Just about everyone wants to have nice abs that make them look great. Unfortunately many people try to get nice abs by doing all the wrong things! If you make some of the mistakes that are discussed in this article it is likely that you will never get a solid six pack.
Mistake #1: Trying to do too many crunches to lose stomach fat
If only doing lots of crunches worked for carving out a solid set of abs. If doing a few hundred crunches was all it took to lose body fat then everyone walking around would not have any excess fat. Doing lots of crunches and other ab exercises do not help you get nice abs simply because they do not help you lose the fat that covers them up!
Ab exercises simply do not burn enough calories or stimulate the body's metabolism enough to get down to 8-10% body fat for a man and 15-20% if you are a woman. The only way doing lots of crunches will help is if you are already down to a very low body fat percentage and want to increase the "toned" look of your abs. If you cannot see your abs at all then it simply means that is too much body fat covering them up!
That means that the main focus of your diet and workout regimen should be to lose body fat. Doing endless amounts of ab exercises just won't help do that.
Mistake #2: Not keeping a food log
Since you know that getting a nice set of six pack abs all depends on having low enough levels of body fat, you should know that the next step is to pay attention to the most important part of the whole process: how many calories you are taking in.
If you have excess body fat that you can't seem to get rid of, then you absolutely have to understand that it is simply the result of taking in too many calories. Its not from poor genetics or some other physical disorder, it just comes down to consuming too many calories. The fitness models who have the sexiest abs of anyone will be the first to tell you they got that way by being extremely careful about what they eat. The absolute best indication you can use for figuring this out is to keep a food log of what you are eating. You will be amazed at the perspective you will gain about your eating habits from keeping a food log.
Since getting nice abs and a lean midsection is all about losing body fat, and losing body fat is all about taking in less calories or burning more with exercise, then a food log to track yourself is an absolute must.
Mistake #3: Not lifting weights
This will seem counterintuitive to some, but lifting weights is an excellent way to lose more body fat. Resistance training will give you more lean muscle mass that will have a dramatic impact with increasing your resting metabolism.
This means that you are burning more calories because muscle is very active tissue. If you are not strength training then you are missing a huge opportunity to burn more calories. It has been said that each extra pound of muscle mass burns an extra 60 calories per day. If you gain even 3 lbs of lean muscle tissue, you will burn an extra 180 calories each day! That is much more than a simple ab workout will burn.
Conclusion
Getting nice abs does not have to be a big struggle in which you are constantly playing the guessing game. You simply need to eat the right foods at the right time while tracking your calories.
You can use a regular notebook or an online food log if you want more detail. If you focus more on strength training your whole body instead of just doing ab workouts then you will get stronger and increase your metabolic rate. Now take action right away and start developing those nice abs to show off!
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