I know I can't be the only person who's thinking it. Did we all have the sports coaches in high school or college who had you doing 2 minute planks, sets of 50 reps on Russian twists, or just going as fast as possible on toe touches with no control in sight? Maybe that was just me, it's good to know the people in charge of programming my workouts had no idea what they were doing, love training my hip flexors when it's supposed to be abs.  We know that 5-30 reps is the best range for building muscle. Every other muscle on the body we are taught to control the eccentric, give a brief pause in the stretched position, and then drive through the concentric portion of the lift. 

Or put simply: go slow on the way down, fast on the way up. 

The point is there's an element of control when lifting with other muscle groups. You know it is inherently bad to bounce the bar off your chest while bench pressing. You know you should go all the way down when you squat. And no professional bodybuilder does sets of 50 on deadlift. Oh here's another wild concept, if you want to get stronger, lift heavier. So, if you've been training abs wrong, let's talk about how to change that.

• First, pick movements that allow you to go through the biggest range of motion. Things like cable crunches, hanging leg raises, windshield wipers etc. 

• Second, once you perform the lift make sure you control for at least three seconds during the eccentric or negative part of the lift. For example, if you do a cable crunch, it should take you at least 3 seconds to return to an upright position after crunching down.

• Third, overload the movement. Hold weight between your feet on leg raises, increase the weight on cable crunches, just find a way to increase the resistance you're facing while performing the lift.

Based on the research we have, this is going to be the best way to increase abdominal muscle. If coupled with a proper nutritional plan and sufficient sleep, a six-pack is in your future if you start training abs properly. Or maybe you'll just have less back pain, win win really.

Companies lie. That's not a radical thing to say, we all know it's the truth. There are mountains and mountains of lawsuits and settlements proving this as an irrefutable fact. One of the biggest lies companies tell, is that their products are good for you.  They'll also lie about the primary macronutrient inside their food. Here's a quick rundown:

• Protein - 4 calories per 1 gram

• Carbohydrate - 4 calories per 1 gram

• Fat - 9 calories per 1 gram

So now that you know the basic math let's take a look at the Kirkland Signature Chewy Protein Bars from Costco. We'll start by breaking down the macronutrients and calorie content: 

• Protein - 10 grams - 40 calories

• Carbohydrates - 16 grams - 64 calories

• Fat - 11 grams - 99 calories

• Total Calories: 203

After doing the math we can see a few things:

First, you can clearly see protein actually makes up the smallest percentage of the macronutrient profile. This bar is less than 20% protein when you look at the calorie sources. Basing the name off gram composition these should be called carb bars, or we can name them based off of calorie composition and call them fat bars. Although I don't think that sells very well, so we'll just lie and put protein in the name so you'll open your wallet.

Second, if you add up all the calories that total number comes out to 203 not the 190 listed on the box. 13 calories might not seem like much but if you have a protein bar every day for an entire year, that comes out to over 4700 extra calories! Imagine if you thought you were in maintenance all year, but instead you added nearly two pounds of fat just from your protein bar alone. 

So what's the point? It's pretty simple, if something says "skinny", "healthy", "protein", "keto", "paleo", or any other variation of a fit culture buzzword in the name it's probably garbage. In summation, don't trust the marketing. Flip over the box or bag and take a quick look at the actual composition of the foods and drinks you buy. You'll probably keep some extra fat off and fatten up your wallet in the process.