Everyone desires those washboard abs that make them look chiseled and perfectly ripped like their favourite movie star. Not only to become more attractive to the opposite sex, but also to feel great about themselves and live a more healthy lifestyle as a result.
In this article I aim to highlight the benefits of achieving and maintaining a more toned midsection, and also the misconceptions surrounding what it takes to achieve these abs.
Now to begin with you may want to know, besides looking and feeling like a million dollars, what other benefits do having a more toned and leaner stomach provide? Well, for starters:
A BETTER SEX LIFE.
Yes, losing fat helps with the mechanics of sex. Being overweight makes men 50% more likely to have erectile dysfunction. Now obviously there are many factors that control something like sexual dysfunction in both sexes, but being overweight and out of shape is a large factor.
However the main reason you should be aiming to blast away that gut is to live A MUCH HEALTHIER AND LONGER LIFE!!
Yep, that's right. Belly fat is by far the most dangerous fat, as often it comprises both subcutaneous fat (fat under the skin) and visceral fat (fat that is beneath the stomach muscles against internal organs). This second type, visceral fat, can cause long term harm.
Various studies that have been undertaken show that having an out-of-condition midsection and belly fat can do a lot of damage. Check this out:
1. A Canadian study of 8,000 people found that those with the weakest abdominal muscles (an indicator for fattier abdominal regions) had twice the death rate of those with stronger ones.
2. Many studies show that men who have a waist larger than around 88cm/35 in have an increased risk of heart disease.
3. A Swedish study found that cancer rates are 33% higher in obese patients than in lean ones.
4. Overweight men are 50% more likely to develop heart disease, 36- percent more likely to develop diabetes and 16% more likely to die of a first heart attack.
Scary as this information is, we are all responsible for ourselves. Each of us has the power to take control of our own lives and make sure we live a healthy one, free of illness and disease.So now we look for ways to burn away our beer gut and get ripped, yet at every turn it seems we are bombarded with contradicting and often completely false information about what it takes to get in shape.
DIETS, for the most part, lose you your meal, your muscle mass, and your energy. More often than not people become discouraged and end up quitting a diet and going straight back to their old habits again, putting the weight back on in the process. This is because these fancy 'diets' are doomed to fail!
You should never aim to go hungry, worse yet, starve yourself in your quest to get leaner or slim.
Eating 5-6 smaller meals spaced out over the course of the day is a lot better than 3 bigger meals. Listen to your body and eat when hungry. Aside from the odd well-earned treat though, you want to be cutting out the sugary snacks and fatty junk foods.
Eating 5-6 smaller meals spaced out over the course of the day is a lot better than 3 bigger meals. Listen to your body and eat when hungry. Aside from the odd well-earned treat though, you want to be cutting out the sugary snacks and fatty junk foods.
Try and avoid processed foods whenever possible and stick to high fibre and high protein foods combined with a good exercise plan. Get plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables and make sure you drink plenty of water to stay hydrated!
And as far as training goes, ENDLESS CARDIO ROUTINES are not the way to lose that gut either, in fact excessive cardio can lead to muscle loss and little in the way of long term fat burning. Shorter, more intense workouts are miles better than long, steady pace ones. What you want to be doing is increase the intensity of your exercise with strength training and body weight interval training, aka burst training.
Strength training will help you build, maintain and preserve muscle mass. Muscle is what gives your body shape, is metabolic and boosts your metabolism. Building muscle can turn your body into a fat-burning machine! So there's really no need to be on a treadmill, stair stepper, elliptical, etc., for an hour or more!!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_P_Hilton
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