Saturday, February 28, 2009

The Best Ab Workout Is Not About The Abs

By Jose Loni

The best ab workout works many segments at once; it does not focus on just the abs. It is a misconception that in order to have ripped abs, we need to do ab crunches or use an ab machine. Television ads constantly sell products that are not effective at developing six pack abs. The best ab workout actually trains many segments of our body, giving an overall full body workout, which can be done by training with resistance, interval training, controlling what we eat and decreasing our stress.

Training the abs is good to help increase the strength and stability of the abdominal and lumbar area. However, spot reduction is not effective to achieve six pack abs. By training many segments at once, we force the body to burn fat, which will help expose the underlying abs in the stomach area.

Resistance training has been effective in increasing the body's metabolism as well as sculpt and define the body. The increased lean body mass that results from resistance training demands more energy to function. When this occurs, the body must find other sources of energy, it utilizes the excess stomach fat as a fuel source and converts that into energy.

Training with intervals also helps the body increase its metabolism. By adapting to the high intensity sets of the activity, the body must increase its metabolic activity. The increased metabolic activity causes the body to seek out and convert excess fat from the body into a consumable fuel. The increased metabolic activity has been shown to continue its fat burning well after the exercise session has ended.

Watching our diet is another effective way to help our metabolism. By eating quality food made of lean protein and complex carbohydrates, we can effectively provide our body with the calories to fuel our physical activity. Avoiding sugar, sodas and fatty foods will help us control our caloric intake and keep from taking in too many calories. When we take in too many calories, our body will convert the excess calories into fat.

Instead of eating 3 large meals per day, we should eat 5-6 smaller portioned meals throughout the day to help us maintain our energy level for our daily activities and to keep our blood sugar levels from fluctuating up or down.

Stress affects us by increasing the amount of Cortisol in our body. When this occurs, fat is stored in the stomach area so that it can be used as a fuel source when there is an emergency situation.

By training several body parts at once, we are better able to achieve results in our abs. Making changes in how we train using resistance and interval training exercises, controlling what we eat and decreasing our stress levels will get us the fastest and best results for a flat toned stomach. - 16083

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