Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Crunches Do Not Work For Six Pack Abs

By Jose Loni

Crunches should be eliminated from our exercise program if your goal is to have ripped six pack abs. In order to have visible, tone and lean abs, we must focus on diet, increasing our metabolism and stress reduction.

Crunches are good at developing different areas of the back, hips and abs. Some crunches hardly train the abs at all, but rather they train the hip flexors. If we keep focusing on these exercises, we can create imbalances in our back and cause back pain.

Eating a diet balanced with protein, carbohydrates, fat, vitamins and minerals, can help us with attaining six pack abs. Eating more frequently, 5-6 meals per day can help us maintain our overall energy and help keep our blood sugar levels steady.

Increasing our metabolism can be done through resistance training. By increasing our muscle mass, we can affect our metabolism by increasing our muscle's metabolic activity. In doing so, our body will be better able to utilize the excess body fat and convert that into fuel.

Interval training also increases our metabolism. Due to the increased demands of the interval training exercises, more lean body mass is built. This causes an increase in overall fat burning capacity in order to fuel increased activity levels.

Stress has a way of increasing the amount of fat that is stored in our stomach area. In a stressful situation, our body releases Cortisol, which then stores fat in our abdomen. The stored fat is then kept there as a fuel source for the body during an emergency situation.

There are many ways that we can reduce stress. Activities such as deep breathing, relaxation techniques, yoga and tai chi have shown to be effective at reducing stress in our body.

Crunches need to be discussed. People should be informed that crunches are not effective in achieving six pack abs. Focusing on what we eat, increasing our metabolism and managing our stress are the main factors that will get you the six pack abs that you strive for. - 15485

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