I don’t normally get real fired up about things that I read and don’t agree with, but today this article “Women and Lower Belly Fat” really got under my craw. I was ok when I read the first paragraph because I think the authors 100% spot on.
“The title of this article has bound to be an infomercial at some point with someone selling you the latest way to beat the lower belly fat you battle. If you are lucky, you will get out with one payment of $19.95. If you are not so lucky, you will be stuck with “just five payments of $19.95.” There is a better way to fight this lower belly fat.”
It really does sound like a common infomercial. I even agreed for the most part about what was said in paragraph two.
“You have dieted, you have exercised, and your routine includes hundreds of crunches a day, but nothing seems to reduce the lower belly fat. At the end of the day you poke your rock hard upper abs with your index finger, work your way down and just at the belly button area you hit it. You hit the fat, or more to the point you hit the lower belly fat.”
I think that’s a pretty accurate description of what most women experience when they try and try and try to get rid of their belly fat. I even was ok with paragraph three for the most part when they tell the reader not to go out and buy a new fangled Ab device to solve the problem. The part where they lost me and got me a little cranked up is when they said this:
“This program is so simple; you will likely kick yourself for not trying it sooner. As mentioned, you already do crunches, but there is one more step. To target that lower belly fat you need to suck it in. That is right; you need to suck in that lower area. Your goal is to pull that area in toward your tailbone. Once you have your lower belly area pulling in toward the tailbone as far as you can pull it in, hold it. Some fitness experts indicate that you should hold it for a count of ten. Others are set that you should hold in the lower belly area for as long as you can before releasing it. Sticking with the “hold as long as you can theory” don’t be surprised if the hold time gets longer the more you do this exercise. Try to focus on doing this for about five minutes a day. If you are out of shape, start with two to three minutes a day. Women have reported losing upward of two to three inches in about a month using this method.”
I’m sorry, even though I agree that spinal stabilization exercises are essential in an effective core strengthening program, there’s no way that doing a bracing type movement is going to get rid of lower belly fat. It’s going to firm up and strengthen what’s underneath, but again there’s NO WAY that doing that exercise alone is going to get rid of your belly bulge. Unfortunately the real solution isn’t that simple. If it were, the problem wouldn’t be so wide spread. The truth is that the solution for belly fat removal could be very different for different individuals. Activity does play an important role but there’s much more to it as I mentioned in my post “The 4 Secrets to Cracking the Nagging Belly Fat Code” than just Ab exercises to get rid of belly fat.
Hope you didn’t fall for this one or other claims like it? Would love to know your thoughts or experiences.
Ha Ha, that cracks me up when they make claims like that. I also like the “its easy” requires no work/effort” ” no special eating” etc!