Americans are stuck on the middle. Ours is a nation obsessed with abdominal muscles, but you probably already knew that since ours is equally a nation besieged with television infomercials about exercise machines intended to trim the waistline.
The washboard stomach has become the ultimate symbol of fitness. Where only a decade ago the sinewy thinness of a long-distance runner was the idyllic athletic figure, the sculpted body is now the main character from central fitness casting.
Star athletes, fashion divas and movie stars have the rippled look–thanks to significant urgings from their personal trainers–while the rest of us frumpled mortals daydream of ways to be like Mike, supermodel Naomi Campbell and even actor Harvey Keitel when scripts like “The Piano” demand it.
“You have to admit great abs are very pleasing to the eye,” said George Lesmes, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Research at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago and a leading researcher on body fat percentage. “It’s often the first thing we notice about a person. … When some guy approaches with a big chest and small waist, people are impressed.”
Impressed enough, it seems, to spend anywhere from $30 to $200 for a piece of equipment making such late-night TV promises as “four inches off your waist and 10 pounds lost.” According to one industry estimate, about 2.75 million abdominal exercise machines were sold in 1995. The number is only expected to increase this year as more than two dozen companies are now selling such contraptions as Ab Blaster Plus, Abflex, Ab Isolator, ABShaper, AbTrainer, AB Roller Plus and E-Z Crunch.
A sure sign the abdominal machines have infiltrated popular culture is that both NBC’s “Dateline” and ABC’s “20/20” prime-time news programs presented investigative segments on this fitness equipment category in late September. Neither show was flattering, but sales are not expected to be greatly affected.
Taking hard exception to our less-than-metaphysical contemplation of the navel is Stephen Levine, a meditation teacher and mind/body author who urges his students to in fact soften their bellies.
“This fixation on stomach muscles is a bad sign,” said Levine, who conducts popular workshops around the country. “We have to get to a deeper level of self-image, something more meaningful than good abs.”
Levine said he thinks people aiming to tighten their abs are in danger of “armoring over their hearts” in the process.
“When you harden your belly, you are withdrawing from the people around you,” said Levine. “The most grief, fear and distrust is held in the hard belly. It is a resistance to life. The hard belly is a violent belly.”
Then again, maybe you are just looking to fit into favorite clothes without examining your innermost private thoughts or following a sensible diet and exercise program. The infomercials’ boasts of “just five minutes” per day are tempting.
“We call that spot reduction and it’s a myth,” said Richard Cotton, an exercise physiologist and editor with the American Council on Exercise. “Extra fat around the middle is about calories. You have to eat less or exercise more or both. Doing crunches (a more efficient form of situps) with or without a machine won’t help much.”
As someone becomes less active, the abdominal muscles tend to weaken and let the stomach and intestines move downward and outward with the pull of gravity. A bigger problem is the extra fat a sedentary person accumulates around the midsection.
“If we picked 100 people off the street at random, probably 70 of them would have adequately strong abdominal muscles,” said Lesmes of Northeastern. “The fat pad around the gut is what usually makes someone look out of shape.”
Strengthening the abdominal muscles might eliminate two or three inches from an expanded waistline, though your pants may get a bit tighter before they become looser (the developing muscles will actually first nudge the fat layer farther out). The real progress of slimming the stomach is in combining good eating habits with aerobic exercise such as walking, running, cycling or other sustained activities that burn calories while the heartbeat stays between 60 and 80 percent of maximum heart range (220 minus your age).
Don’t expect miracles
This conclusion is evident in some of the infomericals and ab machine product literature, provided you look hard enough or wait out a half-hour of heavyset people cinematically transforming into slimmer individuals who turn out to be merely lookalikes. Surely you won’t hear any discussion of proper diet or successful aerobic conditioning from customers who provide bubbly product testimonials. Plus, expect nothing genuine from audience members who are paid to cheer, clap wildly and drop their jaws in astonishment.
All of which might be unfortunate for manufacturers hoping to fill a fitness niche accepted by exercise scientists and trainers. Toning the abdominal muscles can boost stamina and stability in the body while leading to better posture and stronger backs.
“The ab machines are generally good for a limited purpose,” said Cotton of the American Council on Exercise, which has commissioned three university studies on six ab devices. “They can help motivate people to do crunches and other abdominal work, get them started or keep them going.”
“We sell 20 to 25 machines every three weeks,” said Pat Wilhelm, a certified personal trainer who is the store manager at Fit Stop in Northbrook. “The infomercials pique curiosity among our customers but we try to convince people these ab machines are not a cure-all.”
Wilhelm said his store does stock two machines, the Ab Blaster Plus at $69 and Pro Ab Trainer for $180, while getting regular facsimile messages from other manufacturers announcing they now make an abdominal product.
“One of the best reasons for using a machine is to support your neck and make the head area more comfortable during an ab workout,” noted Wilhelm. “It also helps some people keep a specific range of motion.”
Of course, learning the proper set of floor exercises can accomplish the same task at the attractive of price of no dollars and some sweat.
“You don’t need the equipment,” said Jack Wilmore, a professor of kinesiology and health education at the University of Texas at Austin. “The money is better spent on a class or trainer who can show the right abdominal exercises plus other workouts to strengthen the muscles and trim your waist.”
Tom Lawson, director of marketing for the Ab Blaster Plus, was candid when asked if the product faces credibility doubts even though his company, Impex, doesn’t stage long-format infomercials and sells through retail outlets where people can try the product before purchasing it.
“Our machine won’t do much for you unless you push away from the table,” he said. “The market has matured with about six to eight infomercials. The public seems confused about which is which.”
The ideal abs
NordicTrack, a leading name in fitness equipment, wasn’t scared off by any notion of a mature or confused market. It introduced a major “Ab Works” campaign last winter, complete with a MarketFacts research survey that showed 61 percent of Americans said the abdominals were the area of the body they would most like to tone. Fourteen percent tabbed the legs, 9.5 percent identified the arms and 8 percent prioritized the buttocks.
The survey asked about America’s favorite abs. Action star Jean-Claude Van Damme outdistanced Michael Jordan, 39 to 21 percent, while Olympic hero Jackie Joyner-Kersee (44 percent) was far ahead of singers Janet Jackson (19 percent) and pre-baby Madonna (8 percent) and the frequently bare-midriffed “Friends” siren Courteney Cox (7 percent). In the abs who need the most work category: Roseanne Barr (48 percent), Newt Gingrich (19 percent), Homer Simpson (14 percent) and President Clinton (12 percent).
Though the data is all in fun, Levine is serious about his concern that America has flipped over its flab complex.
“It’s time to stop sucking in our stomachs and worrying about the perfect abs,” he said. “You could almost argue for a class action suit against Calvin Klein ads; they are a form of emotional abuse.”
Yet Levine doesn’t quite recommend ripping open another bag of chips and hopping on the couch or even the several hours of meditation he does most days. For one thing, he endorses exercise, including regular crunches (which have replaced situps as the abdomen strengthener of choice). But he suggests conceding Hollywood abs may be virtually impossible for anyone expecting to handle the usual responsibilities of jobs, families and life.
“Ask yourself about your motivation for working out,” said Levine. “Go ahead, make the body beautiful, but do it for reasons beyond becoming physically attractive. That’s superficial and the friends you attract can’t be trusted.
“Don’t waste the enormous potential of exercise, which can be a time to meditate or pray. Simply exercising for physical benefits is like using a light bulb for heat; you will get some but there is so much more light to be appreciated.”
In his workshops, Levine encourages participants to release the belly through breathing meditations: “The stomach should rise on the inhale and drop on the exhale. Stop holding in your stomach as you breathe out. Let go, allow your stomach to be distended, push out all the tension.”
If you have the guts.
