Azam Mansha

Amazing abs require more than sit-ups

With Americans spending more than $210 million per year on abdominal exercise machines, according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association,

and buying hundreds of thousands of books and videos devoted just to abdominal muscles,  you would think that everyone would be walking around with rock-hard abs.

However, no matter how many sit ups or crunches you do, you will not get a flat stomach or ‘six-packs-abs’.

You cannot ‘spot reduce’ — meaning you can’t work one spot on your body and have the fat melt away — no matter how hard you try. Of course you can ‘spot tone’, to work your stomach until you are blue in the face — and you might even succeed in building a layer of rock-hard abs. but if you haven’t lost any weight in the process, your muscular masterpiece will still be obscured by a layer of fat.

“The idea that exercising the stomach muscles will result in an attractive, toned midsection is some sort of urban legend. The only way to lose abdominal fat is to lose weight.”

So why are we so obsessed without stomachs?

True/False

Lots of crunches and torso twists will flatten your stomach

Crunches, curls, torso twists, etc will all help to tone and strengthen the abdominal muscles but will have no effect on excess ‘tissue’ surrounding the abdominal muscles. That ‘tissue’ is fat and the only way to make it disappear is to take part in a regular cardiovascular conditioning program that will burn the calories and to watch what you eat. Reducing body fat will also help to keep the heart muscle and lungs healthy.

True/False

Expanding waistlines are synonymous with advancing age

There is no doubt that as we age body parts shift more easily, and exercise can be more challenging, but a fat belly is not an acceptable fact of aging. A well tones body is achievable at any age, and the benefits associated with strong abdominal muscles result in a healthy back. The weaker your stomach muscles the more your back will suffer.

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Article Tags: Abdominal Muscles

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