Doing abs does not guarantee a flat stomach: what sport really can do for your figure

[Inkriql]

In our mind there is what Freud called the "ideal of self", a condition that the person must meet to be considered valuable, as explained by psychologist and psychotherapist Rodrigo Córdoba Sanz in his blog. Getting it gives us security. And looking imploringly at the gym for answers, leaving the skin (and the extra kilos) between those four walls, seems like a good idea. But how much can we get with physical exercise?

"If the ability to improve were infinite, we could all be champions of a hundred meters." With this statement by Dr. Juan Ramón Heredia, director of the International Institute of Physical Exercise and Health Sciences (Iicefs), many will end up seeing their Olympic dreams frustrated, but it is not about being defeatists or throwing in the towel. Not all of us have the same wicks to reach certain objectives, but the margin of development exists, conditioned, to a greater or lesser extent, by certain factors (but exists). The key is to set realistic goals and bet on perseverance.

That is the good news. Our body has the capacity to change, although perhaps not at the level promised by the motivational messages of "if you want, you can" or "nothing is impossible", or the photos of sculptural beings that invade Instagram. When it comes to our physique and the effect that crushing in the gym can have on him, perhaps the most important battle is the one we have to fight against our expectations: "If you have a tendency to a very high fat composition you will not leave to the other extreme and become someone very thin, "says Heredia. Now, from there to use our constitution, our genetics, as an excuse for not trying, there is an abyss. "You can improve and move on another spectrum," completes his argument.
Genetics matter, but don't pay much attention

With these statements on the table, to think that this belly or those extra kilos are determined by our DNA and are impossible to eliminate sounds like an excuse for lazy and conformist. Our genetic content is not inalterable or rigid. It is shown that the mitochondria of our cells have a great capacity to change thanks to a vertebral variable of the equation: habits. Genes warn of a trend, but not of an inevitable outcome. "There are people who have a predisposition to develop obesity, but who does or will not depend more on environmental components and lifestyle than on that genetic component." Following this example, the director of Iicefs stresses the increase in obesity levels in Spain in the last three decades: "How much does a gene change in 30 years? Nothing; blaming this on genetics is absurd."

We start from an inherited base that gives us a profile, a somatotype, which is the raw material with which we must work. Experts agree to distinguish three body types. Endomorphs, pear or apple shaped, with a thick waist, large bone structure and short arms and legs, tend to accumulate fat easily, focusing mainly on the lower abdomen, hips and thighs. Ectomorphs are thin and have long limbs, are poorly provided with fat and their muscles are less developed. The chest is flat and the shoulders small. The mesomorphs, finally, are athletic by nature; With a strong torso, broad shoulders, thin waist, they usually accumulate little fat and have ease in developing muscles. Most people move in intermediate ranges and in a mixture of several morphotypes, although the one that is imposed in your case can give you some clues as to what you can expect or achieve. "There are intermediate points where we can be healthy and satisfied with our image," says Heredia.

"Do not put limits within the logic, set easy goals and, when you have achieved it, look for others that motivate you", recommends Andrés Fernández, director of Training of the Spanish Federation of Directed Activities and Fitness (FEDA). Training, food and perseverance are the pillars that promulgates to achieve results. He explains that a teenager who starts a routine scheduled in a gym can gain up to 9 kilos of muscle mass in a year. And he says it from his own experience: he went from being an overweight child at age 14 to proclaiming himself as Spain's fitness champion at 23. His classmates laughed at him for being fat and, as he tried to run and run suffocated, stopped eating. An eating disorder led him to the other extreme. It came to weigh 53 kilos. Then, his life took a turn. "I listened to the music of a gym in an alley, I signed up and my body changed radically. I began to take care of what I ate and left that well. I went from being able to surround my humerus with the other hand to have a bicep of 37 centimeters."
The origin of muscle and the importance of eating pasta

Not the belly in abs. Most people start exercising with a crystalline goal: lose fat. It is the great challenge faced by both men and women. The most problematic location varies in terms of sex for hormonal reasons. In the case of women, that annoying partner is located in the waist and legs (although with menopause it also increases in the abdomen), cellulite being a widespread female concern. In them, in the abdominal area. With that in mind, we launch abdominals. However, that fat is not possible to lose locally. According to Heredia, of the Iicefs, "if I work an area I will cause changes in its muscular structure, but it will not produce a process of oxidation of that fat exclusively in that area. If so, chewing gum would lose gill, but the body would not it works that way. " That is, that marking Cristiano Ronaldo chocolate tablet implies more than doing 2,000 daily repetitions by crushing that muscle group. That can strengthen and harden, but it will not be visible if there is a layer of fat.

In this sense, the idea is widespread that michelines can be transformed by magic into muscle, confusing two processes that can be interconnected or parallel, but respond to different principles. The explanation is simple: two different types of cells are involved, adipocytes, adipose tissue, and myocytes, muscle tissue. In short, it is to mix the bacon with the speed. "It's like pretending that a heart cell is transformed into another of the skin, or a hair on a nail," Heredia ironizes. Or as innocent as using the typical sash or wrapping in plastic like a blood sausage to get rid of that float so disgusting that it is attached to your abdomen or waist. As Fernández, of the FEDA explains, "fat is not butter, it does not melt; what causes these practices is that you sweat and lose liquid and salts"; a process of body thermoregulation to which there is no associated loss of adipose tissue. This means that fat is not burned faster by sweating more; However, excessive perspiration, when basic electrolytes are excreted for proper muscle contraction, causes performance to decrease and, therefore, the quality of exercise.

Losing fat and achieving the desired weight begins - and ends - by placing yourself in an energy deficit, that is, by eating fewer calories than we spend. For this, Vicky Pons, responsible for the Department of Physiology and Nutrition of the High Performance Center (CAR) of Sant Cugat, recommends a diet low in sugars and with an amount of fat less than 30%.

Food is, therefore, essential, especially in response to macronutrients. Glycogen is the gasoline of muscle, from the glucose that the body obtains through carbohydrates, such as pasta, semolina, cereals ... Its accumulation, together with the water reserve, increases muscle volume, so that When defining it is important not to forget its impact on the process. During the exercise the destruction of muscle fibers occurs, and the bricks that underpin the structure and even strengthen it are proteins, so their intake is essential for hypertrophy. "The hydrates are the fuel and the proteins are in charge of the repair. That, well ordered and in progression, leads to increase the performance of the force and allows to reach a muscular tissue of greater volume."
The importance of trusting a personal trainer

The combination of food and training is the only effective formula to modify our body, but it is not an exact science and a detailed study of each individual is needed. Internet tables and decalogues are indicative, but will not fit specific needs. "Is it possible to get results without anyone to guide you? Yes, of course, you can throw the dice and touch you, but if when we have a legal problem we turn to a lawyer, why in these cases do we opt for a mobile application? ", reflects Fernandez. The reality is that filling the duffel bag and jumping into a gym to adventure is a beginner's mistake, advice is essential to save efforts and be precise.

The figure of the personal trainer is key, provides a narrow degree of supervision and control through some principles. "When you exercise you create a stimulus that generates a reaction and the muscle adapts. A coach may not know exactly the potential of the client, but the stimulus that must be activated for that process to be logical. Crushing a person is easy, but train it and have benefits, it is not, "according to the director of Training of the FEDA. For this there is a previous work with a battery of tests that give information about how we move, acquired positions, physical condition, strength level, cardiovascular resistance and ranges of motion. From there the base is articulated with which to check the level of technique, the intensity it can withstand, and so on. "It marks a minimum stimulus to progress, and with that I have enough data to know how the body will behave in the face of those workouts."

Not surprisingly, for Vicky Pons there is an unavoidable step: "You have to learn a good technique that protects the spine and shoulders, work in a disciplined way holding the joints, and for this the guideline of a professional is important." The exercise is accompanied by muscular fatigue, necessary for results to be obtained, but it must be a "friend" fatigue, that is, if after the recovery period there is pain, there is something we are not doing well. "It is normal to have stiffness, but these discomforts have to disappear after a few days; when it is established chronically, the exercise is not well planned," he warns.

In the gym, virtue is in moderation

In general, to modify the body composition, strength must be improved, which will provide greater functionality to have less difficulty in executing any movement. Squats, deadlifts, shoulder presses, bottoms and chin-ups are, for Andrés Fernández, a solid base on which to base the changes in our body. It is the axis on which any training should pivot, although inertia is to opt for cardiovascular exercises, also practical and necessary. The latter are especially useful for improving the vascularization of the muscle, which reaches the blood and provides oxygen to work well. "Without cardio I do not encourage this development of capillaries," warns Pons.

It is, therefore, to find the combination that works best for the needs and characteristics of each person. "What is going to tip the ratio towards the purpose of reducing more fat is the impact you give at the muscular level, and the one that the cardio entails is very smooth and maintained over time. The weights, however, facilitate associated anabolic pathways with the maintenance and increase of muscle mass, and that will cause you to lose less weight but be fat, so it is more favorable for the change in body composition, "says Sergio Espinar. This sports dietitian-nutritionist advises first to perform weight exercises and then aerobic activity, because otherwise it may cause "an interference phenomenon that adversely affects adaptations." Consider cardio a suitable complement for those who lead a sedentary lifestyle and fail to make about 15,000 daily steps.

"In the middle is virtue," which the classics would say, seems to become the main maxim here. Not surprisingly, the relationship between the dose of activity and the response that is achieved, that is, what we get with the exercise, is summed up with the analogy of an inverted "u": with a small amount we are at one end inferior and no changes will be perceived; but, in excess, the results will not be optimal either because it can cause damage to the joints, injuries of different caliber and even affect the immune system. "To think that the more, the better, it is a mistake, it is not the most positive. The ideal is to exercise two or three times a week with separations of 48 or 72 hours," Heredia recalls.

And the secret of celebrities and those who manage to wear a body ten in just a few weeks? "I don't know miracles, just work, effort and Photoshop," he adds. The director of the Iicefs has been in contact with some protagonists of those campaigns and tells that they are unable to maintain the levels reached and resist the po[CENSORED]r rebound effect. "The agency faces these types of programs, which are not healthy, such as aggression and react in the opposite way, it generates a response to survive." Absolute dedication incompatible with a workday, restrictive and aggressive diets ... Espinar goes further and considers that behind "there are anabolic".

So can we improve? Yes, and much: effort and perseverance are two demanding catalysts of that success. Is it the infinite margin? Not at all, and the relationship with exercise is atrophied when a stereotype becomes longing. He will never have another person's body, but he can overcome himself and reach his most optimal version.