If you are struggling hard to lose weight on your belly and desperately doing crunches, let me tell you this will end up with no positive results. We say this because there is actually a myth and huge drawback of ab crunches that it can help you lose weight or get a six pack.
To lose weight, you have to burn calories. To burn calories, you need to exercise. And exercises vary in the amount of calorie burning. Some exercises are more effective at burning calories than others. The number of calories burnt per exercise is dependent on two factors – the amount of muscle moved and the distance of muscle movement.
The amount of muscle moved’ means that if you move larger muscles for the exercise, you burn more calories. Say, for example, your thigh muscles are much larger than your bicep muscles. So, a squat (thigh exercise) burns more calories than a bicep exercise. If you move the same muscle through a larger distance, you burn more calories.
Ab Crunches or Sit Ups work your abdominals muscles. These are a set of 8 small muscles in your abdominal region. When you perform sit ups, it only works this set of small abdominal muscles. Since these muscles are small, the number of calories you burn is also small. Actually, too small to make a dent in your fight against fat!
Crunches help you work those abdominal muscles, but not lose fat on your belly. To lose fat, you need to burn more calories. Crunches don’t burn nearly as many calories as other exercises, like squats or push-ups. The key to burning more calories and building muscle is to work out larger muscles, like your legs, chest, shoulders and back muscles. So to get a six pack, keep your crunches only as an additive to your workout. Kind of like dessert, not an everyday thing.