Gilbert Personal Trainer Says "Forget the Crunches!"

Think great abs and a slimmer waistline are the result of thousands of crunches and sit-ups?

Think again!

Many of my personal training clients begin to question me after the first week has passed and we haven't completed any direct abdominal work. I have to inform them that we are indeed working the abs a great deal in many of the compound weight training exercises we perform.

More importantly, however, I have to teach them the unfortunate reality that crunches and sit-ups will do absolutely nothing to reduce belly fat!

Consider the following...

The Guiness World Record holder for sit-ups is an average looking man with no visible abs! Although he undoubtedly has amazing strength and endurance throughout his abdominal muscles….he also has just enough body fat to cover them up.

This is an outstanding real life example that supports the 'truth' about getting a lean, sexy stomach...

All of the crunches, sit-ups and hours spent using that ab machine you purchased because of the tempting infomercial are pointless if you fail to cut your body fat down to a level that allows visibility of the underlying muscles. This level is generally in the single digits for males and around 13-15% body fat for females.

Bottom line is that most people would need significant work in decreasing their body fat percentage before they should even let the phrase '6-pack' enter their imagination.

If a tight and tone midsection is what you would like to achieve, please do not waste another minute with ab exercises…you’d be much better off making healthy dietary changes and incorporating intense weight training and cardiovascular sessions in effort to burn through some of that excess body fat.

Remember, everyone has a 6-pack. The difference between the fitness cover models and the rest of us has nothing to do with sit-ups and everything to do with maintaining a low body fat percentage, which can most easily be controlled through sound nutrition intake.

Dr. Brad Campbell Gilbert AZ Personal Trainer