Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Best Ab Workout Is No Ab Workout

By Robert Casewood

Abdominal fat has been a major source of consternation for fitness buffs since the advent of bodybuilding and organized exercise. The human body is naturally designed to store excess fat around the midsection and thus belly fat is the last to go when we're trying to slim down.

Savvy businessmen out for a fast buck have been all too eager to jump on the lucrative market of selling ab machines and products that target belly fat. We all want a sexy physique with the least effort and this is the reason expensive ab gadgets and fat-burning creams that "spot-reduce" belly fat have been selling like proverbial pancakes.

Sad thing is, most of these pricy ab products promoted on those ubiquitous fitness infomercials don't do anything to burn belly fat hiding your rippling ab muscles. In worst cases they only serve to burn a hole in your budget. The truth is, there is no real way to spot-reduce belly fat. We have to work on total body fat first before we can expect a reduction of fat in our midsection.

So body fat burn is the answer. So how do we go about doing that effectively? Legions of leotard-clad women in aerobic classes have long known the answer- cardio exercises. Experts say incorporating total body cardio exercise in our workouts tends to burn the most calories from body fat.

Some ab machines and abdominal workout programs do work mind you. They actually do a good job in isolating the ab muscles- strengthening and building them up to form those glorious six pack abs once the belly fat disappears.

Having healthy eating habits can also help shorten the time it takes to get washboard abs. Avoiding foods with excess fat and eating the right kinds of food at the right time can help our body absorb the necessary nutrients properly without storing more body fat.

Some dieters that don't know any better try to cut-back on calories and skip meals. This can actually prevent them from reaching their goal of a flat, contour abdomen. Our bodies slow down our metabolism whenever we start to starve and this means it uses muscle tissue instead of body fat for energy.

Weight-training to build muscles can also help fight-off excess fat as well as improve our physique. The more muscle tissue we have, the more our metabolic rate goes up. Muscle actually expends calories even while immobile so having more of it will let us fight fat even in our sleep! - 16003

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