IF YOU WANT A FLAT STOMACH OR 6-PACK ABS,

IF YOU WANT A FLAT STOMACH OR 6-PACK ABS,
STOP DOING CRUNCHES,
SIT-UPS, AND AB MACHINES…
Ok, don’t actually stop doing your abdominal exercises; you need them to keep your core strong. Once you get rid of your belly fat, then having nicely sculpted abs will come in handy when you look in the mirror. In my experience, I have seen many people focus too much on just doing crunches, sit ups, ab-machines, or any number of gimmicks from the TV to try and get rid of that spare tire. The problem lies in that there is no such thing as spot reduction of fat and the abdominals are a very small muscle group relative to the rest of the body therefore not a huge calorie burning group.

Spot reduction is the belief that if I work a certain body part, then I can reduce the amount of fat in that area. Like working the stomach to reduce the spare tire, or working the inner thighs to reduce the fat that rubs together when you walk. The fact is that your body is your body and it will lose the fat where genetics determine. Usually it starts in the face and works its way down through the shoulders and then ultimately to the stomach and then the lower abdomen. But this only happens when you are getting enough calories in to sustain your body’s requirement and then are burning of the excess calories to require your body to use the fat stored as energy.

In order to get the best benefit from resistance training, you should focus on the major muscle groups, or the larger muscles of the body. These would be the chest, back and leg muscle groups. These muscles by themselves require a lot more energy to maintain themselves than all of the abdominal muscles combined. For every pound of muscle you build, your body will burn at least 50 more calories per day. You will more easily build that extra pound in the larger muscles. (Don’t worry, this doesn’t necessarily mean you will gain size, just a firmer muscle.)

Focus on the fat burning machines of the larger muscles that will do the work for you while you sit at your desk, behind your wheel or while you sleep. Then finish your workout with your ab exercises so that when you do reduce the fat around the belly, you will have a smooth defined mid section to show off at the beach.