Friday, May 21, 2010

Get Rid Of That Beer Belly Gut With Simple Abdominal Crunches & Sit Ups!!!

Miami Beach Sports Chiropractor - Dr. Todd Narson
Yeah right-Sorry, it ain't gonna happen! I was in the gym this morning and it's always the same thing. The brand new gym member comes in, towel around their neck, gut is leading the way by about 2 feet and they go straight to the abdominal crunch machine. Let's please take a moment and dispel the myth, spot reducing only works for Board Certified Plastic Surgeons doing liposuction! It doesn't work with exercising in the gym.

If your diet has consisted of refined foods, pasta, breads (I don't care what type of bread), food & drinks with added sugar, starchy foods & fast foods for, let's say the past 5-10-15-20 years and you are tipping the scales, please don't come to the gym, jump on the abdominal crunch machine and thing in 2 weeks you will be sporting an 8-pack. (By the way, it's an 8-pack, not a 6-pack, 8 pack is your rectus abdominus, a 6-pack is your beer).

If you truly want that 8-pack or at least want to drop enough weight where you can once again double check your gender, then you need to do a few things consistently and set a long term goal.

(1) Change your diet. Eat real food. Veggies, fruit (primarily berries) and clean-lean-natural meats the serving size of which should be about the size and thickness of the palm of your hand.

(2) Exercise. At the very least, do a brisk walk for 30 minutes every day. It's a start and before you know it, you will want to increase your exercise naturally. Maybe bicycling, going to the gym or even hiring a personal trainer to guide you. Plan your workouts so you go to the gym already knowing what you're gonna do. Most people wander around and see what machine looks good. Personally, I like to work agonist/antagonists that act on a specific joint or joints with a short (less than a minute) rest in between. I start and finish with the stair-master doing 1-minute intervals. I break up my weights so that I do strength training, power training, aerobic capacity training (muscular endurance).

(3) Preparation. If you think ahead and prepare your foods for the up and coming few days, it's easier to make good decisions and stick to your plan.

(4) Mind-set. It always helps to stay focused on your goal. for me, I have a friend who is a hypnotist and I go to him specifically to help me with mental exercises and hypnotherapy to help me stay focused on the task at hand, reduce stress, maintain my good eating habits and so forth. Often a hypnotist will have CDs that you could download onto your iPod for daily use.

So to the new member, I'm glad you're in the gym. Welcome. Now, plan, focus and go for it.

Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.

'nuff said


DocT





Dr. Narson is a 2-term past president of the Florida Chiropractic Association’s Council on Sports Injuries, Physical Fitness & Rehabilitation and was honored as the recipient of the coveted Chiropractic Sports Physician of the Year Award in 1999-2000. He practices in Miami Beach, Florida at the Miami Beach Family & Sports Chiropractic Center; A Facility for Natural Sports Medicine.

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