Saturday, January 3, 2009

Crunches - The Truth

By Jose Loni

Lately, the controversial question is, are crunches bad for six pack abs. No, they are not bad for six pack abs, but if your goal is to attain visible six-pack abs, then you need to focus on other aspects of exercise and diet. Concentrating on resistance exercises that increase our metabolism to burn fat, monitoring our diet and reducing the amount of stress in our lives.

Crunches do not target what needs to be trained. Crunches are good for stabilizing, strengthening and developing the muscles of the abdomen. But to achieve defined ripped abs, overall fat-burning activities must be done.

Fat burning exercises consist of overall exercises that increase our metabolism to further burn body fat. When we increase our metabolism, our bodies utilize the excess body fat in our stomach area, which allows the underlying abdominal muscles to become more visible.

Metabolic activity has been shown to increase through resistance training exercises. Increased metabolic activity allows the body to utilize the fat as a fuel source and reduce overall body fat. The muscles that we develop from resistance training makes our body become better able to use our body fat to fuel our activities.

Watching what we eat is important as well. By eating quality foods, which are rich in protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, we fuel our body to function better. Instead of eating 3 big meals per day, we can increase our meals to 5-6 and decrease the meal portions. This will allow us to maintain our energy and blood sugar levels throughout the day.

Stress has a way of counteracting our efforts. With increased stress, Cortisol is released and causes the body to store more fat in the abdominal area. The fat is stored there to help prepare the body for an emergency situation.

We should find ways to decrease our levels of stress by doing activities that help calm our bodies down. Activities like: deep breathing, meditation, yoga, and tai chi have shown to be effective in reducing a person's stress levels.

Are crunches bad for six-pack abs? No, crunches are not the answer to achieve defined six pack abs. We need to focus on activities that allow for overall fat burning, through resistance training, monitoring our diet and reducing the overall amount of stress in our lives. Having the discipline and understanding to change our daily habits, we will be able to achieve six pack abs. - 15343

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