The Real Secret To Six Pack Abs

Usually, I perform my workouts at my private training facility which is nice because I don't have to deal with a crowded gym. It allows me to get in and out without spending more time than I have to in the gym.

I do have a public gym membership which allows me to train on my off days away from work since the gym is only a few blocks away from my home. Today was one of those days I chose to train at the public gym.

As I walked in I noticed an infomercial on one of the big screen television sets on the wall. The informercial was for a new kind of ab training device. Now, usually I don't pay too much attention to these infomercials, but this one caught me eye.

Not, because it was some revolutionary ab training device, but because of how it is being marketed. It looks somewhat like one of those big stability balls you see at almost every gym/health club these days.

But, it is a bit longer which provides more support for your body. And that's how it is being marketed. As a comfortable alternative to a stability ball which is meant to reduce potential low back pain.

Sounds great doesn't it? So, why was I shaking my head in disbelief?

It's because just about everything in fitness today is marketed toward being easy and comfortable. Think about it. Almost all the machines you see at your gym are designed to be performed sitting down in a stable seat.

Some machines even have seat belts so you can brace yourself in the thing. Again, comfortable. People like to be comfortable. But, there is a big drawback to this thing of comfort.

What so many people fail to realize is that the reason why 99% of the low back pain population exists is because their bodies have lost the ability to properly use their muscular system to stabilize themselves.

This is even more important when it comes to abdominal training. Many people claim to experience low back pain while performing exercises on the stability ball. This happens because the stability requires you to properly use your abdominals and hips to stabilize your body while you perform the exercise.

Unfortunately, so many people cannot do this and as a result their bodies develop compensatory strategies to perform the exercise. Compensatory strategies are the body's way of performing a movement and are very inefficient often resulting in pain and/or injury.

And, the more training is performed on comfortable machines that have reclined seats and seat belts and do all the stability work for you, the more your body loses its ability to be able to use its own muscles to provide stability.

To illustrate this better think about how you move outside of the gym in your everyday life. We all walk up stairs, lift laundry baskets, unload groceries from the car, reaching up in the kitchen cabinet, carrying our children, playing sports and on and on it goes.

When your body cannot stabilize itself properly pain and/or injury is eventually the end result. That is why you probably know of someone who hurt their back lifting something very light off the floor or while bending over doing something.

Crunches and sit-ups are just not the entire picture when it comes to developing lean, well-defined and strong abs. In fact, crunches and sit-ups are the main exercises in almost every "core" and ab routine out there today and are 5 reasons why people end up with low back pain There is an entire host of movement patterns our bodies were designed and meant to perform. We performed them as babies. Our bodies were meant to bend, extend, laterally bend, twist and turn and much more.

There are 2 exercises that are not ab exercises but they will help flatten out your midsection faster than most others.

Kevin Yates is the owner of learn2burnfat.com and the author of "5 Major Mistakes That Are Keeping You Fat & How To Easily Correct Them", a free report that shows you how a few simple strategies almost nobody knows about can help you burn fat fast. Get your copy here