You Can’t Buy Abs with a Credit Card

With the holidays around the corner, I am seeing more and more exercise equipment ads slipped in among the thousands of toy commercials.  Also, it seems that more than one company has developed the perfect ab workout gadget promising to shed pounds and make an instant six pack out of your flabby belly.  The one thing that concerns me most is that many people are falling for these scams (I call them scams because they are being deceitful in my opinion).

 

If you check out any of these ads on T.V., look very carefully when they start making all the promises about weight loss and firm stomach and you’ll see some fine print placed on the screen.  As you stick your nose 6 inches from the T.V. in order to read the fine print, you’ll see something like "…when used in conjunction with a sensible diet and exercise program."  Well, duh.

 

Here’s a newsflash folks… You don’t need any of these worthless pieces of junk, all you need is a sensible diet and exercise program.  You already have abs, you just have to burn off the fat to expose them. 

 

And here’s another news flash, you can’t target specific areas of fat. Sometimes these ab machine ads imply that by working out your midsection, you can burn fat off of this specifc area.  I hate to break the news to you, but the human body doesn’t work that way.  Your body uses all of your fat stores evenly, not just the particular area being worked.  Your best bet for burning fat is a sensible diet coupled with an exercise program that includes both strength training and cardio.

 

However, if you want to work out your abs, you don’t need the "abs lounge", "abs roller" "armor abs", "abs energizer", "turbo abs", "abs chair", "smart abs" or any of those other pieces of junk. 

 

There are only two pieces of fitness equipment that you really need: a floor mat and a Swiss ball.

 

Try these exercises:
(click on the exercise for the proper form and technique)

 

This is all I do in the way of ab exercises.  As for equipment, don’t bother with any of these other gadgets or gizmos.  I don’t even use the Nautilus ab machine at the gym.  The exercises above are tough enough.  You’ll find that folks with the best looking abs don’t use any of those worthless pieces of junk you see on T.V. (not even the super-ripped guys and gals in the commercials).  When it comes to those ab equipment scams, you can’t buy abs with a credit card, it actually takes some hard work.  You can do it!