Your Health Issue

Archive for May, 2009

Working towards great looking abs is a common goal for many people. So what types of abs exercises are the most effective? This is a short list of some of the more effective abs exercises that you can do to see some results in a short time.

One key thing to note is that abs are made up of many muscle groups and are a “system”, not separate parts. The most effective way to improve your abs is to work on the overall muscle group as a whole to gain optimal performance.

Exercise ball crunch: An exercise ball is a very effective tool for core strengthening and will produce the fastest most noticeable results in the appearance and toning of your abs. This particular exercise works your rectis abdominis muscle.

• Position yourself, face up on the exercise ball, your mid to lower back should be resting on the ball. Place your arms behind your head.
• Concentrating on your torso, contract your abs and pull the bottom of your ribcage towards your hips.
• As you curl upwards, try to keep the exercise ball steady (don’t let it roll).
• Lower yourself back down, and repeat this for 12 – 15 reps.

Vertical Leg Crunch: This exercise will work your obliques as well as your rectis abdominis.

• Lie on the floor on your back and extend your legs up with your knees crossed.
• Contract your abs so that you feel your shoulder blades lift off the floor
• Keep your legs still and envision moving your belly button to your spine at the top of the movement.
• Lower and repeat the entire movement 12 – 15 times.

Bent Leg Hip Raises: This exercise will target your lower abs and is safe for your lower back.

• Lie on the floor with your knees bent, heels on the floor and your chin towards your chest.
• Keep your feet together and concentrate on using your lower abs to raise your hips off the floor, bringing your knees towards your forehead.
• At the top of the movement, your feet should be directly above your head.
• Lower your legs back down, let your feet lightly touch the floor, repeat 12 – 15 times.

These are just a few effective exercises. There are many more, and to add difficulty and intensity, weights can be added in to most abs exercises.

Popular opinion holds that it’s rare to lose your potbelly forever. Depending on the statistics you read, 85 to 95 percent of dieters regain all the weight they lost and then some. Well, researchers have surprising news, more dieters are successful than you’ve been led to believe. It turns out that the 85 to 95 percent failure rate comes mostly from studies of people in organized weight-loss programs. Some of the most successful dieters, however, lose weight on their own. This only shows that people can and do get rid of unwanted fat in many cases permanently.

The hard work and persistence are well worth the effort. Central or abdominal fat has been linked to heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, strokes, and increased risks of some cancers. But how can you tell whether your own potbelly is signaling a health hazard?

Let’s Do the Math!

Simply calculate your waist-to-hip ratio. Divide the number of inches around your waist (at its narrowest) by the number of inches around your hips (at their widest). At any result higher than .80 if you’re a woman or .95 if you’re a man means you need to lose weight. If you fall into this category, here are the best ways to proceed:

Design Your Own Diet. Successful weight-loss programs are almost always custom-made. While weight-loss winners often used a formal diet plan as a starting point, they tailored the program to meet their needs. Winners usually start with three basic tenets of weight loss: eat less fat, cut calories, and exercise. Dieters who regain weight usually think flattening their tummies means giving up all their favorite fattening foods. In fact, most diet winners still eat doughnuts and pizza – but in moderation. But beyond that, they make their own rules, using trial and error until they find the diet-and-exercise combination that works best for them. Of course, it’s wise to check any self-styled diet with your doctor or a nutrition expert.