Sunday, January 13, 2008

Six Pack Abs - Toning Exercises

Whether you wish to achieve six pack abs or just get a firmer flatter stomach, there are basically two steps to the process. First, lose weight (through a combination of diet and regular exercise), and secondly, tone your abs by performing exercises targeted specifically at that muscle group. However, before you perform any abs exercises, there are a few important issues to consider.

Firstly, some general healthy and safety issues:-

1. Before you begin any new exercise regimen, you should consult your doctor. This is important no matter how good you think your health is, but is absolutely crucial if you currently suffer from any medical condition.

2. Performing abdominal exercises can be very stressful on your back. Thus, if you have a history of back pain, or have every suffered a back injury, you should be careful when carrying out abdominal strengthening exercises. The last thing you want to do is injure yourself further, or exacerbate an existing inj! ury. You should also be sure to perform stretches before and after each exercise session, as they can help prevent injury from occurring.

3. Most doctors generally do not recommend sit ups, as they feel that they can potentially be bad for the back. It is worth bearing in mind that there are a wide variety of different possible abdominal exercises that you can perform - so there's plenty of alternatives if you don't want to do sit ups, or if your doctor advises against it.

4. If you use weights as part of your exercise regimen, you need to start up with small weights and gradually work up from there over a extended period of time. If you go too far, too fast, you will do yourself an injury.

The other subject matter which I which to touch upon is machines targeted at strengthening the abdominal muscles - you may have seen such magazines advertised on TV (especially infomercials) or in magazines. Do such machines work? Yes, it's certainly true that many of t! hese machines can be effective (obviously the degree of effect! iveness depends on the machine and how you use it). However, the other side of the coin is that such a machine may not be necessary - as you will see in the next chapter, there are many abdominal exercises that you can perform without the aid of an expensive or specialist machine! The other thing to bear in mind is that many of these machines will do very little to help you actually lose weight - and don't forget that weight loss is an important part of obtaining a six pack.

By S. Tanna. Special Report Reveals The Secret of Six Pack Abs! Discover How You Can Achieve A Firm Flat, Toned and *Sexy* Stomach - http://www.guide2abs.com - includes 20 different abs exercises!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sunil_Tanna


Source: http://ezinearticles.c! om/?Six-Pack-Abs-Toning-Exercises&id=920960
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