PART TWO:THE UGLY TRUTH

In my previous post, I discussed the beautiful lie – that lean, muscular and sexy abs are easy to achieve through simple movements. Just buy this gizmo and in no time at all your belly fat will disappear and everyone will love your new physique. Now it is time to swallow the bitter pill of reality.

The ugly truth is, that it takes a complete, whole body, long term fitness, nutrition and lifestyle program to lose bodyfat.

The truth is that we cannot pick and choose what parts of our bodies we want the fat to disappear from. (have you ever seen someone with lean sexy abs and fat flabby arms?) Most people lose fat off their body in a first on / last off pattern. This means wherever it was on their body that fat first appeared when they began to gain weight is also going to be the last area for them to lose it from as they gradually lose weight.. We can't choose. It was decided for us before we were even born. It's called genetics.

The truth is that those people on television are professional fitness models. They live and breathe health. They sleep eight hours, train 5 or 6 days a week, drink lots of water, eat 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, have excellent posture and are blessed with great genetics. Most of them are former gymnasts, dancers or elite athletes of some sort.

“But my friend Brittany just does (pilates/crunches/leg lifts, etc) and she has great abs.”

Yes, I'm sure she does. And my best friend in college, Rob – had the best abs I ever saw. He also ate one meal a day (usually a double cheeseburger with fries and a shake) , never worked out, and drank and smoked like a sailor.

That's the thing about great genetics, some people have them and most people don't. In this way, life is not fair. My friend Rob was born lean and strong, and stayed that way into his 30's (despite his rockstar lifestyle) I could out lift him, out run him, out box him and beat him in every sport known to man (except video games, Rob was unbeatable at hockey), but I never had abs that looked like his.

So, the lesson is: don't choose your fitness routine based on what Rob or Brittany or some Navy Seal on TV does or says. (an in the name of all that is Holy - stop comparing yourself to them!) The ugly truth is you may never look like Rob or Brittany.

But there are things you can do...

Eat well, get lots of sleep, and train your whole body. The body fat will come off, a little at a time until you reach your genetic peak. Check in with your trainer to make sure your routine isn't getting stale. Change up your workout to break through plateaus. Make an appointment with a nutritionist or registered dietician to get on a nutritional program that is right for you. It will be a wise investment and will probably cost the same as that new Malibu Pilates Chair that your favorite 80's actress is promoting at 2am on the Lifetime Network.

Here's another often ignored factor that drives my clients crazy: stress. The human body has not evolved at the pace that our lives have changed in the last few hundred years. As a result, the body associates stress with a biological reality of our past - famine. Therefore, a human body under stress will horde body fat to deal with the anticipated lack of food in its future.  A hormone called cortisol is released into the body which helps the body pack on abdominal body fat so that it will survive to live another day.

In our daily lives, stress can be caused by our relationships, careers, finances and many other factors. The unintended result is - abdominal body fat!

So, the ugly truth is that a stress management program can really help you get great abs! Much more so than the Extreme Ab Power slide that was designed by a Navy Seal.

Of course, nobody is going to get rich on TV selling stress management solutions, so nobody ever hears about this inconvenient but very real truth about abdominal body fat.

Training your abdominals is a great thing and you absolutely should do it, but make it a sensible part of your fitness routine, and you just may get that lean sexy waistline that everyone loves!
Будь  здоров! Be healthy!