Effective Ab Workouts

Most of us would love to have six pack abs, So most us would figure we better start on those crunches, because that’s the only way to get them.

Well, most of would be wrong. Which ab workouts should I do?

Toned six packs abs are not the result you’ll get from doing crunches and sit ups. To get a six pack, Arnold style, the first thing you need to do is lose that belly fat.

Start by cutting back on saturated fats, processed grains, and sugars—this will go a long way to slimming your waistline. For those abs to really show, you’ll want a body fat ratio of less than 12%.

Doing exercises that provide resistance, which will develop and tone your muscles, is the next step. Crunches offer virtually no resistance, and aren’t that great besides not a great ab workouts

Even if you do five hundred crunches, because there’s isn’t resistance, it won’t do any good. You need an ab workout that will burn fat, especially that belly fat, and increase your metabolic rate.

The best way to do this is work out your whole body, and not focus solely on the abs. By training large muscle groups like the back, legs, and chest, your metabolism will increase. You’ll start to get lean and have tone and definition in your muscles.

The best ab workouts are the bicycling maneuver, the captain’s chair, and using an exercise ball, according to a 2001 study by the American Council on Exercise. The bicycling maneuver works every muscle in your abs, and as an added bonus, is great for cardio. The exercise ball challenges your abs, as well as your glutes.

The Bicycling Maneuver-

Many consider the bicycling maneuver to be the best work out for your abs. To perform this exercise, lie on your back on the floor and put your hands behind your head, like you would if you were going to do crunches. Now bring your right elbow to your left knee, then switch and bring your left elbow to your right knee. Just keep alternating sides.

The Exercise Ball-

One great way to use the exercise ball is to put it under your knees with your back on the floor. Contract your abs and use them to lift your hips off the floor. Use small movements; don’t swing or use momentum to help you up.

Other terrific exercises for abs include hanging leg raises, and lying leg thrusts. To get the maximum benefit when doing hanging leg raises, curl your pelvis up as you raise your hips. This will really add to the definition in your midsection. Squats, lunges, and climbing walls are also very good exercises to work your abs.

Quick Weight Loss Paths

1. Stretch your meals to, at least, 20 minutes or longer. Your stomach, mouth and brain are all connected and it takes 20 minutes of chewing before your stomach signals your brain that you are full. To feel full and successfully lose weight on any weight loss program, you need to eat slowly for 20 minutes or longer.

2. The more positive your self-esteem, the better you feel about yourself, the faster and easier it will be for you to lose weight. When you are self-confident, you are better able to take charge of your life. It also means that after you lose weight, it will stay gone permanently.

3. When you go fat free or low fat, you also cut out much of the taste of the foods you eat. Add the flavor back with herbs and spices. Strong flavors such as vinegar, garlic, chili powder, cayenne, curry powder, rosemary and tarragon can be used to doctor up any food you are eating. For your low fat and fat free diets, experiment with different herbs and spices until you find some you like. Staying on your fat free or low fat diet will be easier and your weight loss will be speeded up.

4. Increase your metabolism by as much as 40% by using hot and spicey foods such as hot peppers of all varieties and mustards. Research shows these foods all increase your metabolism. For double duty, give up fat filled mayonnaise for mustard and add hot peppers to your food for greater flavor and increased metabolism.

5. Negative emotions will also interfere with your weight loss program. It's difficult to stay motivated to lose weight when you feel bad. Overeating often accompanies negative emotions such as depression, anxiety, fear, guilt and anger. If this is true for you, begin a stress management program including some exercise and relaxation exercises.

6. To lose weight faster, reduce your intake of caffeine. Caffeine leads to an increase of insulin in your body which retards the burning of your stored fat.This is a simple chemical reaction in your body that you can change. Reduce your caffeine intake by 50% and see what happens. Here is a rough guide to use when looking at the amount of caffeine you currently take in: Brewed coffee (6 oz. cup) - 100mg; Instant coffee (6 oz.) - 70mg; Tea (6 oz.) - 50mg; Soft drinks (12oz.) - (Coke, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew) - 50mg; Dark chocolate (1 oz.) - 20mg and Milk chocolate (1 oz.) - 6mg.

7. increase your intake of fiber rich foods. They will help fill you up faster and will help all the food you eat pass through your digestive system more easily.

8. Exercise is probably the most important key to increasing your metabolism and burning off excess fat. Research shows that you burn more stored fat for energy when you do aerobic exercises on an empty stomach than on a full stomach. Research also shows that you burn more stored fat when you exercise late in the day rather than in the morning. Put together, the best time to exercise to lose weight by burning your stored fat is in the late afternoon/early evening before dinner. Second best is in the morning before breakfast. Our metabolism naturally starts to slow down about 8 hours after we wake up. Thirty minutes of aerobic exercises in the evening, before dinner, will not only burn off stored fat but it increases your metabolism for about two to three more hours just when it was starting to slow down. This produces a significant increase in fat burned off, even after the exercise is over.

9. To lose weight quickly, never skip a meal. Your first meal after waking starts your metabolism. Your metabolism then speeds up for about eight hours and then starts slowing down until you go to sleep when it goes to low until you wake and eat and start the cycle again. Skip breakfast and your metabolism doesn't get started until lunch time. You've just missed three or four hours of fat burning time. When you skip meals during the day, your metabolism also slows down. Weight loss through the burning of stored fat is all about eating enough of the right kinds of foods so you stay full and your metabolism stays as high as possible. Remember, if you feel hungry, your metabolism slows down. Stay full with healthy, nonfattening foods and your metabolism will continue to burn your stored fat as fast as your body will allow.

Right weight for your height.