Are sit ups a waste of time?
Sit Ups. Everybody does them, most people hate them. I know I do!
Then there are other fantastic exercises like side leg raises and butt clenches that strip these problem areas of fat so you will be able to crack walnuts with your butt.
People tell you that you can lose fat from specific parts of your body by doing certain exercises for that area. This is a load of rubbish. Targeting areas like you hips and thighs to burn off fat from these areas is physiologically impossible to do. Your body will burn fat from all over your body no matter what sort of exercise you are doing. So for all of you out there that have purchased the Hips, Butt and Thigh workout DVD I hope you like the soundtrack.
Fat is only used as a major source of energy during cardiovascular exercise, not during isolated exercises like sit ups. Even then your cardio workout will need to be done over a extended period of time and must include full body exercises like Walking, Jogging and Boxing etc to make any major decrease to the fat from your body.
Exercises like sit ups, crunches, side leg raises and the infamous walnut cracking butt clenches along with the many exercise machines that clever marketers dream up over Friday drinks target just one problem part of the body.
"Burns fat off your thighs" "Tone ups your buttocks" "Flattens your tummy in just minutes a day"
Regrettably these exercises will never fulfill the expectations that they promise simply because you are not using fat as a fuel source whilst doing the exercise. All of these exercise will burn sugar (carbohydrates or glycogen) as a source of energy generating a burning sensation in that muscle.
Can you "feel the burn".
This is not fat burning and melting away, this is caused by a release of lactic acid. If you feel this "burn" it is a sure sign that you are burning sugar not fat.
Think of your body as a high performance automobile and fat is the fuel in your car. To burn the fuel you will need to fire up your engine, take the car out of the garage (or off the couch) and take it for a drive. The further or faster you drive your car, the more fuel you will burn. Fuel = Fat. Doing sit ups is like walking up to your car and opening and closing the door. No fuel will be burnt, you will just wear out the hinges. To burn fat... move your whole body!!!
You will also have been told that these isolated exercises are awesome for strengthening the muscles that you are targeting. Unfortunately as you are not lifting a very heavy load, the changes that these exercises will make to your body are zero. Think about Sit Ups. As the average head only weighs around 4kgs, this is what you are lifting. Side leg raises where you are only lifting one leg. This is the same leg that carries your body around all day. These exercises are also very dysfunctional or non-specific to daily functions. They do not promote good posture or good stabilisation for your body.
Three to four physically demanding, compound, strength training exercises that you only need to do once a week will make your muscles stronger and will make a huge change in what most people are looking for "to tone up" To do this you must lift weights for every muscles, not just the ones with fat over it.
So everybody lets start those engines and get your "car' off the couch and start moving.