blog #22 What are your goals? 6 PACK PLEASE??

In my experience as a certified personal trainer both overweight and obese clients say

“I want abs! Let’s work my abdominal region please”

There is no such thing as spot training for any part of the body. You cannot loose your big tummy, flabby arms, muffin tops or back fat without………

Cardio

If you want to lose weight in a certain area (ie. abs most commonly asked about) then you have to work the whole body with cardio/resistance training/cross training to then see results. You will lose weigh in your stomach yes, but not JUST your stomach. Your other muscle groups will start to depreciate in addition to your “problem area” if you follow a proper diet and adequate exercise. That’s not so bad though right?

“So I shouldn’t work my abs if im overweight? “ a client may then ask

I say that depends on how much time you are willing to put fourth for exercise. If you only have 2 hours a week to workout then I would recommend hitting the biggest muscle groups FIRST to burn the most calories with compound movements like a deadlift (see blog #13 the golden three) or squat to shoulder press and/or cardio.

I would also most likely recommend circuit training if you are trying to loose weight. Sure abdominal exercises are good to add into your training regiment, but your routine SHOULD NOT BE ONLY FOCUSED or CENTERED AROUND ALL ABS…

Bottom line:

• if you want to loose a good amount of weight focus on cardio and compound exercises.
• Work-big muscle groups, do cardio, then focus on small muscle groups like abs and arms