Abdominal Exercise
When most people start on a weight-loss
regime the first thing they wish to attack
is their waistline. They start off with
visions of turning a beer gut into an
abdominal six-pack. After a few weeks of
strenuous exercise nothing appears to
happen and soon they lose confidence and
give up.
This article is designed to explain, in
laymen’s terms, why this happens and why
you may be using the wrong exercises, or
possibly the right exercises at the wrong
time. Either way you are doing yourself no
favors.
Never give up because only losers quit.
We’ve all heard the old saying: “The height
of stupidity is to repeat the same thing
and expect a different result.” If it isn’t
working you try a different routine and you
keep doing that until you find the routine
that does work, that is the way of winners.
Why These Exercises do not Reduce Waist
The first thing you must accept is that all
abdominal exercises only strengthen
abdominal muscles, if those muscles are
covered by a layer of fat when you start
they will still be covered by the same
layer of fat when you finish. You will have
stronger abdominal muscles but you will not
look any different. Therefore your attempt
to create figure from fat will have failed.
The secret to making these abdominal
exercises work is to lose fat first. You
lose fat by diet and aerobic exercise, by
burning more calories than you take in with
food. When you have reduced your waistline
to a more natural size you can then take up
abdominal exercises and start working on
that perfect six-pack.
Weight Loss
In a nutshell you need to reduce your calorie intake and burn
some calories off by using light exercise. Losing weight can
only be achieved by eating less and moving more. Forget the
complicated scientific formulae, it all boils down to eating
less and moving more.
Exercise Wisdom
Conventional wisdom claims that you need to exercise for
30-minutes each day and that this demand can be broken down to
six five minute sessions or three ten minute sessions,
whichever suits you best. You can carry out aerobic exercise
using simple methods like parking your car as far from the
store as possible and forcing yourself to walk further. Maybe
walking up the stairs instead of using the escalator, any small
act of this nature that adds to your normal exercise output is
aerobic exercise and burns calories.
Eating habits
Furthermore it makes sense to eat five or six meals each day
rather than two or three. Why? Because you will eat smaller
meals and it is better for your metabolism to deal with smaller
meals rather than large meals. You can also eat between these
meals providing you restrict it to a piece of fruit or a raw
carrot. Dieting doesn’t have to be hard it has to be sensible.
Your brain doesn’t get the message that your stomach is full
for at least twenty minutes after it is full. How often have
you eaten way beyond the capacity that is required simply
because the message hasn’t got through?
Conclusion
There is no point in attempting abdominal exercises while you
still have a layer of fat and expecting a figure improvement.
Muscle building and weight loss are separate subjects that
should be approached individually if you are to get the best
results.
This article is (c) Copyright David McCarthy 2005 and may be
reproduced in its entirety with no additions.
About The Author: David McCarthy is webmaster of
http://www.recipesmania.com a website devoted to freely sharing
knowledge on all facets of food, cooking, weight loss, food
related health subjects and a free weight loss program. It
contains recipes for all occasions from health to partying.
