Abs: Yes, You Need Them. No, You Don’t Need to See Them

Rather than offer his own opinion, which would be "don’t even think about pumping up abs," Geezer prefers to quote Howard Schneider, who, writing in the Washington Post, warns that "the "Baywatch" body isn’t worth the time it takes to maintain, and often doesn’t work as well as it looks."
Schneider tells us that our abs, known to some as the rectus abdominis, are a complicated set of muscles whose development requires three or four different exercises, none of which are fun. He also warns that no matter how many ab exercises you do, it’s still possible you
won’t see the muscles, which will remain shrouded in even minimal body fat.  But seeing them, says Schneider, matters less than strengthening them, because much of what we take for granted in daily life — standing, walking,
lifting, running, dancing, casual athletics — depends on keeping the
center strong. Finally, Schneider recommends three exercises–he eschews the expensive (and bogus) gadgets sold on TV- to bring your abs up to solid working shape, if not the talk of beach.
1. Leg raises, in which you lie face-up on the floor and use the lower abdominals to lift your legs.
2. Crunches, in which you work the upper abdominals by lifting your
upper body off the ground about a third of the way to the knees (any
higher and the value of the exercise declines).
3.  "Crisscross crunches," which use the standard bicycle motion to
work the obliques but include a three-second hold at the end of each
twist to eliminate any assist from momentum.
Read more in the Washington Post.