The primary benefit of this kind of exercise is a healthy heart. The human body responds to the increased need for oxygen that comes with running or jogging. As aerobic exercise takes place, the circulatory system responds by pushing itself harder which prompts the heart to beat faster. Just like other muscles in the body that receives a healthy dose of workout, the heart becomes stronger with regular aerobic training. A stronger heart pumps blood more efficiently and improve blood flow to many parts if the body. Because of a healthy heart, climbing stairs can be a breeze and walking or running long distances may less difficult. One’s body therefore becomes more efficient in handling everyday tasks that can be encountered.

Like other physical activities, regular aerobic training can give a healthier looking body to individuals who engage in them. For people who workout regularly, the muscles become more toned and lean because fat is burned off. In addition to these physical improvements, greater muscle density contributes to bone strength and reduce the risk of breaking bones as one gets older.

Medical studies also add that moderate or intense physical activities may prompt the body to produce substances called endorphins. These substances are produced by the brain that may elevate one’s mood and eliminate feelings of stress and anxiety. This effect is called by many health experts as the ìrunner’s high.î

However, individuals who want to engage in aerobic training and exercise should consult health professionals or train with a professional instructor. Because improper or too much training may do more harm than good. Extreme exercise may increase the production of stress hormones like cortisol, epinephrine, and norepinephrine. These hormones aid the body in switching to a more efficient fat-burning metabolism to preserve glycogen in the muscles and aid blood vessels in the delivery of oxygen to the muscles. However, stress overload can occur if an individuals does not dial down the intensity even for short periods. This may cause an increase in white blood cells that eliminate bacteria, viruses, and even cancer cells. When the intense exercise is finished, the number of immune cells may decrease. It is theorized that any viruses or bacteria present in this stage may multiply and cause infection which may weaken the immune system.

Aerobic training and other physical activities should be done properly to avoid ill-effects that improper or over-training may bring. Individuals who want to engage in such activities can begin aerobic training by walking or jogging five minutes in the morning and another five minutes the evening. The next they they can add a few minutes to each aerobic session. Soon, they could be walking briskly or jogging for 30 minutes a day and reap the benefits of regular aerobic exercise.

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A few years ago, I was spending a lot of time with aerobic exercise on an elliptical machine, trying to burn fat fast.  I was doing the usual 30-45 minutes per session for about 3 times per week.  I was getting in better cardiovascular shape, or so I thought, but I didn’t notice any difference in my physique.  So I followed the “more is better” thinking that surrounds this type of exercise and added a fourth day.

After a few weeks I added a fifth day as I still didn’t see the results I wanted.  I was watching my diet too, so I figured that was the only thing that would do it.  Well, it wasn’t very long before I began to get worn out.

This might seem obvious, but I was so focused on my goals of burning maximum fat that I didn’t want that to get in the way, so I pressed onward.  Not many more days passed by and I got a cold.  What I realized later was that my immune system was so worn down that I was very susceptible to catching a virus, and I did.

Guess what? I didn’t stop.  I continued with my sessions and ended up with a horrible sinus infection that put me out for about a week and a half.  I was miserable, and I can tell you I hadn’t burned much fat either.  I had to take several days off of work to recover.  I learned an important lesson, however; one that you should never have to: listen to your body.

If you are feeling drained, take a day or two off until you’re really feeling ready to get back to it.  I also learned that aerobic exercise just doesn’t cut it when trying to transform your body for the better or burn fat fast.  If 5 days per week didn’t work, I certainly don’t think 6 or 7 days would.  And even if it did, would spending that much time in the gym be worth it to you?

I eventually discovered that the aerobics were training my body to actually store body fat to have available for the next workout…yikes!  And I also found out that I was actually reducing my body’s ability handle work and stress.  I was becoming more efficient and handling easy work, but it made me pant like a race horse when trying anything that was marginally more intense…even something like climbing a long flight of stairs.  And I wasn’t burning any fat either.

The other concern I have with aerobic exercise is that of overuse injuries and muscle imbalances. These are common in competitive athletes that perform the same monotonous motion over and over and over again.

The muscles primarily involved in these activities also receive the brunt of the work while the rest of your body is neglected.  This can be true for any of the aerobic movements recommended by many fitness professionals to burn fat because it is a repetitive motion continued for long time periods for several times each week, affecting the same muscle groups.

Runners are a prime example.  The pounding that this activity gives the joints associated (knees, etc.) can lead to injury from overusing that area.  And because the lower body receives the brunt of the work, you are creating severe imbalances with other areas of your body.  You’ll have to add more exercise to make up for this, and before you know it, you’ll be spending too much of your time devoted to workouts that were supposed to burn fat fast.

The good news is that you can avoid these problems entirely, and spend an average of 15-20 minutes, 2-3 days per week performing properly conducted intense resistance training to burn fat like you want to. Check out more aerobics articles.

Students of my Fat Burning Furnace system know this and simultaneously burn fat, build muscle, strength, and lasting health with their efforts.  So get off of the treadmill and get intense with resistance training…your body will show you the difference in your fat burning success, and thank you for it down the road.

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They’ll probably also tell you that more is better…4 times per week would be better than 3, and 5 times per week would be even better.

People will tell you this because that’s been and continues to be the mainstream recommendation for fat burning by many fitness professionals.  Get in a certain target heart rate and stay at that heart rate for 30 minutes or so, several times per week.  I am here to tell you there is a better way.

Sure, you’ll burn some calories while you’re running to nowhere on a treadmill, but you won’t make a complete physique transformation with this type of exercise alone.

In fact, this type of exercise can actually be counterproductive to burning fat.  Here are just a couple of reasons:

Long duration, lower intensity aerobics calls upon your stored body fat for energy during the sessions.  While this may sound good, this can actually cause your body to create more body fat in reserve after the workout is over to have ready for your next workout.  Yikes!

What’s worse, this type of exercise when done frequently as typically suggested, trains your cardiovascular system to be efficient.  Again, while this sounds good, your heart and lungs can actually reduce their capacity for work as they are getting more efficient at doing easy work (your long duration, low intensity aerobic workouts), which reduces their ability to handle stress.

This can lead to a host of other problems including higher change of heart attack.  You are only working within your current aerobic capacity because you’re never challenging it to go beyond what it’s capable of.   And anything that is easy will not yield results even close to what’s challenging for the body to accomplish.

Instead, you should be challenging the body to increase its capacity, so that it is stronger and able to deal with stress more easily.  How is this done?

The fastest and most efficient way to rev up your metabolism, burn fat faster, and develop lifelong health and fitness is to add lean muscle to your body through resistance training – period. You want life changing results in the quickest possible time? Get stronger and build some muscle. When you add lean muscle to your body you’ll be literally turning your body into a fat burning machine!

Let’s say that you were eating the amount of calories that allow you to maintain your current bodyweight, but began to add lean muscle to your body through proper resistance training…you’ll need to use some of those calories you’re eating to feed the new muscle, creating a calorie deficit in your body.

In addition, when you stimulate your body with proper resistance training like I teach my students, the repair and growth process will call upon your stored body fat for energy.  This calorie deficit combined with the repair and growth process will allow you to burn fat all day long, every day.  You’ll even get these fat burning effects when you’re sitting around doing nothing at all.

Also, properly conducted resistance training actually increases your heart and lung’s capacity for work.  By placing intense demands on your body, it is forced into being ready for anything you throw at it.  This makes you more resistant to cardiovascular health problems that plague most people…even those that exercise with aerobics frequently.

And the beauty is I’ve discovered that you don’t have to spend much time working out to get the fat loss effects, and strength and muscle gains that will create this environment…you can actually get it done with 2 or 3 weekly workouts that last between 20 and 30 minutes, and even less time at an advanced level.

And it’s easy to make this type of exercise part of your life because of its efficiency…and it will help keep you lean and healthy for the rest of it…muscle is the stuff that fat burning furnaces are made of!

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Exact quantities and menus are not listed, just the individual foods, and of course my food intake does vary. I aim to get as many different varieties of fruits and vegetables as possible over the course of every week and there are a lot of substitutions made, so you are not seeing the full list of everything I eat, only what foods I eat most of the time.

I also want to point out that while I don’t believe that extreme low carbs are necessary or most effective when you look at the long term, research has shown that there are some definite advantages to a low to moderate carb and higher protein diet for fat loss purposes. These include reduced appetite, higher thermic effect of food and “automatic” calorie control.

Personally, I reduce my carb intake moderately and temporarily prior to bodybuilding competitions. Specifically, it’s the foods that are on the starchy carbs and grains list that go down during the brief pre-competition period when I’m working on that really “ripped” look. I keep the green and fibrous veggie intake very high however, along with large amounts of lean protein, small amounts of fruit, and adequate amounts of essential fats.

This list reflects my personal preferences, so this is not a prescription to all readers to eat as I do. It’s very important for compliance to choose foods you enjoy and to have the option for a wide variety of choices. In the past several years, nutrition and obesity research – in studying ALL types of diets – has continued to conclude that almost any hypocaloric diet that is not completely “moronic” can work, at least in the short term.

It’s not so much about the high carb – low carb argument or any other debate as much as it is about calorie control and compliance. The trouble is, restricted diets and staying in a calorie deficit is difficult, so most people can’t stick with any program and they fall off the wagon, whichever wagon that may be.

I believe that a lot of our attention needs to shift away from pointless debates (for example, low carb vs. high carb is getting really old… so like… get over it everyone, its a calorie deficit that makes you lose weight, not the amount of carbs).

Instead, our focus should shift towards these questions:

* How can we build an eating program that we can enjoy while still getting us leaner and healthier?

* How can we build an eating program that helps us control calories?

* How can we build an eating program that improves compliance?

Here’s one good answer: Eat a wide variety of high nutrient density, low calorie density foods that you enjoy which still fit within healthy, fat-burning, muscle-building guidelines!

Here are the lists of foods I choose to achieve these three outcomes. This eating plan is not difficult to stick with at all, by the way. I enjoy eating like this and it feels almost weird not to eat like this after doing it for so long.

Remember, habits work in both directions, and as motivational speaker Jim Rohn has said, “Bad habits are easy to form and hard to live with and good habits are hard to form but easy to live with.”

These are listed in the order I frequently consume them. So for example, if oatmeal is on the top of the list, it means that is the food I am most likely to eat every single day.

My 10 top natural starchy carb and whole grains

1. Oatmeal (old fashioned)
2. Yams
3. Brown rice (a favorite is basmati, a long grain aromatic rice)
4. Sweet potatoes (almost same as yams)
5. Multi grain hot cereal (mix or barley, oats, rye. titricale and a few others)
6. White potatoes
7. 100% whole wheat bread
8. 100% whole wheat pasta
9. Beans (great for healthy chili recipes)
10. Cream of rice hot cereal

My Top 10 top vegetables

1. Broccoli
2. Asparagus
3. Spinach
4. Salad greens
5. Tomatoes
6. Peppers (green, red or yellow)
7. Onions
8. Mushrooms
9. Cucumbers
10. Zucchini

My top 10 lean proteins

1. Egg whites (whole eggs in limited quantities)
2. Whey or Casein protein (protein powder supplements)
3. Chicken Breast
4. Salmon (wild Alaskan)
5. Turkey Breast
6. Top round steak (grass fed beef)
7. Flank Steak (grass fed beef)
8. Lean Ground Turkey
9. Bison/Buffalo
10. Trout

My top 10 fruits

1. Grapefruit
2. Apples
3. Blueberries
4. Canteloupe
5. Oranges
6. Bananas
7. Peaches
8. Grapes
9. Strawberries
10. Pineapple

Note: I DO include healthy fats as well, such as walnuts, almonds, extra virgin olive oil, flaxseeds, flaxseed oil (supplement – not to cook with), avocado and a few others.

Also, I do eat dairy products and have nothing against them, nor am I lactose intolerant. I simply don’t eat as much dairy as the rest of the stuff on my lists. When I eat dairy, its usually skim milk, low or non fat cottage cheese, low or non fat yogurt and low or non fat cheese (great for omelettes).

Last but not least, I usually follow a compliance rate of about 95%, which means I take two or three meals per week of whatever I want (stuff that is NOT on these lists – like pizza, sushi, big fatty restaurant steaks, etc)

I hope you found this helpful and interesting. Keep in mind, this is MY food list, and although you probably couldn’t go wrong to emulate it, you need to choose natural foods you enjoy in order to develop habits you can stick with long term. In the fruits and vegetables categories alone, there are hundreds of other choices out there, so enjoy them all!

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1. Eat about 15-20% below your calorie maintenance level. If you use a more aggressive calorie deficit of 25-30%, then do not keep calories too low for too long; increase calories to maintenance or maintenance +10-15% 1-2 days per week.
2. Spread your calories into 5-6 smaller meals instead of 2-3 big ones. Be very conscious of portion size. If you eat too much of anything (even “healthy” food), you can say goodbye to your abs. Period.
3. Eat a source of complete, high quality lean protein with each meal (egg whites, lean meat, fish, protein powder, etc)
4. Choose natural, complex carbs such as vegetables, oatmeal, yams, potatoes, beans, brown rice and whole grains. Start with aprox. 50% of your calories from natural carbs and reduce carbs slightly (esp. late in the day) if you are not losing fat.
5. Avoid refined, simple carbs that contain white flour or white sugar
6. Keep total fats low and saturated fats low. Aim for 20% of your total calories from fat (and no more than 30%). A little bit of “good fat” like flax oil, fish fat, nuts & seeds, etc is better than a no fat diet. Essential fatty acids actually assist the fat burning process.
7. Drink plenty of water – a gallon is a good ballpark to shoot for if you are physically active.

1000+ reps of daily ab work is an amazing feat of endurance, but that’s not how you get visible, 6-pack abs! If you were to do 1,000 reps of ab exercises every day, you would have outstanding development in your abdominal muscles and you would definitely have great muscular endurance. Unfortunately, if your abs are covered up with a layer of fat, you will never see them even if you do 10,000 reps a day!

You Condition and Strengthen Your Abs With Specific Ab Exercises…
But The Secret To Seeing Your Abs Is Reducing Your Body Fat!

I once saw a photo of a man who broke one of the Guiness World Records for sit ups. It was the most paradoxical thing, but this man did not have any abdominal muscle definition. He was not obese or overweight at all, mind you, but he had a small enough layer of body fat that the muscular defintion did not show through. I’ve never seen a better real life example which demonstrates the basic principle discussed in this article:

You get great abs from reducing your body fat, and you reduce your body fat by creating a caloric deficit through nutrition and metabolism-stimulating and calorie-burning exercise.

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“1,000 Sit-Ups And Crunches A Day and Still No Abs!”

One question I received recently REALLY got my attention because a young guy told me he was doing 1,000 crunches and sit ups a day and said he still couldn’t see his abdominals. He wrote:

“Tom: I have been working out for around a year now and I cannot get my lower abs into any type of shape. I’m starting to see my upper abs a little bit, which is great, but despite doing 900 various crunches, ab roller, and 100 sit-ups four days a week, along with my regular workout on the weights, I still have a tire around my waist. What else can I do?”

What did I tell him? Well, I gave him the same answer I’ve given thousands of people over the years, which is the only true “Secret” to great abs…

It takes training to increase strength, build endurance and DEVELOP the abdominals, but to SEE the definition in your abdominals – or any other muscle group for that matter – is almost entirely the result of low body fat levels.

This may sound counter-intuitive, but if you can’t see your abs, it’s not an issue of “muscle development” at all. You simply have too much body fat covering up the ab muscles. The lower abdominal area also happens to be the one place that most people – especially men – store the body fat first.

There’s a Scientific Reason Why Your
Lower Ab Flab Is The Last Place To Go: Belly Fat – A Big Problem

Most people don’t have their fat distributed evenly throughout their bodies. Each of us inherits a genetically determined and hormonally-influenced pattern of fat storage just as we inherit our eye or hair color. In other words, the fat seems to “stick” to certain areas more than others.

There’s a scientific reason for this. Your fat cells are not just inert “storage tanks” for excess fuel. They are actually endocrine glands which send and receive signals from the rest of the body. You could say that your fat cells “talk to your body” and your body “talks to your fat cells.” This occurs through a hormone and receptor system.

For body fat loss to occur, you must first get the fat cell (adipocyte) to release the fat into the bloodstream. THEN, the free fatty acids must be delivered to the working muscles where they are burned for energy.

For fat to be released, the hormone adrenaline (epinephrine) must be secreted and send a signal to your fat cells. Your fat cells receive this hormonal signal via adrenaline receptors called adrenoreceptors.

Fat cells have Beta 1 (B1) and Alpha 2 (A2) receptors. B1 receptors are the good guys. They activate hormone sensitive lipase, the enzyme that breaks down the fat and allows it to be released into the bloodstream to be burned. A2 receptors are the bad guys. They block the fat-releasing enzymes in the fat cell and encourage body fat formation.

How Body Fat Storage Patterns Affect You
And Keep Your Abs From Showing

What’s the point of all the physiology? Well, it turns out that in men, the lower abdominal region has a higher concentration of A2 receptors, so this gives us one possible explanation of why the lower abdominal region is often the first place the fat goes when you gain it, and the last place it comes off when you’re losing it. (Incidentally, the fat in women’s hips and thighs is also higher in A2 receptors). This situation is dictated by genetics and by the hormonal and enzymatic pathways we discussed.

Think of ab fat like the deep end of the swimming pool. No matter how much you protest, there is no way you can drain the deep end before the shallow end. However, don’t let this discourage you. Lower ab fat WILL come off, it will simply be the last place to come off. First place on – Last place off.

This helps to explain why abdominal exercises have little impact on body fat loss. It’s a huge mistake to think that hundreds or thousands of reps of ab exercises will remove lower abdominal fat, except to the degree that it burns calories and contributes to the calorie deficit. What removes the fat – all over your body – is a calorie deficit and that comes from decreasing food intake, increasing activity, or a combination of both.

What I suggested to this young man was cutting back the ab training, spending the time he was wasting on excess ab exercises for more intense, calorie-burning cardio and weight training for the rest of the body. I also suggested he do an accounting of his food intake, get his nutrition in order and decrease his calories slightly if necessary.

As it turned out, his diet was a mess, and as nutrition experts like to say, “You can’t out-train a lousy diet.”

It’s a monumental error to think that 1,000 reps of ab work a day will make your abs finally “pop” when your diet is a disaster and that’s leading to fat storage. It’s not that ab exercises aren’t important. But all the ab exercises in the world won’t help as long as you still have body fat covering the muscles. You can’t “spot reduce” with abdominal exercise and YOU CAN’T SEE YOUR ABS THROUGH A LAYER OF BODY FAT!

My Championship-Winning Ab Workout Routine

Personally, I only do about 15 minutes of ab work two times per week, with anywhere from two to four exercises for about 10-25 reps per exercise. Forget about thousands of reps of sit ups – it’s a waste of time. The reason my abs look the way they do is not from endless repetitions, but because I get my body fat down into the single digits with a highly specialized fat-burning diet program.

Here’s a recent ab routine that I’ve used (for bodybuilding/ ab-development purposes). I do this routine only twice a week and I change the exercises approximately every month so my body doesn’t adapt. I prefer slightly higher rep range than other muscle groups, but as you can see, it is far from doing a thousand reps a day.

A1 Hanging leg raises
3 sets, 15-20 reps

Superset to:

A2 Hanging knee ups (bent-knee leg raises)
3 sets, 15-20 reps
(no rest between supersetted exercises A1 & A2, 60 sec between supersets)

B1 Weighted swiss ball crunches (or weighted cable crunches)
3 sets, 15-20 reps

Superset to:

B2 Incline Bench Reverse crunches
3 sets, 15-20 reps
(no rest between supersetted exercises B1 & B2, 60 sec between supersets)

How To Use Cardio For MAXIMUM Fat-Burning

Times have changed since the Aerobics revolution of the 1970’s and 1980’s. For years, aerobics was the darling of the fitness world. Then scientists began to acknowledge the benefits of weight training – for everyone, not just for bodybuilders.

Recently, the pendulum has swung the other direction and we’ve actually started hearing fitness “experts” suggesting that cardio should be kept to a minimum or even avoided completely. That’s the way things tend to go in the fitness world – they swing back and forth in trends, from one extreme to another. Lots of cardio or no cardio.

I suggest you avoid trend-hopping and pay close attention to what actually works, by people who know what they are talking about (such as bodybuilders, who are the leanest muscular athletes in the world). Doing nothing but cardio is a mistake. But cutting our cardio completely is also a mistake. The truth lies in the middle.Maximum fat burning occurs when you combine cardio training and weight training together.

Those who are genetically gifted with above average metabolisms will find that a slight drop in food intake and just a few days a week of cardio will usually do the trick. However, most people who are struggling with fat loss (sometimes referred to as “endomorph” body type) are simply NOT burning enough calories to get the results they want. The answer for them is more activity to burn more calories.

For health and weight maintenance, I would suggest 3 short cardio workouts per week, about 20-30 minutes per session. But for maximum fat loss, I recommend 4-7 days per week of cardio or other physical activity for 30-45 minutes (based on results), at a moderate pace. You can mix up the type of cardio you do, or choose the type you enjoy the most – stationary cycling, stairclimbing, elliptical machines, aerobic classes and other continuous activities are all excellent fat burners (it doesn’t have to be indoors or on a cardio machine).

If time efficiency is a concern for you, you could do 2-3 of those cardio workouts as high intensity interval training and you’ll achieve very good results even with briefer workouts. Even as little as 20-25 minutes per session can get great results IF your intensity level is high enough. Remember, seeing your abs is about low body fat. Low body fat is about burning calories and creating a calorie deficit. The calorie deficit is created by increasing the number of calories you burn and or decreasing the amount of calories you take in from food. Increasing intensity is one way to burn more calories in less time.

NOTE: To reach the “ripped” 3.7% body fat level you see in my photos, I do cardio 7 days a week for 30-45 minutes per session, in addition to my 4 weight training workouts per week.

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Your abdominal muscles are really one big muscle called the Rectus Abdominus. You do not have upper, mid and lower abs unless you have some genetic anomaly. This is really critical to understand because the long muscle fibers in the abdominal muscles start at ribcage and ends at the pubic region.

So, when you contract your muscles during a curl-up or crunch, the two ends of the muscle fibers move toward each other. It is impossible for the lower portion of the Rectus Abdominus (abs) to function without equally “firing off” all the other muscle fibers in the abs.

Once the muscle relaxes and allows its two ends to move apart and reach its original stretched position, you will complete the full range-of-motion of an abdominal contour abs exercise.

I am not forgetting the external and internal Obliques because they are directly and indirectly involved while performing any abdominal movement so it’s really not necessary to hammer out your Obliques regularly. In fact, since the only thing a muscle can do is shrink and grow (atrophy or hypertrophy), you probably will not want to overly develop the Obliques because it will create a thicker looking waistline.

That means the key to creating great-developed abs is to use exercises that fully contract the abdominal muscle until it is fatigued and that will take the muscle through it’s full range-of-motion, just like any other muscle you build in your body.

Remember though, you will not see your abs if they are hidden under a layer of fat and you cannot spot reduce the fat from waistline by training your abs for hours on end. Simply doing hours of abdominal exercises may develop your abs but you will still carry that layer of fat around your body if you aren’t burning the appropriate amount of calories. If you are trying to lose body fat, there are much bigger and better exercises than abdominal exercises for burning calories and body fat.

Now that you know how the abdominal muscle works, it’s time to discover, “The most forgotten productive exercise for your Abs.”

Reintroducing, TADA – The Sit Up.

Wait! Don’t go yet. It’s really, really important for you to know how to properly perform a Sit Up. If you perform the Sit Up like you did in Gym Class, you are reducing the Sit Up’s effectiveness by almost 50% and you could cause some serious low back pain for yourself.

I know; if a personal trainer or non free-thinking exercise physiologist is reading this section right now they are going to tell me I am crazy for recommending Sit Ups. Here again, it is important to understand the rules behind Abdominal-development and the Sit Up exercise really qualifies as a very effective movement.

Remember, when the abdominal muscle is working, “Two ends of the muscle fibers must move toward each other and be able to fully contract”.

Does the Sternum and Pubic area move toward each other when performing Sit Ups?

Does the Abdominal Muscle bend and stretch the spine in its full range of motion in a Sit Up?

Does the abdominal muscles reach full extension to full flexion? – YES, if you perform the exercise correctly! So, why does the sit up exercise get such a bad rap?

Primarily because the old style Sit Ups you performed incorrectly in gym class put too much stress on the lower back and hip flexors. But, do you know what is really crazy about that logic? If more muscles than one are involved, it is called a compound or multi-joint movement. You won’t hear me saying compound movements are bad. Are these supposed experts trying to get people to actually believe that compound movements are great for every muscle except the abdominal muscles?

If I remember correctly, didn’t these same exercise physiologists claim squats and Deadlifts put too much strain on your knees and back and that we all needed to stop doing those exercises too? Just a few years later, most of the experts are now eating their words, aren’t they?

Description of Exercise – Here is the appropriate way to perform an effective Sit Up.

Lay flat on your back with a rolled up towel under your lower back. Bend your knees about 45° with heels on the floor and keep your toes pointing up. Do not anchor your feet.

Spread the knees apart approximately 6-8 inches to prevent the hip flexors from contributing too much to the exercise.

Next, extend your arms between your legs and keep your hands between your legs throughout the movement because it will help keep you in the proper position.

Now, exhale and lift your shoulders off the ground, keeping your neck in a neutral position. Concentrate on trying to force the lower portion of your ribcage into your knees by curling the spine upward into the sit up position. (DO NOT CURL YOUR NECK). Slowly lower yourself back down to the starting position by uncurling your spine and you are finished with the repetition when you feel the rolled up towel supporting your lower back again.

Notice how both ends of the abdominal muscle fully contract together and are stretched through its full range of motion. When you perform a Sit Up with proper biomechanics, your next crunch exercise will pale by comparison.

3 Tips to accelerate your fat burning and muscle building:

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*Step 3: Burn the fat, feed the muscle – this ebook is excellent and has sold millions of copies worldwide. Its considered to be the bible of fatloss and muscle building tips. Great tips and info on how you can cut body fat and start building on lean muscle to get yourself really ripped. Get your copy today, click here >

Step 3 is optional, ‘fat burning furnace‘ and ‘truth about abs‘ will be perfect to get you started on the road to cutting body fat and building lean, ripped muscle.

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I can categorically state that there’s no WAY you’re going to lose any weight just by using an ab toner, good or not, the product just isn’t going to make you lose weight! How can it? it causes your abdominal muscles to contract, as if you were doing situps or crunches, but your heart rate is not increasing like it does when you exercise for real.

This type of advertising just gives all ab belts a bad name, and makes people think they are a scam and a fad. The Contour Abs promises are also why the FDA is skeptical and unwilling to grant them approval. Promises about losing weight with a Contour Abs are just rubbish, and you should not believe them.

Ab toners DO work – they ARE effective and WILL help you tone and build your abs without you having to do situps and crunches, BUT to see your newly sculpted abs, you’re going to have to lose the layer of fat covering them first! Do not fall for the hype pumped out by a product that promises you’ll lose weight, when it just isn’t going to happen, and isn’t even possible!

If you want great results with an ab belt, you’re going to have to put a little work in to burn body fat (if you have a little too much like most of us) – I wrote another post giving a two-step plan to cut bodyfat and build your new abs, read more about it here: 2 Steps to Cut Belly Fat. Another post I wrote full of tips to help you acheive your fat burning goals is here: How to burn fat and get a flatter stomach.

Once you’ve cut body fat, you’re ready to start using an ab toner and will see great results with it fast – there’s a good review of the two leading ab toners, the Contour Abs and the Flex belt which is worth reading before you order!

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Quite simply, most people are looking for a single, no effort quick fix that will magically make their bodyfat melt away without them having to do anything other than sit around waiting for it to happen! Clearly this is not a realistic way to acheive your fat burningand toning goals, but it is human nature in our modern world, to want everything yesterday, for little money and even less effort!

So whats the answer to getting into better shape, cutting fat, losing weight and toning up?

First of all, you have to realise that its going to take some effort on your part – this is the single most important step, and the hardest one to come to terms with. Most people will fail at this point, give up after half-heartedly taking a supplement, or starting an exercise program or diet for a week or two and then maybe try again with similar lack of commitment and effort in a few months time. I don’t need to tell you that obviously this is not the way you’re going to succeed in acheiving anything with your body!

Secondly, you have to start your new self-improvement regime, and STICK TO IT until you reach your goal – whether you want to lose 20lbs, or just tone up your abs, you have to start something intending to finish it. No excuses, no ‘its not working’ after a week – stick to your chosen plan and reach your goals!

I can tell you right now that there are various elements to losing weight, cutting body fat and building a stronger, healthier body that looks great. You will only succeed if you do ALL of them, together, with commitment, for as long as it takes!

• Exercising – raising your heart rate will cause your body to begin to burn fat, assuming you are controlling your intake of fat and calories. Even if you’re not athletic, this can include lifting weights, walking, jogging – even walking up and down the stairs in your house!
• Eating better – “You only get out what you put in” – as the saying goes – you need to cut fat and excess calories from your diet, and eat foods that will fuel your body properly while you exercise
• Drinking more water – your body and brain will function better and more efficiently if you’re properly hydrated, and you’ll be able to exercise better, thus burning more calories and fat
• Sleep properly – believe it or not, it is proven that sleep can help you to lose weight! It will also help you have more energy for exercise. The importance of getting enough sleep is often overlooked!

There has to be shortcuts though right?

There are few shortcuts available that will truly help you on your fat burning body-toning journey. I would tend to avoid ‘diet’ supplements and pills, the only ones that actually show results are made for people who train hard and want to build muscle fast – products like Creatine or Protein supplements.

In terms of exercise, there are some products that will help you – assuming that you are either exercising or eating proplery to try and help burn excess fat from your body. Once such product is the Ab Circle – it will enable you to exercise and burn fat, while helping you build abdominal muscle. This type of exercise machine will show good results.

Once you have started to cut bodyfat, then you can start to concentrate more on building and toning up muscle – products like ab belts for example can help target your abs very effectively, and you will see results quickly if you are working to actively cut fat in the ways I illustrated above.

Can you recommend products to help me cut fat and tone up?

I have been exercising and working to cut my body fat right down for years, and in that time I’ve tried almost every product, diet, scam and fad going! I’ve only found 2 books that genuinely helped me on my way:

The Fat Burning Furnace and Truth About Abs. Both are packed with great info on eating properly, and exercises that will help you turbo charge your fat-burning! Both were a great help and inspiration to me.

As far as exercise equipment goes, the Flex Belt ab toner worked great for me in helping me exercise,  used regularly between exercise sessions.

3 Tips to accelerate your fat burning and muscle building:

Step 1: Fat Burning Furance – Best selling book with hundreds of tips and diet secrets – if you’re struggling to cut belly and bopy fat, then this is the perfect book to help you. Really helped me to cut stubborn belly fat I couldn’t seem to shift. Click here to get a copy now >

Step 2: The Truth About Abs – Best ebook available for tips, tricks and secrets about the right foods to eat and the right exercises to target your core – the book will help you to cut belly fat easily and start to get your midsection cut, hard and ripped! Click here to check out truth about abs now >

*Step 3: Burn the fat, feed the muscle – this ebook is excellent and has sold millions of copies worldwide. Its considered to be the bible of fatloss and muscle building tips. Great tips and info on how you can cut body fat and start building on lean muscle to get yourself really ripped. Get your copy today, click here >

Step 3 is optional, ‘fat burning furnace‘ and ‘truth about abs‘ will be perfect to get you started on the road to cutting body fat and building lean, ripped muscle.

That group of products is, as far as I’m concerned, the best on the market and a GREAT combination in helping people of all ages, genders and current fitness levels and weights to cut back your body fat and get you toned up quickly.

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