The little known truth about Ab Workouts

I know this won’t be easy for a lot of you to accept. But my aim is not to make things easy, it’s to give you the truth so you can know what it really takes to be fit and healthy:

Whenever I get a new client at the gym, one of the first things they tell me is, “I want to do lots of exercises for my abs so I can have a flat stomach.”

Then, I crush all of their hopes and dreams by telling them, “Abs exercises don’t make your stomach flat”. I give them a minute to let it sink in and then I reveal the truth about abdominal exercises.

First, abdominal exercises are great for strengthening your abdominal muscles, THAT’S IT. One thousand crunches and any other twisting variation to the sit-up will not burn fat from your stomach. That’s not the way it works. Ab belts, ab machines, ab lounges, ab chair, any machine with the word “ab” in it are all expensive pieces of furniture that will never make your stomach flat. Ab workouts are still very important because a strong core is the key to overall strength, and it gives you the ability to do the real exercises that will help you burn fat and get a flat tummy. But ab workouts alone are not the answer to a belly fat. You see, you cannot manipulate your body into burning fat from a certain area of your body. So if you have fat around your arms, doing an arm workout for an hour does not burn fat from your arms.

Everyone’s body burns fat differently. Some people tend to lose weight in their face first, then arms, then stomach. Some people lose weight in their hips and thighs first, then their stomach. It’s just the genetic cards you’ve been dealt. But understand that it is definitely possible for you to lose fat from your stomach. You just have to stick to the proper blue-print and be consistent.

You have to understand that losing fat means you have to burn off the excess calories on your body. You need to do activities that burn as much as calories as possible. Crunches and sit-ups work only your abs (a rather small muscle group). You’re not burning a whole lot of calories when you focus only on your abs. Instead, you should be focusing on exercises that involve your bigger muscles groups, like your legs, butt and shoulders. You burn way more calories working those bigger muscles as opposed to your abs only. If anyone tells you that a certain ab exercises will make your stomach flat, they are lying to you or they don’t know better.

In addition to working your larger muscle groups, pay attention to your diet and always do some sort of cardio to burn off extra calories. Then, and only then, will you begin to see a decrease in your waistline.

And that my friends, is the ugly truth.

If you want to know the real reason you have excess stomach fat, then you have to read this article by Mike Geary.

Also, 5 tips for a flat stomach

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