Some More About Abs...

Abs are a big thing in the exercise world. Pretty much every guy would like a 6 or 8 pack, and most girls probably want to be pretty thin, but not a twig without any strength (that's a guess...).

So the question is: How do I get abs with minimal effort?

Well, let's just say you won't get abs without effort unless you are pretty thin and are naturally strong or fit. Like most people, you probably aren't. I'm not. Just ask my sisters how much I train!

So you need to work hard to get abs! That's pretty obvious. If you want a 6 or 8 pack you need to burn off most of your fat. How do you burn fat? Cardio and eating better (and maybe less). I'll write about cardio first because that's something I know more about, and food stuff is boring.

Cardio gets your heart pumping! Hence it's name! This does not mean eat greasy food and get into a car chase. That will make your heart pump, but isn't the safest or the most effective way to burn fat.

So to cardio you need to use big muscles over and over again, because big muscles require a lot of blood. So what's your over all biggest muscle group? The legs. What workout gives great cardio? Running and biking.

So pretty much if you want to get abs, you have to burn fat. To burn fat, you need to run or bike. If you can't (like IRS winter and you don't have a treadmill), then bodyweight workouts are great.

Now that you did some running it's time to treat yourself to a big greasy hamburger with a side of fires and to finish it off, a brownie melt. Right? Wrong. That's really fatty, thus fating. I'm no expert on what to eat, but if you're trying to lose fat, then lower carbs and more protein is good. I'm no pro, so don't completely change your eating habits because of this.

Good things to eat: nuts, salad, chicken (not the McDonalds kind), tuna, eggs, veggies, fruit, and some pasta. There's more, I'm sure of it.

Bad things to eat: fries, chips, hotdogs, greasy hamburgers, fried dough sugary things like brownies, cookies, etc...

Good things to drink: water, Gatorade, Power-ade, protein drinks, more natural juices (not Kool-aid), tea and milk.

Bad things to drink: soda, Kool-aid, hot chocolate, iced tea, sugary tea, most energy drinks, coffee, alcoholic beverages and poison.

Now, some of these have exceptions to the rule. Like coffee. Coffee can be used the right way in some workouts to help you get more out of it, but usually it's not all that good for you. Another one is alcoholic beverages. Actually having some is good for you to have after some extreme workout (like running a marathon). I guess some people did a big test in these runners and the ones that drank some (not a lot) alcoholic beverages after their big runs recovered faster and got more out of them.

Ok, so don't only load up on things I call healthy and avoid things I call unhealthy because you need a little bit of everything, and I'm no where near being a pro with what and whatnot to eat.

Now to get off the food subject I'd like to mention something called spot fat removal. Spot fat removal is the idea that if you workout one muscle group over and over again, the fat there will go away! So doing tons of ab work will get rid of the fat on your stomach. This is a myth. Granted, doing ab work will make you lose a little fat, but you won't be losing it only in your stomach. You have to work your body out and let your body choose where to lose fat. This is another reason to do cardio, because that's what burns the most fat off of you stomach anyway!

Ab workouts aren't made to make you lose fat, they're to tone and strengthen your core 'muscles'. This is good for people like me, who burn off most of their fat, but are just kind of skinny. Ab workouts also help with almost every sport, because sports require core strength! This does not mean I should stop doing cardio, because I'll get some fat to cover my abs in no time, and I'll be much less fit.

To some up this blog post I'll say that if you want to lose weight and/or get abs, you need to run more, eat healthier (maybe less), and do some ab work in there! Good luck!