Doing countless crunches
and sit ups are by far the most common exercise mistake for anyone who
wants to slim down their midsection. The thought is that doing hundreds
of crunches and sit ups will work the abs so hard that the fat covering
them will disappear. If this were true, you would see people walking
around with toned and defined abs and a soft and flabby body everywhere
else.
Here's something to think about: we're always focusing on the abs but you ever noticed that the people who have the best abs also have a great body everywhere else? This is by design - not by coincidence. The idea that doing lots of crunches is going to get you six pack abs is a myth that is known as "spot reduction". Fat burning is not a local phenomenon. When you do bicep curls your biceps do not pull fat from your arm for energy, so why would crunches reduce the fat around your waistline?
In order to lose body fat you need to create a caloric deficit, which means that your body is burning more calories than it is taking in. Your diet constitutes how many calories you are taking in and your level of physical activity is what constitutes how many calories you burn off (in addition to your resting metabolism).
The biggest problem with crunches and sit ups are that they do not give you a very big "bang for your buck" with regard to caloric expenditure. You can spend 15 minutes doing crunches and get your abs working very hard, but you will only burn a small number of calories. This is not enough to have a large impact on losing body fat.
The answer burn more calories. The more calories you burn the more fat you will lose on your entire body, thus exposing your abs to the world.
Doing hundreds of crunches and sit ups are simply not a very efficient way to spend your time exercising. Your goal with exercising to lose body fat is to burn a lot of calories and to boost your metabolism.
So get to the gym, lift to add muscle - the more muscle you add the higher your metabolic rate and the more calories you will burn 24/7 - even when you are sleeping!
For more on this check out musclemagfitness.com
Here's something to think about: we're always focusing on the abs but you ever noticed that the people who have the best abs also have a great body everywhere else? This is by design - not by coincidence. The idea that doing lots of crunches is going to get you six pack abs is a myth that is known as "spot reduction". Fat burning is not a local phenomenon. When you do bicep curls your biceps do not pull fat from your arm for energy, so why would crunches reduce the fat around your waistline?
In order to lose body fat you need to create a caloric deficit, which means that your body is burning more calories than it is taking in. Your diet constitutes how many calories you are taking in and your level of physical activity is what constitutes how many calories you burn off (in addition to your resting metabolism).
The biggest problem with crunches and sit ups are that they do not give you a very big "bang for your buck" with regard to caloric expenditure. You can spend 15 minutes doing crunches and get your abs working very hard, but you will only burn a small number of calories. This is not enough to have a large impact on losing body fat.
The answer burn more calories. The more calories you burn the more fat you will lose on your entire body, thus exposing your abs to the world.
Doing hundreds of crunches and sit ups are simply not a very efficient way to spend your time exercising. Your goal with exercising to lose body fat is to burn a lot of calories and to boost your metabolism.
So get to the gym, lift to add muscle - the more muscle you add the higher your metabolic rate and the more calories you will burn 24/7 - even when you are sleeping!
For more on this check out musclemagfitness.com
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