Situps- a waste of time

It seems as though a day doesn't go past when somebody at my gym ask me what exercise is best for losing their belly. The conversation usually goes something like this.

Member: What's the best exercise for getting rid of this (as they grab their belly fat)?

Me: (my less than diplomatic answer) Table push away's.

Member: Huh?

Me: Every time your at the table and there's too much food in front of you-push yourself away
from the table.

Member: Yeah, but what exercise should I do for this area (again grabbing their belly fat)?

Me: Ok, first you need to eat less, base your diet on fruits, vegetables and whole natural foods,
you can't out train a poor diet. Second no amount of sit-ups are going to make the belly fat
magically disappear. Third you need whole body resistance training, this could be a body
weight circuit, dumb bell or kettle bell circuit-this will really crank up your metabolism.
And finally- stop doing endless cardio, do interval training instead, you'll burn more calories
per minute of exercise, increase metabolic rate which will allow you to burn calories at an
increased rate once you've finished.

The member then looks disappointed that I didn't give them 10 different sit-up variations to really melt the belly fat away.

I find it hard to believe that even now in the 21st century people still believe that sit-ups are the answer to their fatloss goals. It wasn't as though a lack of sit-ups caused their belly fat gain!

Tomorrow I'll post on the correct way to train the abdominals and it doesn't involve endless amounts of back damaging sit ups.