Want a Flat Tummy? Stop Doing Sit-Ups!
Award winning author of Baby Bod – Turn Flab to Fab in 12 Weeks Flat and physical therapist, Marianne Ryan, explains why SIT-UPS and ABDOMINAL CRUNCHES won’t necessarily help flatten your belly.
Bet you didn’t know that!
In the podcast Marianne Ryan will explain why sit-ups can actually give you a ‘pooch’ in your lower belly, rather than flattening it. In other words, “Why Sit-Ups Suck!”
The problem is not so much what these types of exercises are doing to your “six-pack” abdominal muscles, but the effect they are having on your Deeper Abdominal Muscles, which lie underneath your “six-pack” muscles. These are known as your core muscles.
Performing sit-ups or crunches can cause the outer abdominal muscles to become over trained and much stronger than your deeper abdominals. This can result in muscle imbalances in the belly.
Each time you perform a sit up, the stronger outer abdominal wall tightens, like a corset, and causes a funnel of pressure that makes the lower abdominal wall and pelvic floor muscles bulge.
Figure 1
In the illustration above, Figure 1, you can see how each time you do a sit up the pressure inside the belly forces the lower tummy and pelvic floor muscles to bulge.
If you want to do sit-ups you need to make sure your deeper core muscles in your abdomen and pelvic floor can overcome this pressure or you run the risk of developing an unsightly “pooch” in the lower tummy.
If you want to do exercises to flatten your tummy you need to make sure you are not developing muscle imbalances in your abdominal muscles.
Here are some tips to prevent developing muscle imbalances:
• Make sure your belly doesn’t bulge.
Place a hand on your belly while you exercise to feel if it bulges outwards. If your tummy bulges, the pressure in your belly will cause your core muscles to weaken, rather then flatten your tummy muscles. So you need to prevent this by doing an easier exercise or with better form.
• Don’t hold your breath.
When exercising your abdominal muscles make sure to exhale. The amount you need to exhale should match the amount of effort needed to perform the exercise. Easier exercises require less of a breath, and you will need to exhale harder to match the pressure in your belly with more challenging exercises.
• Do exercises that strengthen from the inside out.
Exercises that focus on the core muscles will help you to strengthen from the inside out.
If you would like to learn four some simple exercises that are designed to strengthen your abdominal muscles from the inside out and will flatten your tummy click here for free offer.
http://www.babybodbook.com/download-free-baby-bod-book-preview/
Listen to Marianne and Mark here:
Sit Ups Sucks – Part 2
