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Six-Pack Abs Require A Combination Of Diet And Exercise

November 26th, 2009


Many of us would love to have the six-pack abs. Everywhere you look there are commercials or ads promising these wonderful abs, but what really works? There are many of these ads that say taking a supplement can give you the envious abdominals and the flat stomach you’ve always wanted. Whether or not these supplement is still yet to be decided.  One thing that we do know for sure is that exercises such as crunches and sit ups  will get you the results you want.

Not all the supplements that are available to you are safe. Who knows what they are putting in these supplements that will give you these great abs. There have been reports of serious side effects resulting from taking these supplements. The good news is there is another way to get these great abs without having to take supplements and risking your health. With a little hard work, exercise and a healthy diet you can achieve great looking abs all on your own.

First thing you will need to do is get some sort of journal to keep record of your exercise and diet program. You can choose whatever kind of journal you think will work best for you. If you want to use a little notebook that you can take with you to help you stay on top of your record keeping that is just fine. If you have a personal digital assistant you can invest in a program that will help you keep your records. Whichever way you decide will work better for you is what you need to do.

The purpose of the journal is to keep track of your progress, and help find any areas that may need more attention. Information you will need to put in your journal will be what day it is, your weight, what exercise you are doing or did on that day, and your food intake. You will also want to make sure you record the time of each of these events to make tracking progress easier.

You will also want to take your measurements weekly or biweekly depending on how dramatic of results you like to see and record these also. How often you weigh yourself is up to you as an individual, it all depends once again on how dramatic you want the results to be. Just remember that if you do it every day it may make you more aware of your goals and make you try harder to reach them. Whichever way you decide to go, just make sure you are weighing yourself at the same time of day each time.

When you track this information it will make you more aware of what you need to work harder on the next day or week. If you have a record of what you did you can look and see if maybe you skipped a day of exercise, or didn’t eat very healthy. You want to make sure you are burning more calories than you are taking in. If you keep track of your how much food you ate and when you ate it, it will be easier to see when you need to watch more carefully. Maybe you are overeating everyday at the same time of day, if so your journal will help you see this so you can fix it.

When keeping track of your exercise you will want to write down what type of exercise you did, when you did it, and how long you did it. Keep in mind that just doing sit-ups will not guarantee that six-pack you dream of. You need to make sure you get rid of the fat so that you can see the great abs you are looking for.

To maximize your results you will probably want to do aerobic exercise or cardiovascular exercise to burn fat and calories, strength training to create more muscle, and abdominal exercises. Strength training is important because muscle burns more calories than fat, and will help power your aerobic exercises. Walking, swimming or training along with an aerobic exercise tape are all great ways to get you aerobic workout in. For abdominal work you can do regular sit-ups, or try something like Pilates. Pilates incorporates strength training for your abs and uses twisting movements to get better results.

Just remember that you should exercise four to five times a week, and keep an honest an accurate journal to maximize your results. You also need to realize that you will not get your dream abs overnight; it takes hard work and time.

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The Best Ab Workout for 6 Pack Abs

November 21st, 2009

Men and women everywhere spend countless time and energy looking for the best ab workout they can find. Having a tight firm stomach has become something of a status symbol that denotes a healthy fit body. Getting a set of 6 pack abs does take work and dedication to the goal that is set.Everyday there is not shortage of TV and internet advertisements that cater to this very need. Everything from fat burning, appetite suppressing pills and potions to the latest ab exercise machine that twists and turns your body into all sorts of pretzel shapes are being sold to the six pack crazed public these days. Those fitness models and other “beautiful people” they feature in those commercials probably didn’t get those bodies using whatever it they are trying to sell. They worked hard to get their bodies in shape and they continue to live a healthy lifestyle to stay that way.No matter how many ab specific exercises you do on those machines or doing 1000s of sit-ups and crunches you will never get those hard firm abs you’ve been looking for without making some changes to the way you eat and exercise. You can have a 6 pack but nobody will se it if it’s hidden under a layer of fat.That’s right, the best ab workout doesn’t just focus on the abdominal muscles but the health and fitness level of your entire body. By focusing on living a healthy lifestyle that includes eating right and doing a variety of different exercises that work the entire body you can have the type of abs you see on those commercials.It will take some work and dedication to achieve that washboard stomach but the steps needed are actually quite simple, if you have the desire to do them. If anything just look at those fitness model in those commercials. They look that way because they made a conscious decision to get in shape.The best ab workout to get a set of 6-pack-abs consists of the following three things.1. A Healthy Diet – You are what you eat. That old saying is true in so many ways. Everything you eat or drink has an effect on your body, whether it be good or bad. The human body needs and demands certain forms of nutrients so that it can run at optimum efficiency. Giving it the nutrients and calories it needs will increase metabolism and burn away excess fat.2. Weight Training – If you weight train you will naturally strengthen not just the muscles specific to the exercise you are doing but also your abdominals and lower back because these are the muscles that stabilize the body during any form of physical activity. It will also increase lean muscle mass which require large amounts of caloric energy just to maintain.3. Aerobic Training – Aerobic or cardio exercise is a good way to burn excess calories and strengthen the entire cardiovascular system. Get out and take a walk, go for a bike ride, or any other form of activity that you enjoy doing.Getting a set of six pack abs will take time, how much depends on what kind of shape you are currently in and how dedicated you are to that final goal. Just remember that the best ab workout is a combination of diet and exercise. By making healthy lifestyle choices you can have the body you always dreamed about.

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How To Get 6-Pack Abs

November 10th, 2009

ADSENSE CODE #3

One of the most common goals that fitness enthusiasts have is to develop 6-pack abs, especially among men. Many women, too, are motivated to sculpt their abs (perhaps not to the same degree of men) along with losing weight and burning fat.
But why is it that so many people have such a hard time achieving the 6-pack or the toned abs that they so desire? Well, it boils down to 2 main factors – training and diet.
Let’s first tackle the diet issue. It’s important to keep in mind that you can never out train a bad diet. Many athletes seem to think that they can get away with eating whatever they want because “they need” the calories. That’s nonsense.
This type of mentality, especially if adopted by recreational exercisers, can be detrimental to your pursuit of a 6-pack.
To visually see the tone of your abdominals your body fat needs to be about 10% or lower. Most active individuals score in the teens and thus require a little bit more work in their training and especially in their diet if they wish to achieve their goal of washboard abs.
You can exercise all you want and do thousands of sit-ups each day to little effect if your diet is out of whack. I will cover the fundamentals of a 6-pack healthy diet in a future article but for now I’d like to show how you can better your chances by choosing exercises that maximize your body’s fat burning potential while strengthening your abs and core.
TRAINING TO BURN FAT
When it comes to training the first thing to realize is that abdominal exercises have little effect on your ability to see your abs. Every person inherently has the same amount of muscles. The only difference is whether or not you can see them. Both you and I have the 8-pack rectus abdominus muscle (most people think it’s just a 6-pack) – that’s our human anatomy. But whether or not you can see yours depends on the amount of fat you have covering these abdominal muscles.
Sit-ups and crunches have little fat burning effect simply because they are small, limited movements that involve a small group of muscles. If the goal is to burn fat (and it is!) then the key to fitness training lies in your ability to choose exercises that burn a huge amount of calories. These are exercises that require large muscles.
For instance, squat presses, lunges with biceps curls, and step-ups with shoulder presses are all great examples of movements that use a huge amount of muscle. Try them and just watch how your breathing and heart rate immediately go through the roof.
6-PACK AB EXERCISES
But if you’re bent on focusing on your abs then let me give you some helpful pointers to get a great abdominal burn in your workouts. Just remember through – ab-specific exercises won’t get you any closer to your goal. But here goes.
Assuming that you have no history of lower back pain the key to challenging your abs is to work them to fatigue and constantly challenge them with new and exciting exercises. Repeating the same boring exercises over and over is not an effective way to train.
One of my personal favourite abdominal “props” is the BOSU ball. The BOSU ball challenges your core and abdominals like nothing you’ve ever experienced before. Its inherent instability requires your deeper core muscles to constantly work to keep you balanced while you attempt to perform the movements at hand.
A simple set of crunches on the BOSU ball is much different and more effective than doing them on the floor. One of the keys to core and abdominal training is muscle activation. Any time you perform exercises that recruit more muscles (ie. greater muscle activation), the greater the “burn” you’re going to feel and the stronger your abs and core will become.
So having said that here’s a sample 5 exercise BOSU ball core workout for you to try:
NOTE: BOSU ball is placed so that the flat surface is against the floor – rounded side facing up. All exercises should be performed to fatigue.
Click here to see what these exercises look like.
Crunches
Deadbug
Hovering Back Extensions
V-Sits
Alternating Jackknife

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The Best Abdominal Exercises Exposed!

November 10th, 2009

When people think about exercises to firm up their abdominal muscles, sit-ups and crunches always come to mind. While crunches may be part of an exercise regime to work out the abs, there are many other strategies and methods that may be utilized by people looking to lose belly fat, make their six pack abs pop out, and condition the whole body as well.
Effective abdominal exercises that are, in most cases, geared towards delivering lasting benefits to the entire body, ideally must begin with some guidance from a certified trainer who will be able to expertly guide and teach you the importance of preciseness when you get going with your workout. A good exercise plan will also have, among its major components, recommended meal plans and dietary suggestions, with due emphasis on macronutrients – high quality proteins, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats that may help an individual carry on with a mild-to-moderate or intense training/workout program. In most cases, the dietary recommendations are customized to suit individual needs and requirements.
There are seemingly simple abdominal exercises (and for most people, easy does it or easy is the best) such as those suggested by Shawn Phillips, strength and fitness expert and author of the book, Strength for Life. He devised variations of the traditional crunches, starting off with Swiss Ball ab crunches, followed by reverse crunches, and capped off by ab crunches. These are to be performed in three sets of 12 to 15 repetitions. Crunches can help tone the muscles but a person with excess poundage must lose the belly fat first to see those muscles, and therein lies the challenge of sticking to a healthy diet.
Training the midsection if important because apart from revving up and uncovering six pack abs, the abdominals’ core muscles improve posture, reduce low back pain as well as injury risk, and strengthen the torso. From certified trainers’ point of view, the most effective and hence the best abdominal exercises include ab crunches that flex the upper abs and serve as foundation for the entire workout; reverse crunches that strengthen the lower abs; and side bends that work on lateral oblique muscles. There is also the bicycle, adjudged by the American Council on Exercise as among the best abdominal exercises because it utilizes every muscle in the abs to create a well-built torso.
It must be reiterated, at this point, that abdominal exercises per se may not create the washboard abs you may be longing for if you happen to have a sluggish metabolism. There many ways, however, to speed up your metabolism, including healthy snacking in between meals or going for low glycemic index carbohydrates (like oatmeal, multi-grain and whole grain bread, whole wheat pasta, and certain vegetables), aerobic exercises or cardio workout, hydrating/drinking enough water to stay energized, lifting weights, and monitoring food intake in a diary. Indeed, uncovering six pack abs requires constant monitoring of what, how much, and when you eat. Exercising, eating well, and bringing out six pack abs is no mean feat. Discipline and patience are essential. If many people can tone their abdominal muscles well, trim their belly fat and let six pack abs emerge, so can you, with much help from a proven program that’s certifiably safe and effective.

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Optimizing Your Diet to Lose Abdominal Fat

October 27th, 2009

ADSENSE CODE #5

Diet and exercise go hand in hand to aid in weight loss. In order to maximize your chances of developing those killer abdominals you desire, altering your diet is a necessary step.
It is important to remember that weight loss is not instantaneous, nor is it an overly fast process. Healthy weight loss is important, so be sure to do it properly, by adopting a healthy diet as opposed to using dangerous measures such as weight loss pills and fad diets. Ensure you do not adopt these measures as they can be dangerous and will usually result in a person losing significant amounts of lean body mass and muscle.
The following steps will aid you in developing an optimal diet:
1) Limit the energy in your diet: In order to lose weight, we must expend more energy than we are putting into our bodies. To do this is simply a mater of eliminating sources of excess energy (such as foods high in fat and sugar) and ensuring we are not eating portion sizes that are too large. It may help you to write down the foods hat you eat over a few days, to give you and idea of how much you are eating and possible foods that could be eliminated from your diet.
2) Eat small meals regularly: Eating smaller amounts more frequently during the day will aid keeping your metabolism steady, and in many cases will aped it up. Speeding your metabolism up will aid your body in utilizing energy at a faster rate- thus reducing the storage of fat.
3) Eat breakfast: Many people make the mistake of skipping breakfast, this commonly results in a sluggish metabolism and decreased energy stores until you eat next. In the case of many people, this is lunch time. To compensate for skipping breakfast they may eat a very large lunch, which will result in further slowing the metabolism and making the individual feel drowsy and sluggish. DO not think there s not time for breakfast- there is. Whether you have to get out of bed ten minutes earlier or opt for a quick and easy breakfast option such as cereal or a breakfast bar; breakfast is essential in controlling your metabolism.
4) Drink water: In order to optimize your diet and lose weight it is essential to drink sufficient amount of water each day. Most people drink insufficient amounts of water in a day. This has the negative effect of making the person feel as if they are hungry, resulting in them eating unnecessarily. This introduces extra energy into the body which is consequently stored as fat. Ensure you drink plenty of water to avoid unnecessary energy intake.
5) Replace unhealthy foods with healthy foods: This process is quite simple; there are a few rules to follow to ensure your diet contains sufficient healthy foods in place of unhealthy foods:
a) Eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, breads and cereals. Sticking to the basics will ensure you eat sufficient healthy food for normal functions, and will ensure you limit any fats in your diet.
b) Select lean meat: Replace any fatty cuts of meats with lean cuts. Ensure you remove all visible fat or remove the skin form chicken. Avoid sausages, salami, devon and other processed meats as these tend to be very high in fat.
c) Select skim/trim/reduced fat dairy: Dairy products are high in fat and thus high in energy. Consuming full cream dairy products will only result in unnecessary energy being introduced into the diet. Opting for skim, trim or reduced fat milks, cheeses and yoghurts will ultimately result in a decrease in overall energy in the diet, thus making weight loss easier.
d) Avoid or limit takeaway foods: Take-away foods tend to be extremely high in fat and thus energy; this is generally due to cooking methods (most are deep fried). Try not to have take-away more than once per week.
e) Minimize snack foods: Many people consume excess energy through frequent snacking on unhealthy foods. Snack foods that are high in sugar and fat, such as lollies, chips, chocolates, soft drinks etc. should be avoided or replaced with healthy alternatives.
6) Ensure sufficient fiber in the diet: Fiber will aid in keeping sufficient amounts of water in the intestines to optimize the digestive processes to maintain a healthy bowel.
7) Limit alcohol intake: alcohol is high in energy and excessive consumption will inevitably result in the production of fat in the body. To prevent this form occurring, ensure you limit the amount of alcohol you drink.
It may help you to plan your meals in advance. This can be done by searching cook books or online for healthy recipes and making a list of the ingredients you will need. Be sure to have a variety of different foods in your diet, and remember to ensure you are not overeating by consuming large sized meals.
When reducing the number of calories in their diet, many people find it hard to overcome the resulting hunger. If you find your are constantly feeling hungry, try consuming some diet soft drink, diet cordial or diet jelly, as these will help to ease the feeling of hunger without adding calories to the diet.
Be sure to combine diet with healthy eating to ensure optimal weight loss occurs.

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