You will see many people (you may even be one of them) performing hundreds of sit-ups, crunches or other abdominal exercises in order to get that much desired flat stomach. Guess what, yes you’ve guessed it, you’re wasting your time.

In fact wasting the precious time that could be used doing better exercises. So if you’re after a six pack or just losing a bit around the middle, this article is for you.

Why doing sit-ups don’t work.

It is impossible to spot reduce fat that is lying around in the body. Your body has its own way of dealing with the fat. If you have too much fat your body will deposit and store the fat where it sees fit. Likewise when you are training correctly and you are burning the stored fat your body will release that fat from wherever it deems necessary. It usually operates on a “last on first off” principle. If you burn more calories than you take in, the body will look for the deficit from what is lying around. Be careful though. this doesn’t apply when you severely restrict your calories, i.e. a crash diet.

This means that doing all the abdominal exercises only causes a minor calorie burn compared to working a big muscle group like the legs so therefore the fat burning potential is drastically reduced.

Not only does attempted spot reduction not work it can also lead to an increase in injury. The risk comes from 2 factors. The first is an imbalance between the agonist and antagonist muscles of the midriff. By working extensively on the abdominals without doing the same intensity on your lower back, this would cause the hips to tilt forward leading to pressure in the lower back. The second is from muscular fatigue. When you work a muscle constantly without adequate rest in between sessions there is a chance you may cause injury instead of progression. Even at best the muscle won’t develop in the way that you were hoping.

So what can you do to get a flat stomach?

The first is to make sure your diet is spot on. Only taking on board the fuel that you need to survive the day. It is something we are very familiar with in regards to our car. We fuel our car for the impending journeys ahead. Our body is no different. Too much fuel means that the body will store all the excesses as fat. Find out how much fuel you need. There are simple calculations that you can make or better still, seek the advice from a nutritionist.

The second is to train the bigger muscle groups. Anything that involves the legs is suitable whether it’s running or plyometrics. Again it’s easy to get the relevant exercises to do by seeking help from a Personal Trainer. (They should give you this info for free.)

In summary, sit-ups give strength to the abdominal muscle. What covers those strong muscles is usually an unacceptable amount of body fat. Therefore work to get rid of the fat by diet and exercising the bigger muscle groups. It really is as simple as that.

< Prev		Next >