That's Fit

Have fitness questions? Fitz has your answer. Our ThatsFit.com fitness expert -- and now your own virtual personal trainer -- will help you get fit, increase your overall health and do it in a fun way. Drop your questions here in the Comments section below and we'll choose two per week to publish on That's Fit! Learn more about Fitz here.

Q. Hi Fitz, I am a person with T-12 incomplete Paraplegia. I'm interested in learning about some decent ab workouts (including obliques) that I could do at the gym or at home. Just to provide you with a little more information, my T-12 vertebrae are connected by rods. I'd really appreciate some guidance. Thanks! Jon

A. Hello Jon, What a wonderful question! I really feel there's a gaping hole in the fitness industry which needs to address fitness training for people dealing with injuries and/or disabilities. You are the perfect example of that. A guy who's had a spinal injury, but still strives for better fitness beyond rehab facilities. I love it. I also love the spinal cord, and appreciate the sensitivity of it. Long ago, while I was earning my Master's Degree in Exercise and Sports Sciences at the University of Florida, I took a magnificent course on the spine from a brilliant woman, Dr. Christine Stopka, Professor of Adapted Physical Activity & Medical Terminology. She taught me to respect the spine first, and then went on from there. A major aspect of the course focused on educating her students about the things people with disabilities could do. She spent far more time on the could dos than the can't dos. That's one of the most important things I took away with me. I thought your question deserved the most expert advice, so I passed it on to her.

Here at That's Fit, we're forever grateful for the service, courage and sacrifice made by the heroic men and women who serve as military, law enforcement officers, and firefighters. We're so grateful, that we'd like to dedicate some features to both showing our heroes off, and learning a little bit in the process as well. If you serve your country courageously, are a veteran or know someone who does, please return this form completed to Fitz along with a photo and we'll share your story with the world.

Name: David Anthony Espeut

Age: 34

Heroic Occupation: Lieutenant (US Navy) Resigned- CG-52 (USS Bunker Hill); FFG-43 (USS THACH); Naval Special Warfare Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S)

If you're in the military...where are you? N/A Resigned from Navy as of September 2002, Suspended Special Agent Application to FBI in favor of Starting/Raising Family in Australia

How often do you exercise? Every day: 30 to 60 minutes.

What type of exercise do you do? Jogging (10-20 minutes), walking the dog (10-20 minutes),bench, pull ups, dips, push-ups, abdominals, shoulder exercises, and curls with dumbells. I also freestyle swim at least once per month. Chasing My Kids= Never-ending

What gets you to workout, even when you're feeling lazy? Fitness is just part of my lifestyle. I feel bad, guilty, and weak if I don't. Getting ones blood pumping is a great way to start the day.

Have fitness questions? Fitz has your answer. Our ThatsFit.com fitness expert -- and now your own virtual personal trainer -- will help you get fit, increase your overall health and do it in a fun way. Drop your questions here in the Comments section below and we'll choose two per week to publish on That's Fit! Learn more about Fitz here.

Q. Hi Fitz, My question for you is: how can I lose weight when I'm no longer able to exercise due to a life time injury. I'm even stuck relying on the government for my income and food. Lisa

A. Hey Lisa. As if staying in shape isn't hard enough! Dealing with a disability truly makes weight management a challenge. It's not an impossible accomplishment though. It's just going to take a decent amount of education about nutrition for you, and an even greater amount of discipline.

Curious to know how celebrities squeeze fitness into their daily lives? Want to know the secrets of the stars? Bi-weekly our That's Fit fitness expert Fitz sits down with the celebs we want to know more about, and digs out their great and not-so-great methods to staying healthy.

As if last week's Celebrity Fitzness Report with Anthony Field video wasn't cool enough....we're back with a new video that will literally chisel you and your abs up like Roman statues. Oh my! Think you're doing everything you can to slim down, build muscle and cut up? Only if you're doing this stuff!

Read more.....

Irritable bowel syndrome can leave a person checking for the bathroom whenever going through a new environment. It's not a very convenient condition, but one that a lot of people have learned to live with. But a new study is shedding light on IBS, specifically regarding women and pain.

They've run tests which measure how women react to pain, and the anticipation of it. Using a functional MRI, scientists checked brain activity while trying to elicit a response. What they found was that women with IBS can't switch off a brain trigger which tells her body there's pain.

This explains why they are so sensitive to abdominal discomfort. The MRI showed active brain areas when the women anticipated pain. However, those with IBS couldn't reduce these areas of the brain. It's worth noting that both sets of women reacted to pain when it was actually present, to no surprise. You can read more about here if you're interested.

Ah, the beer belly. Take a look around in any crowd of people and it's likely to be one of the most prominent physical features you see. Of course "beer bellies" aren't always caused by beer -- it's really just body fat from too many calories. But the question is: do some calories tend to layer fat on around the middle more than others, specifically calories from alcohol?

This is one of those questions that has different answers depending who you talk to, so big bummer that I don't have a straight yes or no. But I can say this: although they're not sure why, researchers have found that daily moderate drinkers (having about 1 drink per day) usually have less abdominal fat than binge drinkers (those who drink less frequently but have 4 or more drinks at a time). So go figure, another reason to have that nightly glass of wine.

If you are having trouble balancing during certain exercises using a spotter is a good idea until you build up body muscles that will hold you for that particular exercise. Spotters are not just for weight lifting.

One of the most important things to know with exercise is proper body alignment and balance. Maintaining a good position with your head so that you are not pulling on your neck while doing sit ups or other ab exercises is important to reduce your risks of injuries. If you're doing a set of abdominal exercises and your neck hurts but not your stomach then you might want to look and see how you were lying or how you were holding your head because you're neck shouldn't hurt after you've been doing abdominal exercises. You need to check your body alignment. If you are holding your hands behind your neck and you're actually irritating your neck or straining then you are doing either too much or trying to go too fast and you are straining and that is creating stress on your neck.

One of the top exercises that you can do for abs is a reverse crunch. Lie down on a bench with your knees bent and your upper legs at a 90 degree angle with your torso. Hold the bench above your head for stability. Use your ab muscles to pull your knees toward your chest until they reach your elbows. Hold the crunch position for three seconds and return to the starting position. Doing ten of these in your exercise routine every day will give you a toner midsection.

Overweight children have been found to have something in common besides extra padding around the middle: they all seem to share high levels of a certain protein (apoB48) found in intestinal cholesterol. ApoB48 has been proven as a risk factor for adults for developing cardiovascular disease, and although the children aren't currently considered at risk for CVD they will become so as they age unless their apoB48 levels drop.

Whether it's due to diet, genetics, or a combination of both, why certain people have higher levels of this protein isn't yet understood. But how much fat and what kind a person has does seem to have a major impact.

Have fitness questions? Fitz has your answer. Our ThatsFit.com fitness expert -- and now your own virtual personal trainer -- will help you get fit, increase your overall health and do it in a fun way. Drop your questions here in the Comments section below and we'll choose two per week to publish on That's Fit! Learn more about Fitz here.

Q. Hi Fitz. I'm five months pregnant with my first child and crunches don't feel comfortable anymore. I don't want to just ignore my abdominal muscles for another five months. I still walk, swim, and do some weight training though. Any suggestions on something I can do for my abs while I continue my pregnancy? Kristi

A. Congratulations Kristi! Motherhood is amazing and you are in for so much fun. Hooray for you! I'm thrilled to hear you're pursuing a fit pregnancy, as being a healthy home is one of the nicest things you can do for yourself and your teeny baby, and you are the home! From your question, I'm guessing you're interested in maintaining abdominal strength and not flat abs. (Which would be both dangerous and silly, by the way.) Very smart. Your back and abs work together to create stability, so you're wise to prioritize this issue.

I suggest that you pursue stability training which will engage your hips, back and abdominal muscles at the same time. Invest in two Versa Disks. These balance tools are very low to the ground and would be ideal for you to stand on while going through a variety of motions. You can even do some strength training with light weights if you feel uber comfortable doing so. LIGHT WEIGHTS. The good news with the Versa Disks is this....you can work your abs just trying to stand still on them. If you are of high-level fitness you can use a small medicine ball or other light weight to make it a bit more challenging.

Another neat exercise that will challenge your abs without requiring you to lie down on your back is something you can do with a cable system and lat pull bar, or tubing. Stand facing the lat pull bar with your knees slightly bent. Grab the bar with almost straight arms and pull it down toward your thighs. You'll have to engage your abs to go through this motion, as well as your lats. Choose a weight you can repeat at least 20 times.

Safety first always. Hate to call you 'fragile', but you do have to be extra cautious right now. If any exercise feels bad at all to you, stop doing it. You and your child's health comes first. Even if you had to ignore your ab strength for the next five months, you'd be able to regain it one your child is born. Good luck Kristi! I wish both well. Fitz

Q. Hi Fitz. I want to lose weight quickly. What weight loss drugs do you recommend.? Eddie

Over the past two decades of teaching fitness, the most common gripe I hear about ab work is that my students experience neck pain while doing crunches. It's true that our heads are quite heavy, and if the little boy in Jerry McGuire was right they weigh about eight pounds.Sounds heavy to me. It's not a problem for our necks to hold these big melons up-right as we stand or sit, but our neck endures an unusual stress while we're in the horizontal position. There are two solutions to get you the firm, ripped abs you're wishing for.

With proper hand support and practice, our necks can earn the strength they need for crunches. Or.....we can just avoid that issue completely with the plank. If you're not familiar with the plank it's a fairly simple exercise that puts a terrific amount of stress on your abs and low back (in a good way), and takes all the strain off your neck.

The simplest form is easy. Get down on the ground and elevate your body on your elbows, forearms and toes. Hover with your back and legs as straight as possible. It looks easy, but once you staring doing it......you'll find it to be extremely challenging. As a beginner, aim to hold this pose for 10 seconds. Repeat the plank at 10 seconds a few times. Every time you do this exercise I suggest you progress by tacking five seconds on to your holding time.

So it's important not to get over-excited and over-work your ab muscles trying to get that elusive 6-pack we all dream of, but what if you're working everything supposedly just right and still can't seem to flatten things up? I guess this explains why a nice stomach is so highly prized, but unfortunately it's not that easy! Along with good toning exercises like crunches you also need to eat right and burn additional calories with cardio. You may even consider changing the way you eat by having your biggest meal of the day at lunch instead of dinner, and limiting starches and carbs late at night.

Seeing my stomach (without the excess flab) is soooooo my goal for this summer!

Possibly the most elusive of all toned body parts: beautiful abs. We all want 'em, very few of us have 'em. So when starting a new fitness endeavor many people are tempted to jump in so energetically they actually end up overworking their abs, and then get frustrated when they don't see the results they're looking for. It's good to remember that the abdominal muscles are just like most other muscles in your body -- working them out everyday doesn't give them a chance to heal and grow stronger.

Also, if you're still having trouble you may want to adjust your diet or add in some cardio, because how much you see in the way of results can also be impacted by fat you have around the mid-section -- you may have beautiful abs that are just lying hidden under a layer of flab.

I can relate to that!

Fibroids are non-cancerous muscle fiber growths that occur in the uterus, and 40% of women develop them during child-bearing years -- thankfully often without symptoms. But when fibroids do cause problems it's no small issue with heavy menstrual bleeding, pelvic soreness, and pain being the most common symptoms that, until recently, almost always led to the same treatment. Having a hysterectomy has been the only option for women with problematic fibroids, but now there's the myomectomy -- a less invasive procedure that gives women another option.

Having a myomectomy may mean a faster surgical recovery and the continued option of childbirth, but it also means there's still a chance fibroids could return and a hysterectomy will be needed after all. But what's important here is that women now have a choice, and that's always a good thing.

Ok, here's the deal. I work go to the gym 3 or 4 times a week, I do yoga on a regular basis and I walk a lot. I eat healthy, I weigh a healthy weight and my body is fairly toned overall. Yet I can't seem to get rid of the little paunch I have in my midsection. It's bad. So bad that I've had people ask me when I'm due. 'No baby,' I say, 'just fat.' Actually, it's more embarrassing for them than for me. But I do feel a wave of cringe pass over me when ever I see myself in a picture wearing something even slightly revealing. Or when I see myself in the mirror at yoga (those yoga pants are great but they don't conceal much.) I'm pretty envious of people with six pack abs. And though I've learned to not beat myself up over my Buddha Belly, that doesn't mean I wouldn't love to get rid of it.

As part of their 30 Day Jumpstart feature, AOL has posted a section on flattening the belly. They have a number of exercises listed, including ones that you can do with a bad back and ones that you can do at your desk (!), where I happen to spend a lot of time. Of course, you can't really go wrong with a good old crunch, can you? Well, no, but keep in mind that it's quality, not quantity that's important when it comes to crunches. Most people focus on the 'six pack' muscles when it comes to working their abs, but it's important to target all abdominal muscles -- including the obliques (the ones on either side of your torso) and the transverse abdominus (the deep muscle layer, far below what you can see.) For some more ab workout ideas, check this out.