Article Body:
Have you noticed that most people will never fail to include abdominal muscle exercises in their routines and yet somehow or other, they can never own that coveted 6 pack abs?
Have you been religiously doing your abdominal muscle exercises? Are your abs showing to your satisfaction? No? Why? Do you know that your abdominal muscle is one of the easiest muscles to build but why is it that most people have difficulty in developing that 6 pack abs?
Here is the truth. Those of you who are working out your abs regularly do probably own that much sought after six pack. Yes, you do. The only trouble is that your belly fat is covering them. Your abs will not show up well if you have a body fat ratio of more than 12%. The more fat you burn off, the more defined your abs will be. You will own that rippling washboard abs when your body fat is 10% or less. So, if you have fat on your belly, forget about abdominal exercises and burn off the fats first.
There is another reason why people put in so much effort to develop their abdominal muscle and yet their abs are not showing although they have low body fat. Again, there is a simple explanation. They are doing the wrong exercises and working out in bad form.
Let us take for example the most common abs exercises, the sit up and the leg raisers. Everybody seem to be doing these two exercises not knowing that these exercises really do not do much for their abs. Do not believe me? Ok…try this. When you do your sit up or leg raisers, place your palms on your hip on the area connecting to your thigh and perform the exercises. Tell me what did you feel? Ahhh…. you are getting it. Those muscles there are doing most of the work. Those are your hip flexor muscles. Since your hip flexors are doing most of the work, how can you develop your abs effectively?
So, you say, from now on I will do crunches instead. Well, I have another surprise for you. Most people perform their crunches wrongly too. Think about it. Why is the exercise called the “crunch”? It is because you must squeeze your abs so are that you are crunching them. To squeeze your abs hard, you must curl up like a prawn and breath out all the air in your lungs at the top position and then squeeeeeeeze the muscles so hard that you feel a burn. That will take a few seconds to crunch out all the air before you lower to the beginning position again. You cannot do this effectively if you just go up, down, up down, up down rhythmically. So, if you have been doing hundreds of crunches everyday with minimal result, now you know why. In fact, it is almost impossible for the average guy to do tens of properly performed crunches and not to say hundreds of them. The same squeezing principle applies to other abs exercises.
Ok…. now that you know why your abs are not showing up well, so get on with burning your fats and perform your workout in correct form. You will then see your 6-pack abdominal muscle in no time.
Water and Exercise
The human body is made up of over 75% of water, and as we all know, we cannot live without water. The fact is, we can only survive for a total of 3 days without water. Water has however, been replaced in most diets by soft drinks and other sugar sweetened refreshments. Keep in mind that water is a healthier and necessary for leading yourself towards a better health and longevity.
Your own personal need for water can vary greatly due to exercise, weight, and temperature. Research
has proven that over 2/3 of adults don’t get the water they need daily. By drinking water on a regular basis you can replenish your body and keep it well hydrated and functioning as it should be.
Most of us wait until we are thirsty before we drink water. Keep in mind, this way isn’t a
reliable gauge of the water needs for the body. By the time you are thirsty you have already lost two of more cups of the body’s water supply. Therefore, drinking water regularly is much better than simply waiting until you are thirsty.
It is very important that you don’t substitute beverages with alcohol and caffeine for water. The
reason behind this is that those types of beverages act as a diuretic and can cause you to lose more weight through increased urination. You may think and feel as if you are getting more water through these beverages, although the fact is that you are letting it go almost as fast as you consume it.
Anytime you exercise, you need more water. Due to perspiration, your body will lose quite a bit of
water. For each pound lost due to exercise, you need to drink 2 cups of water. Even when you lay down to sleep, your body loses water. By drinking a glass or more of water before you go to sleep, you can wake up with your body functioning as it should be.
It should become more obvious that when you are sick you will need more water than any other tine. When you get a cold or the flu, your body can become dehydrated quite quickly. You can help to prevent this by drinking more water at times when you become sick.
There are several mixed opinions as to whether purified water will provide benefit. This is a subject you should explore yourself as you determine the best type of water for yourself.
Always make it a habit to drink water on a daily basis. You should keep a bottle of water with you
at all times and drink it throughout the day. You should also teach yourself to drink water instead of other beverages that do not replenish the nutrients your body needs.