Thursday, January 29, 2009

Ab Machines Waste Time

By Jose Loni

The truth about ab machines is that they won't give you ripped abs. Ab machines help strengthen abdominals but ripped abs are achieved by increasing our metabolism through exercises that train with resistance, watching our food intake and managing our stress to decrease excess body fat.

Overall resistance training has shown to increase the body's metabolism. The increased lean body mass that results from resistance training, increases the muscle's activity, which utilizes the excess body fat to fuel its needs.

Exercises that incorporate interval training have shown to increase the body's metabolism. The anaerobic component of the exercises allow the body to increase its metabolic activity, which thereby increases the use of excess body fat as fuel for the body. The body also continues to burn fat well after the exercise activity has ended.

Relying on ab machines to give us six pack abs should be reassessed. Practicing healthy eating habits like having small, frequent meals 5-6 times throughout the day is recommended to help keep our energy levels constant and prevent blood sugar highs and lows.

When we eat lean proteins and complex carbohydrates instead of fatty fast foods, sodas and sweets, not only can we keep our caloric intake low, but we can also burn calories more efficiently and avoid having excess calories stored as fat especially around the stomach area.

Managing stress is another factor towards acquiring ripped abs. Stress can make the body store fat in the belly area due to Cortisol, a hormone which is produced during stressful times. Thus, controlling stress levels will prevent our body from reacting this way.

Activities like deep breathing, yoga, tai chi and meditation will help us manage our stress levels more effectively and help decrease the storage of body fat in our abdominal area.

Ab machines are a waste of time and really have no effect on achieving ripped abs. To effectively get ripped abs, we must increase our overall metabolism through exercise, diet and decreasing stress in our lives. When we are able to control these factors, we can achieve ripped abs. - 15255

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