Crunches For Fat Loss - Are They Really The Way to Six Pack Abs?

Crunches For Fat Loss - Are They Really The Way to Six Pack Abs?

Crunches are probably the most performed resistance exercise but how effective is the crunch really?
Spot reduction is the concept that we can reduce fat from a particular area by training that spot specifically. This concept has been proved false time and time again by research and is known by the best trainers, but the crunch myth still is circulating.

When the body loses or gains fat it stores it depending pre determined factors such as genetics, age and most commonly sex. Men will store most of their fat on their waist and women will store most of their fat on the hips and thighs. By exercising your muscles by doing common exercises like crunches or thigh exercises to get to those trouble spots we can only generate muscle development, the fat above the muscle will remain unless we exercise more and eat better, the basics of fat loss will always be the answer.

TV shopping businesses sell millions of abdominal machines by pushing the crunches myth. Each year there is another crunch machine that implies it will make crunches more effective, more fun and burn more fat. All the machines use the same basic movement, the abdominal crunch, which viewers are lead to believe that these crunches will burn the fat from their midsection. To set the record straight here are the facts that the best trainers work from everyday:
- Spot reduction will never happen- muscles don't control the fat above them, you cannot crunch fat away from your midsection.

- To burn fat you need to burn more energy- crunches don't burn much energy at all.
Ok so how do we reduce the fat? Burn More Energy the exercises you choose should use many different muscles at a time and the big ones when possible. Big muscles like the ones in the legs, the chest and back require allot of energy to get moving.

Small muscles like the abs and arms will not burn as much. In your program it is important to include a selection of big exercises like squats, lunges, bench press, back rows they will burn plenty of energy and by training them to be more effective they will be able to do more, turning your body into a fat burning machine faster than the crunch ever will.
Your training program can now be free of crunches if you wish, you can now spend more time with exercises that work better and actually see your abs faster.

To learn 5 common mistakes which will virtually destroy your chances of long term fat loss, get your free Email Course 5 reasons why your home fat loss program isn't getting you the results you want and how to fix it so it does by clicking here or below.
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Brett MacPherson is the creator of the Home Fitness Trainer website, a site devoted to providing high quality information to people who choose to exercise at home.