Getting Six Pack Abs

Look around and you can see bulging bellies everywhere! Most people don't have 6 pack abs to show off. Although most people already have a six-pack abdominal wall. The reason for this is that the abdominal wall is covered with a few inches of fat that sits on top of your muscle and under your skin; this is what prevents you from showing off a set of 6-pack abs.

It's not that you need to build up your ab muscles, it's the fact that you need to bring down your overall body fat level. If you bring down your body fat with a well-rounded healthy lifestyle, you'll finally be able to see the shape and form of your core muscles, the famous 6 pack abs!

Lower your Overall Body Fat Percentage

In order to even begin seeing some type of definition in your abs you HAVE to lower your overall body fat percentage.

Here's a general guideline for body fat levels to showing off your 6 pack abs:

Ladies:
Competition Ready ("ripped"): 8-12%
Very Lean (excellent): < 15%
Lean (good): 16-20%
Satisfactory (fair): 21-25%
Improvement needed (poor): 26-30%
Major improvement needed (Very poor): 31-40%+

Men:
Competition Ready ("ripped"): 3-6%
Very Lean (excellent): < 9%
Lean (good): 10-14%
Satisfactory (fair): 15-19%
Improvement needed (poor): 20-25%
Major improvement needed (Very poor): 26-30%+

Exercise Your Abs Effectively

One thing you might learn about training your abs is that less is more. All you really need to getting 6 pack abs is by doing two sets of 2 or 3 different exercises and you're good to go.

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If you think about it, most people tend to over train their abs with "quantity". For example, many people think that doing 100 sit-ups is better than doing 10 "quality" crunches. Because…more is better, right? NO, NO, NO! Wrong! In all reality, sit-ups are one of the least effective exercises for your abs, and when you do more of something that isn't effective, it's not going to provide you with any better results.

Two keys to making "less" more effective are:

~ When exercising, make sure you go slow. Doing a 3-second positive and a 3-second negative works excellent.

~ Try to use a smaller range of motion than normal. Why? For the same exact reason that a crunch is much more effective than a traditional sit up. Going slow will keep the tension focused more on your abdominal muscles and that way they never get the chance to relax. This will definitely increase the effectiveness of the exercise you perform. Interval cardio is doing five to nine 60-90 second challenges separated by walking recovery.

When you do twenty minutes of interval cardio, preferably in the morning, it actually burns more body fat than just doing 60 minutes of jogging or any low intensity long duration cardio.

When you do interval cardio first thing in the morning, you "get it done" and out the way. So many things seem to pop up during the day, which tends to postpone or cancel out a cardio session that you may have planned for midday or in the evening. So just make it a priority to get into the habit of exercising in the morning.

Most people do better if they eat every 3-4 hours. You should combine protein and a non-starchy carbs (salads, veggies, green beans, apples) together at every meal.

Work in a small amount of starchy carbs (like oatmeal, yams, sweet and red potato, brown and wild rice or whole wheat pasta) on the resistance training days only.

You can speed up your metabolism if you eat every 3 hours, because having a higher hunger level means having a higher metabolism.

Work in resistance training for about an hour 2-3 times per week and try to do your interval cardio in the early morning 2-3 times per week.

Be sure to make other healthy lifestyle choices by not using alcohol, tobacco, or any kind of drugs, and also by going to bed early and waking up early.

For success with anything in life, you must have a precise goal. Only a few people will accomplish anything without a whole lot of pressure. Be your own leader/mentor and create a goal, write it down and give yourself a deadline to accomplish it.

I repeat "write it down"…then read it out loud with a positive tone in your voice every single day. Once before going to bed, and then immediately when you wake up.

Write it down as if you already achieved it, because in your subconscious mind, it doesn't know the difference between the truth or a fib. This is why you wake up with your heart pounding and sweating when you have a nightmare. Therefore, this is something you can use to your advantage!

See it, feel it, know it as if you have already accomplished the goal. Faith it till you make it! Normally, you'll turn into those you spend the most time with. For this reason try to be around those that are health conscious individuals. If you just can't help being around family or friends who don't support your healthy lifestyle, then just make sure to let them know about your intentions and ask them for help.

Now, if they continue to sabotage you, then you may just need to spend less time with them so you can reach your goals.

The key is the action, reassessing, and never giving up. Remember, you do have the power to change!


Cardiovascular Fitness - A Must Have for any Conditioning Program

If you're looking to improve your overall health and fitness, then cardiovascular fitness is essential.

This type of fitness is a special form of muscular endurance. It is the ability of the heart, lungs, and other organs to deliver oxygen to the working muscle tissues and utilizing that oxygen. Cardio exercises should boost your heart rate to a chosen range called the target heart range.

Some examples of cardiovascular fitness activities are brisk walking, jump roping, running, biking, swimming, aerobic classes, etc. This includes anything that will raise your heart rate to your target range for at least 30 minutes.

When you exercise regularly, you can increase your cardio fitness as your heart becomes more able to pump blood and oxygen into the body.

Cardiovascular Fitness Benefits

Cardio exercises have a number of health benefits when performed on a regular basis. It promotes the body to lose fat and can actually decrease your appetite. Now, if it doesn't decrease your appetite, the calorie burning effects of regular aerobic exercise will allow for a high calorie intake.

The skeletal system can be strengthened which can assist in reducing the risk for developing osteoporosis or help slow down the progress of the disease.

Cardio workouts can play a significant role in reducing the risk of developing high blood pressure and coronary artery disease.

Other benefits are:

• Increase Heart Volume
• Increase Maximum Oxygen Consumption
• Increase Blood Flow
• Increase Total Blood Volume
• Increase Lung Diffusion Capacity

Cardiovascular training is the key to living a longer, healthier and happier life, free from many of the diseases that plague us, as we get older. It makes it easier if you choose an activity, you enjoy doing.

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How Often Should I Do Cardio Exercises?

The time requirement varies depending on the intensity of your workout, but normally you want to strive for anywhere from 20 to 90 minutes. In order to gain the benefits of cardiovascular training, at a minimum you should do at least 20-30 minutes 3 times a week.

You can even break it up throughout the day if you need to. Say for instance you want to achieve the minimum of 30 minutes for that day, then do 3 ten minute sessions or two 15 minute sessions. Whichever will work best for you, just try to fit it in your schedule as best as possible.

As you get stronger, it'll be easier to reach 20-90 continuous minutes without even thinking about it.

Just know…the longer you go, the more calories and fat you'll "burn" and the better condition your cardiovascular system will be.

Measuring your cardio improvements

In many sports, wearable heart rate monitors are still the main tool athletes use to make sure that they are training in the correct heart rate zones. If used correctly they are remarkably effective. If you don’t own one then don’t let the price put you down because this is probably the cheapest training aid you can buy. Compare some of the best and most popular wearable heart monitors - All Fitness Web. The best use of a heart rate monitor is to establish what your max heart rate is using a run.

Once you’ve done that, you can work out what your five heart rate zones are. Your heart rate generally shows the level of effort you put in but there are one or two exceptions to this. One of them is lag which means that your heart rate doesn’t respond quite as quickly as your effort levels can. You should give yourself 3 to 5 minutes to reach a particular heart rate zone. That is why warm ups are so essential.

Your heart rate can also be affected by outside factors like hydration, your core body temperature, caffeine intake, humidity, altitude and fatigue. So, the more you use your heart rate monitor the more you understand what affects your heart rate and how much.

Another great thing to use your heart rate monitor for is to measure your fatigue levels. Therefore, the first thing in the morning as soon as you wake up, you check your heart rate. So, in the mornings where your heart rate is slightly higher than the others, is a very good sign that you are slightly fatigued or you are on the verge of getting ill. In any case you can adjust your training, so that you can look after yourself.