By Anna Overweight No More
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(c) Anna Overweight NO MORE
How do I get flat abs? What a common question with asimple answer. No matter how many crunches you do, unless youlose the layer of fat covering your abs, you will not show thosesculpted abs. Period. The basic concept to lose thatunwanted abdominal fat is by combining cardio and abs exercise,and eating healthy. Talking from my own experience, Iwill share some simple steps to get flat abs with you, as I amon my way to revealing my own flat abs by saying solemnlybye-bye to belly fat and welcome to those flat abs.
How many times have you heard that by doing 100s crunches a dayyou will get those sculpted abs? Well, this is not so. If youhave a high body fat percentage, the abs just won't show nomatter how much you work or how many repetitions you do,simple as that. It is logic, if we are carrying extra fat, tonedmuscles cannot show because they are being covered, precisely,by that unwanted extra fat. The only way to get rid of fat isnot by targeting exercises, but by burning excessive fat bydoing cardio exercises and adjusting our meals. In otherwords, showing abs does not happen only in the floor exercise,but also in the kitchen.
Abs exercises, just like any other muscle exercises, shouldbe done at least every other day, not daily. Muscles needtime to recover. In my case, I am doing abs exercises every 2days, so I give my abs muscles 48 hours to recover. I make sureto consume enough protein too to help for muscle recovery andburn more fat. In a nutshell, eating better and exercising willmaximize your efforts to lose weight and flatten your abs fast.
EATING HABITS - Helpful food/herbs for flat abs
Before starting with our abs exercise plan, it is important toadjust our eating habits too. Your diet, or as I prefer to callit "eating regime," should consist of higher protein intake,moderate fat and moderate complex carbohydrate. Consuming highcomplex carbohydrate and not using all that energy will lead tostored fat; that is why a higher protein diet is advisable, notthat you have to eliminate carbs. Carbs are necessary to haveenergy and properly body functioning. However, do not go toextremes, just be moderate, not like crazy pre-set diets.Eliminate all excess simple sugars and excess saturated fats.
You can use extra virgin olive oil as it is monounsaturated fat.Reality is that permanent weight loss requires a permanentchange in eating habits; drastic diets are not the way to keepthe weight off.
Drinking water is your other big step to get flat abs.Water flushes both waste and toxins from your body and maintainsa sense of satiety while also flushing fat from your systembefore it can be stored. Water not only dilutes the digestivefluids, but also accelerates the passage of food. Drink at least8 glasses of water. How about burning extra calories with water?How? Drink cold water, and you can burn extra calories as yourbody warms it up.
About eating habits, many times, we tend to retain water or gas,which seems that we are accumulating "fat" when in reality it is"gas" for eating too fast or having foods hard to digest. Itis crucial to eat slowly, enjoy each bite, and do not swallowwithout appreciating all flavors. The best suggestion to aiddigestion is to have daily yogurt (good at fighting the badbacteria and improving digestion), or add some type of "anise"(either raw or as a tea infusion), the other option is by addingdigestive enzyme aids.
A great mistake is skipping breakfast. As manynutritionists highlight, this is the main meal because is likefuel to the body. After sleeping, we need to recover water andadd protein to our bodies as well as fiber. Ideally, oatmeal isgreat for breakfast with enough carbs, fiber, and low in sugars.Besides, it helps reduce cholesterol.
For dinner, you can have some chicken with salad because youneed to have some type of protein to help you burn fat, buildmuscle and do not only limit only to salads, which is mostly"low glycemic carbs" ... or better said, water. Also, rememberof not adding heavy extra calorie dressing. You can use balsamicvinegar or lemon. If not having chicken, you can have a proteinshake, yogurt, tofu, eggs, or any high protein meal.
These are suggested food/herbs to improve abs and to fightbloated feeling.
Ginger Anise Celery Fennel Onion Garlic Green tea YOGURT (nonfat or low fat) Leek Raw sesame seeds Watermelon Strawberries
You can include them in your daily regime by either eating themraw, cooked, or drinking tea, accordingly. I cannot emphasizeenough the importance of drinking Green tea. This is my mainmagical drink because it speeds up my metabolism and sets it toa fat burning mode. I prepare a cold pitcher of green tea forthe day. Sometimes, I drink it hot too. Generally, for the coldpitcher, I combine it with ginger and anise, and that is my mainarm to combat fat and bloated feeling.
I suggest you eat every 3 hours to keep your body in "fatburning mode." Naturally, I am talking about small portions, notsuper size portions. For instance, I eat every 3 hours, keeping2 main meals and the other 4 snacks, including protein in all 6,especially for breakfast and dinner.
Do not go into drastic diets because if you drop your caloriestoo drastically, your body may opt to use muscle tissue forenergy instead of fat. Moderation is the key. Many people who goon fad diets look so soft because they lose almost as muchmuscle mass as fat. Many studies have shown that the majorityof people, who use drastic diets, will gain the weight back, ifnot even more than they lost. To make it personal, I was oneof those statistics. I fell many times into the yo-yo cycleuntil I said no more! I rather lose weight and keep the weighoff, than just a quick fake weight loss. How about you?
Nutritional supplements are good to aid your program, but as theword says, they are just supplements. Your supplementscannot do the work for you if you are not eating and exercisingproperly. For instance, when I am running out of time, andcannot have my protein meal, I drink a protein shake.
EXERCISE TIPS FOR BELLY FLATTENING - DEFINING YOUR ABS
You can expect to feel or see results in as little as 2 weeksby combining cardio and abs exercises and your eatingregime. A combination of carbs and protein are needed for apre-workout meal. Exercise tips for a faster belly-flatteningplan include different sets of exercises, at least 3 times perweek 30-45 minutes cardio, and 2-3 times per week abs exercises.(I use weight lifting training too.) here is no such thing asmagical fat spot reducing. It is a matter of lowering totalfat levels; as you lose fat, it will come off automatically allover your body-not just in specific spot areas.
Do 2-3 sets for each exercise. Each set consists of 15 to 20repetitions of each exercise. For every exercise, move slowly tomake the muscle work: 2 or 3 seconds up, hold 1 second, and 2 or3 seconds down. The point here is to fatigue the muscle, not onhow fast you can do an exercise. You can rest about 90 secondsbetween sets.
Note: If you cannot do 2 sets, it is ok. Start with one;the important thing is to start, take action to see results. Donot get discouraged; just try your best.
Crunches
1. Lie flat on your back with your feet flat on the ground (orresting on a bench with your knees bent at a 90 degree angle,three to four inches apart)
2. Place your hands lightly on either side of your head keepingyour elbows in. Tip: Don't lock your fingers behind your head.
3. The key is to push the small part of your back down in thefloor to isolate your abs muscles.
4. Roll your shoulders off the floor; continue to push down --ashard as you can-- with your lower back to fatigue the muscle.
5. Shoulders should come up off the floor --only-- about fourinches, while your lower back remains on the floor.
6. Concentrate on crunching together rather than moving yourbody upwards to maximize muscle tension. Contract your musclesas tight as you can to cause them to fatigue, the movementshould be like playing the accordion. This is more importantthan doing quick repetitions.
Note: Another option is exercise ball crunch
Reverse crunches
1. Lie face up on the floor, place hands on the floor or justbehind the head. 2. Bring the knees in towards the chest bent toabout 90 degrees, with feet together or crossed. 3. Contract theabs to curl the hips off the floor, reaching the legs up towardsthe ceiling. 4. Use slow movements, emphasis is to use your absto lift your hips not swinging the legs.
Bicycle
1. Lie face up on the floor, lace your fingers behind your head.2. Bring the knees in towards the chest and lift the shoulderblades off the ground without pulling on the neck. 3. Pedalingmovement: Straight the left leg out while simultaneously turningthe upper body to the right, bringing the left elbow towards theright knee. 4. Now, switch sides, bringing the right elbowtowards the left knee to complete the pedaling movement. 5. Doslow pedaling to feel muscle contraction . remember, is notabout speed but about fatiguing the abs muscle.
Captain's chair / Roman Chair (mostly found in gyms)
1. Stand on chair, grip handholds to stabilize your upper body,keep it firm. 2. Make sure you are pressing your back againstthe pad, now contract the abs to raise the legs and lift kneestowards your chest. 3. Remember to be firm and don't arch theback, repeat slowly.remember, emphasis is on the abs muscles.
Vertical Leg Crunch
1. Lie face up on the floor, extend the legs straight up withknees crossed. (or straight) 2. Contract the abs to lift theshoulder blades off the floor, as though reaching your chesttowards your feet. 3. Keep the legs in a fixed position andlower to original position, but keep the legs extended.
Long Arm Crunch (my favorite)
1. Lie face up on the floor, extend the arms straight out behindthe head with hands clasped, keeping the arms next to the ears.2. Contract the abs and lift the shoulder blades off the floor,the pressure should be from the abs, not the neck. 3. Hold, feelthe contraction, and lower to original position.
Super Abs Stretch
1. Lie face up on the floor, extend the arms straight out behindthe head. 2. Bring down the arms, slowly, feel the abs musclestretching. Movement is arms straight behind the head to next tothe legs.
3. Up and down feeling the stretch, hold it and start all over.
Summarizing, targeting exercises will not work unless you aretargeting your entire body by doing cardio exercises andeliminating fat. Targeting upper, lower, inner, and outerabs muscles will not burn fat; they define the muscles. Burningfat is done by cardio exercises and by consuming healthy foods.Remember, I told you already, flat abs are not only done in theexercise floor, but in the kitchen. Recipe: Cardio, absexercise, and eating healthy. Just to add a funny note and bringa smile, as my nephew Nadeem says, "What do you call a dogwith a fever that goes out to the snow? CHILLI DOG!! "Ha haha.
Oh well, au revoir, auf wiedersehen, adios, arrivederci! It istime to do my abs exercises. How about you, are you ready tosay bye-bye to belly fat and welcome to flat abs? I hope so.
============================================================================ ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Anna "Overweight? NO MORE!" lost over 80 pounds from 230 poundsand has kept the weight off for 3 years. If I did it, so canyou! http://www.officialoverweightnomore.com Subscribe to myFree Weekly Newsletter. I will share with you my weight losstips, meal recipes and more.http://www.officialoverweightnomore.com/mystory.html Join theOfficial Overweight No More team in yahoo grouphttp://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/officialoverweightnomore/
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