The Most Effective Ab Workouts That You Never Even Considered

The most effective ab workouts do not even target your abs

. Yes, you heard me right. They do not target your abs. In fact you would never have thought of the most effective ab workouts as ab workouts in the first place. Let me explain.

You see, most people work their abs by doing sit ups and crunches, leg lifts, bicycles or knee raises. However, these are only effective if you are below 10% body fat for men and 16% body fat for women. This is the point where you actually see the results of your workout. But, how many people do you know who have that small amount of body fat? Most of us are trying to get down to that point. But, the problem is that ab exercises do not burn enough calories to reduce your body fat percentage in any meaningful way.

This is because a single pound of fat takes 3,500 calories to burn. This is a lot, especially when you consider that the average person burns only 2,000 calories in the average day. So you can see how ineffective sit ups are for fat reduction.

To be effective an ab workout needs to burn a significant amount of calories and keep burning them well after the workout is over. To do this you need to lift weights.

You mean to tell me that lifting weights with my arms and legs is an ab workout?

Yes, because it does a few things. First, muscle weighs more than fat so your body has to work harder and, consequently, burn more fat throughout the day. By doing compound exercises which work multiple muscle groups such as the dead lift, squats, bench press and others you throw your body into a metabolic shock which allows you to burn calories at a higher rate for days after. But, beside burning fat these exercises also work your ab muscles because they help stabilize the body. You do not believe me? Just do some dumb bell swings and talk to me then.

However, if you really want to ratchet up your fat burning ability you should do those swings with a kettlebell. This is a Russian device that looks like a cannonball with a handle on it. In a study conducted by the University of Wisconsin in LaCrosse researchers discovered that by using a kettlebell you can burn up to 20 calories a minute, which is the equivalent of cross country skiing up hill. This is because kettlebells integrate a level of cardiovascular activity that is not available with traditional weight lifting.

So, once again, here is the skinny on the most effective ab workouts you never even considered. Compound weight lifting exercises work your abs the way they were meant to be worked, as stabilizers. Muscle, burns fat throughout the day. If you want to build maximum strength use barbell exercises such as the squat, dead lift and others. If you want to build strength and endurance use a kettlebell.

by: John Kidder

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