The Truth About Ab Belts They Don’t Want You to Know
The promise of the Flex Belt is both intriguing and enticing. The system promises to allow anyone to tone their abdominal muscles while doing just about anything else, anywhere including lounging on the couch, sitting at work, or even sleeping. This lazy multitasking is obviously appealing, but unfortunately, is largely grounded in wishful thinking.
The Flex Belt serves to capitalize on a common misunderstanding about abdominals. The misunderstanding is based on the relationship between abdominal strength, which is measured by the size of the muscle, and the percentage of body fat, (BF%). Body fat is found between the muscles and skin. By wearing the belt 30 minutes a day, the Flex Belt is supposed to stimulate the muscles enough to flatten the stomach. However, these contractions are not as effective as old-fashioned crunches.
In the context of developing what are traditionally seen as more lithe, sexy stomach muscles, the body fat percentage is vastly more important. If you have a gut that is three inches of fat, your abs would need to be around that same width to reform the outlying fat deposits. Consider your bicep: if it was three inches thicker, wouldn’t that be a substantial increase? This scale of bulking would require intense workouts and supplementation in any muscle, unachievable with a carefree diet and the gentle contractions powered by the Flexbelt’s EMS. Size increase by such a magnitude is not only unrealistic in the abdominals in even hardcore training conditions, but would ultimately result in a grotesque and distended stomach shape because the overall structure of the human body does not support this kind of growth.
The EMS (Electronic Muscle Stimulation) effect would have no impact on a person’s BF%, so the only conceivable benefit of the system would be towards the strength of the underlying muscle.
The only way to really get nice abs, is through the old-fashioned methods of diet and exercise. Once you start using more calories than you take in, then the fat will burn off on its own. Exercises that focus on the abs will tone them and flatten your belly.
These Flex Belts carry the label of “cleared by the FDA”. However, all this label means that the FDA has determined that the product will not hurt you. The FDA never tested it for effectiveness. The simple truth is, this product does not live up to its claims.