Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Crunches Do Not Work For Six Pack Abs

By Jose Loni

The fact is, crunches do not work for six pack abs. To have visible lean abs, we must consider our diet, increase metabolism and reduce stress in our lives.

Doing crunches develops different areas of the lower back and abs. Actually, some crunches train the hip flexors instead of the abs. Focusing on doing crunches may create imbalances in our back and, consequently, cause back pain.

If we want to achieve defined abs, we need to eat a balanced diet of protein, fat, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins. By increasing the frequency of our meals to 5-6 times a day, we can maintain our energy levels and avoid spiking up our blood sugar levels.

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.

The body's metabolism is also increased as a result of interval training. The exercise demands of anaerobic training causes the body to adapt by increasing muscle mass. The increased muscle mass makes the body's efficiency to utilize body fat as fuel greater and increase the body's overall fat burning capacity.

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.

Reducing stress through meditation, deep breathing, relaxation techniques, tai chi and yoga are highly effective and can help us get toned abs.

We should eliminate crunches from our exercise program if we want to have tone, lean abdominal muscles. Our exercise program should be focused on overall dietary changes, increasing our metabolism and reducing our stress.

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