Cincy Chic - Ask Rocco: Stop Doing Crunches!

Ask Rocco: Stop Doing Crunches!

Written by Rocco Castellano, on 11-02-2007 11:38

Ask Rocco: Stop Doing Crunches!

She’s in good shape, except for the flabby stomach she hasn’t been able to kick, despite hours of crunches. Rocco explains where she – and anyone else doing crunches – is going wrong.

Q: Since I run on a regular basis, I am thin and in basically decent shape. But after having four children, my stomach looks somewhat distended. Doing crunches three days a week has not helped and I am wondering if you could please advise me on what would work. I really do not want to lose any more weight, but I definitely want my stomach to be flatter. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
—Kaitlin, Clifton

A: Stop doing crunches! For the life of me, I don’t know why people keep doing something that isn’t giving them the results they want. Isn’t that the definition of insanity?

Stop doing something over and over again and expecting different results. If it’s not doing what you want, realize it, own it and move on. The reason why your “stomach” as you call it, isn’t getting flat is because you’re helping it to get bigger by doing an exercise designed to build muscle in your abdominal region.

So, reality would speak to not doing that exercise. Anything that folds your body in half or twists your body will build muscle in order to perform that exercise better in the future. That’s just the way the body works.

To keep your “stomach” flat you need to do compression exercises very similar to the ones done in most Yoga and Pilates mat classes. There are many quality places that teach both, so look one up that is close to your work or home. For the record I like Pendleton Pilates but there may be one you like better.

Rocco Castellano
		About the author:
		Rocco Castellano is a contributor for Cincy Chic as well as the co-founder of askROCCO Media, which provides boot camps, seminars, media content and online fitness services at askROCCO.com . He is certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine and has written askROCCO Uncensored v1 available at bookstores everywhere. To submit your fitness question click here.