Friday, January 23, 2009

Women With Abs Work Out Like Men With Abs

By Robert Casewood

There was a time when bodybuilding and formal, organized exercise was done exclusively by men. Exercise for women was limited to sports like swimming, tennis and volleyball as well as recreational activities like dancing. We're living in a totally different era now and women can even be found in the boxing ring and mixed martial arts tournaments that have been gaining popularity.

Presently, there are as much women as there are men in gyms and fitness clubs across the globe. Not only that- what is deemed sexy for men (lean, toned body and washboard abs) also goes for women now.

Popular cultural icons like Madonna, Janet Jackson and Fergie all spend a greater part of their day in the gym working on maintaining their six-pack and legions of adoring fans have been following suit. Fitness is the "in thing" right now and the popularity of athletes like Anna Kournikova, Maria Sharapova, and Tatyana Ali is evidence of this.

Modern culture's emphasis on being fit has women working-out as hard as men in fighting belly fat and getting and maintaining six-pack abs. An overwhelming number of both men and women are snapping-up ab machines, diet books and gimmicks in the quest for getting that much sought-after six pack.

Countless teenagers, professionals and housewives have been plunking down sizable amounts of funds for belly-fat reduction creams, unrealistic diet programs and pricy gadgets that isolate the ab muscles. Hard earned dollars wasted just to find a short-cut to lean, sexy abs.

Sadly, a lot of women get ripped-off by these "revolutionary" products which don't really do much to shorten the process of eliminating belly fat. The key to exposing the striations and contours of the abdominal muscles which give us that six-pack appearance is in getting rid of excess body fat. Take care of all-around body fat and we eliminate belly fat.

Studies reveal that the fastest way of burning body fat is by combining total body cardio exercises with muscle-building from weight training. Experts have found the former to burn the most body fat in the shortest amount of time. Muscle tissue increases our metabolism, so the more muscles we have, the easier it will be for us to burn fat.

Total body cardiovascular exercises that keep the heart rate around 60-70% of the maximum burns the most calories from the body's fat stores. A lot of women lose weight from improper exercise and dieting not knowing they're losing muscle tissue as well. - 20897

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