Woodlands Fitness Centre

Don't do endless sit-ups

Thursday 19th September 2013

Did you know that for every 100 sit-ups you do, you lose ten pounds of fat? No you didn't, because I've just made that up. It's rubbish. But the way some people insist on crunching up and down for hours on end, you'd think this basic exercise was a miracle fat-loss technique.

Nothing makes me angrier than the late night 'celeb' infomercials, where people claim to go from a size 20 to a size 8 in 4 weeks, by doing 5 mins of crunches each day! Don't believe it because it's a total scam.

It's not that ab curls are bad for you; they are great at strengthening your abs and giving you a nice six pack, along with planks. But if you have a layer of fat covering them you'll never see them. Doing 5,000 sit-ups every day will not 'burn' fat from your stomach. You simply cannot 'spot burn' fat from one part of your body. You lose weight evenly from all over, so the places with the greatest amount of fat will be the last to slim.

In other newsletters we have explained that weight training and cardio (ideally interval training) will shed fat, but it's worth reiterating. The resistance element of a weights workout burns far more calories than the repetitive motion of a sit-up. Abs exercises should be added to your workout only so that when you do lose the fat, you'll have a six-pack lurking underneath.
For any further information please come and speak to me.

Gym. Health club. Personal training. Classes. Zumba. Pilates.
Matlock. Bakewell. Baslow. Derbyshire.

The Woodlands Fitness Centre Ltd
A: Unit 29, Peak Village Estate, Chatsworth Road, Rowsley, Derbyshire, DE4 2JE
T: (01629) 733 123
E: Woodlandsfitness@yahoo.co.uk
W: www.WoodlandsfitnessRowsley.co.uk