Friday, April 3, 2009

Fast Abs Workout - Using Unstable Surfaces

By Dan Solaris

As more and more cultures are discovering the wonders and calories of fast-food from the west, the number of obesity cases is also fast increasing. In North American and metropolitan cities in Europe, an overwhelming majority of the populations are becoming overweight.

That said, more and more people are joining the fight against the flab and a large number don't know the first thing about exercising to get fast abs. A lot of folks go about their workouts thinking rep after rep of sit-ups, leg raises and crunches are what a fast abs workout is all about.

In reality, flat floor sit-ups and other conventional ab isolating exercises are quite unbalanced when it comes to strengthening the core muscles. Working-out all the core muscles (made-up of the upper and lower abs, obliques and the lumbar muscles) is the only real way to work out the abs effectively.

Having strong core muscles is like having a strong foundation. It enables the rest of the body to move fluidly with less effort and avoid injury. Core muscle exercises also mimic the natural movements our bodies move in our daily activities.

Our spine has a natural curve to it and doing ab exercises flat on the floor or on a bench clearly limits our torsos range of motion when we're doing crunches or sit-ups. Using a soft, curved medium like an exercise ball enables more muscle movement, resulting in more physical effort and more calories burned.

A test using electromyography was done to determine the difference between normal flat-bench crunches and sit-ups to ones done on a curved surface. The results were clear- a way higher percentage of muscle fibers of the midsection were being utilized in core exercises on a curved, unstable surface.

Doing abdominal exercises on an unstable surface also makes your workouts more efficient because more muscular effort is done trying to balance your body. Other muscles of the core, like the transverse abdominis is used to provide stability- resulting in more calories burned and a faster ab workout.

Employing the use of unstable surfaces also makes exercising more less boring. The more fun workout sessions are, the easier it is for people to stick to them and eventually get the results they want in less time.

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