Pilates, the exercise specifically tailored to work your mid-section or core, have become extremely popular all over the globe. Gone are the days of working out your core, or abdominals and any muscles surrounding them, by doing laborious, back breaking sit-ups and exhausting crunches. To obtain the rock hard abs made popular by the movie “300″ and hunky Spartan warriors shown on the big screen, many people are concentrating solely on their abs and not much else in order to obtain the ever elusive and hard to get “six-pack”.
Most people don’t realize that core training by sit-ups and crunches alone does not normally give you the results that you desire. Those that work solely on their core or abs rarely see any kind of results at all. Many Washington D.C. personal trainers and other physical coaches know this little tidbit of information, but fail to mention it to their clients in order to keep them working on the unattainable, thus their clients keep coming to them for help and putting money in their pockets.
Why crunches do not work in order to get a flat stomach
There are many contributing factors to obtaining the unicorn of muscle sculpting, the six-pack. Most people will never accomplish this feet. The six-pack really does require a ton of dedication and hard work including years of training, eating right and the thing many people omit from the “How to obtain a Six-Pack” speech, good genes. So instead of daydreaming about the six-pack, we should really simply be concentrating on a flat and toned stomach!
Most people know that their stomach is the hardest area to tame, especially for men. A lot of men seem to carry most of their gained weight in their core region like the popular beer belly or spare tire and to their dismay, are often compared to their fathers. In order to shed this image, men are desperate to shed the pounds and inches and many concentrate only on the ab region, which is a complete and utter waste of time.
The truth about core training is that while they may indeed make your core muscles a little stronger, nobody will notice them. You see, everyone is born with abdominal muscles that you can’t see because they are covered by a layer of fat. So, if you want a flat stomach or you want to shoot for that elusive six-pack, you must take off the fat. Core training will not help you do that.
We are talking of course about targeted weight loss here, which is one of the biggest myths in the exercise industry. There is no such thing as targeted weight loss. There is no such thing as working out one specific area of the body and losing weight just from that area. The body doesn’t work like that. When you lose weight, you lose weight from everywhere.
There are many workouts that can help you to achieve the weight loss that you desire. Anything in the cardiovascular family will certainly do this for you. Running, walking, swimming, using an elliptical, or jumping rope are all effective, popular and proven ways to keep your heart rate up and help you burn the calories needed to lose weight. Core training alone does not provide the calorie burning needed to achieve weight loss.
The act of core training can have more issues than just not providing results. This exercise can cause injuries if not done properly. Damages to the neck and spine are some of the most common injuries that are associated with core training. Keeping your form is an important part of preventing these types of injuries and people that have a pre-existing condition such as back and neck problems really should stay away from core training all together!!
The best away to achieve a flat, healthy stomach is to do all around exercising and not concentrate solely on the core section. Cardio is an excellent way to burn calories and help get rid of the extra fat you may be carrying around in that area. So stop wasting your time chasing after the unattainable and work on being a healthier person.
