Learn the Truth About Weight Loss and Getting Great Abs

Debunking The Ab Myth

Ab training has been done to death but it's time to take another look. Why? Because people are still training their abs wrong so all that ab training information must not be doing the job.

1 - No Spot Reducing - Endless crunches will not melt away the fat from your midsection. It just doesn't work that way. And despite the "burn" of high rep ab exercises, you barely burn any calories while doing those endless crunches.

Your fat burning time is best spent elsewhere on more effective training. You also don't work the ab muscle intensely enough to develop it.

So endless high rep crunches fail on both counts - poor muscle building and poor fat burning. Two thumbs down as the cliche goes.

2 - The Abs are a Muscle and should be trained as such. You don't need high reps and lots of sets to work your abs. This just leads to overtraining.

Now, abs are a more endurance oriented muscle so slightly higher reps may be more effective. However, you should keep the reps at 20 or lower and work on increasing the resistance.

Yes, you should be increasing the weights on ab exercises, just like your other exercises. The stronger your abs, the better they will look when the fat is stripped away.

Ever see a really thin guy with a flat stomach but no abs? The abs haven't been trained and aren't developed enough to stand out even when the fat is stripped away.

3 - Don't train the abs - What the heck do I mean by this? Well, your abs get a lot of indirect work from other exercises so you really won't need more than a couple of hard sets of weighted crunches to work your abs.

Your abs are a factor in exercises such as squats, deadlifts, seated or standing presses, dumbbell pullovers, pulldowns, etc. Don't believe me?

Next time you work out, do a few hard sets of standing stiff armed pulldowns on the lat machine and tell me your abs aren't sore the next day. I did them yesterday and my abs are more sore than my back today.

If you want to develop a flat stomach with your abs visible, you need to treat your abs like a muscle and train that way. And you need to strip away the fat with a proper training and nutrition program designed around total fat loss, not trying to spot reduce through endless crunches.

Is there anything out there in the fitness world suffering from more misinformation that how to get abs?

The number of ab machines constantly coming to market is mind boggling. Especially considering that they aren't needed and won't give you the results that you want.

Let's set the record straight on ab training right now and give you the real information you need so you can say no to the next infomercial ab machine and yes to actual abs.

1 - Training your abs consistently will eventually give you the flat stomach or six-pack that you want.

No. It's not gonna happen if your abs are covered by a layer of body fat and doing endless sets of ab exercises is not the way to rid yourself of that excess body fat.

2 - Train your abs everyday for best results.

Again, no. Your abs are a muscle, just like your chest, lats, arms and so on. You should train your abs just like these other muscles, with progressive resistance and high intensity - then allow them to rest and recover. Never train your abs more than 3 days a week.

3 - You need to do hundreds or reps and feel the burn to get great abs.

Yep, again the answer is no. The abs a muscle just like I mentioned above. To get six pack abs you need to strip off the fat, but you also need to build the abs to get them to really pop out.

If the muscle isn't developed, you'll just have a flat stomach but no abs. The name of the game is progressive resistance for sets of 8 - 20 reps, just like your other muscles.

4 - Train the abs with lots of sets and high reps to burn off stomach fat.

You guessed it. This is also false. Spot reduction just isn't going to happen as much as we'd all like it to. You can't burn fat on your stomach by doing endless crunches.

You need to put together a proper weight lifting program, nutrition plan, and cardio in order to rid your stomach of that stubborn layer of fat and bring yout your abs.

Gregg Gillies

Gregg Gillies is a speaker, consultant, fat loss expert, trainer and author. He teaches fitness via his articles, books and courses at his web site http://www.buildleanmuscle.com . He is the author of two books: Complete information on his books, along with lots of free articles are available at his site. And while there, don't forget to sign up for his free newsletter, "Fit Physique".

The Body Shape Solution to Weight Loss and Wellness : The Apples & Pears Approach to Losing Weight, Living Longer, and Feeling Healthier

The Body Shape Solution to Weight Loss and Wellness : The Apples & Pears Approach to Losing Weight, Living Longer, and Feeling Healthier

No matter what your current weight or how well you take care of yourself, whether you're a teenager or postmenopausal, this book will change the way you relate to your body forever. That's the power of body shape -- and it's as easy as knowing the difference between apples and pears!

If you tend to gain weight in your belly and back, you're an apple. If your thighs and derriere are where you bear extra baggage, you're a pear. But do you know that your fruit IQ is the single most powerful predictor of future health? Body type directly affects your likelihood for obesity, heart disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, stroke, varicose veins, and certain cancers. But, as medical pioneer and ABC's women's health expert Marie Savard, M.D., explains in this ground-breaking book, there are things you can do to prevent or even reverse the risks of body shape. The Body Shape Solution to Weight Loss and Wellness can help you:

• understand what body shape means, and how it relates to your health

• learn how to distinguish between subcutaneous and visceral fat -- butt or gut! -- and discover why all fat is not created equal

• discover the Elite foods that help protect against disease and improve your odds of shedding fat

• acquire the tools you need to make conscious, informed, healthy choices about food

• throw away your scale and get out of the cycle of diet failure -- for good!

Work with your body -- not against it -- to achieve maximum health and look your best!

Customer Review: Great book! Great Program!
The program in this book is so easy and produces great results. I have been on it for 8 weeks and have lost 3.25 inches around my waist, 7 pounds and lowered my cholesterol by 33 points. It is easy to read and understand with simple charts for knowing what to eat. No more measuring or counting calories. The concept is to concentrate on losing inches instead of pounds for optimal health. I thought that I had no choice but to be a fat apple after gaining 1" in waist size for each pound gained after menapause. I thought this was my heredity and destiny, based on the body shapes of my mother an aunts. Not so, I am finding out. I would highly recommend this book and program to anyone interested in reducing there waist size and having a heart healthy, body.
Customer Review: Life Changing!
Apples & Pears has changed my life! I approach food, exercise and health in a new and positive light after reading this book. My eating habits have changed and I have lost weight, but more importantly, I understand for the first time, why and how I have had difficulties in the past losing and keeping weight off. With the insights and well researched wealth of information offered in Dr. Savard's book, I am eating and exercising with a better understanding of how my activities and choices affect my health and well-being. It has also changed how I counsel others -- friends and family members -- about their own eating and exercise habits. Thank you, Dr. Savard! Your book has changed my life -- I feel positive and in control with the understanding and insights I have gained!

The Joy of Weight Loss

The Joy of Weight Loss On September 6, 1989 Norris Chumley was at a crossroads. At 330 pounds and rising, it was simply a matter of time before he would again tip the scales at the 400 pounds he had reached many times before. He had been on virtually every diet, and they’d all failed. He felt hopeless, and, in rare glimpses of honesty, secretly admitted he was slowly committing suicide.

The Joy of Weight Loss is the dramatic story of how Norris Chumley turned his life around. It details how Chumley came to accept his conflict about food and body image and finally looked long and hard at his weight fluctuations and diet history. Chumley shares his experiences and secrets of success—of how he discovered joy and lasting happiness, with permanent freedom from obesity.

Unlike other weight-loss or diet books, The Joy of Weight Loss is a weight-management book that offers a fresh new solution to everyone’s quest for health and happiness. There are no magic pills, no starvation or binge diets. There are no crash courses or deprivations. Chumley instead counsels a sensible diet, taking pleasure in pleasurable movement rather than a punishing exercise regime, and, most importantly of all, learning to surrender yourself to a higher power and discover a true form of self-love that is at once accepting and transforming.
Customer Review: Not quite my cup of tea.
I like the concept of making weight loss more of a spiritual journey, but Chumley's religious approach is a little more than I can accept. I think if you are really at rock bottom regarding your weight, or if you are quite religious to start with, this book is more likely to be helpful to you. On the plus side, it is simple to understand, concise and well-written. Not a bad read, and has some helpful bits even if you're unable to accept the entire book as a new way of life.
Customer Review: Give God the Glory
This is a great book, easy reading, inspiring, and motivational. You can't ask for a better way to lose weight than with God. It's so great, in fact, that a friend and I have started a group at yahoogroups, based on the book...

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