Photo by D Sharon Pruitt
Well, actually it boils down to one reason:
THEY ARE A WASTE OF TIME.
Many of my moms come to me months after having their first baby completely frustrated. They are doing a ton of crunches and they still have a baby belly. One of my moms was doing 500 crunches a day and not seeing results. What the heck?!?! Here’s why I tell them to stop with the crunches:
1. You cannot spot reduce. I now you are short on time everyday as a mom. So it’s only natural that when it comes to exercise you think, “What’s the one thing I can do today to work on my biggest insecurity (baby belly)?” Then you lay on the floor and crunch away. Here’s the deal. You can crunch till the cows come home, but if you don’t burn the fat that is sitting (quite happily) around your mid-section, you’re never going to see the 6 pack underneath the fat. It’s true, you can have super strong abs and a spare tire. So the trick to finding your 6 pack lies in shedding the fat that lies on top. The best means of shedding that fat through exercise is through interval training (not long, boring cardio!) and full body exercises, not just exercises that work one little muscle group at a time. In fact, full body exercises are amazing for your core (your abs are a major contributor to your “core”). They force you to use multiple major muscle groups at one time and you MUST fire the abs to keep these movements strong and controlled. Outside of exercise, shedding fat has everything to do with what you put in your mouth. Enter reason #2. . . read on. . .
2. You have to clean up your diet to flatten your belly. Sad, but true. You can’t eat crap and have a 6 pack. My moms who lose the most inches off their bellies after their babes are born are the ones who eat a strict, healthy diet. They cut refined sugars and sweets (get rid of the white stuff!). They eat protein with every meal and snack. They stuff their faces with veggies (then there’s no room for crap!) In fact, I’ve had moms with multiple little ones who just cannot get in workouts and they shed their bellies through diet alone. I definitely can be done. But you must be diligent. That doesn’t mean you can never enjoy a meal again. First off, the longer you make healthy choices, the more you will grow to really enjoy healthy foods. Consider my addiction to avocados. After eating clean for a couple years now, I crave avocados more than almost any other food. I know, I’m kind of a weirdo. But, trust me, you’ll find healthy foods that you LOVE!
Also, I have a very important rule about cheating when it comes to food. DO IT – CHEAT! If you are good 80-90% of the time, allow yourself to indulge 10-20% of the time. That said, overtime get picky about your indulgences. For me, even my indulgences are “clean foods” now. If I’m going to have a brownie, I get it and the local health store where it is wheat, dairy and soy free. It is still an indulgence in terms of sugar. But it’s not made with white sugar and wheat and dairy that will make me crash in two hours. I know you’re laughing at me right now, because you think my wheat-dairy-soy free brownies must be disgusting cardboard disks. I’m telling you – they are to die for! Check out some of the treats at your local health food store – just to humor me, please!
3. There are a million more effective ab exercises. So once your diastasis is healed, you can do crunches. But if I told you they are one of the least effective ab exercises would you stop doing them? Ok, I’m telling you: Crunches are one of the least effective ab exercises. Yes, they use your ab muscles, but research shows that MANY other ab exercises fire more muscle fibers in your abdominals. So why waste your time with crunches if you can get way more bang for your buck doing other exercises. Check out this video for some of my favorite alternatives to crunches.
Happy No-More-Crunching friends!
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