Are Ab Exercises REALLY THAT Important?

[peace-love-couture]

Is it really truly necessary to do ab exercises? Why? And would pilates be a good workout for that?

Along side cardio of course :)

I hate ab exercises -_- I'm not meant to have a flat stomach, which is fine since I'm not fat and I'm satisfied with my midsection

[justanotherguy00001]

Ok- I'm going to tell you exactly what your abs do and you can decide for yourself if it's useful.

Outerlayer- What people will refer to as the six pack (although there's actually a 8 pack)

Rectus Abdominis:

*Flexes your trunk- Think of a situp, that action of bending over. Swinging both your legs up is another use of your rectus abdominis.

*Compression of abdomen- This lets your cough, sneeze, laughing, forced expiration (breath out really hard... forcefully.) Also assists in child birth and to put it delicately... bowel movements.

Inner layer- Can't see it, sorry. But it's directly underneath the Rectus Abdominis.

Transverse Abdominis:

*Compression of abdomen- see above.

Now past the actual actions, toned muscle will do two things (all muscles, not just abs) it'll:

*consume far more energy -calories- then non-muscle tissue that would otherwise occupy it (probably adipose tissue, which is fat)

*More protective- you ever been hit in the gut? It'll hurt less with toned abs ;)

[kheserthorpe]

Transver abdominus also helps with rotational power.

Since my body defense in boxing sucks, ab workouts are a must ;)

[Mr_Solo_Dolo]

If you're happy with your midsection then I don't think they're really important. Unless you want to tone them up a bit more or something.

[sailorgurl1109]

Your core is your main muscle section. It supports your posture, and having strong and is not the sane as having flat abs. Your abdomen muscles aren't just worked out by sit ups ...there are so many things that require your balance and as the name already states, your CORE is the center of all balance. pilates and Yoga are great workouts to strengthen your and as well as the entire rest of your body. Since you don't like and...realize that any workout you do you should be engaging your abdominal muscles, and is therefore important to strengthen them as they will better your balance overall. I highly recomment you change your viewpoint on abworkouts because the stronger they are, as well as maybe adding back strengthening exercises , it will prevent a lot of injuries or pain. Just abworkouts will not get you a six pack...so no worries :)

[goflipaburger]

Ab exercises are a bitch. If you're happy with your midsection, I would only ever do them if it was part of a pilates class or something.

I unfortunately have to do 15-20 minutes of abs a day because of my scoliosis. but.. argggghh :P so painful!

[WeaponZero]

It depends on how you work out. When you do weight exercises and other resistance trainig exercises with proper form (not laying down, not sitting down, not resting your back on something) using your back and core muscles to help keep you supported and stable, you end up working your abs just fine as it is because they become involved in the whole workout. When you use machines, however, that allow you to perform these exercises while sitting down or laying down with your back supported, your core is taken out of the equation and you need to make up for that by doing core specific exercises.

I work out at home doing calisthenics on a suspension trainer. It gets the core involved in every single movement you do because it basically makes you do everything from a plank positon (similar to the way its done in pilates). Because of this, core specific exercises such as crunches and situps become redundant and pointless.

You should look into getting a suspension trainer. I love mine.

[stevo2]

I've reported it as being in the wrong catergory-admin will move it. But I wouldn't think ab excercises are really necessary unless you want them. I've worked out off/on and I barely touched them, but it's all something I need to do again and stick with it. I've got a flat stomach, no need for ab excercises. If you're satisfied, don't do the excercise.

[cyrus7]

flat abs are actually weak... strong abs protrude a bit

and no ab exercises are really not that important, a lot of other weight lifting exercises use your core and abs enough that you shouldn't need to isolate your abs

if you want a six pack you just have to eat right and lose fat

[Corrupt_Others]

Pilates are awesome for ab exercises, but if you're fine with your stomach then they're pointless. I wouldn't want a 6 pack or anything, I just do them to tone up if I feel flabby in the midsection.

[martyfellow]

Not only ab exercises, but core muscles are vital to your fitness. Just because you generally can't 'flash' them don't think they are not important!