Sweat, situps key to losing that ab flab

I received this letter from a reader:

“Please let me know if the info commercial about the Flex Belt is legit. This belt is an electronic device that for 30 minutes a day is supposed to reduce your abs to muscle from fat. Gets rid of belly bulge without doing nothing! Celebrities like Lisa Rinna, Denise Richards, Adrienne Curry all promote it.”

Here’s what registered dietitian and exercise physiology expert Gina Whiteley has to say:

“The Flex Belt is an ‘ab toning’ device that uses Electrical Muscle Stimulation, or EMS, to cause muscles to contract by sending an electrical impulse through electrodes that are placed on the skin. This is essentially what our central nervous system does internally (inside our bodies) to contract muscles. When it is done externally (outside our bodies), it does not challenge our central nervous system which, in my opinion, is not nearly as beneficial.”

This type of technology has been used with patients who are paralyzed and not able to “exercise” their muscles, Whiteley says. “But the Flex Belt does not burn fat.” Which makes all those toned abs in the commercials pretty misleading.

“One thing we know,” says this expert. “There is no such thing as spot reducing. We burn fat through aerobic activity (walking, swimming, biking, etc.) and we tone muscles through anaerobic activity (ab workouts, resistance training). So if you do not do any sort of aerobic exercise - even if you eat a healthy diet - you will never achieve a flat stomach with this type of product.”

“The gold standard for abdominal exercises is crunches (situps) … even if that is not what people want to hear,” Whiteley continues. “The benefits we get from regular core strength training exercises are multiple - they improve our balance and strengthen all the muscles in our core region,which protects our vital organs. And they improve our mental well-being, which will not be accomplished by sitting on the couch wearing a product like the Flex Belt.”