The Death of the Crunch
By: The Simpleology Team
If you're trying to lose your potbelly by doing 1,000 or so crunches a day, you'll probably be relieved to know that there's no such thing as spot reduction. (Read: You can stop doing it because it's not going to work.) Take it from Dr. Gabe Mirkin, author of Getting Thin: All About Fat - How You Get It, How You Lose It, How You Keep It Off for Good. "Exercising a muscle does not get rid of fat over the specific muscles that are exercised," he says, "If it did, tennis players would have less fat in their tennis arms, but they don't."
Bottom line: all the crunches in the world won't give you washboard abs. And what about the flood of gadgets promising you fabulous abs in just five minutes? Forget about them. Though we may all want to believe that strapping on a vibrating belt could melt away our belly fat while we're at home watching TV - it's just not possible.
Mirkin adds: "Exercises and 'ab' machines can strengthen sagging belly muscles, but they will not remove extra fat from your belly. The only way to lose fat from the place where you store most of your fat - whether it's your belly or your hips - is to lose weight overall."
If the good doctor's words don't convince you, get a second opinion from Mike Geary - a certified nutrition specialist and certified personal trainer - who says, "The perfectly chiseled fitness models in the [infomercials] did not get their perfect body by using that 'ab contraption.' They got their perfect body through real workouts and real nutrition strategies."
By that, Geary means you should exercise at least an hour a day and eat wisely.
It's best if we all get up from our couches and get moving. (Still, we can always dream of a gadget that'll give us sexy abs while we sleep.)
Recommended Resource: Simpleology 103 - if you want to learn scientifically proven methods for quickly losing fat and sending your energy through the roof.
Comments
I agree, to have your body be sculpted to perfection you must first create in your minds eye how you would like to be, and view this often, have the mindset of my body is beautiful and in perfect proportion now and believe and how your body will be transformed will reveal itself.
There are only two ways to do it - complain a lot and feel bad, or diet and exercise. Pick one.
I once spent an entire summer doing crunches and sit-ups only to find I hadn't made a dent in my waistline. Also when I think about it, flat abs with the rest of me still in need of shaping up would be a pretty odd site. I agree wholeheartedly with this article and I am glad I have already started a plan to work toward better whole body heath... if I could just slow down long enough to eat better I think I will have a good start.
MOST PEOPLE have sagging bellies that look bad in a mirror. The value of the "crunch" thing is to get rid of that "structural problem" of lazy abdominal muscles (which is also a problem of bad posture in many cases). The actual amount of "fat" layered on the belly is not usually all that much until you start getting "grossly" overweight. I am not talking (yet) about what doctors call "morbidly obese" (which literally means "so fat it is likely to kill you" [from any of many complications]. But at the point where you are "just" grossly overweight (more than about 30 pounds for an average size woman, 40 - 50 pounds [17 kg] for an average size man, then you are likely to have a couple of inch layer of fat on top of the muscles in your mid-section.
At that point, you need to realize that you are dreaming if you think that any "quick fix" solution will help. You have to accept that the only "diet" that will work is "eat less, move more," which is, of course, a lifestyle change not a diet at all. Most of the diet ads you see containing "before" and "after" pictures I recognized when I was 10 years old "look fake," which is actually not JUST that these people are sucking in their stomach in the "after" picture, but that eliminating the drooping belly is what most people "perceive" as the difference in themselves as being "fat" or not.
Sadly, in a lot of cases, it is a psychological "collapse" of self-image that happens to a woman during her first (usually) or second pregnancy in which she suddenly sees herself as no-longer-thin. Demi Moore already had had one baby when I met her, but she had pulled herself together and lost not only the weight, but also belly droop of post-pregnancy that so many women "don't have time" to deal with when the baby needs their attention so much of the day. Demi still has a stunning figure after multiple pregnancies, and if you don't think that is benefit enough to motivate YOU, then remember she also got Ashton Kutcher.
MEN on the other hand tend to develop "beer bellies" less from drinking beer than from gradually more and more sedentary lifestyle based on a more and more sedentary occupation. When you sit at a desk all day, you get that "middle aged spread". If you spread before middle age, chances are you are just eating too much. But even just eating what you have always eaten when your lifestyle slows down will result in added pounds of that belly jelly better known as plain, old FAT.
So, adopt the "undiet lifestyle", which is simply, "eat less, move more," but if you need help, I put up a tiny website to help myself keep motivated (click my name, you can skip the signup and go straight to the "members" area since you are likely a member of Simpleology if you are reading this).
Love
Stafford "Doc" Williamson
Routine is key, and DAILY better than 2 or 3 times a week which is much easier to say "oh I'll do it tomorrow" and as soon as you can in the morning (before you or anyone else has chance to give you an excuse)
I do this and it's much harder to miss a workout, I only do 20-30 mins a day as I have two small kids but that's enough to get fit if your diet is good (Low on carbs and generally healthy foods works for me)
And it's not all about weight so don't be obsessed with checking that all the time, if you build your muscles in place of fat your weight may not drop dramatically.
I've been doing my routine for 4 weeks now, I look & feel trimmer already (and 2kg lighter!)
Of course, you need not ditch those crunch exercises entirely (I've never been sure about the electronic gadgets, though).
For the "six-pack" look you will still need to exercise those ab muscles to tone and strengthen them.
But, as Mark says, abdominal exercises ALONE won't reduce the fat around your waist which means that any six-pack you do have will still be hidden away under all the fat!
Only an all-round exercise routine and a healthy diet will reduce fat from all over your body.
Why does everyone have to make mysteries out of the four-word solution to overfat?
"Eat less, move more".
Once the fat is off, then do your crunches thusly:
Lying on your back on a gym mat, spread your legs "frog" style, and put your soles together. Have your trainer hand you a 25- to 45lb olympic plate. Hold it to your chest and do simple crunches. To attain best hypertrophy, the plate should be heavy enough that you can do no more than 8 to 10 crunches before failure.
Who am I? A (retired) ACE certified personal fitness trainer who used to train Federal Police at the old Moffett's Gym in Shawnee, KS.
As with any other muscle protocol, high-weight, low-reps to TMF (Total Muscle Failure) is the key to the quickest success. If you can do more than 10 reps with a given weight, increase it to get down to max 6. And yes, it will make you mondo sore. But the results are worth it.
I suggest that you retain a trainer to work with you in any case where you intend to do H.I.T. (High Intensity Training), to help prevent damaging yourself. H.I.T. is HARD to do.
Bill Whedon, ACE CPFT (Ret.)
I am 47 years old and actually have a six-pack. How? Regular exercise for many years now and I really watch what I eat. Pretty simple? Yes and no. Does it work? Yes!
Doing sit-ups hanging from a bar by your knees does way more than crunches.
As a former fitness professional here's the deal.At the very least you must eat correctly most of the time and exercise at least 3-5 days/ wk. A combination of weight training and cardio works best. Eating right is simply a matter of consuming normal food(not processed, diet, or low fat or blah blah blah)in healthy small portions 4-6 times a day to keep metabolism active. Drink water at every meal and snack.Get get plenty of rest. Thanks that'll be 3 easy payments of 19.95
A lot of good info here. Very true with the eat less, move more philosophy, however, it can be a little hazy.
A balanced diet is always best. You need protein to repair damaged tissue from exercise and you need carbohydrates to support the functioning of the central nervous system. A diet higher in protein in usually recommended for weight loss.
I remember I once heard something at a conference I attended, which is so simple and makes perfect sense...
"Everything god makes is good, the rest is crap!"
In other words... eat fresh fruit and vegetables and everything eadible that grows freely and stay away from the processed stuff!
Pretty simple... hey?
Now it is absolutely true that there is no such thing as spot reduction. Exercise is very much a mind / body activity and the more educated you are about what is going on with your body, the more you can vision and focus your energy toward more effective workouts to achieve your results.
When Training my clients I always gave them the tehnical name first then broke it down into simple & easy to understand terms so they knew exactly what was going on with their body and why the exercise I was prescribing was beneficial to their overall goal.
You will find that females tend to store gynoid fat (commonly found around the hips, buttocks & waist area) and males tend to store andriod fat (commonly in the stomach area also known as the 'beer or jelly belly')
There is one thing, however, that hasn't been mentioned yet regarding the abdominal area, which surprises me...
I am referring to activating the tranverse abdominus muscle, which basically acts like a girdle for your stomach.
There is also a very simple exercise that you can do (even whilst sitting at your computer) to activate this muscle.
In fact you may recall a little device that you wrap around your stomach, which was promoted regularly on late night T.V infomercials to remind you to do it.
Anyway here it is...
Simply sit up straight, retract your stomach (around your belly button area) as tight as you can and hold it whilst maintaining your regular breathing pattern.
This is often referred to by most Fitness Professionals as 'activating your core'.
It is also essential to activate your 'core' whilst exercising to provide additional stability to the spine. If you make a habit of doing this regularly each day, you will notice significant differences in your waist line.
You will also find that plyometric training (eg. something as simple as jumping a short distance), will usually cause the natural activation of your 'core'.
In my many years as a Personal Fitness Coach and Health Consultant it amazes me how many people are unable to jump up onto a small box. I once had a client where it took me nearly 12 months to train up so he could jump onto a box that was about 30cm high. We had to work on developing his stretch reflex (reverse the activation of the golgi tendon) plus build his confidence so he wouldn't 'balk' everytime he went to jump.
Once we overcame these challenges the results in his waist line were significantly better.
Oh yeah... did I mention that I never made my client do a single sit up or crunch!
However, please keep in mind that you need to work up to plyometric training especially if you have been sedentary for a long time.
Having a Fitness Professional training you is the most sensible option as they will most likely put you through an endurance program, hypertrophy program, strength program and then introduce you to your power program where you will most likely use plyometric training.
If you would like more info please click on my name below..
To your health, happiness and success!
Chris Lee
Founder /Director
The CFitness Team
P.S. Also try drinking Alkaline Water to help get rid of the toxins and poisons that get trapped in the lymphatic system.
you are so correct there's no easy way
I have kept a flat stomach since I was a teenager (I'm now in my early 30's). Let me tell you how I did it because it is SO SIMPLE.
As a teenager, I just held my stomach in. What I learned, years later, is that simply by holding it in, I am using about 16 different muscles around my abdomen.
Holding my stomach in became a habit. I didn't even have to think about it after a while. I still do it today.
I have received all kinds of comments -- some from family, some from clothing salespeople, some from strangers. The most common: "You have NO stomach!"
Give it a try!
I agree, Kathryn - it is really easy, and such habits have good results anywhere. You need only to think about it, untill it become a habit. Than it is OK.
satellite TV cable deal. get free 4 room installation...
Great article - thank you!
Most people take one look at their love handles and wrongfully assume that fat is bad.
The truth is that fat could be saving your life!
In essence, fat is designed to protect our tissues and organs from the accumulation of dangerous acids that are consumed through the foods that we eat.
Contributed by these acids, belly fat tells us more than "it's time to lose weight" - it's associated with a host of serious health problems and can actually be a symptom of the current existence oor on-coming of said problems.
Minimizing these dangerous acids by eating more specific fat burning foods and proper exercise will not only allow you to get rid of those love handles - but will also increase your energy, health and well-being.
Hope this helps!
Charlie