Are we that soft (no pun intended)? Can we not take responsibility for our own actions, including what we put into our bodies? Recently there have been lawsuits filed against fast food establishments that charge them with knowingly selling harmful goods. The lawsuit does not surprise me, after all it's American way, it does surprise me that we are willing to acknowledge that we cannot feed ourselves safely. That is, by assuming position of a victim we allow someone else to be responsible.

In North America, sad truth of matter is that we have managed to take normal daily necessity of eating and pervert it into a national killer of epidemic proportions. We are, as a society, beginning to ask why this as happened. Fingers are being pointed at corporations who used processed foods to enlarge their bottom lines at expense of health, at creation of ‘big box' food companies who saturate media with their products inciting us to eat, at government for being so passive and allowing obesity to become such an issue, at budget cuts that see physical education programs taken out of schools. Everywhere you look you can find a guilty party.

While all this seems to make sense - after all you can start healing after you find culprit- this mode of reasoning deprives us of our individuality and our integrity. If we allow others to be responsible over such base matters as our eating, then what we are really doing labeling ourselves as incapable.

Yes, obesity is an epidemic. Yes, drastic measures should be taken to stem growth our waist lines. However, only one to really blame for this is ourselves. Accept in a very few cases, nobody forces you to eat anything. What you eat is predicated on choice alone. Make a choice and choose to be healthy. Take responsibility for what goes into your body. Be capable of guiding your own health and well being.

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For average person, getting setup on ball, in proper position for crunches, is a relatively easy affair. It merely involves resting your hips and lower back on ball while planting your feet squarely on floor. It's like slouching in a chair that has no back. Like I said, really no big deal – unless your me.

I finally nailed proper setup and once laughter subsided, I was ready to start. Like all exercises, form is critical. Crunches require very little motion. To begin, lean back as far as your balance allows. Place your hands on your temples with your elbows out. Focus on pushing your lower back into ball and using your abs pull your shoulders up. In very real terms, you should only be raising your shoulders up about four inches. At top of crunch. Hold it for a two count and slowly let yourself back down slowly without disengaging your abs. Repeat. It's really a simple and effective exercise.

In my case, now firmly set up on ball, I went at crunches with gusto. Crunched until I simply could crunch no more. It is here that I would like to point out that you need not do this. You should work your abs in sets as with any other muscle baring in mind that you should do more then your average set. Aim for about three sets of fifty and go from there.

In my case, I woke up next day smiling to myself about difficulty I had getting used to fitness ball, after all, it really was easy once I got hang of it. I smiled as I recalled my impressive display of abdominal endurance. I smiled, and smiled right up until time I tried to sit up.

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