YOU'VE been sweating through 200 crunches every day.
Your torso hurts. You're losing sleep because you wake up early every morning to complete your abdominal exercises. Your frustration increases as your tummy pooch fails to decrease. Sound familiar?
Even if the rest of their body is fit and trim, many women struggle with excess fat over their lower abdominal muscles. And many of these women believe in spot treatment, that by focusing their workouts solely on this problem area, they'll achieve the results they long for.
When this fails to happen, their frustration grows along with the extra weight around their tummy.
What are they doing wrong? To begin, there is no such thing as spot treatment to lose weight. It's impossible to cut fat from just one part of your body since the body burns fat as a whole, not from specific targeted areas.
The first place you gain weight is the last place you lose it, that's why your thighs might be trim and toned while you can grab two inches of flab off your tummy.
So how do you get that flat tummy you crave? There are a few things you need to do.
First, you need to reduce your overall level of body fat through a combination of diet and exercise.
Second, you'll want to concentrate on your abs to make sure that when you do lose the layer of fat covering them, they are tight and toned. Additionally, you can make your tummy appear flatter by strengthening your lower abs. When your core is weak, it can cause your stomach to appear distended, which is what gives many women that stubborn stomach pooch.
Even though spot reduction is a myth, you can still achieve the six-pack that you've always wanted, you just need a combination of core exercises, a healthy diet and cardiovascular exercise.
Shaun Karp is a certified personal trainer. For further information call his office at 604-420-7800 or visit karpfitness.com.
