The core and it's Importance

So we all have this love/hate relationship with doing crunches. But do we really know what the importance of having good abs/core area is for? What does it affect in our lives?

I was reading this article the other day and I thought that it hammered home the truth behind getting a solid core, good abs, and overall health.
http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thehumancondition/archive/2009/06/03/stop-doing-sit-ups-why-crunches-don-t-work.aspx

From the rounds that I've done with P90x/P90x Plus and such, the core work that they provide is awesome. because they aren't focusing just on abs, but on the 'core'. As Tony Horton describes it as the section between your nipples and your knees. You have to work on the entire area to ensure you are properly working the muscle groups in the entire region. The routine as a whole works all the various muscle groups and using muscle confusion, helps the body not get use to the same thing. The vareity not only helps you keep from getting bored, but keeps the muscles as well from getting to relaxed to the same o' routine.

So the next time someone says keep doing your sit ups to remove the fat around the midsection, make sure to correct them that it is much better to work the entire core area, and start eating properly and you'll start to see the definition as the body fat melts away from doing the right thing. It takes work and effort to lose the remaining bodyfat around the midsection. It is usually the last to go. So keep up the good work. It will pay off in the end.