No Target Areas, Only Total Body

Five-minute abs, six-minute abs, abs in 90 days and so on and so WRONG!  I hear these advertisements and I begin to argue with the television.

In college I watched these professionals show off all 6-8 packs of those rock hard abs and I would immediately hop on the floor of my dorm room and start crunching.  No matter how bad my diet was or how long it had been since I worked out my whole body, I never went too long without doing some kind of intense abdominal routine before bed.  Unfortunately, my 8-pack never surfaced.  Well, it was there, if I poked around with the right amount of pressure, pushing beyond the ab-insulation (fat).  I could feel that wonder wall.  My core was stronger and more solid, but not visibly, and that was the whole point.  I later found out that spot training (focusing on a particular area/ body part) doesn’t work and diet is most effective in weight loss when paired with exercise. 

When it comes to trimming the fat from the stomach, thighs, buttocks or wherever it likes to cling, the diet is where we should start.  Excessive sugars and carbohydrates directly affect those areas.  From one million minute abs to Thigh Masters, goals will not be met if the diet and exercise don’t add up. 

To build muscle, lift weights.  To burn fat, CARDIO!  Most, including myself, dread the thought of doing any cardiovascular training, but that is what it takes to attack those fatty deposits.  When the whole body is involved, all the problem areas will transform and that’s just the beginning.  Once the diet gets adjusted, the process pays off. 

An important, very basic reason for a good diet is because it gets us through effective workouts.  “Vitamin B12 is necessary for energy production…” (Reader’s Digest, Health and Healing).  This is found primarily in protein, not sugars and carbohydrates, which usually result in fatigue.

So, if you are one of those individuals that will, like myself at one time, focus only on specific areas, get ready to add on to your routine.  Setting goals that exclude the entire body is setting yourself up for failure.  What we eat effects our bodies with or without exercise, and combining the right food with the right exercises can only end in a better you, not just a better belly!