Monday, January 26, 2009

Lower Ab Exercises May Not Be The Answer

By Robert Casewood

In our quest for leanness and the fight against The Flab, a lot of people make the common mistake of putting their faith on the effectiveness of isolation exercises. In getting a lean abdomen, it might make sense to think doing lower ab exercises in order to target belly fat and bring out the six-pack most gym-goers yearn for is the answer.

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.

The reason why new "breakthrough" gadgets and diet supplements are still introduced to the market each year is because in reality, there is no single gadget, drink or exercise that will target belly fat!

No matter how strong and developed the muscles of the midsection are, there won't be much of a six-pack if nothing is done about the layer of belly fat concealing the rippling muscle underneath. The only real way to eliminate belly fat is not through lower ab exercises and isolation, but by focusing on burning all-around body 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.

How lean and shredded you want your six pack (and the rest of your body) to be depends on how much body fat you lose. Of course, the more muscles you have, the easier you can bring out the contours and striations which give that "cut" appearance.

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.

Eating properly and living a healthy lifestyle can be good weapons in our battle against The Bulge. Doing fat-busting exercises and avoiding unnecessary calories from saturated fat and maintaining an eating schedule that keeps the body's metabolism high can do so much more than just doing lower ab exercises day in and day out. - 17944

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