Eight-minute abs is a short exercise routine that targets the abdominals and oblique muscles. It features a series of lying crunches that are performed consecutively. The workout burns anywhere from 25 to 40 calories, depending on bodyweight and physical intensity maintained throughout the workout. This exercise session is glamorized as a quick path to lean abdominal muscles. However, the idea that fat can be reduced in specific areas of the body through targeted strength training is a myth. In order to reduce fat in the abdominal area, you must shed overall body fat. Reducing body fat is achieved by performing calorie-burning exercise beyond the eight-minute abs workout and adhering to a healthy diet.
Calories Burned During 8-Minute Abs
Eight-minute abs is a type of weight training workout in which body weight is being used as resistance. The American Council on Exercise's Physical Activity Calculator estimates that a 150-lb. person burns 27 calories during eight minutes of normal intensity weight training. Someone with higher body mass would burn more calories for the same bout of exercise. For example, a 200-lb. person would burn 36 calories.
Developing Lean Abdominals
On the path to shedding body fat and developing lean abdominals, the most important concept to remember is that you must expend more calories than you consume. If you are eating more calories than you are burning off, your physical activity efforts, including the eight-minute abs routine, will be futile. Fat will continue to cover the strong muscles that lie underneath. It takes a deficit of 3,500 calories to lose 1 lb. of body fat. Using eight-minute abs as your sole method of exercise, it would take over 100 days to lose 1 lb.
Cardiovascular Exercise to Burn Calories
Cardiovascular exercise can accelerate your calorie-burning efforts. Unlike eight-minute abs, which causes local muscular fatigue and cannot be sustained far beyond its time structure, cardiovascular activity uses rhythmic contractions of the body's large muscle groups to elevate heart rate and burn calories. With proper pacing, it can be sustained for 30 minutes or more, allowing you to burn substantial calories needed to reduce body fat. For example, a 150-lb. person walking briskly for 30 minutes burns 129 calories. This person would lose one 1 lb. in less than a month.
Healthy Diet
Adhering to a healthy diet will also hasten the pace at which you lose body fat. Physical activity is one way to create a caloric deficit for weight loss. Alternatively, or additionally, you can reduce the number of calories you are consuming each day to slightly below your body's needs. If you require 2,000 calories each day and reduce your intake to 1,500, it will take just one week to lose 1 lb., without any physical activity. Combining prudent calorie-burning exercise and healthy eating with the eight-minute abs routine will help you achieve the best results in body fat reduction and a lean midsection.
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