FitStars: Celebrity Trainer Mike Heatlie

I like what this guy has to say. He trains Gwen Stefani. He discourages crunches and here’s why —

“In my studio, if people are doing sit-ups, they are immediately banned and sent straight down to England! Sit-ups are a complete waste of time. Firstly to achieve a “six-pack” your body-fat percentage must be low enough in order to see abdominal development, and this is difficult for most people, so focus on diet is incredibly important. Secondly, what are the abs used for, and why are they there? They’re not used for forward flexion like a sit-up, and how often do we do that every day? Hardly ever. They are used for stabilization of the torso and to resist forces placed upon the body, such as gravity. Look at gymnasts. They don’t do sit-ups, and I would bet they hardly do any direct ab training. Yet they have probably the most incredible abdominal development of any athlete, possibly including bodybuilders. They achieve this through the impact on their abs through their activity. They are constantly rotating and twisting their torsos, and their abs are under incredible stress trying to stabilize their body. I use a decline bench for ab training where I have my clients lower themselves slowly with their backs straight as possible. With more advanced clients, I use weight resistance or throw medicine balls at them as they decline in order to provide extra stress. Cable rotations and woodchoppers are also excellent exercises for ab training, but always remember to be explosive with your initial movement and then slow with your return. Ab rollouts with a gym ball are good too. Remember that the key is diet. You have to get the body fat down far enough to see those abs!”