The Truth about ab exercises (what really works): By: Alli Kerr

Transcription

1 The Truth about ab exercises (what really works): By: Alli Kerr Copyright 2014

2 What lady doesn t want a TIGHT TUMMY? The belly is the #1 area of the body that most women want to change. As women, our bellies go through many stages: from puberty, to childbearing, to after babies, to menopause and beyond. Women s bellies go through a lot of changes through the years. This can lead to extra fat, stretched skin, and loss of muscle tone. Regardless of where your belly is now, the GOOD NEWS is that you can decrease fat and increase tone in the tummy. 1) Check Your TOTAL Body Fat Your Body Fat percentage is very important when assessing the state of your belly. The amount of body fat that you have on your ENTIRE body is directly related to how your belly looks and feels. The higher your TOTAL body fat percentage the more fat you will have stored in your belly. This is important to understand because most women just want to target and work the fat in the belly. If we don t burn fat everywhere, we won t burn it in the belly. At what TOTAL body fat percentage do we get a tight belly? Typically, a lady that has 6 pack abs has a body fat percentage in the teens. Having a body fat in the teens is very low and this may not be a reasonable year around goal for most ladies. But if 6 pack abs is the look you are going for, you will have to MAINTAIN a total body fat percentage in the teens. This does not mean that you should have a body fat in the teens unless, of course, you want a 6 pack. If you do, know that it is VERY challenging for most ladies to achieve and maintain a body fat percentage in the teens. If you don t necessarily want six pack abs but you do want a flat tummy you will need to get your total body fat in the mid to low 20 s (20 25%).

3 2) Understand your Body Type? Depending on your body type/shape and where you store fat, you may need to be at an even lower total body fat in order to get a flat tummy. For example, if you naturally store more fat in your belly and breasts (apple), you will have to have a body fat of 4-5 % lower than a woman that stores more fat in the hips and thighs (pear or triangle) in order to get the same leanness in your tummy. That is a big difference that just our body shape makes. That same lady that stores more in her hips and thighs (pear or triangle) would have to get her total body fat 4-5 % lower to get the same leanness in the hips and thighs as the lady with more fat storage in the breast and belly (apple). Understanding your body fat and body type are both important to understanding your belly. I am a triangle/pear. I cannot change that basic shape and body fat storage ratio. However, I can get my body fat and muscle tone to the place that helps balances me out and makes me the best looking triangle/pear possible. Be the Best YOU That You Can Be Copyright

4 3) How much does your food really affect your belly? For ladies, food makes ALL the difference. Most ladies eat a higher ratio of carbs and fat. Then add alcohol into the mix and we really pack on the belly fat. We metabolize food at a slower rate than men. Therefore, in order to have a tight tummy we have to eat for our metabolism. When we have extra fat stored in our bellies we know that we are not eating in the right balance for our metabolism. And the more fat we store, the better at storing fat our bodies become. It is a domino effect. The more out of balance our food, the more out of balanced food we crave. Because our carbs tend to be higher than our male counterparts, we can easily become addicted to sugar. It doesn t have to be in the form of sweets. We can become addicted to salty, munchy carbs. Protein is the food that women do not typically eat enough of, especially to support an active lifestyle. Protein supports muscle tissue (that is the tight and toned tissue). When our ratio becomes too high in carbs, fat, and alcohol we gain fat, and often times in our bellies. To lose the belly we have to lose some of the carbs/sugars & alcohol. We also must get lean protein in throughout the day to help keep our bodies in balance. I personally strive to eat a lean protein every time I eat. Now my body knows if I have too much sugar without that protein to balance it out. Here are 2 things that you can do RIGHT NOW to cut Belly fat: 1) Eat a lean protein every time you eat or drink calories. 2) Avoid drinking calories from flavored coffee, sodas, fruit juice, alcohol, etc. Just these 2 changes will have you losing TOTAL body fat and have that tummy shrinking in just the first few days you make the change. EAT A COMBINATION OF COMPLEX CARBS & LEAN PROTEIN AT EVERY MEAL

5 4) Finally Let s Talk about AB EXERCISE THE TRUTH!!! As ladies, we are obsessed with our bellies. Because of this focus on this one body part, many ladies have concluded that if we just do enough ab specific exercises we would get the belly fat to melt away and get the abs of our dreams. In theory this makes sense. In science, it does NOT work. Exercise burns fat. Note that I did not say it burns belly fat. Nor did I say that belly exercise burns belly fat. No I said EXERCISE burns fat. Remember how we talked about your TOTAL body fat? I said to get your belly tight you had to get your TOTAL body fat percentage to a level in the low to mid 20 s. Exercise is the best weapon outside of food that we have to change our TOTAL body fat. Some exercises burn more fat than others. And would you believe that many ab only exercises actually burn very few calories and fat? Yet, I see too many women WASTING time and energy doing these low fat burning belly exercises. Our intent is very good. Our understanding of science is very bad. Hence, we get frustrated with little to no results. So what exercises burn the most fat? A. Exercises that build muscle burn the most fat. By adding muscle tissue (the tight and toned tissue) to our body we increase the amount of fat we are burning every second of the day. No one can perform exercises every second of the day. BUT we can exercise to build muscle which will BURN TOTAL fat every second of the day. Now that is a pretty good deal if you ask me! And don t worry about muscle making you big or bulky. As you can see from the picture below it is fat that makes us big and bulky and squishy and jiggly well you get the idea. Look at the size of 5 lbs of fat vs. 5 lbs of muscle!!! Use as many muscles as possible to burn the most fat. Instead of just working the abs, work EVERY part of the body. You will lose more fat and inches in your BELLY!!! Do a variety of strength training exercises 3-4 days per week working the entire body for maximum fat burn and maximum BELLY BURN!!!

6 Examples of Strength Training Exercises:

7 B. Cardiovascular Exercise after Resistance Training Kicks up the Fat Burning and on non-resistance days. Cardiovascular Exercises such as stair stepper, treadmill, bike, and fitness classes increase our lung capacity. That means that our lungs get stronger and more efficient. Our heart also gets stronger and more efficient with cardiovascular exercise. As our heart and lungs get stronger we have more energy. The more energy we have the more active we are. The more active we are the more calories we burn all day long. The more calories we burn the more fat that we burn. I prefer HIIT cardio most days especially on non-resistance days instead of steady state cardio. HIIT means that you go from moderate intensity to very high intensity for short bursts of seconds. If fat loss is the goal you will need to do more days of HIIT cardio exercise to burn more fat. If maintenance is the goal you will only need 3 days of HITT or Steady State cardiovascular exercise. Steady State cardio is an exercise performed at a moderate pace that can be maintained for 30 minutes. I like to mix in at least one day of steady state cardio each week that is a longer slower paced workout session. This is a great workout to do the day after a hard workout that has your muscles sore. You loosen up your muscles and burn extra fat. Here is a sample HIIT Treadmill Running/Walk 20 minute workout:

8 C. Consistent Exercise! Last but not least - The best exercise to burn BELLY FAT is CONSISTENT exercise. I see too many ladies that start and stop workout and eating programs. I meet with too many ladies that are afraid to commit to an ongoing fitness and healthy eating program. Yet these same ladies have committed years to ongoing weight and fat gain. Fit is a LIFESTYLE. It is not something to try on or test out. When we exercise regularly OVERTIME and eat in balance everything else in life feels better. We sleep better, have more energy, are in better moods, have more confidence, better body image, and we look better. And YES our bellies are tighter, smaller, and flatter. Consistent exercisers have less TOTAL BODY FAT than the inconsistent start and stoppers. Give yourself a BIG PAT ON THE BACK FOR ADOPTING A FIT & FABULOUS LIFESTYLE!!! Here is what else you get with it: LET S BEGIN YOUR JOURNEY TO A Flatter & Firmer Belly!!! Copyright