If you’ve got an extra spare tire around your mid-section, why go through all the effort of aerobic and strength training when you can attack the problem with a volley of sit-ups, crunches or other ab-specific exercises? Many people looking for a quick fix to their belly fat issues assume that grunting through 100 sit-ups every day for a couple of weeks will zap away the fat and build up a glistening six pack.
Spot Exercises Don't Work
Nice try. While spot reduction exercises is a tempting short cut, there’s one little problem…it doesn’t work!
Unfortunately for those who opt for the easy track, weight cannot be forcefully lost in a single area (at least not outside of an operating room). Fat is a connected layer beneath the surface of the skin that grows and shrinks as a single unit.
100 sit-ups a day won’t do much to shrink your belly. Instead, you’ll have to do the same thing that works for everybody else: create a calorie deficit, which requires aerobic exercise, full body strength training and a healthy diet.
Sit Ups Strengthens Core Muscles
If you do perform 100 sit-ups a day over a long period of time, you will strengthen your core. You might even begin to develop some ab muscles. The only problem is, as long as you still have a high amount of body fat, you’ll never see your abs or any of your other muscles for that matter.
Most fat sits on top of the muscles, effectively hiding them from view. Unless you lower your overall body fat percentage, your hard-earned six pack might never see the light of day.
The idea of finding fitness success with spot reduction exercises is an instant gratification trap that many novice exercisers fall for. Commercials and magazines claim miraculous results with little or no effort, or try to sell fitness in pill form.
Fitness professionals know that there are no true short cuts to gaining and maintaining fitness – just best practices. It seems so tempting to throw in a couple of pushups or sit-ups and wait for the fat to melt away.
In reality, however, fitness requires putting your body through diverse workouts on a consistent basis and cultivating a healthy diet.
Spot exercising does not work. To get rid of your belly fat and achieve real fitness, short cuts won’t get you there. You’re going to have to go the distance of healthy eating and regular exercise.
