Posted on March 19, 2014 by Jenny Cromack

I’m going to blog ‘properly’ later, but I just wanted to share a quick thought with you…..as a personal trainer in Leeds many of my clients, friends and family often ask me what is the best exercise for the abdominals. Which is the best crunch exercise? Is a plank better than the sit-up….the list goes on!

Often I’ll tell them to forget doing sit-ups and planks, but that the best exercise for the abdominals are exercises such as the deadlift, squats (especially front and overhead squats) and sprints and they look at me like I’ve just told them that eating ice-cream is good for you!

Let me tell you about something which has happened to me over the past few days to confirm this. In the past 2 days I have not done any abdominals yet my abs are killing me. It hurts to laugh and sneeze….but in a good way! And what have I done for this to happen? Monday was a heavy weights sessions…..lots of squats, deadlifts and pull ups with some intervals on the battle rope thrown in for good measure! My abs were a little sore yesterday, but then I went and did an 8 mile run which included 2 minute sprint intervals and boy are they sore today. So not a crunch in sight, just lots of good lifting and sprinting!

Have just been discussing this with Chris and tells me an amazing fact that the Deadlift creates 2x more muscle activation than a simple plank. Amazing! So if you want a toned stomach, forget about doing loads of abdominals and get lifting and sprinting.

Check out this article for more information http://watchfit.com/diet/best-oblique-exercises-diet-lean-abs/