Just because someone says they’re an expert…

I like to read fitness magazines.  I usually don’t agree with a lot of what’s inside of most of them, but I find them entertaining.

I was reading one last night (one geared towards women, but I wont say which one).  Somewhere in the middle of this magazine there was a section where readers could send in questions and “expert” Jillian Michaels would answer them.

(I know, I know I complain about her a lot…maybe too much, but when someone is as arrogant as she is and continually says/does dumb things, I have a hard time not nailing her for it.)

Anyway, one reader asked her about how to best train her abs.  Jillian mentioned the three main abdominal muscles (rectus abdominis, transverse abdominis and the obliques), and then went on to prescribe some crappy exercises to train each of these muscles specifically.

In a second question, a reader asked about training her lower abs more than her upper abs.  Fortunately, Jillian set her straight and correctly told her that there are no “upper” and “lower” abs.  However, she then went on to say how the three abdominal muscles she mentioned in her earlier answer, run up and down the body…

This may not mean anything to you, but this is a huge misunderstanding of abdominal structure.

She’s right about the rectus abdominis.  They run up and down.  However, the transverse abdominis runs side to side (in fact that’s what the word “transverse” means), and the obliques run diagonally across the body:

So this means that a TV trainer/expert/consultant/writer/self-proclaimed “worlds best” at fat loss has zero understanding of human anatomy.  Even if I give her the benefit of the doubt, she completely misunderstands the musculature of the torso.

Does any of this sound like an “expert” to you?

Feel free to share this on Facebook or e-mail it to a friend.  Your support is appreciated!