2 exercise principles that will set you free

Here is a great question to ask yourself the next time you do a crunch.  If you do 1,000 crunches, will you lose the fat around your stomach? I can actually answer this one from experience......Before I give you the answer, let me give you my experience. Back when I was in my 20's, I was obsessed with trying to get six-pack ripped. I would do 1,000 crunches every day, 500 push ups everyday and run 6 miles every other day. The crunches and push ups took me about 30min to do, and afterwards I would rush to the bathroom mirror to see if my six pack had popped out. I would squint my eyes and convince myself that it was coming in gradually. I kept on doing this routine because I just knew that if I did enough crunches, I would see a six pack popping out like one of those G.I Joe figurines I had when I was a kid.

I kept this routine up for at least 5 or 6 years. Then I met my wife and my entire life turned upside down. Besides the fact that I thought she was (and still is) the most beautiful woman I had ever met, she was a personal trainer and really knew her exercise physiology. In my attempt to make small talk, I asked her what she did for work. When she told me she was a personal trainer, I immediately asked her "How do you get a six pack? I'm doing 1,000 crunches and it isn't getting me anywhere."  I had no idea this question would set in motion a series of events which would change my life.  She laughed in my face and asked why was I still doing 1,000 crunches if it wasn't getting me results (ouch). She went on to explain that exercise is not like liposuction. Just because I'm working out a certain part of my body doesn't mean I will lose fat in that particular area. Everyone loses fat in a certain order, and for most guys abs are the last area to lose fat. Also, she asked me how my diet was since it's impossible to lose body fat on a poor diet. But then she offered to train me for free at her gym, and said the best way to lose body fat is to focus on exercises that burn body fat. At the time I didn't really process what she was saying after she offered to train me for free because I was trying to figure out how I should ask her out on a date.

Six years and one wedding later, I'm now a personal trainer and still happily married to the woman who made fun of me for doing 1,000 crunches.

So here are 2 principles that you should know.

1. Exercise is not liposuction. Exercising your abs does not mean you will burn abdominal fat.

2. If you want to lose fat in your abs, you need to focus on exercises that burn body fat.

So you are probably wondering "What type of exercises burn body fat?"

Well, stay tuned for my next blog.

David Lee

Group Fitness Manager at CAC