6 killer moves to a rock-hard core – no sit-ups involved!

Let’s play a game of true or false: The best way to get a six-pack is by doing millions of sit-ups every day. Answer? False! 

We all do it – head to the gym and spend hours working out our abs in isolation, in search of the ever-elusive washboard stomach. But what most of us don’t realise is that your core is made up of many muscles – including your abdominals, obliques, lower back, even your glutes – and is the trunk that controls your whole body and the way it moves. So why are you working out only some of your core muscles?

A Harvard Medical School article, ‘Want a stronger core? Skip the sit-ups’, says that ‘classic sit-ups and crunches have fallen out of favour’. Why? ‘Sit-ups are hard on your back – they push your curved spine against the floor and work your hip flexors … Sit-ups or crunches strengthen just a few muscle groups. Through dynamic patterns of movement, a good core workout like plank exercises helps strengthen the entire set of core muscles you use every day.’ 

Besides the risk of back injury, traditional core exercises can also be one hell of a pain in the neck if performed incorrectly. Fortunately there are safer – and more effective – ways to get the flat tum you’re after.

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