Now that we are month away from the Holiday Season Officially starting this is when people will start to expand their waistline from Halloween through New Years and the questions about how to reduce their stomachs.
Ok here is something most people do not want to hear. Doing Ab exercises like crunches, sit-ups, all the silly Ab machine in existence do nothing for you stomach becoming flatter. This is the single biggest mis -information campaign ever perpetrated by gyms, makers of all the infomercial abdominal machines, and instructors of Ab classes around the world.
Here is the truth; the muscle that everyone concentrates on working for a flatter stomach is the rectus abdominus muscle commonly known as the six-pack, which is really an eight-back. This muscle is responsible for moving your rib cage towards your pelvis and when this happens the stomach bulges outward. Just try for yourself, lie down on your back and put one hand on your stomach, now do a crunch or sit up, viola your stomach bulges immediately as the eight pack contracts to help you move your torso toward your waist.
The main muscle that holds your stomach flat and tight is called the transverses muscle which is on the side and joins into connective tissue behind it. It is the body’s natural corset as it’s fibers run across your stomach, join into the back of the eight pack and wrap around the sides of the body attaching all along the rib cage and into the back muscles.
So under the misguided influence of multiple industries millions of well intentioned people are sweating away for hours and hours doing a variety of abdominal exercises with the hope of reducing their waistline. The net gain from all of this work is a minor increase in Ab strength and minimal reduction in the girth of the waistline.
All is not lost; I am not going to leave you with this cliffhanger for too long. I will continue this next month ABSolutely!