Working out out abs (situps, crunches, etc.) is not only often a waste of time but can be counter productive. Neither Arnold Scwharzenegger nor Mark Wahlberg did/do ab work. There are a number of reasons why:
a) Working out your abs does nothing to make your belly thinner. It actually thickens your abs making your belly protrude. The only thing that makes your stomach smaller is losing overall body fat and/or waste through fitness and detox. The body does not "spot reduce" fat in individual areas.
b) Abs are realtively small muscles not even in the top 10 largest in the body. They give very low "bang for the buck" in a workout in terms of growth hormone and thermogenesis. Working out your biggest muscles (quads, lats, glutes, pecs etc.) gives the biggest bang for the buck. Doing hundreds of crunches is like eat lots and lots of lettuce.
c) Abs are worked in numerous other common exercises such as running, military press, curls, i.e. anything requiring the body to stay straight.
There is one exception to not doing abs: for those who already have a "six-pack" due to extremely low body fat and want to make their abs "pop" more through their skin. In essence, they want to make their stomach thicker, the opposite of what 99% of people want to do.
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