As a trainer, I get a lot of questions about how to get big arms, toned legs, nice shoulders. The body part I get asked about most, however, is the \u201clower abs.\u201d Hearing that I\u2019m a trainer, an exerciser will sidle up to me, point to the area right below their belly button, and ask, \u201cWhat can I do about this?\u201d<\/p>\n
There are several misconceptions behind this simple question, so I\u2019ll take them one at a time.<\/p>\n
Thanks in large part to the bodybuilding approach to fitness\u2014in which you divide your body into segments, like a butcher\u2019s diagram of a beef steer\u2014many people believe that muscles, and even parts of muscles, can be worked in isolation from one another. So they believe it should be possible to perform an exercise that specifically targets that six-inch square section of flesh below their navels.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, it doesn\u2019t work like that. Muscles tend to work in groups. Even a simple action like getting up from a chair activates muscles from your neck to your ankles. And forget isolating a part of a muscle. Much like bungee cords, muscles tend to stretch and shorten along their entire lengths.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s true of the rectus abdominus, or six-pack muscle, as well. Contract the \u201clower abs,\u201d whatever those are, and you inevitably contract the entire muscle from its point of origin at the front lower edge of your rib cage to its point of insertion at the front of your pelvis.<\/p>\n
There are, of course, effective ways to build a rockin\u2019 six-pack. There\u2019s just no such thing as working your \u201clower abs.\u201d You either contract your abdominal muscles\u2014all of them\u2014or you don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
What most people think of as weakness or lack of tone in the lower abs is more likely just a dollop or two of fat around their waist. In both men and women, the lower belly tends to be an area where even relatively lean people carry some fat. Women\u2019s fitness magazines like to call these areas \u201ctrouble spots,\u201d though personally I find it more troubling when people obsess over seeing veins pop out in areas where both the Venus de Milo and Farnese Hercules were smooth.<\/p>\n
Just because you can pinch an inch\u2014or two, or seven\u2014around your lower belly doesn\u2019t mean the muscles underneath are weak. Consider this: most football linemen carry a few extra inches of fat around their bellies. Average body fat for these athletes, according to an NCAA Sport Science Institute study, is almost 25\u00a0percent.<\/p>\n
But the strength and durability of a lineman\u2019s core muscles\u2014which enable him to deal out dozens of bone-crushing, full-body blows in a 60-minute game\u2014is world class. The upshot: carrying some body fat around your middle doesn\u2019t mean your core is weak. And having a strong core doesn\u2019t guarantee that you\u2019ll be lean. Which is a perfect segue into my next point\u2026<\/p>\n
Although following strategies for reducing overall body fat can help your abs\u2019 overall appearance, there\u2019s no surefire way to target fat in specific areas. Go for a run and you might burn fat off your face rather than your legs. Rip off 50 pushups and you might burn fat from your thighs rather than your chest.<\/p>\n
Trainers have been saying this for decades, but if you need further proof, check out this\u00a0National Center for Biotechnology Information study showing that exercising the abs, though it does plenty for your core endurance, does little to decrease the fat on top of those muscles.<\/p>\n
Where\u2019s the good news in all this? Your entire abdominal musculature\u2014top, middle, sides\u2014will get stronger and more toned when you work them, just like the rest of your muscular system does. Planks, leg lifts, and many other ab-focused moves you\u2019ll find in any Beachbody program will all help get your abs where you want them to be. And the fat cells on top of those muscles will shrink with a smarter diet\u2014a daily dose of nutrient-dense Shakeology can help you reduce cravings and lose weight\u2014and full-body, sweat-inducing workouts.<\/p>\n
So if you\u2019re looking for motivation to recommit to smart diet and good exercise habits, your \u201clower abs\u201d\u2014or whatever you want to call that area\u2014might be it. Just don\u2019t call it your trouble spot.<\/p>\n
And if you wanna try some of the best workout programs for not just abdominal, but total-body, fitness ever created, check out Beachbody On Demand. Hundreds of workouts are available for streaming anytime, anywhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As a trainer, I get a lot of questions about how to get big arms, toned legs, nice shoulders. The body part I get asked about most, however, is the \u201clower abs.\u201d Hearing that I\u2019m a trainer, an exerciser will sidle up to me, point to the area right below their belly button, and ask, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4093,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}