Effective Abs Exercises - Part V

Doing the following ab workouts will result in a leaner and flatter stomach after repeated sessions. Although your midsection area is quite difficult to trim down, as the muscles around this area are difficult to carve out, discipline and the proper contractions will bring your satisfactory results in your ab workouts. Be sure that you maintain your regimen of ab workouts by doing these exercises for two to three times a week, leaving a day's rest between each session. As you progress, you will need to add more repetitions to your workout in order for you to be able to increase the strain and maintain the loss around your midsection area.

Crunch and Reach.

This exercise targets the side midsection. You begin your ab workouts by keeping your body straight and supine over an exercise ball, while holding a light weight extended behind you. Next, contract you're your abdomen while lifting and bringing the light weights way over your head. While doing your ab workouts crunch up and twist your upper body to the left, thereby contracting the left side of your waist. Repeat these steps in your ab workouts for the prescribed repetitions and switch sides.

Crunches on the Exercise Ball.

These ab workouts require the use of an exercise ball, and it targets your front midsection. Instead of doing the usual crunches on the floor, lie with your back straight on an exercise ball. Your abdominals will be challenged in a whole new way in this position in your ab workouts, all the while working your entire body in the process. But be sure that when you get up from doing a crunch that you don't pull on your neck, as this may cause injury; if the ab workouts get a little too difficult for you, you may roll forward a bit to lessen the strain.

Eugene never thought he would be a personal gym trainer when he once weighed 311 lbs.He is now a total fanatic about muscle-building and crunches his way through his CSI. Now doing freelance teaching to people who require proper healthy diets, he always advocate his motto of "not giving up". Get to know more about Ab Workouts Here!

Washboard Abs and Bikinis By Summer? Start Now

People make the commitment to get into shape and lose weight for many reasons. On top of that list of reasons, whether admitted or not, is looking good naked. For women that means being trim and tight. For guys, it means the long sought after washboard abs.

Everyone wants to look good, and that is a great motivator. However, there is a trend that I see every year. This trend tends to leave people looking the same year after year.

So what is this trend that keeps people from looking great, or having the washboard abs? Procrastination, plain and simple.

That is right, procrastination. And the bigger problem is that the world of fitness and fat loss business is all too eager to capitalize. How many articles, ads, and products get launched a month or so from Summer? The number is astounding.

The problem with this is that people start grabbing these products and programs by the truckloads, and in the process generate a lot of sales for the fitness industry, but ultimately fail to achieve their desired success. And this happens year after year.

It is easy to get caught up in the frenzy to look good by Summer, but it is not reasonable to expect to get the body you want in such a small amount of time. This leads to feelings of failure and loss of momentum. Add to that, most of the programs that people start in the rush to Summer are of the fad variety and give quick fixes, and tend to be unsustainable over the long run.

Fitness is all about the long run, the marathon if you will, not the sprint.

Well, here it is, the last official day of Summer 2007, but the year is unimportant. You can read this anytime. I am calling everyone to task. The time to start your Summer fitness and fat loss programs is now. You can look great in your bikini or be the envy of people everywhere with your new washboard abs by Summer, but you have to start now.

So, what to do? A running start to build momentum. First, start moving, anything at first above and beyond your normal routine. Maybe walking or light weight training. Second, start consuming less food than normal, and try to make the healthiest choices possible. This is your running start.

Now that you have made a running start, meaning that you are just making minor changes at first, it is time to develop your strategy. The internet is great in this case. Start reviewing plans. Go to Amazon.com or some of the fitness sites and read reviews on books and products. Research, research, and research some more. The key here is to find the solid programs that fit your needs and to avoid the fads. Since you already have added some extra movement into your day and changed up your eating habits a bit, you can take your time and research well.

After a week or two of research, you should have found a system of eating and exercise that compliments your goals and lifestyle. I will avoid trying to steer you here as the number of systems is staggering. Find what is right for you and stick with it.

By starting this far out, you will see progress. The progress will in turn create momentum and motivation. You can have your body by Summer, and the added bonus is you have started a fitness habit that will hopefully be with you for a lifetime.

So, get with it! Don't wait until the month before Summer. Get off of the failed fat loss and fitness treadmill. You will thank yourself for starting now when you show off your washboard stomach or buy your bikini next year.

Want to see some great programs to help you get ready for Summer? Go to "Fat Loss Secrets Made Simple!" to see reviews of some great fitness and Weight loss programs.

Eban Crawford is a professional podcaster and internet marketer. His podcast, Reaching for Lucidity, started in 2005, was signed to the Podshow Network in early 2006 and is one of the pioneering music shows in the burgeoning podcast world.

Does Spot Reduction Work for Abs or Doesn’t?

Burning fat from the abdomen through exercises specially destined to the abdominal muscles was, is and will always be one of the most resistant myths.

Almost all the people with a big belly take up, with a lot of determination, sit-ups, crunches, side-bends, twists, etc., hoping that every new series or set of exercises, every session of repeating them, will help them get rid of the 'ring' of adipose tissue around their waist, also called 'the ring of death'.

Besides the fact that it is probably the most anesthetic 'deposit' of adipose tissue, abdominal fat involves many risks for the health of the person which possesses it (related to diabetes, high blood pressure, cardio-vascular diseases, cancer, impotence, etc.).

We must keep in mind, once and for all, that when we refer to the melting of the subcutaneous adipose tissue, there is no spot reduction. No matter how much we strive to locate effort in the areas we are focused on, we will only fortify the muscles under the fat, but the reduction of the fat itself will be insignificant. The explanation is simple and is connected to the energetic support of the anaerobic effort, which uses, for the exercises, muscular and hepatic glycogen, and not fat acids from the adipose tissue. For getting to the deposits of fat, what we need is cardio training (running, biking, fast walking, swimming, etc.).This type of exercises must be maintained for a long time (45-60 minutes) and they must be intense (60-70% from the maximum of heart rhythm).

An alternative is cardio training with periods when intensity varies, although the total volume is not smaller than in the case of uniformly cardio training.

A very important role in burning fat is held by the diet. It is said that the most effective of training can be sabotaged in the kitchen.

The nutritionists say that a diet which maintains caloric deficit, but keeps a balanced proportion of the basic principles (proteins, lipids, blood sugar), with a slight increase of the protein part, will always have as a consequence losing weight. Physical exercises like sit-ups, crunches, etc., without other exercises meant to involve bigger groups of muscles (thighs, chest, back) and to fortify the abdominal muscles, do not increase very much the basic metabolic rate.

As a consequence, indirect burning of calories (during breaks, post-training) is very small in comparison with the burning due to aerobic effort (especially the ones with alternative periods) – in their case, during effort taking more than 20 minutes, the energetic support is exactly the adipose tissue.

The magic formula for burning abdominal fat is a combination of hypo caloric diet and exercise – especially aerobic, but also anaerobic (focused on all the body, not only the abdominal muscles).

Isabel Curini is a fitness trainer and editor at http://www.healthfitnessworld.com. HealthFitnessWorld.com - Health, Fitness, Body Building, Weight Loss, Nutrition - Articles and Resources.

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