In these times of gourmet ice cream, gourmet coffee and uh, ‘gourmet fast-food’, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to stay fit and lean. Unless you’re a native of Miami Beach, it seems like six pack abs are becoming rare- a common sight only on Baywatch reruns and movies depicting warriors of ancient Greece.
It’s not that we’re not trying- the market is chock-full of diet products and exercise gadgets that are flying off shelves. Fad diets and workout schemes are also making a killing and this just shows how desperate people are to get lose weight and get six pack abs.
Contrary to the perception of the general public, the path to six pack abs doesn’t rely on countless sit-ups and crunches. In fact, focusing too much on the abdominal muscles can even lead to strain on the lower back. Expensive, gimmicky gadgetry featured on fitness infomercials aren’t the answer either. Diet shakes and low-fat food? Forget it! Studies prove that we tend to eat 75% more when we’re eating diet food.
As experts have long figured-out, the key to getting a sculpted midsection is losing enough body fat by creating a daily calorie deficit. This means making it a point to burn more calories than our bodies take in each day to achieve a body fat index of at least 10% for men and 15% for women.
Since most of the food modern urbanites dine on have a high caloric content, relying on office work or doing house chores to burn-off excess calories will definitely result in a flabby gut. The only way to make sure we’re losing fat is by using-up more calories than we’re eating and that is through daily intense physical activity.
Creating the daily calorie deficit needed to bring about fat loss and six pack abs requires a combination of body fat busting cardio exercises and weight-training to build all-around muscle tissue and increase metabolism. A high metabolism will let our bodies continue to burn fat even while we’re watching TV (without the buttered popcorn).
The development of muscle that results from regular exercise enforces the joints in our body by strengthening the tissues around them. The constant activity also leads to the production of natural lubricants that prevent friction and cartilage damage.
There is a definite correlation between high obesity cases and osteoarthritis in the U.S. Maintaining a regular exercise regimen will be the proverbial stone that can help solve both of those problems while paving the way to an attractive, well-defined midsection.
