DISCLAIMER: Before I get roasted let me just say I am personally find this hard to believe and will not be stopping cardio (although current injured) and monitoring diet any time soon. Just putting this up for discussion...
Do Crunches Really Work?
Everyone wants washboard abs but how exactly do you get them? The
answer has not been very clear and many professional fitness
trainers disagree about the proper way to achieve that desirable
mid section. This causes much confusion amongst their clients.
"Am I wasting my time doing hours of abdominal work every week?"
For some time now there have been two schools of thought - those
who believe the only way to see your abs is to focus on shedding
whole-body fat levels through diet and aerobic exercise, and those
who say that you have to do lots of abdominal exercises to reduce
the fat in you mid-section.
Up until now, many scoffed at the premise of exercise induced
spot-fat-reduction. Well the jury is finally in and it appears
that spot-fat reduction is a reality.
While whole body fat reduction is best served by reducing caloric
intake and performing aerobic exercise, there is now evidence
that the fat that is directly adjacent to the working muscles
burns at a higher rate than fat that is adjacent to the resting
muscles. It stands to reason, but until now, has not been proven.
A study published this month by the Department of Medical
Physiology at the Panum Institute, University of Copenhagen
in Denmark showed that subjects who performed high repetition
leg extensions at varying intervals and resistance levels for
up to two hours with one leg at a time exhibited a higher
degree of fat oxidation in area directly adjacent to the
working leg muscles.
This increase in fat oxidation was irrespective to exercise
duration or intensity. The fat directly adjacent to the working
muscles burned at a higher rate than the resting muscles.
Period.
This increased fat oxidation was also associated with a higher
degree of blood flow to the local area of the working muscles
and adjacent fatty tissue. This may enhance the fats ability
to be carried away and disposed of by the liver thus increasing
the likelihood that the fat won't simply be re-deposited
elsewhere.
The take away from this study is very clear and should put
the debate over exercise induced spot-fat reduction to rest
once and for all. If you want to rid yourself of the fat
that covers a specific area of your body, such as your abs,
you'll have the greatest success if you focus on exercises
that work the muscles directly adjacent to the problem area.
If you want washboard abs you'll have to start doing more
abdominal work.
By Carl Lanore
Reply With Quote
