subject: An Abdominal Training Programme That Melts Fat Like Butter [print this page] A few years ago I was forty pounds overweightA few years ago I was forty pounds overweight. Now, I am on the verge of having a six pack of abs at the age of 44. Let me tell you the wrong way and the right way to go about this.
First things first, to get down to the body fat percentage you need in order to actually see all the effort you are putting into your abs men need to be below 10% and women need to be below 16%. But, like everyone out there I did not realize that reducing fat in your midsection was about reducing your overall body fat percentage. I actually did not put a lot of thought into it, but I either had this natural assumption that I could spot reduce fat on my belly or, I just followed the example everyone else set and did sit ups and crunches. Unfortunately, most everyone else is doing the wrong things in order to burn calories.
Let us think about it for a moment. To lose a single pound of fat you must burn exactly 3,500 calories. Now, when you consider that the average person only burns 2,000 calories in an average day, you begin to understand just exactly how much effort must go into this. Consequently, sit ups and crunches are useless for burning fat and I do not recommend them to anyone who wants to lose weight. They are good for building muscle when you get to the point where your efforts will be apparent. But, that is the problem, most people do sit ups and crunches to burn fat not to build muscle.
But, really, the best way to both burn fat and work you abs may come as a surprise. By doing a number of compound weight lifting exercises that do not really look like the work the abs you will be both burning fat and working your abs. The first way they do this is by building muscle. You see, muscle weighs more than fat so the body must work harder and consequently burns more fat throughout the day.
Now, exercises like the clean and jerk, dead lifts, dumb bell snatches and others cause you to exert so much force that your body actually goes into metabolic shock and burns calories at an even higher rate than you would have otherwise for days after the workout. These exercises also work your bodys core, your back and the other side of your back your abdominal muscles, because they are needed to stabilize your body.
Now, the best way to do compound exercises is to use something called a kettlebell (KB). This is a piece of weight lifting equipment from Russia that looks like a cannonball with a handle and is ideal for swinging between your legs. This is something you just can do with a barbell. You can do it with a dumbbell but it is not quite as effective. The benefits of these KB swings are numerous. First, it will work the muscles of your core like no other exercise targeting your back, your hips and, of course, your abs. The next benefit is due to the added cardiovascular element that KBs bring to weight lifting. You will be winded in seconds and burning up to 20 calories a minute. KBs are so effective at burning calories that I have heard stories of people losing 100 pounds in a year just by swinging a KB.
