Crunches alone won’t make you lose weight

January 9, 2017 Ashley 0 Comments

“Ashley, what are you doing on the floor?”

“WORKING MY CORE.”

Ah, memories… I recall doing 100 crunches, daily, back in my first year of college. I was terrified of generating the dreaded “Freshman fifteen”. Thus, every day, I’d faithfully bang out a buck’ve belly blasters – right there on the hardly covered concrete floor while my roommate watched, munching nachos. And that’s why I legitimately didn’t understand how my scale readout could be so painfully… inaccurate.

“This must be a mistake. Mmmm… steak”

As you may’ve guessed, the answer’s that – while I was faithfully doing my routine – I was also faithfully feasting on fast food. I was also faithfully committed to swilling spirits (which made me eat even more fast food) when I wasn’t at the gym or bending my body against the carpet or, ya know, studying (because: college). And, as we may or may not all know by now (but it’s true, so listen): ya can’t out-train a bad diet. You eat poorly, you not only perform poorly – but you also carry around a lot’ve excess adipose. What’s more – playing abdominal accordion on the floor may be a great way to get strong – but it doesn’t fry the fat off that paunch bound burger you just wolfed down. To shed flesh jiggle, you’ve gotta dismiss the processed food, add some aerobics to your routine, and sprinkle on some full body strength training.

So, what are tummy workouts good for, then?

I mean – why should I bother demolishing my abdominals if it doesn’t yield weight loss?

(“Your answer better be good. ’cause I’d honestly rather be running right now…”)

Well, when I say it’s a great way to get you stronger, I mean it. And that’s totally necessary. ’cause a fortified core is crucial for well-rounded fitness. First, it helps alleviate that potential brand of back pain you get when you do other forms of exercise incorrectly. Second, it aligns your body so that you’re balanced. And, third, it allows you to move through your other cardio and strengthening maneuvers more fluidly. And why’s that matter? Well, when your core is weak and as un-engaged as a neglected warp drive, everything else falls out’ve whack. Not only do you start doing your other activities incorrectly (like cardio – which you’ll definitely need to get that weight off), but you fatigue far more quickly because of said bodily imbalance. (Which means you can’t power through for as long…. which means less calorie burn… which means less weight loss). And, also, when that imbalance transpires, you also set yourself up for some sort’ve clumsiness induced limb injury. (Which means being laid up… which means no calorie burn at all… which means the opposite of weight loss.) Then, finally, while it won’t drop a pile of pounds on its own, building muscle in your body’s a beautiful yes-and to your weight loss endeavors. Why? Because muscle tissue burns more calories than fat does – so the more of it you have in your body, the better it’ll enhance the effects of exercise and eating right.

So, no, darlings… Crunches can’t outwit Cap’n Crunch, Crunch bar, and Coca Cola diets.

But they can help build the middle of that Coke bottle body you’re working on.

So start jogging, go on an eternal health bender, and, of course…

Work that core.