Crunches Don't Work For Fat Loss

Guess what? Crunches, sit-ups, planks, dead bugs, super crunch 3000, insert new and “improved” core exercise here, do NOT remove your round flub, that you want to get rid of so bad. Okay. I’m sorry I was so up front and blunt. But, I am starting to freak out. I picked up a “fitness” magazine the other day, with a cut up girl on the cover with washboard abs. The title underneath said “7 secrets to get a flat stomach”. I flipped to the article. It was literally 7 different variations of crunches and sit-ups. Lies.

Someone ask me once how to get rid of their belly fat. I respectfully, sincerely, sat down with them and explained how the body works, from an exercise science point of view. After going though a brief 10-15min explanation of why sprint intervals would be more beneficial then a sit-up, the individual asked what kind of crunches they could do instead. In other words, in one ear and out the other. The human brain doesn’t want to hear what it doesn’t want to do. Wow. Right? Crazy.


Everyone knows that when you do “cardio” at low intensity you burn a high percentage of fat. This is true. The key word in that sentence is percentage. When you do sprint intervals you burn a lower percentage of fat. This is true. Again, percentage is the key word. Here is the kicker. Sprint intervals burn MORE fat. Notice how there was no percentage word in there? That’s because when you do sprint intervals you are working allot harder then low intensity “cardio”. So even though your percentage of fat being used is lower in sprint intervals, you’re still burning more actual fat compared to low intensity. 


Remember when you weren’t fat? I’m sorry, remember when you weren't overweight? I’m sorry, remember when you didn’t have that extra flub you don’t want? Then you started getting fat, gaining weight, and adding pounds. Your body put the fat on in a very specific order, according to your specific DNA. First your legs, then hips, stomach, face, and neck. When you want to get rid of that body fat, it comes off in reverse order. So in this case, as in the example above, the fat would come off backwards. First the neck, then face, stomach, hips, legs. Science.


So you want to REALLY know how to get rid of your belly fat, your thigh fat, your insert body part here, fat? Sprints. Sprint intervals to be more exact. In this case, a sprint doesn’t just mean running fast. You can hop on a bike and “sprint” and rest and “sprint” over and over to make it an interval. The same goes for a rowing machine, bike, pushing or pulling sled, or even an elliptical. Whatever it is, do it fast for a short amount of time and rest for a short amount of time and repeat. The same idea can be implemented with different exercises, or circuits. For instance, chose a couple exercises that you can do quickly and safely. Go through it fast, rest, and repeat. This is the biggest bang for your buck to get rid of FAT. Listed below are some time and rest intervals, that will kick start your system to start burning fat (make sure you warm up first):

- 15 sec sprint, 40 sec rest x15 reps


- 30 sec sprint, 60 sec rest x10 reps


- 60 sec sprint, 120 sec rest x8 reps


Or you can do intervals with decreasing rest time. This is more difficult, but again, a great training day to burn fat FAST:


20 sec sprint, 3 min rest x3-6
 

20 sec sprint, 2 min rest x3-6
 

20 sec sprint, 1 min rest x3-6
(this is all one day, 9-18 reps total)

The safer method is to go at a slow pace on a machine for a long amount of time. Have fun with that one. It’s hard to do sprint intervals every day on your body. So, going slow at a low intensity for a longer time can be done in-between those sprint interval days. Happy hunting.