Abs, the short term for abdominal muscles, is understood by all. Almost everyone admires great, firm abs. They are a symbol of a man’s masculinity and physical attractiveness, and with women they are a seen as a trademark of a great body.
Unfortunately not everyone will have great abs no matter how much they exercise and diet. The reason being that genes you inherit will be a contributory factor in whether you ever achieve washboard status. Despite this however, do not despair, even if you do not have the abs you dream of, you can have strong abs, which is important for your health.
How to lose weight from your abs
The first step towards improving your abs is to get on the right diet plan. Start eating properly by reducing your intake of fats and starchy foods.
Once you have started on the path to eating right you can begin exercising to help you burn calories and so lose weight around the middle and sides.
Popular abdominal exercises
Some of the most recommended exercises for building stronger abs are:
Crunches
There are various types of crunches that can be used to help trim down your abs while toning the muscles and strengthening the back. Two of these are the reverse crunches and seated crunches.
Oblique twist
This works mostly the sides where love handles develop
The bicycle
This as the name implies involves lying on your back on the floor and pedaling your legs in a cycling motion. This not only works the abs but the legs as well.
Pilates
Hip and leg raises
These in their various forms are great for working abs muscles
Two to three times per week is sufficient for exercising the abs, although some fitness trainers state that the abs can be exercised everyday unlike other muscles. The average abs exercise can be completed in fifteen minutes and usually includes four sets.
Types of equipment used in abs exercises
In addition to these exercises there are lots of exercise machines that can be used to help shape and train the abs. To find the right one for you, experiment with a few until you find one that you like. If you hate working out on a particular machine you would have failed in your exercise routine before you even started. Some of the most popular abs machines on the market are:
- The abs slide
- AbEx or Ab-roller
- Rowing machines
- Abs crunch machine
Whether or not you use equipment in trimming flab from your waist, you should always warm up first and do your abs routine before anything else. You want to do them before you get too tired to even try.
Once you begin to eat right, that is consuming less fat, sugars and carbohydrates, you are partially on the way to better abs. Exercise will help, but avoid spot training, the best results come from all over training of all muscles and not just the abdominal muscles.
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