Sunday, February 1, 2009

Ab Machines Do Not Work For Six Pack Abs

By Jose Loni

Ab machines are not effective. Ab machines do not work for your abs functionally. They can cause muscle imbalances by not targeting the proper muscles and may cause potential injury. To get ripped abs, we must consider our nutrition and increasing the metabolic activity in our body.

Some ab machines on the market support the neck and back, not allowing them to train, while doing the exercise. This can cause imbalances as the neck and back will not get stronger, while the abs are getting stronger.

Some ab machines place our body in positions that may cause injury while doing the exercise. Some machines target the hip flexor muscle group rather than the abs.

To get ripped abs, we have to watch what we eat. We should keep a balanced diet and avoid fast food, fatty food, sodas and processed foods. In watching what we eat, we can better control our caloric intake.

Avoiding fatty foods, sugar snacks, sodas and fast foods will help us control our intake and not over eat. Eating lean protein and complex carbohydrates will allow our body to burn those calories more efficiently and help burn fat. By watching what we eat, we are better able to control our caloric intake and keep from eating too many calories. When we eat too many calories and are unable to burn them, the body ends up storing the excess calories as fat.

Exercises that involve resistance training and interval training has shown to burn excess fat by increasing the body's metabolism. The increased metabolic activity burns the excess fat in the abdomen and makes the underlying abs more visible.

The body's increased muscle mass, which is the result of the resistance and interval training helps to increase the body's efficiency in burning fat and getting rid of excess body fat.

Ab machines are not the answer to getting ripped abs. Achieving ripped abs means increasing overall metabolism through exercise, watching our diet and decreasing stress in our lives. - 17944

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