Some "ABS"olute Truths
January 10th 2007 11:59
As most people are aware the body has a pattern of depositing fat that demands that the waist and hips bear the brunt of weight gain. This very basic fact also means that fat goes on according to plan and it comes off according to a plan. There is really nothing that can be done to alter the way your bad eating impacts your body and there is really no such thing as spot reducing. You would never know this by the boat load of abdominal contraptions that litter the various media.The central impression these ads convey is that just exercising with the product in question will slim the waist and improve appearance all by itself. This is overstated to say the least. If you read Midnight Confessions recently you know that advertisers are not beyond sending subjects to the gym for months in advance of an ad campaign to get the before and after effects they wish to ascribe to their "Abdominal Whatever." All of this nonsense has left a residue of confusion in the average person's mind about the relationship of abdominal exercise and its effects on the overweight.
Let's dispel some myths. If you are overweight and fat has accumulated among your middle, you cannot get rid of it by doing hundreds of sit ups or some variation thereof. The result of such effort will be that you will have very strong abdominal muscles with great endurance...and fat around your middle to cover these developed muscles. If you do not diet you will make no headway in the battle of the bulge. If you do diet your bulge will disappear whether you ever exercise your abs or not.
This does not mean that abs should not be exercised. In fact, the abdominal muscles are directly involved in the posture and protection of vital organs. Weak and/or prolapsed abdominal muscles are a contributing factor in lower back problems. Aesthetically the more tight the abdominal muscles the straighter one stands and the greater the all important difference between the girths of the chest and waist- that hour glass look. Training abs pays dividends.
Here again,however, the myths can get in your way. The situp is an ineffective exercise for abs. The body does it by recruiting other muscles like the hips to create momentum that brings the shoulders off the ground with as much ease as is possible. The abs actually function to bring the shoulders and upper torso toward the hips and legs, so it is this movement that will actually develop abs. The most effective movements for abs involves the simultaneous movement of the shoulders and the hips toward a point between them, like the navel. As they strengthen, the abs should be treated to the same kind of resistance patterns as any other muscles.
The miracle ab machine is probably sitting in your gym. It is the seated ab crunch which mimics the movement I have just described.
If this machine is used with regularity it will yield muscular and taut abs, which can be fully revealed with a commitment to diet. Your servant, as always
Let's dispel some myths. If you are overweight and fat has accumulated among your middle, you cannot get rid of it by doing hundreds of sit ups or some variation thereof. The result of such effort will be that you will have very strong abdominal muscles with great endurance...and fat around your middle to cover these developed muscles. If you do not diet you will make no headway in the battle of the bulge. If you do diet your bulge will disappear whether you ever exercise your abs or not.
This does not mean that abs should not be exercised. In fact, the abdominal muscles are directly involved in the posture and protection of vital organs. Weak and/or prolapsed abdominal muscles are a contributing factor in lower back problems. Aesthetically the more tight the abdominal muscles the straighter one stands and the greater the all important difference between the girths of the chest and waist- that hour glass look. Training abs pays dividends.
www.yukon-fitness.com Ab Crunch Machine
Here again,however, the myths can get in your way. The situp is an ineffective exercise for abs. The body does it by recruiting other muscles like the hips to create momentum that brings the shoulders off the ground with as much ease as is possible. The abs actually function to bring the shoulders and upper torso toward the hips and legs, so it is this movement that will actually develop abs. The most effective movements for abs involves the simultaneous movement of the shoulders and the hips toward a point between them, like the navel. As they strengthen, the abs should be treated to the same kind of resistance patterns as any other muscles.
The miracle ab machine is probably sitting in your gym. It is the seated ab crunch which mimics the movement I have just described.
If this machine is used with regularity it will yield muscular and taut abs, which can be fully revealed with a commitment to diet. Your servant, as always
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