I always wonder about those sweaty guys I see in the gym who do dozens of crunches, then stroll over to the vending machine to down a bottle of Mountain Dew. Unless that’s the only high calorie beverage they consume all day, I would think they would be better off drinking a bottle of water. That is if they ever want to see the six-pack abs they are trying to create via the crunches.
Crunches won’t get rid of body fat. That’s one of the biggest fitness myths out there. The only way you are going to be able to show off a ripped set of abs is to participate in aerobic activity. Cardio will firm up the underlying muscles and burn fat so you can actually see the results of your hard work.
As long as we are debunking myths, you should know that there is no such thing as “lower abs.” The legendary six-pack every fitness buff dreams of is actually one long muscle, called the rectus abdominis that extends from below your chest to your pubic bone. To thoroughly work your abs, you need to do exercises that target all four muscles: the rectus abdominis, internal and external obliques and the transverse abdominis. Then, skip the soda, rehydrate with water and hit the treadmill.
Another popular fitness myth maintains that building muscle is the best way to speed up your metabolism. The truth is, if you’re looking for a major metabolism boost you are better off completing higher intensity cardio workouts in addition to weight training. Doing so will result in a maximum metabolism boost. Weight training builds muscle, which in turn burns more calories than fat. But the average person doesn’t add enough muscle to their frame to opt out of high intensity workouts. One 30-minute session of high intensity interval training can burn up to 600 calories whereas 30 minutes of free weights typically burns less than 200 calories.
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