Two points I think are necessary to make at this juncture:
1. Spot reduction is a myth (short of having liposuction). When your body burns fat, it takes it from whatever area of the body it wants to - you can't force it to take the belly fat or thigh fat or whatever.
2. If your friend did lose 60 lbs I'm sure she was doing more than just 20 minutes/4x week of crunches. Most of the infomercials making these claims for these types of exercise gadgets usually say on the bottom of the screen in tiny print: "when following the recommended diet and exercise program - results not typical".
Here's a portion of an article from
Krista Scott Dixon's website that pretty much sums it up (check the link for the rest of the article which is well worth reading):
Originally Posted by :
Seems like the abs are the big focus for infomercial fitness products these days. The latest one I saw was a little gizmo that you strapped on to your tummy. It would vibrate your abs so that they turned into a rippling granite mountain range. Perhaps, dear readers, you have stronger intestinal resistance than I, but I imagine that several minutes of forcible ab vibration would result in me talking to Ralph on the porcelain phone. And then I always wonder, what if those ab gadgets actually did work, what do you do if the rest of you is all squashy and out of shape? I envision a strange hybrid person with a tiny bumpy midsection, and large amorphous everything-else, like a cross between a wasp and a jellyfish. Anyhoo, let's just get this out of the way right now: most of those ab products are crap, and the only thing they'll whittle down is your wallet.
So, assuming that we all want abs that will make Brad Pitt look like Homer Simpson, how to go about it? Maybe it's best to eliminate two nasty myths immediately.
myth #1: You can spot reduce the abdominal region by doing situps or crunches.
There is no such thing as spot reduction, no matter how badly we all want it to be true. You will not "tone" your abs by doing crunches. Waist size is determined by bodyfat levels, which are dependent on your diet and overall exercise patterns. In other words, boring old calories in versus calories out. Grrls who put on fat through the midsection (and menopausal women whose fat deposition patterns have shifted to midsection) will have a hard time getting lean enough to see their abs, while women who put on fat primarily in the lower body can often see abs, especially upper abs, at relatively higher levels of bodyfat. Women who have had multiple pregnancies, or abdominal surgery such as a C-section or abdominal hysterectomy, may notice some laxity in the ab region, or some separation down the centre, as a result of trauma to the tissues. To some degree this is correctable through sensible training, but there's a good chance that the area which had the incision will not regain its original condition. You can strengthen them pretty well, though. However, in general, if you want to see your abs and/or lose inches from your waist, you must lose bodyfat. No quick fixes, sorry. Aw, don't cry. You knew it was too good to be true! Here, have a Kleenex. Blowing your nose will give you some ab work.
myth #2: You shouldn't use weight for abdominal training because that makes abs bulky.
Abs are like any other skeletal muscle and require resistance. What we call the abs is a thin sheet of muscle. Given their shape, abs have very limited capacity for hypertrophy (size increase) compared to muscles like the quadriceps. Women especially are unable to exhibit hypertrophy to any great degree, due to much lower testosterone levels than men (I know, I keep harping on this, but people don't seem to get it). Yes, competitive male bodybuilders often get that weird bloated gut with bumpy abs on top, which makes it look like the guys have swallowed a tortoise. It's not from using weight for their ab exercises; it's from excessive drug use. So breathe easy. Unless, of course, you're also injecting growth hormone.
Personally I think it's awesome that I don't have to do crunches till my hair goes gray in order to get good, strong abs. I was the kid in gym class who'd fake an asthma attack to get out of the situp test. God, I hated situps SO MUCH! There'd always be some snotty little natural jock who could crank out a hundred of them without messing up a single shiny hair, and then there'd be me, lying on the floor, wondering if it was possible to die from an ab cramp. These days my abs are one of my best body parts, and I do only a few sets of them, maybe 10 reps a set, 1 to 3 times a week. Using resistance, and treating abs like any other muscle, has given me a whole new lease on life. Or at least on my childhood situp trauma...
when do i do all this stuff?
As I've mentioned, many folks do too high a volume of ab work at too low an intensity. A good frequency for direct ab training is two to four times weekly, with perhaps one weighted ab exercise per workout, done for 2-4 sets of 8-15 reps. Put your heavy ab training at the end of your workout so that you don't fatigue the midsection too early and compromise torso stability (though you can use lighter ab work, such as standing pelvic tilts, as a warmup for something like squatting). These are general guidelines, of course, and you can adjust them to suit your needs. But bear in mind that as always, more isn't better, better is better!
I must also say that I'm continually amazed at how these infomercial merchants keep coming up with new ab machines...it just seems that we went through this just a couple years ago with the electric ab belt that was supposed to stimulate that jelly belly into a rock hard sixpack (until it was recalled by the FTC that is!) and all those ab rockers - and we were here at 3FC saying the same thing back then. The old bodybuilder saying is "Abs are made in the kitchen" and that definitely rings true.
I HIGHLY recommend Pilates for the abs - it'll give you a better core workout than any of these gadgets will! (and incidentally, it's not necessary to do dozens of reps to get results...the Pilates philosophy according to my instructor is to do a few reps of each movement with perfect form...just like weight training - FORM is essential to results).
