Wednesday, February 4, 2009

The Best Ab Workout Is A Full Body Workout

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.

Spot reducing is not effective when it comes to the abs. Specifically training the abs, will help increase the strength of the abs, and help stabilize the hips and low back, but to get six pack abs, we must train our overall body to burn fat. When we burn the excess fat, the underlying abdominal muscles will become visible and give us the six-pack appearance.

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.

Interval training has been effective in increasing the metabolism of the body to utilize the excess body fat and burn it as fuel. The quick, high intensity intervals force the body to increase its metabolic activity. It makes the muscles more efficient at burning fat, which continues to burn fat well after the training session has stopped.

Controlling what we eat will help our body's metabolism by helping it utilize the food we eat to fuel our physical activity. Eating food made up of complex carbohydrates and lean protein allows our body to fuel its metabolic activity. By avoiding fatty foods, sugar and carbonated beverages we can monitor the calories we take in and allow our body to use it as fuel. If we take in too many calories, the excess calories are converted and stored as 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 understanding that exercising with resistance and intervals, watching our diet and reducing the stress in our lives is much more of an effective ab workout than ab exercises alone. - 15438

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