Why is Abdominal training important? It is arguably the sexiest region to look at on the body, 32% of women say it’s the sexiest muscle group on the man. The abdominal region is highly coveted by mostly everyone. Now, I am not talking about those huge bodybuilders who grease themselves up and flex their muscles for the whole world to see, I am talking about toned abdominal muscles that look great, as well as normal.
There is nothing wrong with wanting defined abs, but here is the problem…exercise companies know you want sexy abs, and they will try to suck you in with their infomercials and their “promises.” I am tired of seeing all the gimmicks on TV that promise you 6 PACK ABS, with as little as 10 minutes a day. No abs machine is going to get you six pack abs. You can strengthen your core, but it takes a lot more than just abs workouts to achieve six pack abs.
You cannot target fat loss to one specific area on your body, it is very important to do abdominal workouts (which we will talk about), but it cannot be the only thing you do. You need to incorporate cardiovascular training, weight lifting, and interval training. You need to turn your body into a fat burning machine, and you do that by raising your lean muscle mass, because muscles burns fat. You also need to have a healthy diet, there are certain foods that can help you get your sexy flat abs, like foods with protein, and foods that are either whole grain or whole wheat. But let get to some of the reasons why strong flat abs are important, other than just looking good.
Yes, great looking abs go further than just skin deep, it’s not all about looking good. There are many health benefits to strengthening your core that will help you live a long and healthy life. If you are experiencing back pain, most the time it is because of the baggage you are carrying up front. Your back is supporting all that weight called your belly, or beer belly. Strengthening your abs will also help you with everyday activities. Just think about all the movements we do, twisting, bending, pushing, and pulling, we engage our core far more than we realize, and if we had a strong core than we would be less likely to injure ourselves. Belly fat has also been related to heart disease, the fat that surrounds our midsections is said to be the most dangerous fat for our hearts.
When you training your body and you come to your abdominal workouts, it is important to find an abs routine that will target each section of your abdominal region. Target these abdominal regions:
- Rectus Abdominis
- Transverse Abdominis
- External Obliques
- Internal Obliques
The First Phase – You pretty much eat normal size portions of food, but you will eliminate all carbohydrates. This will probably be the toughest phase, to get through, because a lot of your really good foods have carbohydrates in them. This strict first phase lasts for two weeks, and in this two weeks, you will eat lean meats. Turkey, chicken, shellfish are all accepted in this first stage, some selected vegetables, nuts and low fat cheese are also accepted in this first phase of the South Beach Diet.
