7 minute abs....are you kidding me

So we've all stayed up late, or strayed onto some weird channel where there is this some deep voiced announcer saying that now YOU can have "million dollar abs" for just $14.99 + the price of shipping, CALL NOW! One of my favorite advertising lines is for The Bean The site says "The Bean's rocking action does all the work". Huh, if it is doing all the work, how the heck is that helping my abs?? As a disclaimer, The Bean does offer many other exercise options, it's just the ab statements I have a problem with. The infomercial I see the most is for a chair that looks like it'd be great for my back patio, and I bet that most of those chairs end up being just that, instead of a workout tool. Yet, these infomercial gadgets are like a billion dollar business. Couch potatoes sitting there late at night with their ice cream (KW, I'm not talking about you), thinking, SWEET, I can sit in that chair and get a six pack, all while eating ice cream and watching TV, what more could you want!!

Prior to starting my quest in fitness and getting serious about making this a lifestyle, I might have believed that doing a bazillion crunches could make my abs flatter than Kansas. I'm now a little smarter. Did you know that no matter how many crunches, sit-ups, leg extensions I do, that layer of fat that sits over my ab muscles will STILL BE THERE, hiding my 6 pack. Yep, I have a 6 pack, so do you, it's just hiding under a nice protective layer of blubber. Nice huh. I've been genetically gifted with a bowl of jello right under my belly button, it also oozes nicely to both sides of my hips. There is nothing about my body that I rue more than my bowl of jello. Now, fashion has decided to accentuate this beautiful gift by making low-rise pants, which has caused an epidemic of muffin tops.

So, how do you get a flat washboard stomach? In the kitchen! Your body fat has to be around 15% for girls in order to see a 6 pack, sometimes lower. I think it will have to be lower for me since I tend to hoard all fat in that area...apparently my jello belly doesn't like to share. (Although, as a side note, my shoe size did got down 1/2 a size when I lost weight.. apparently I had chubby feet too). Thank you,Kelly, for mentioning how tiny my feet looked in my karate uniform, although you'd be hard pressed to find someone who's feet didn't look small with 14 yards of white fabric on.

I digress, you know what I'm doing to get flat abs. Lipo! Just kidding...although I have to admit, I've thought about it. Nope, I'm doing it the old fashioned way; HIIT (high intensity interval training), lifting weights, and eating 6 small meals a day consisting of equal parts proteins and complex carbs, and lifting weights, and some healthy fats in there too. While lifting weights, I tighten my abs during almost every exercise. They are getting a workout, I just don't spend lots of time on them yet, because I still have a lot of body fat to lose. Did you know that Jackie Warner doesn't do any crunches or independent ab work!! Did you see her abs?!!