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Decades ago, when I first started exercising in earnest, I went in to see my family doctor for something or another. At one point, I mentioned to him that I'd started pumping iron. He got a strange look on his face, and then cautioned me to "Be careful." According to him, a common issue with women who started working out and putting on muscle, is that if they ever stopped working out, the muscle would turn into fat.
Since I knew pretty much nothing of anatomy at the time, I remember thinking, "Well, I guess I'll just never stop working out."
![[2 weeks after she stopped doing crunches!]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/0294cac093ab/2919457-910023/www.blogtofit.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/blog-to-fat-before-and-after.jpg "[2 weeks after she stopped doing crunches!]")
Of course, his cautionary tale is pure hogwash. Muscle cells are not the same as fat cells. And while yes, if you stop exercising, you just might get fat, it isn't because you had muscles beforehand. It's because you're not exercising. And if you're eating as much as you were when you were building those muscles, but no longer are burning off all those calories maintaining muscles, guess what? Caloric intake is now greater than caloric burn. Ergo, fat.
It's not exactly rocket science.
I remember asking this same doctor why I couldn't get rid of the itty bitty bump I had on my lower abdomen. I told him I did hundreds of crunches, but if anything, it was only getting bigger.
Ends up, I had built up my abs so much through all the crunches that they just stuck out in a way I wasn't familiar with. That little bump just happened to be muscle, not fat. Fat doesn't flex, and I could flex that bump on my belly.
My doctor neglected to tell me that you cannot spot-reduce fat. It is physiologically impossible. If I have a pot belly and do a thousand crunches a day, that alone will not give me the abs of a Calvin Klein underwear model. The only way you can spot-reduce fat is surgically (ie. liposuction).
Let's say you're pretty darned chubby all over. You have a spare tire, pot belly, wobbly upper arms, and maybe have back boobs, too. If you do a thousand crunches a day, you will not suddenly have a six pack, but still have your fat everywhere else, too (well, with 6 billion people, I suppose there is the possibility for this happening for one person on the planet, but it would be a freakish occurrence). Likewise, if you do a gajillion bicep curls, you won't suddenly have super-slim arms, but be fat everywhere else.
When you burn fat, it burns all over. You may have a genetic predisposition toward burning fat in one area first, and another area last, but it will generally decrease all over your body. So if you work out and eat right, you might find yourself slimming down in general everywhere. Though maybe, those saddlebags or the potbelly might hang on much longer than you'd like. Darned fat and genetics. Grr!
Fat is a curious and pernicious body part. Fat cells can get bigger. They can also increase in number. Once you've grown fat cells, they're there permanently (save through liposuction). Fortunately, just as fat cells can get bigger, they can also shrink.
So getting back to those abs, there's a common saying: Abs aren't built in the gym; they're built in the kitchen.
You can take a look at the strongest guy (or gal) you know. Unless they're a bit of a genetic mutant (and probably well under 30 years old), they won't have a well-defined six-pack unless they eat carefully. Almost everyone, whether or not they exercise, already has a decent set of abdominal muscles. The reason why they can't be seen is because they're hidden by fat. It doesn't take much fat to hide that definition, either, which is why a well-defined abdominal region is one of the trickiest things to gain.
I eat well, and my body fat percentage is under 20%. But I do not have a visible six-pack. This is me, stretching up super-tall as of this morning:
![[Stretch!]](https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/s720x720/267379_10150272069669864_511799863_7896914_5758609_n.jpg "[Stretch!]")
I hope to compete in a fitness competition this fall, which means I have to clean up my diet even more to show my abs. Wish me luck! I'm gonna need it.
Oh, by the way, my old doctor lost his license. Not because of his bad fitness advice, but because he was perving it up with his patients. Oy....
Since I knew pretty much nothing of anatomy at the time, I remember thinking, "Well, I guess I'll just never stop working out."
Of course, his cautionary tale is pure hogwash. Muscle cells are not the same as fat cells. And while yes, if you stop exercising, you just might get fat, it isn't because you had muscles beforehand. It's because you're not exercising. And if you're eating as much as you were when you were building those muscles, but no longer are burning off all those calories maintaining muscles, guess what? Caloric intake is now greater than caloric burn. Ergo, fat.
It's not exactly rocket science.
I remember asking this same doctor why I couldn't get rid of the itty bitty bump I had on my lower abdomen. I told him I did hundreds of crunches, but if anything, it was only getting bigger.
Ends up, I had built up my abs so much through all the crunches that they just stuck out in a way I wasn't familiar with. That little bump just happened to be muscle, not fat. Fat doesn't flex, and I could flex that bump on my belly.
My doctor neglected to tell me that you cannot spot-reduce fat. It is physiologically impossible. If I have a pot belly and do a thousand crunches a day, that alone will not give me the abs of a Calvin Klein underwear model. The only way you can spot-reduce fat is surgically (ie. liposuction).
Let's say you're pretty darned chubby all over. You have a spare tire, pot belly, wobbly upper arms, and maybe have back boobs, too. If you do a thousand crunches a day, you will not suddenly have a six pack, but still have your fat everywhere else, too (well, with 6 billion people, I suppose there is the possibility for this happening for one person on the planet, but it would be a freakish occurrence). Likewise, if you do a gajillion bicep curls, you won't suddenly have super-slim arms, but be fat everywhere else.
When you burn fat, it burns all over. You may have a genetic predisposition toward burning fat in one area first, and another area last, but it will generally decrease all over your body. So if you work out and eat right, you might find yourself slimming down in general everywhere. Though maybe, those saddlebags or the potbelly might hang on much longer than you'd like. Darned fat and genetics. Grr!
Fat is a curious and pernicious body part. Fat cells can get bigger. They can also increase in number. Once you've grown fat cells, they're there permanently (save through liposuction). Fortunately, just as fat cells can get bigger, they can also shrink.
So getting back to those abs, there's a common saying: Abs aren't built in the gym; they're built in the kitchen.
You can take a look at the strongest guy (or gal) you know. Unless they're a bit of a genetic mutant (and probably well under 30 years old), they won't have a well-defined six-pack unless they eat carefully. Almost everyone, whether or not they exercise, already has a decent set of abdominal muscles. The reason why they can't be seen is because they're hidden by fat. It doesn't take much fat to hide that definition, either, which is why a well-defined abdominal region is one of the trickiest things to gain.
In order for you to be able to see your abs, you need to get your body fat to be low enough for the abs to show. For men this comes out to be a body fat level below 10% body fat and for women below 13%. Typically, guys that have a well defined "six pack" hover at around 6-7% body fat and women at 11-12%.This fat percentage is lower than the average for healthy, fit adults. The so-called "ideal" body fat percentage for men is around 12%, and for women around 20%. Both of these are still too high to show off those belly muscles. And since in the US, the average body fat for men is 25%, and around 35%-40% for women (from The Average American Body Fat Percentage), six-packs are a rarity.
- (from Bodybuilding Abdominals Training Guide)
I eat well, and my body fat percentage is under 20%. But I do not have a visible six-pack. This is me, stretching up super-tall as of this morning:
I hope to compete in a fitness competition this fall, which means I have to clean up my diet even more to show my abs. Wish me luck! I'm gonna need it.
Oh, by the way, my old doctor lost his license. Not because of his bad fitness advice, but because he was perving it up with his patients. Oy....
