Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Lower Ab Exercises - Does Isolation Work?

By Robert Casewood

A lot of people hold the wrong notion that the best way to eliminate a flabby gut and flatten a pot-belly is to do lower ab exercises. They can't really be blamed. The lower ab is where fat builds-up first when gain weight and it's quite natural to think that doing isolation exercises can spot-reduce belly fat.

Infomercials pushing the latest ab machine or fat-burning product on late night TV do nothing to correct the misconception that belly fat can be spot-reduced. Although most ab machines do isolate abdominal muscle tissue, it's not possible to really isolate the lower abs because the upper and lower abs are really just one big slab of muscle.

A large number of folks eager for sexy six pack abs fall prey to the infomercial machine thinking the upper and lower abs are different muscles. Isolating the abdominal muscles and developing them is of course, possible but to get lean, contour abs, the stubborn layer of belly fat has to be dealt with first.

If nothing is really done about eliminating the belly fat concealing the contours and striations of ab muscle underneath, the tremendous effort doing all those lower ab reps and strengthening the muscles will be all for naught. Getting that lean, shredded look comes about when the midsection is relatively free of excess fat.

Our anatomy is set-up so excess calories are stored as body fat and for some reason most of this is packed around the midsection, buttocks and thighs. This is the first place excess fat goes and this is the last place it leaves- that's the reason the midsection is the most troublesome spot to shape-up.

Lowering our body fat percentage to low enough levels to expose the contours of the abdominal muscle is the only way to get Achilles-like abs on your torso. Of course, how developed the muscle tissue is will dictate the extent of "sculpting".

The proper exercises for taking care of that trouble spot then are not just hundreds of crunches or lower ab-isolating leg lifts and raises, but exercises that induce the most body fat burn fast. These, complimented with muscle-building programs help us shed and keep body fat off.

Adopting healthy eating habits and way of life can also aid us in our fight against belly fat. Choosing the right foods to eat and while doing the right fat-burning exercises can greatly shorten the time it takes for you to bust those six pack abs out in the open. - 15438

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