Institut Bicher
LOSE YOUR BELLY
Why doing sit-ups is a big mistake
By Caroline L.
Lose weight sustainably
Without dieting, without working out and without starving yourself
Have you ever tried getting rid of your gut by doing what feels like 1,000 crunches?
And what was the result...?
It didn't magically give you a six-pack, did it? And yet, your friends and family have all told you that there is nothing better than ab workouts for getting rid of stubborn belly fat. The claim is that you have to attack the fat where it is.
Unfortunately, this isn't true. Most abdominal exercises involve pushing your ab muscles outward. So instead of making your belly disappear, it actually pushes out even more!
But where does this idea come from?
The most popular abdominal exercises (and often wrongly advised by sports coaches) are crunches: you lie on the floor, knees bent, hands behind your neck and you bring your chest closer to your knees. In this way, you shorten your rectus muscles and stretch the transverse, which physiologically speaking is not at all natural and totally unnecessary.
But what happens to your body when you're in that position?
You compress your organs downwards, a bit like when you press on a tube of toothpaste. By doing this exercise, women significantly weaken their perineum, which can eventually lead to urinary incontinence, or in the most serious cases, a descent of the organs.
When you hurt your back, you really hurt your back: your vertebrae are compressed from front to back, so you multiply the risk of having a herniated disc. If you suffer from sciatica on a regular basis, this is an even worse idea because the nerve is then pushed outwards and gets pinched by the disc.
We could also mention the harm you do to your diaphragm and to your neck when doing crunches.
Being at risk of hurting yourself is a good enough reason to forget about this particular exercise. But is it actually effective...?
AGAIN, THIS IS ANOTHER MYTH!
DOING SIT-UPS WILL NOT GET RID OF YOUR BELLY FAT!
A study conducted in 2015 by the University of Tehran shows that doing abdominal exercises does not give significant results on reducing belly fat. In this study, 40 overweight women were divided into 2 groups: one group followed a diet and the other group followed a diet combined with ab exercises. After 12 weeks, the results obtained (weight, waist circumference, subcutaneous abdominal fat mass, umbilical fold) by each of the two groups were very similar. What this showed is that there was no real benefit to doing sit-ups!
So if doing crunches isn't working, what can you do to get rid of your belly once and for all?
Revitalize your metabolism to sustainably influence the amount of energy expended by your body and burn fat.
Let's be clear: we're not all equal when it comes to weight gain and some of us store fat more easily than others, especially around our bellies. This phenomenon is all the more amplified with age (pregnancy, menopause, or hormonal dysfunction...) or by persistant weight problems.
However, it is now possible to reverse the process with simple methods that have proven their effectiveness. Did you know that your metabolism is actually controlled by your brain? It is therefore the key to initiating and implementing a sustainable and effective weight loss.
The Equilibra Mind method was developed with a foundation in the recent advances in the field of neuroscience and cognitive science, and if you would like to learn more :
This will allow you to say goodbye to your belly once and for all!
CLICK PLAY BELOW TO WATCH THE INTRODUCTORY VIDEO
WHAT YOU WILL SEE IN THIS VIDEO :
Sources :
Kordi R, Dehghani S, Noormohammadpour P, Rostami M and Mansournia MA. Effect of abdominal resistance exercise on abdominal subcutaneous fat of obese women : A randomized controlled trial using ultrasound imaging assessments. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 38 (3) : 203-209, 2015.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25766455
Institut Bicher: well-being for your body and mind
Copyright © Institut Bicher. All rights reserved - Terms of Use / Legal notice