incredible results. Enough, we'll talk
much more about this. I've done some shows, you know,
scroll through the Plank one. I told you about lots
of different stuff about ABS. But it's one of those
things that people try to make really complicated. They pervert
the sciences, the pork poor scene, uh studies shows and
(33:21):
it's it's about consistency, and it's about changing those three things,
the three pronged approach. Eat a little healthier, move a
little more, do some abdonnal exercises. Your life will change phenomenally.
Thank you so much for listening. I know, I know
it's it's it's that consistency thing. But when it doesn't
change your life dramatically and it's all about feeling good,
(33:45):
that's that's kind of great. All Right, Please rate the show,
subscribe to the show. You want to reach out to me.
I'm getting ready to a bunch of shows on questions
that you're sending to me. I love it. Thank you
for those. Uh. Tom h fit is Instagram is well
as Twitter. Fitness disrupted dot com is the website you
can go to and again, remember we are in control
(34:09):
of three amazing things. How much we move, what we
put into our mouths, and our attitude, and that is awesome.
I'm Tom Holland. This is Fitness Disrupted. Believe in yourself.
(34:29):
Fitness Disrupted is a production of I Heart Radio. For
more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart
Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.