Ab workouts - Finding The Best Ab Workouts
August 9, 2008 | Leave a Comment
When trying to achieve the illusive six pack, it’ easy to get confused by all the “best ab workouts” available. You’ll likely notice that there a multitude of ab workouts to choose one, so deciphering which ones will work the best can be tricky.
The thing to remember is that whenever you are trying to work your core, everything works, for a certain period of time. Everything from high reps, low reps, weighted work, bodyweight work, stability ball exercises, and BOSU ball exercises - it all works until your body adapts and says, “This is easy, I’m not going to change unless you give me a new reason to adapt.”
Your ab training should be progressed from stable floor work with your body weight to a unstable surface with weighted work. Progressing to movements that will reduce your base of support as much as possible are the best ab workouts because they will call into play all the muscles within the core, especially those really deep that stable floor work can not target.
Such examples of floor ab exercises that would do this would be crunches, sit ups and leg raises. Eventually you want to do these same exercises against gravity, then a load and then on unstable surface like a stability ball. Body weight exercises like “front planks” and “side planks” should be the foundation of a core program and progressed to one arm planks in the frontal and side planes and then eventually on a stability ball or BOSU ball for further recruitment.
The best ab workouts to make your abs “pop” would be a variety of weighted movements. I’m sure you’ve skinny guys with a flat stomach but no “eye popping” abs, which is because they have not developed the actual abdominal muscle, just like every other body part. Part of getting nicely chiseled abs is going to be developing the muscles underneath the fat, and weighted ab crunches with cables or on a stability ball with a heavy dumbbell will do this best.
During all your ab workouts be sure to get a full stretch during the eccentric phase of your ab exercises. Going through an entire range of motion on the way up (if doing a crunch on the floor or ball) is not necessary, however, you should be “crunching” your upper abs onto your lower abs during each rep to maximize the burn, recruitment and full development.
The one weighted exercise you will not find in my programs is weighted side bends, as this could make you look wider in the waste, distracting from creating a lean image.
One concerning question most people have is regarding lower ab workouts, typically the most troubling spot. Yes, hip flexion (emphasis more so on lower abs) is important to perform and should be done first in the workout but the reality of the matter is that you cannot specifically separate your abs into upper and lower components. Whenever you perform any type of ab movement you should automatically be focusing on working both the upper and lower portion at the same time.
Good exercise to definitely direct a little more force into the lower area would be the progression of lying leg raises, lying leg raises on a incline and eventually hanging leg raises fully vertical. Lying leg raises on a stability pull is also an extremely challenging and advanced exercise to create razor sharp abdominals.
Finally, the last thing to consider is when you are going to perform your ab workout is training frequency. Again, generally speaking, the more the better assuming your abdominals have recovered. Whether you want to perform it at the end of your workout, before your workout, during your workout or on a day of it’s own is up to you. My ab workouts incorporate all methods depending on if you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced. Some theories of that warn you not to start with abs is because abs work as a synergistic muscle for so many of the other exercises you’ll do, if you pre-fatigue them before the start of the workout, you may not progress as much during the rest of your workout. I don’t agree with this and if you’re abs are your weakest link then they should be given first priority when you are the most fresh, the start of your workout.
Incorporating a specific ab workout is only a small part of the battle - diet, lifestyle and overall caloric expenditure through weight training and cardio are the true building blocks to creating a sexy and desired mid section.
About the Author:
Vince DelMonte is the author of Your Six Pack Quest found at http://www.YourSixPackQuest.com
Ab Exercises - The Best Ab Exercises
August 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment
When it comes to getting a solid six pack, doing the right ab exercises is crucial. You can spend hours doing needless sit-ups that aren’t really going to have all that much benefit, much to your disappointment. Taking the time to choose smart ab exercises will save you not only gym time, but a great deal of frustration as well. In this article we will discuss the best lower ab exercises and the best home ab exercises as well.
The best movements for the abdominal muscles are going to be ones that reduce your overall stability. The reason for this is because this will require all your muscle tissues, even the ones deep within the core, to contract in order to maintain balance. When you perform regular sit-ups, for example, they are really only going to target the more superficial muscles; one that will still help, but not get you near the results you could be seeing.
So what ab exercises are ones that reduce your balance?
Basically, anything done on an unstable surface is going to get the job done. This would include movements such as walking across a balance beam, performing one leg squats, one arm shoulder presses, or bent over dumbbell rows standing on one leg and of course, utilizing an exercise ball for any laying abdominal movement you perform. Working on a BOSU ball and stability ball ab exercises are also excellent options. As long as you have a set of free weights and stability ball then these would qualify as your best home ab exercises as well.
By far the most effective lower ab exercises are hanging leg raises while you use your lower abs to rotate your pelvis which is the secret to performing this effectively. Lying leg raises, lying leg raises on a 45 degree incline and cable crunches are also rock hard ab exercises.
Another area you might want to venture into with your ab exercises are those that utilize heavy weights.
While this will not necessarily get you ‘cut’ so that all your individual muscles are showing - that takes having low levels of body fat, what weighted movements will do is help further build the muscle tissue and make your abs “pop”.
The more muscle mass you have, the faster your metabolic rate will then be, so in an indirect way, that could in fact help you burn off excess body fat.
Furthermore, doing weighted movements will also increase your strength greatly, reducing the risk of injuries from any other type of exercise you may attempt. Weighted ball crunches with a stability ball on your chest is my favorite home ab exercises.
When choosing when to perform your ab exercises, if you are looking for performance, do them on a separate day from all your other work. Just like any muscle group, you want to be fresh when you do them.
If, on the other hand, you are more just doing them to help build some strength, but more to round out your exercise program, then you should be doing them at the end of your workout session. This will prevent them from fatiguing early, because they are going to be predominately used in all the other lifts you perform (heavy squats for example).
In many cases this rule can be bent though. For example, if a client comes to me and their abs are the weakest muscle group then performing them at the end of the workout makes no sense because they will be pre fatigued from the workout and you will not be able to train them as intensely so prioritizing your abs at the start of the workout can become the exception in this case.
So, next time you are creating your workout and are picking out ab exercises, keep these points in mind. Having good dedication to performing these exercises on a regular basis and then following a clean diet based around raw vegetables and proteins are the two main components to developing that six-pack you’re hoping for.
About the Author:
Vince DelMonte is the author of Your Six Pack Quest found at http://www.YourSixPackQuest.com
He specializes in helping chubby guys and gals get six pack abs without gimmicks, supplements or dieting.
6 Pack Abs - The Secret To 6 Pack Abs
August 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment
| By Vince DelMonte |
| Everywhere you turn, someone’s promising the next secret to getting 6 pack abs. Some of these so called ’secrets’ have some degree of accuracy, while others, not so much. Deciphering which are the best methods to getting 6 pack abs is going to be critical to your having success with this goal.
The biggest area you need to focus on when trying to obtain 6 pack abs is going to be on your diet. Like it or not, the old saying that ‘abs are made in the kitchen’, is probably one of the most truthful statements in the fitness industry. If your diet isn’t in line, your stomach is going to show it. So, what should you be doing with your diet? First, ensure you are getting enough protein. Not only is protein going to form the key building blocks you need to build muscle tissue, but it’s also going to provide you with a better feeling of fullness than eating just carbohydrates alone would for example. Protein is more “expensive” than any other macronutrient meaning that your body will burn more calories breaking down protein compared to carbs and fats. Next, don’t be afraid of dietary fat that comes from primarily monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats such as olive oils, fish oils, a mix of nuts, natural peanut butter and avocado. While it’s true that eating fat will increase your calories fast, as long as you keep it between 20-30% it can be one of the best things to get 6 pack abs fast. The important point here is that dietary fat helps keep your insulin level stable, which, when high enough can actually cause fat gain itself. Furthermore, dietary fat will keep you feeling the fullest for the longest duration in time; longer than both protein or carbohydrates would. Interestingly, some diets high in fat can get you 6 pack abs fast because your body learn to metabolize fat for energy. So, while you do need to watch it, be sure you are getting some in your diet. Finally, when it comes to carbohydrate intake and getting 6 pack abs, you want to focus most of your carbohydrate intake around the post workout period. Why? The biggest reason for this is because this is when your body is going to need those carbohydrates the most and will really suck them up into the muscle tissue. When you eat them at this time, it is least likely that they will turn into body fat. Additionally, consuming carbohydrates during this period will also help to aid with muscle recovery and repair, so that means less down time from the gym for you. If getting 6 pack abs fast is your goal than each meal you should consist of 1-2 cups of raw vegetables to control insulin levels, improve absorption of your protein and flood your body with vitamins, minerals, fiber and antioxidants. So, if you are aiming to get 6 pack abs in the coming months, have a good hard look at your diet. That is the big secret that must not be overlooked if you are to succeed. |
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16 Ways to Leave Your Love Handles
June 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Hate Those Love Handles?
Answer:
Questions about fat burning and spot toning/reducing are our most popular question. The short answer is that you cannot spot reduce, and the way to burn fat is through aerobic exercise, which burnsburns lots of calories; resistance exercise, which builds muscle (muscle is the engine that burns calories and maintains your metabolic rate); and then watch your caloric intake.
1. There is a genetic factor that determines where people accumulate fat. Women tend to accumulate it in their hips, buttocks, and thighs, and men tend to accumulate it in their abdomen. The reasons for the differences between sexes have not been identified. Some people accumulate more fat than others, and the reasons for that have not been fully identified either, although there are theories.
2. The fat that accumulates on the hips, thighs, and buttocks, although perhaps not cosmetically appealing, is not dangerous for your health. In fact, there is some evidence that it is actually good for your health. The opposite is true for abdominal fat. That fat has been implicated in heart diseaseheart disease, diabetesdiabetes, and other health problems. Men with a large pot belly are therefore at increased health risk, whereas women with large hips or thighs are not necessarily at risk, at least not from the fat on their lower extremities.
3. Fat, no matter where it is on the body, belongs to the entire body, so you can’t spot reduce, i.e., you can’t do sit-ups and lose abdominal fat, and you can’t do leg raises and lose thigh fat.
4. Fat is stored in special fat cells called adipocytes located all over the body. You have anywhere from 25 billion to 275 billion adipocytes. The average individual has around 30-35 billion. These adipocytes store fat and they release fat. When they release fat, the adipocyte gets smaller, and when they store fat, the adipocyte gets larger, just like a balloon that you fill with air or release air from. Contrary to popular belief, adipocytes do not divide when they get too big. Instead, what happens is that as an adipocyte absorbs excess fat and increases in size to approximately 15-20 microns (the diameter of a human hair is 100 microns), it sends a biochemical signal to adjacent adipocyte precursor cells called preadipocytes to absorb fat and grow larger. These preadipocytes then become fully mature adipocytes, and as a result, the individual gets fatter. During childhood and into puberty, both the number of mature adipocytes (hyperplasia) and the size of the adipocyte increases. It is believed by many scientists that the number of adipocytes stays fairy stable after adolescence and instead of an increase in the number of adipocytes during adulthood, the mature adipocytes enlarge to increase body fat. However, there is some recent evidence to suggest that the number of mature adipocytes can also increase during adulthood. In any case, what is certain is that excess caloric intake leads to increases in body fat, either through hyperplasia or through enlargement of the adipocyte.
It should be noted that preadipocytes develop from special cells in the body, and although genes control proteins that control preadipocyte function and development, the process is extremely complex and not well understood, but scientists are busy studying it.
One other point on this subject. Adipocytes do not disappear when they get smaller. They shrink only to a certain size, and then they just hang around as very tiny adipocytes, and they can always get large again. The only way to get rid of them totally is through liposuction.
5. Adipocytes get large by feeding them. If you eat more calories than you burn, some of the excess carbohydrate will be stored as sugar, or glucose, in the muscles (called glycogen), and the rest of the excess will be stored as fat in the fat cells. If you continue to eat more than you burn, you continue to feed the adipocytes with fat and you get fatter.
6. When you exercise, the adipocytes release fat into the blood stream, where it circulates around to the muscles that need it for fuel (a car burns gasoline, our bodies burn fat and glucose). The more you exercise, the more calories you burn. But when you exercise, you cannot choose which adipocytes release fat. It would be nice to say, “release fat from my hips,” but that’s not how it works. What does happen is that when you exercise, adipocytes get a signal from hormones circulating in the blood stream to release fat (sort of like putting your foot on the gas pedal in your car to get the gasoline flowing to the carburetor), and adipocytes from all over the body get released. During exercise, your muscles may be burning fat released from fat cells in your face, shoulders, arms, abdomen, and other locations. You don’t have control over that, and some adipocytes are more sensitive to those hormones and release more fat than other adipocytes. They also tend to release in a consistent pattern that is probably determined by genes. Everyone who has ever lost and regained weight more than once can tell you that the pattern of their weight lossweight loss is almost always the same. Many people lose from their face first, but it varies. In most cases, it is the hips, thighs, and buttocks for women that goes last, if it goes at all.
7. Aerobic exercise stimulates the adipocytes to release lots of fat. That fat will be burned by the muscles during exercise, and if not, it returns to the adipocytes for storage.
8. Weightlifting also stimulates the adipocytes to release fat. Another advantage to weightlifting is that it builds muscle. Muscle is the engine that burns calories and sets your metabolic rate. It’s a good thing to have lots of muscle, so any weightlifting is beneficial. Not only that, but when you lose weight, you lose some muscle too, which makes it harder to lose more weight (remember that muscle burns the calories), so weightlifting during weight loss helps preserve the muscle, and also enhances your ability to lose and maintain weight.
9. Weightlifting will tone muscles, too. If you do leg exercises like lunges, it will tone the muscle under the fat, and that will improve the contour of the leg, but it will not remove fat. Likewise, abdominal exercises will tone and tighten the abdominal muscles, and your pants may even fit looser even though you don’t lose weight.
10. There is evidence that adipocytes in the hips, thighs, and buttocks tend to resist releasing fat into the blood stream. It seems these adipocytes are stubborn, and they don’t like to give up fat. This is not good news for people, women especially, who want to lose fat in their thighs, hips, and buttocks, but it does provide some explanation as to why it is difficult for women to lose the fat in their lower extremities. On the other hand, there is evidence that adipocytes in the abdomen do release fat into the blood stream easier than lower extremity fat. That’s probably one of the reasons why men can lose their gut faster than women can lose their hips. The adipocytes in the abdomen seem to cooperate more.
11. For women, pregnancypregnancy, childbirth, and menopausemenopause are also factors in how much weight and body fat you accumulate and lose. Of course, age is a factor, too.
12. Cellulite is caused by irregular patterns of connective tissue beneath the skin, and as the adipose (fatty) tissue, which forms in compartments of little honeycombs, pushes into the skin, it causes the dimpling of cellulite. It has been shown that people who have cellulite have different patterns of connective tissue than people who don’t, and men tend to have this pattern much less than women. Cellulite is not directly a function of excess weight, but a genetic difference in the way adipose tissue and connective tissue form. In fact, cellulite affects people whether they are overweight or not. Skin creams sold to reduce cellulite make the skin swell so that the appearance of the cellulite changes, but the effects are transient, don’t look that good, and do nothing to change the structure of the connective tissue. Biochemically, cellulite does not behave any differently than other fat and there is no health risk to cellulite. Weight loss and exercise can have some effect on cellulite, but in many of the cases it does not significantly change the appearance.
13. Diet is important. No matter how much exercise you do, if the calories consumed exceed the calories burned, you will not lose weight or fat.
14. People frequently report that they recently started exercising and dieting. Recently could mean a few days to several months. Patience and realistic expectations are important when it comes to weight loss and fitness. You can expect significant improvements in strength in 8-12 weeks, weight loss of 1-2 pounds per week (but often less for many people), some muscle tone in 8-12 weeks, and improvements in mass in 3-12 months. All of these time frames are estimates, and the results depend on how much body fat and muscle you have to start, your fitness level when you start, age, gender, length of time you have been sedentary and overweight, how often and how hard you workout, diet, and perhaps most important, genetics.
15. The bottom line to losing fat in the hips, thighs, buttocks, love handles, or anywhere else is to stimulate the adipocytes through exercise to release fat into the blood stream. You can’t spot reduce for the reasons I’ve mentioned. Fat you burn will come from all over the body. Lunges will not stimulate the leg muscles to lose more fat first, and abdominal exercises will not stimulate fat loss in the abdomen.
16. Finally, there are things we have control over, and things we don’t. As much as we exercise, as much as we diet, we may never have the “perfect” body that we desire, and it’s not our fault.
Richard Weil, MEd, CDE, is an exercise physiologist and certified diabetes educator. He has published dozens of articles on exercise and health and has appeared on many television programs. He also speaks about health at many national conferences.
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Do You Need Weights For Strength Fitness Training
April 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment
When most people think of strength fitness training, they usually picture heavily muscled men lifting bars with numerous weight plates on them. These men, with their bulging muscles and veins sticking out everywhere, are nowhere near where most people want to be. Most people don’t want to strength fitness train to win bodybuilding championships. They don’t want to be able to lift cars or win strong man competitions. They simply want to get in shape. They want to gain a little muscle so that their clothes fit right and so that they look more attractive to the opposite sex. There’s nothing wrong with that. Do you need to lift heavy weights in order to strength fitness train correctly? Absolutely not.
Body Weight Exercises
The truth is, you can get a great full body strength fitness training workout using nothing but your own body weight. That’s right. By doing certain exercises, you can build a great frame and muscle base that will impress those you’re trying to attract and you’ll feel great about yourself. What are these exercises and how do you do them? First, you need to learn about the various muscles in your body, how they work, and how to work them out. After that, you simply design a strength fitness training program that you can do three times per week for a great workout that will cause people’s heads to turn when they see you walking down the street.
The Exercises
Some examples of body weight exercises include pushups, pushups between chairs, feet elevated pushups, squats, calf raises, seated calf raises, pull ups, tricep pushups and more. The exercises are very easy to do and you can complete a full body strength fitness training program in as little as thirty minutes. However, don’t stop there if you want to have the ultimate physique.
Don’t Forget Cardio
You should always include a cardio exercise with any strength fitness training program. Running, walking and swimming are great cardio workouts that anyone, of any age, can do. Cardio will not only help you gain more muscle and get in better shape, but it will also help you shed body fat which will make your muscles appear fuller and bigger. Whether you’re training purely for strength or you just want to look better, you can get a great workout just by using your body weight. Just remember to also eat correctly or all your hard work will be for nothing.
About the Author
Britney Smith is an internet marketer full time and she writes in various topics , learn more about Health Fitness Exercise Website here : http://muscleshape.info/
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The “Land Meat” That Rivals Wild Salmon in Omega-3 Content - Grass Fed Beef & Other Grass Fed Meats
April 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Below article is written by Mike Geary - The author of Truth about Six Pack Abs - I always love what he write about all the fitness tips and i thought of sharing with you here :
by Mike Geary — Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer
I know you’ve heard all of the buzz over the last few years about the health benefits of wild salmon and other fish that have higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids.
However, did you know that there’s a “land meat” that has similar omega-3/omega-6 ratios as wild salmon? In fact, this “land meat” not only contains as much, or even higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids, but without the possible negatives such as heavy metals (mercury, etc) and PCBs that can be found in fish frequently.
I’ve talked about this type of meat before and how it’s one of the healthiest forms of meat you can possibly eat… It’s grass-fed beef and other grass-fed ruminant meats such as bison, buffalo, lamb, and venison.
Now I know that a lot of people will try to convince you that meat is not good for you… and to be honest I partially agree with them when it comes to your typical factory farm-raised meat where the animals are fattened up with huge quantities of grains & soy that are not their natural diet & given unhealthy doses of hormones, antibiotics, etc.
However, when animals are healthy and eat the diet they were meant to eat naturally, the meat is actually healthy for us.
Let’s take beef for example… When cattle eat mostly grain and soy, the fat composition of their meat becomes higher in inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids and lower in beneficial omega-3 fatty acids.
On the other hand, when cattle eat mostly grass instead of grains/soy, their meat becomes higher in omega-3s and lower in omega-6 fatty acids. In addition, grass-fed beef also contains much higher levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which has shown some promising benefits in studies for losing body fat and gaining lean muscle mass.
A similar comparison can be made between wild salmon and farm raised salmon. Wild salmon is a healthier option than farm raised salmon and has higher levels of omega-3s because the wild salmon eat what they’re supposed to eat naturally. On the other hand, farm raised salmon are fattened up unnaturally with grain/soy based food pellets which detrimentally changes the salmon’s fat ratio of omega-6 to omega-3.
The problem is that it is VERY hard to find healthy grass fed meats in typical grocery stores. In fact, even at health food stores, you might find some “organic” meats (which is at least a little better than standard), but it is often hard to find any real grass-fed meats.
Well, about 2 weeks ago, I did some searching and found a great website that sells all kinds of varieties of grass-fed beef and other healthy grass fed meats…
http://healthygrassfed.2ya.com
They have everything you could ever want… grass-fed burgers, filet mignon & any other quality beef cuts, grass-fed buffalo, grass-fed cheeses, and even free-range chicken and turkey!
And better yet, they deliver it right to your house with no shipping costs either… and I actually found that the prices were pretty comparable to what I usually pay at the grocery store anyway.
I’ll tell ya… I was like a kid in a candy store when I found this site. I placed my order for all kinds of goodies on a friday, I got a shipping notification email that Monday, and my delivery came right to my door the very next day in a sealed cooler… I couldn’t believe the service I got from this company.
Wouldn’t it give you peace of mind to know that you and your family are eating meat that is actually good for you instead of the mass produced junk at most grocery stores? I know I’m getting most of my meat from them from now on.
Everything in my order ended up being awesome… here’s my recommendations:
*the grass-fed filet mignons (delicious and tender!)
*grass-fed burgers and bison burgers when I need a quick but healthy 5-minute meal (use some grass-fed cheese and sprouted grain roll for the ultimate balanced meal)
*the free-range chicken and turkey sausages (makes great italian dishes or healthier breakfast sausage)
*grass-fed cheese and butter (higher in CLA and omega-3 than normal butter or cheese)
*they even have free-range turkeys available for upcoming thanksgiving (you won’t find free-range turkeys in stores)
Plus, besides getting much healthier meat than you’d ever find in the store, another benefit to this site was that it was like doing my grocery shopping from my living room, instead of fighting the crowds at the store.
Well, they’ve got me hooked, and thought I’d pass on this little discovery to you. Here’s the site again…
http://healthygrassfed.2ya.com
(FYI - from looking at the site, I believe you can only order the meats if you’re in the US and Canada)
Enjoy!
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Excess Abdominal Fat is Not Only Ugly, but Extremely Dangerous to Your Health - This is More Than a Vanity Issue!
April 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment
by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer
Did you know that the vast majority of people in this day and age have excess abdominal fat? The first thing that most people think of is that their extra abdominal fat is simply ugly, is covering up their abs from being visible, and makes them self conscious about showing off their body.
However, what most people don’t realize is that excess abdominal fat in particular, is not only ugly, but is also a dangerous risk factor to your health. Scientific research has clearly determined that although it is unhealthy in general to have excess body fat throughout your body, it is also particularly dangerous to have excess abdominal fat.
There are two types of fat that you have in your abdominal area. The first type that covers up your abs from being visible is called subcutaneous fat and lies directly beneath the skin and on top of the abdominal muscles.
The second type of fat that you have in your abdominal area is called visceral fat, and that lies deeper in the abdomen beneath your muscle and surrounding your organs. Visceral fat also plays a role in giving certain men that “beer belly” appearance where their abdomen protrudes excessively but at the same time, also feels sort of hard if you push on it.
Both subcutaneous fat and visceral fat in the abdominal area are serious health risk factors, but science has shown that having excessive visceral fat is even more dangerous than subcutaneous fat. Both of them greatly increase the risk your risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, sleep apnea, various forms of cancer, and other degenerative diseases.
Part of the reason visceral fat is particularly dangerous is that it apparently releases more inflammatory molecules into your system on a consistent basis.
If you care about the quality of your life and your loved ones, reducing your abdominal fat should be one of your TOP priorities! There’s just no way around it. Besides, a side effect of finally getting rid of all of that excessive ugly abdominal fat is that your stomach will flatten out, and if you lose enough stomach fat, you will be able to visibly see those sexy six pack abs that everyone wants.
So what gets rid of extra abdominal fat? Is there actually a REAL solution beyond all of the gimmicks and hype that you see in ads and on commercials for “miracle” fat loss products?
The first thing you must understand is that there is absolutely NO quick fix solution. There are no pills or supplements of any sort that will help you lose your abdominal fat faster. Also, none of the gimmicky ab rockers, rollers, or ab belts will help get rid of abdominal fat either. You can’t spot reduce your stomach fat by using any of these worthless contraptions. It simply doesn’t work that way.
The only solution to consistently lose your abdominal fat and keep it off for good is to combine a sound nutritious diet full of unprocessed natural foods with a properly designed strategic exercise program that stimulates the necessary hormonal and metabolic response within your body. Both your food intake as well as your training program are important if you are to get this right.
I’ve actually even seen a particular study that divided thousands of participants into a diet-only group and an exercise & diet combined group. While both groups in this study made good progress, the diet-only group lost significantly LESS abdominal fat than the diet & exercise combined group.
Now the important thing to realize is that just any old exercise program will not necessarily do the trick. The majority of people that attempt getting into a good exercise routine are NOT working out effectively enough to really stimulate the loss of stubborn abdominal fat. I see this everyday at the gym.
Most people will do your typical boring ineffective cardio routines, throw in a little outdated body-part style weight training, and pump away with some crunches and side bends, and think that they are doing something useful for reducing their abdominal fat. Then they become frustrated after weeks or months of no results and wonder where they went wrong.
Well, the good news is that I’ve spent over a decade researching this topic, analyzing the science, and applying it “in the trenches” with myself as well as thousands of my clients from all over the world to see what works to really stimulate abdominal fat loss.
The entire solution… all of the nutritional strategies, as well as training sequences, exercise combinations, and more have all been compiled in my Truth About Six Pack Abs Program.
Keep in mind that the point of this whole program is NOT abdominal exercises (that is only a very small portion of it). The main point of this program is showing you the absolute most effective strategies for losing your stubborn abdominal fat, so you can get rid of that dangerous health risk, as well as get a flatter more defined midsection.
If you follow the guidelines, you WILL lose your belly fat that has been plaguing you for years. This is not guesswork… it is a proven system that works time and time again for all of my clients on every corner of the globe that actually apply these strategies. If you apply it, the results will come. It’s really that simple.
The only reason most people fail in their fitness goals is that they have good intentions at first to adopt a new lifestyle, yet after a few weeks or months, they abandon their good intentions and slip right back into their old bad habits that gave them the excess body fat in the first place.
I want to help you succeed in finally getting rid of that extra abdominal fat that is not only UGLY, but also DANGEROUS. A lot of people have emailed me with questions about whether they need any special equipment, if they’re too old or too young for this program, etc. I’ve made a page that should answer all of your questions…
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The Hidden Dangers of Your Excess Abdominal Fat - It’s More Serious Than a Vanity Issue!
March 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment
by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer
Did you know that the vast majority of people in this day and age have excess abdominal fat? The first thing that most people think of is that their extra abdominal fat is simply ugly, is covering up their abs from being visible, and makes them self conscious about showing off their body.
However, what most people don’t realize is that excess abdominal fat in particular, is not only ugly, but is also a dangerous risk factor to your health. Scientific research has clearly demonstrated that although it is unhealthy in general to have excess body fat throughout your body, it is also particularly dangerous to have excess abdominal fat.
There are two types of fat that you have in your abdominal area. The first type that covers up your abs from being visible is called subcutaneous fat and lies directly beneath the skin and on top of the abdominal muscles.
The second type of fat that you have in your abdominal area is called visceral fat, and that lies deeper in the abdomen beneath your muscle and surrounding your organs. Visceral fat also plays a role in giving certain men that “beer belly” appearance where their abdomen protrudes excessively but at the same time, also feels sort of hard if you push on it.
Both subcutaneous fat and visceral fat in the abdominal area are serious health risk factors, but science has shown that having excessive visceral fat is even more dangerous than subcutaneous fat. Both of them greatly increase the risk your risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, sleep apnea, various forms of cancer, and other degenerative diseases.
Part of the reason visceral fat is particularly dangerous is that it apparently releases more inflammatory molecules into your body on a consistent basis.
If you care about the quality of your life and your loved ones, reducing your abdominal fat should be one of your TOP priorities! There’s just no way around it. Besides, a side-effect of finally getting rid of all of that excessive ugly abdominal fat is that your stomach will flatten out, and if you lose enough stomach fat, you will be able to visibly see those sexy six pack abs that everyone wants.
So what gets rid of extra abdominal fat? Is there actually a REAL solution beyond all of the gimmicks and hype that you see in ads and on commercials for “miracle” fat loss products?
The first thing you must understand is that there is absolutely NO quick fix solution. There are no pills or supplements of any sort that will help you lose your abdominal fat faster. Also, none of the gimmicky ab rockers, rollers, or ab belts will help get rid of abdominal fat either. You can’t spot reduce your stomach fat by using any of these worthless contraptions. It simply doesn’t work that way.
The ONLY solution to consistently lose your abdominal fat and keep it off for good is to combine a sound nutritious diet full of unprocessed natural foods with a properly designed strategic exercise program that stimulates the necessary hormonal and metabolic response within your body. Both your food intake as well as your training program are important if you are to get this right.
I’ve actually even seen a particular study that divided thousands of participants into a diet-only group and an exercise/diet group. While both groups in this study made good progress, the diet-only group lost significantly LESS abdominal fat than the diet & exercise combined group.
Now the important thing to realize is that just any old exercise program will not necessarily do the trick. The majority of people that attempt getting into a good exercise routine are NOT working out effectively enough to really stimulate the loss of stubborn abdominal fat. I see this everyday at the gym.
Most people will do your typical boring ineffective cardio routines, throw in a little outdated body-part style weight training, and pump away with some crunches and side bends, and think that they are doing something useful for reducing their abdominal fat. Then they become frustrated after weeks or months of no results and wonder where they went wrong.
Well, the good news is that I’ve spent over a decade researching this topic, analyzing the science, and applying it “in the trenches” with myself as well as thousands of my clients from all over the world to see what works to really stimulate abdominal fat loss.
The entire solution… all of the nutritional strategies, as well as training sequences, exercise combinations, and more have all been compiled in my Truth About Six Pack Abs Program.
Keep in mind that the point of this whole program is NOT abdominal exercises (that is only a very small portion of it). The main point of this program is showing you the absolute most effective strategies for losing your stubborn abdominal fat, so you can get rid of that dangerous health risk, as well as get a flatter more defined midsection.
If you follow the guidelines, you WILL lose your belly fat that has been plaguing you for years. This is not guesswork… it is a proven system that works time and time again for all of my clients on every corner of the globe that actually apply the information I teach. If you apply it, the results will come. It’s really that simple.
The only reason most people fail in their fitness goals is that they have good intentions at first to adopt a new lifestyle, yet after a few weeks or months, they abandon their good intentions and slip right back into their old bad habits that gave them the excess body fat in the first place.
I want to help you succeed in finally getting rid of that extra abdominal fat that is not only UGLY, but also DANGEROUS.
Don’t waste another day allowing that nasty abdominal fat to kill your confidence as well as contribute to your risk for MAJOR diseases.
Get the solution to rid yourself for life of this problem at…
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The Shocking Truth about Dietary Fats and Saturated Fats
February 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment
by Mike Geary - Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer
I’ll preface this article by saying that it will help if you have an open mind and accept that some of these facts are a slap in the face to politically correct nutrition in this day and age where fats are admonished by many doctors, health “experts”, and the mass media.
To start, eating an adequate supply of healthy dietary fats is vitally important to your overall health. Fats are one of the main components in all of the cell membranes throughout your entire body. If you eat enough healthy natural fats, your cellular processes will proceed normally. On the other hand, if you eat man-made, heavily processed, chemically altered fats (damaged fats) that are found in most processed foods, your cellular function will be impaired as these damaged fats become part of your cell membranes, the body will have to work harder to operate correctly, and degenerative diseases can develop.
In addition, healthy dietary fats are necessary for optimal hormone production and balance within the body and are therefore essential for the muscle building and fat burning processes. Other important functions that dietary fats play in a healthy body are aiding vitamin and mineral utilization, enzyme regulation, energy, etc.
I cringe every time I hear so called “health experts” recommend restriction of dietary fat, claiming that a low-fat diet is the key to good health, weight loss, and prevention of degenerative diseases. Restriction of any one macronutrient (protein, carbs, or fat) in your diet works against what your body needs and can only lead to problems.
All three basic macronutrients serve important functions for a lean, healthy, and disease-free body. As Dr. Mary Enig, Ph.D, and one of the leading fats researchers in the world, notes in several of her books and articles, there is very little true scientific evidence supporting the assertion that a high fat diet is bad for us.
For example, if these so called “health experts” that admonish fat are correct, and a low-fat diet is the solution to good health, then why did traditional Pacific Islanders who typically obtained 2/3 to 3/4 of their total daily calories from fat (mostly from coconut fat), remain virtually free from heart disease, obesity, and other modern degenerative diseases (that is, until Western dietary influences invaded)? Also, why did traditional Eskimo populations, consuming up to 75% of their total caloric intake from fat (mostly from whale blubber, seal fat, organ meats, and cold water fish), display superior health and longevity without heart disease or obesity?
Why did members of the Masai tribe in Africa remain free from degenerative diseases and maintain low body fat percentages on diets consisting of large quantities of raw whole milk, blood, and meat? What about the Samburu tribe of Africa, which eats an average of 5 times the quantity of dietary fat (mostly from raw whole milk and meat) as overweight, disease-ridden Americans, yet Samburu members are lean, healthy, and free of degenerative diseases? What about traditional Mediterranean diets, which are known to be very high in fat in some cases (sometimes up to 50-70% fat), and are also well known to be very healthy?
These examples of high fat diets and the associated excellent health of traditional populations around the world go on and on, yet it seems that many doctors, nutritionists, and media outlets still ignore these facts and continue to promote a diet that restricts fat intake.
Well, the problem is that the good fats (the natural unprocessed health promoting fats) have gotten mistakenly lumped together in nutritional advice with the deadly processed fats and oils that make up a large percentage of almost all processed food that is sold at your local grocery store, restaurant, deli, fast food joint, etc. These deadly processed fats are literally everywhere and almost impossible to avoid unless you know what to look for and make smart choices in what you feed your body with.
Take note that I’m not recommending following a super high fat diet. Active individuals that exercise on a regular basis certainly also need adequate supplies of healthy carbohydrates for energy and muscle glycogen replenishment as well as good sources of protein for muscle repair. The above examples of the high fat diets of traditional populations and their corresponding excellent health were simply to prove the point that you don’t need to be afraid of dietary fats as long as you make healthy natural choices and stay within your daily caloric range to maintain or lose weight (depending on your goals).
Following is a list of some of the healthiest fatty foods (some will surprise you!) as well as some of the deadliest fatty foods to try to avoid at all costs:
The Healthy Fatty Food Choices:
- Coconut fat: Coconut fat is approximately 92% saturated fat, yet surprisingly to most people, is considered a very healthy natural fat. The health benefits of coconut fat lie in its composition of approximately 65% medium chain triglycerides (MCTs). Specifically, about 50% of coconut fat is a MCT called lauric acid, which has very potent anti-microbial properties helping to enhance the immune system. Also, MCTs are more easily utilized for immediate energy instead of being stored as body fat. Coconut oil is also an excellent cooking oil for stir-frying, etc. since saturated fats are much more stable and do not oxidize like polyunsaturated oils when exposed to heat and light, which creates damaging free radicals. The best sources of healthy coconut fat are organic coconut milk, virgin coconut oil (available at http://coconut-info.com), or fresh coconut.
- Extra virgin olive oil: Olive oil is approximately 71% monounsaturated, 16% saturated, and 13% polyunsaturated. Choose “extra virgin” olive oil, which comes from the first pressing of the olives and has higher quantities of antioxidants. Unlike most other oils on supermarket shelves, extra virgin olive oil is not extracted with the use of harmful industrial solvents and is one of your healthiest choices for liquid oils. Try making your own salad dressing by mixing a small amount of olive oil with vinegar. This is healthier than most store bought salad dressings, which are usually made with highly processed and refined (chemically damaged) soybean oil extracted with industrial solvents.
- Dark, bittersweet chocolate (>70% cocoa): The cocoa bean is a very concentrated source of antioxidants and responsible for part of the health benefit of dark chocolate. The fat portion of the cocoa bean (cocoa butter) is a healthy natural fat, composed of approximately 59% saturated fat (mostly healthy stearic acid), 38% monounsaturated fat, and 3% polyunsaturated fat. I’ll limit the description of healthy chocolate to ONLY dark bittersweet chocolate with >70% cocoa content. Most milk chocolates are only about 30% cocoa, and even most dark chocolates are only about 55% cocoa, leaving the remainder of those products composed of high amounts of sugar, milk fat, corn sweeteners, etc. Look for a quality dark chocolate that lists its cocoa content like Chocolove Extra Dark (77%) or Dagoba New Moon (74%), which contain mostly cocoa and very little sugar. Keep in mind that although dark chocolate can be a healthy treat, it is still calorie dense, so keeping it to just a square or two is a good idea.
- Avocados or guacamole: The fat in avocados (depending on where they’re grown) is approximately 60% monounsaturated, 25% saturated, and 15% polyunsaturated. Avocados are a very healthy natural food that provides many nutrients, fiber, and healthful fats, while adding a rich flavor to any meal. Try sliced avocado on sandwiches or in salads or use guacamole in wraps, sandwiches, or quesadillas.
- High fat fish such as wild salmon, sardines, mackerel, herring, trout, etc.: Just about any fish or seafood are good sources of natural omega-3 polyunsaturated fats, but the higher fat fish listed above are the best sources of omega-3’s. Due to the radical switch to a higher proportion of omega-6 polyunsaturated fats like soybean oil, corn oil, safflower oil, etc. in our food supply during the middle of the 20th century, the average western diet is currently way too high in omega-6’s compared to omega-3’s, which wreaks havoc in your body. This is where good omega-3 sources like high fat fish, walnuts, and flax seeds can help bring you back to a better ratio of omega-6/omega-3.
- Nuts (any and all - walnuts, almonds, peanuts, cashews, macadamias, etc.): Nuts are great sources of healthy unprocessed fats as well as minerals and other trace nutrients. Macadamias, almonds, and cashews are great sources of monounsaturated fats, while walnuts are a good source of unprocessed polyunsaturated fats (including omega-3’s). Try to avoid nuts that are cooked in oil. Instead, choose raw or dry roasted nuts.
- Seeds (sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds): All of these seeds are great sources of natural unprocessed healthy fats. In particular, flax seeds have received a lot of attention lately due to their high omega-3 content. However, keep in mind that omega-3 polyunsaturated fats are highly reactive to heat and light, and prone to oxidation and free radical production. Therefore, freshly ground flax seed is the only way to go. Instead of using the store bought ground flax seed, you can buy whole flax seed and use one of those miniature coffee grinders to grind your own flax seed. Try grinding fresh flax seed into your yogurt, cereal, or even your salad. If you’re using a flax oil, make sure it’s a cold-pressed oil in a light-proof refrigerated container, and use it up within a few weeks to prevent it from going rancid. NEVER cook with flax oil!
- The fat in organically raised, free-range animals: This is where most people have been misinformed by the mass media. Animal fat is inherently good for us, that is, if it came from a healthy animal. Human beings have thrived on animal fats for thousands of years. The problem is, most mass produced animal products today do not come from healthy animals. They come from animals given loads of antibiotics and fattened up with hormones and fed un-natural feed. The solution is to choose organically raised, free-range meats, eggs, and dairy. At this time, the price is still a little higher, but as demand grows, the prices will come down. I’ve found an incredible website that actually offers free-range grass-fed meats delivered right to your doorstep at very reasonable prices. Believe me, it’s very hard to find grass fed meats at any grocery stores, so I was pleased to find this site.
The Deadly Fatty Foods:
- Hydrogenated oils (trans fats): These are industrially produced chemically altered oils subjected to extremely high pressure and temperature, with added industrial solvents such as hexane for extraction, and have a metal catalyst added to promote the artificial hydrogenation, followed by bleaching and deodorizing agents…..and somehow the FDA still allows this crap to pass as food. These oils aren’t even worthy of your lawnmower, much less your body! They’ve been linked to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and more. Even small quantities have been shown in studies to be dangerous. If you care about your health, check the ingredients of everything you buy, and if you see partially hydrogenated oils of any kind, margarine, or shortening, protect yourself and your family by choosing something else. The FDA has mandated that all food manufacturers are required to show the quantity of trans fat on all labels by January 2006.
- Refined oils: Even if the oils are not hydrogenated, most oils on your supermarket shelves are refined, even most of the so called “healthy” canola oils. Most refined oils still undergo the high temperature, high pressure, solvent extraction, bleaching, and deodorizing processes. Anything labeled vegetable oil, soybean oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, safflower oil, and even many canola oils have been damaged by this refining process (unless they say “virgin” or “cold expeller pressed”). This damages the natural structure of the fats, destroys natural antioxidants, creates free radicals, and produces a generally unhealthy product. Take note that the explosion of heart disease in the middle of the 20th century coincides quite nicely with the rapid increase in the use of hydrogenated and refined oils in the food supply.
- Anything deep fried: including tortilla chips, potato chips, French fries, donuts, fried chicken, chicken nuggets, etc. All of this crap shouldn’t even pass as real food in my opinion!
- Homogenized milk fat - Milk fat is a very healthy fat in its natural raw state. Milk and beef from grass fed organically raised cows is known to have higher quantities of healthy fats like conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and omega-3 fatty acids compared with grain fed cows. Traditional populations around the world have thrived in perfect health while consuming huge quantities of raw, non-pasteurized, non-homogenized, full fat dairy products. Once again, food processing ruins a good thing by pasteurizing and homogenizing milk fat, rendering it potentially dangerous inside the human body. Unfortunately, you will find it almost impossible to find raw milk in the US unless you personally know a farmer. Check out http://www.realmilk.com for more info on the benefits of raw milk and to find out if it’s available near you. As an alternative, cultured dairy products like yogurt have at least had beneficial microorganisms added back to them making them better for you. Realistically, since you probably won’t find raw milk, sticking to skim milk is the best option to avoid the homogenized milk fat. If you use butter for cooking, your best option is grass-fed butter.
I hope this article has shed some light on the truth about dietary fats and made you realize their importance in a healthy diet. A fully comprehensive analysis on dietary protein, carbohydrates, and fat, and how to compile all of this information into a diet that promotes a lean healthy body with a low body fat percentage is provided in my book “The Truth About Six Pack Abs”. Give it a try and you won’t be disappointed!
return to Six Pack Abs Exercises
Are you ready to discover the Perfect Belly and Get Flat Abs fast?
Time to get started, and get you on your way to stripping off that stubborn stomach fat and unleashing your own set of six pack, sexy flat abs!….
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Secrets on How to lose belly fat
February 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Crunch after crunch, sit-up after sit-up; the more time you spend in the gym working on those abs, the flatter they’ll get, right? Wrong. Crunches and sit-ups are not the answer when wondering how to lose belly fat. While it’s true that these exercises will tone and tighten the muscles of your stomach, this does sometimes give you a slightly leaner look around the belly simply because you’re more toned, crunches and sit-ups don’t actually cause you to lose fat at the midsection.
Why Crunches Are Not the Answer
To really understand how to lose belly fat, you need to understand how the body actually burns fat in the first place, and it really has nothing to do with resistance training or weight lifting. The body holds fat when you eat more calories than you expend; these excess calories are converted to fat and stored in the body, whether it’s around your stomach or arms or legs or anyplace else. In reality, fat is fat, and the only way to learn how to lose belly fat is to learn how your body burns that excess fat in the first placed.
To reduce these fatty deposits in your body, you need to adjust that balance of calories consumed versus calories burned. This might mean decreasing your calories every day, expending your calories burned by increasing your physical activity, or a combination of both. This is the only solution to the problem of how to lose belly fat. When you begin to expend more calories than you consume, your body burns those stores of fat to compensate. It calls upon those “reserves” of fat to provide the necessary energy, and the fat begins to melt from your body.
How to Lose Belly Fat Versus Other Body Fat
The one problem that many people face when wondering how to lose belly fat is that they are trying to target this specific area for trimming. Unfortunately, there is absolutely nothing you can do to decide where your body is going to draw those fat reserves from. It might start burning the fat on your arms, legs, butt, face, or anyplace else before it takes fat from your belly. Crunches and sit-ups won’t cause your body to take fat from that area any sooner or any quicker.
However, there is an upside to doing all those crunches and sit-ups when considering how to lose belly fat, and that is that this will make your stomach look more toned once that fat does start melting off. Also, doing resistance training and muscle building of any type will help your metabolism speed up, as people with more muscle mass have a higher metabolism, meaning that they are burning more calories even at rest, then those without. The body needs to work harder to constantly feed those muscles, so it’s burning more calories overall. So don’t discount the idea of doing crunches and sit-ups when learning how to lose belly fat, just don’t expect them to perform miracles either!
If you are ready to discover the Perfect Belly , then its Time to get started, and get you on your way to stripping off that stubborn stomach fat and unleashing your own set of six pack, flat and sexy abs!….
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