A flat, tight, toned tummy does not come from doing crunches, sit-ups, planks, bridges or any other isolated “tummy” exercise. Your abdominal muscles function in the upright position, to hold you upright. If you want to make your abdominals stronger, you must overload them, in the upright position, with an exercise that works your whole body, such as big compound exercises like squats, deadlifts and chin-ups. Your abdominals are then working the way they function in everyday life to hold you upright. They are all hard exercises that work.
Strong abdominals protect your lower back and give you great posture. But most people are thinking about getting rid of the flabby bits – fat – off of their abdominals. Keep in mind that a muscle is never flabby or fat, it is just weak or strong. And a sit-up, crunch, or plank burns no fat off your tummy. We only burn fat out of our fat cells when we move in big movements, in the upright position, doing huffy puffy exercise, using, all of our big muscles. When we are fitter, we burn fat out of our fat cells faster.
Lying on the floor doing abdominal exercises or holding your body just off the floor in a plank will give you a burning sensation in your tummy area. This is not a sign of exploding fat cells or fat being burnt. That burning sensation is lactic acid, pushing up against your nerve endings causing a “burn,” commonly mistaken as fat exploding, but it is the exact opposite. Lactic acid means no fat is being burnt because lactic acid is not produced in your aerobic, fat-burning system.
We all make the excuse that we have so little time to exercise. When you do invest the time, please do not invest it in silly exercises.
How to be lean, fit, strong and energetic
• Get your heart pumping fast every day so you get fit and burn fat. Fit peopleburn fat faster than an unfit person, even when they are resting.
• Drink water regularly, enough so that your tinkle is clear.
• Eat real food that still looks like it came out of the ground.
• Eat for your energy expenditure: If you move little, eat little. If you move more, eat more.
