Ask The Expert Fitness Column
During my long experience as a SuperSlow professional in the exercise field I always come across very similar questions asked by the majority of people, especially women.
It never stops puzzling me how people believe changes are able to overtake any industry except the exercise field. Let me ask you, dear reader, if somebody told you 50 years ago when the horse was still the mode of transportation that it was to become obsolete and the car was to take its place, would you have run with the new vision?
Do you know how few believed the horse was to replace the car? The census at the time was; “the horse is here to stay!” Yes, those- and there were many- went broke and a few, the visionaries, became millionaires.
Why then do people think no change is to come about in the fitness industry? If the last 30 years people are fatter than ever then something has gone astray. Are we to be the visionaries who allow our minds to parachute into a new time, a new way of thinking and therefore abort the way this American consumer society is heading where one in every four adults is obese? And, let’s face it, not only are the vast majority of Americans overweight but also unhappy with their looks and worse yet- obsessed with it.
Life is more than looks; It is health and joy. Are we to allow ourselves to live abundantly acknowledging some facts concerning our bodies that will dramatically free us from this bondage-to-this-body- and ultimately point us to where gratification really lies: Taking control over our body and truly living!
After more than thirty years into the fitness boom when Jane Fonda began her aerobic revolution, we still have women afraid of muscles and lifting weights. Our focus in today’s column will be eliminating ONE of these myths so that once and for all women may learn the best way of gracing old age and keeping a young and fit silhouette no matter their age.
So here it is: One of the myths, and therefore, the most asked questions from the past
Three centuries I hope to clear FOREVER!
MYTH NUMBER ONE: Will doing abdominals get rid of this nasty bulge in the
midsection?
Spot reducing DOES NOT EXIST. What does this mean? It signifies that your body,
Whatever type of earthly vessel you have been given, accumulates fat genetically.
Therefore, if your fatty deposits lie in your belly, exercising that area to exhaustion will
Not necessarily reduce your fat in that area. The first place you gain is the last place you
loose. To loose fat anywhere you must exercise the biggest muscles of your body to
failure. Then you allow your body to rest and recover and eventually you will loose fatty
deposits in your troublesome areas.
Let me put it in more layman terms; If you grab a cow (not to say you are one, p-l-e-a-s-
e!) by the fingernail, will it move? No, of course not, the fingernail is too small. Yet, if
you catch that cow by the thigh (hoping you could) you would be able to twirl it around
perfectly (the thigh is big). We are the same (excluding the animal term). Exercising the
biggest muscle of the body to fatigue will eventually make you loose the bulge wherever
you accumulate it. What’s the biggest muscle of your body? Yes, you got you’re your buttocks; the second? Your lats (latissimus dorsi); and your third, your chest!
Think of dieting. Don’t you loose it first on our face, your little finger… before the
inches start coming off in other noticeable areas? Wherever you have less fat, you loose
faster and it shows quicker too.
So, the long awaited and always asked question? Should you eliminate abdominals
Altogether? That sounds like the fat elimination our society is going thru. Because-fat-
makes-me-fat-I-will-not-eat-it-and-just-buy-fat-free-foods…. And, of course overindulge and end-up- eating-the-same-calories-because…well it’s fat free! Come On! The key is
balance.
We are moved by extremes? Just incorporate abdominals in weight training
system where you increase your resistance (show progress) every time you workout.
And give yourself time to recover between workouts. Remember in exercise, like in
everything, more is not necessarily better- more intense is better and the key is, yes,
believe it or not rest and eating sensible small meals.
OK. That’s all for today my readers. See you next time, same place, same time and we
will continue our voyage into the world of exercise. Please send your questions to: ronmayra56@hotmail.com
954-682-3264.
Train hard/be blessed!