Dr. George L. Dixon - "Talking Fitness"

YOUR BARREL

Let’s talk about your abdomen and those muscles. Think of your trunk as a barrel with flexible, muscular, staves and hoops. From top to bottom through the middle of this barrel is a stack of blocks, vertebrae, separated by rubber donuts called discs. The whole construct is flexible. It bends forward, backward, side to side, twist and shout (oops, sorry). This same apparatus becomes rigid and very strong when all the stave and hoop muscles contract. Then it can help lift, carry, and put down small or large objects.

If the muscles all around the barrel are in prime condition, hard work may be safely performed. If the front muscles, abdominal, are hanging out, stretched and weak, much of the strain of work is put upon the back muscles and the stacked bones and discs. Overloads can produce strained and sprained muscles on the back side of the barrel in your lower spine area or may even invite slipped, ruptured, or herniated discs.

Suppose those barrel muscles have had to carry another 50 or 60 pounds in a sack on the front of the barrel. The sack (of skin) can get stretched out quite a bit. If the extra fat is lost quickly over several months, it may take a year for the elastic skin to return to sleek, long after you have refashioned the muscles. It will take longer if the skin is older.

Women have more subcutaneous padding, secondary to their hormones. A small pad of fat just below the umbilicus is the last fat to go away. Sadly, she must get to 16-18% body fat for this to happen. At 14-15% body fat, ovarian dysfunction may occur, menses cease and bone loss commence. This is a narrow margin and a high price to pay for a flat tummy, in my opinion.

In conclusion, when a person like you has worked so hard to lose fat and gain muscle there remain differences between individuals. Be proud of what you have done, stay lean, and keep a healthy amount of physical activity in your life. Keep the front, back and sides of that barrel strong and flexible. Be patient with your body and yourself.

More help is available in "Exercise a la Carte", here, at your bookstore or call 800-624-4952.