Getting six-pack abs involves a combination of increasing muscle size and reducing abdominal body fat. Most people who wish to attain cut abs eat very well, but do not exercise or vice versa. If any nutrition or exercise component is missing, then no amount of exercise will get you the abs or body that you want. With proper nutrition, choose exercises that work your entire body rather than working one muscle group at a time.
Fat Metabolism
Triglycerides are the major components of adipose, or fat, tissues that surround your organs and are located beneath your skin. When you exercise, your muscles use glucose and triglycerides for energy. The muscle cells' mitochondria are your fat-burning factories that break down fat into its basic component--glycerol and fatty acid chains--and release energy. Glycerol is transported to your liver for storage, and fatty acids are further broken down in a series of steps to produce more energy in the mitochondria. Carbon dioxide and water become the byproducts of metabolism, which are removed by respiration and perspiration.
Full-Body Approach
Rodney Corn recommends that you do full-body exercises because your body uses more calories when you move multiple body parts rather than just one muscle group. When you perform full-body exercises, you are also strengthening your abdominals constantly as you change body positions and movement patterns. Because hundreds of different total-body exercises can be done, you can overcome plateaus that reduces your ability to burn more calories.
Misconceptions
Many people think that doing ab exercises will help them reduce their belly fat. However, doing these exercises can increase the size of your ab muscles which causes your abdominal region to increase, according to Juan Carlos Santana, director of the Institute of Human Performance. The only way to get cut abs is by expending more calories through exercise and other physical activities than you consume. You do not need to do ab exercises to get cut abs.
Expert Insight
Coach Robert dos Remedios, author of "Cardio Strength Training," recommends that you use the interval training method if you wish to burn the highest amount of calories in less time. Interval training is where you do a series of exercises at high intensity that trains different movement patterns for a short period of time. After one set, you rest for a short period of time and do a set of a different exercise. After an interval training workout, your body continues to burn calories at a very high rate for several hours.
Sample Workout
A beginning level interval training workout would include three to five exercises, including push-ups, pull-ups, kettlebell swings, jump-roping and medicine ball throws. Do push-ups for 30 seconds at a rhythmic pace, followed by 30 seconds of rest. Do 30 seconds of pull-ups, and rest for 30 seconds. Repeat this pattern until you have completed the entire exercise circuit. Rest for one to two minutes, and repeat the interval two to three times.
References
- "IDEA Fitness Journal"; Creative Total-Body Workouts; Rodney Corn; February 2010
- "Cardio Strength Training"; Robert dos Remedios; 2009
- "Movement"; Gray Cook; 2010
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