Sit-ups

Sit-ups are not the best workout for lower abs, in fact they probably the worst abs exercise to trim your belly fat. Excessive sit-ups will only lead to lumbar lordosis and back pain especially when done the wrong way.

What is lumbar lordosis?

Too much of a curve in the low back will put pressure on your entire back. When the low back curves too far in (observed from the side with no clothes on), a person looks “swaybacked.” This is called lumbar lordosis and straight leg sit-ups are known to be the culprit of it. When you do sit-ups with straight legs you will arch your back badly and create strain and overextension around your lower back area.

Crunches

Crunches are considered to be the lower abs workout alternative to sit-ups because people think they are safer. Are they? Find out what the expert said about crunches:

“We stopped teaching people to do crunches a long, long time ago,” says Dr. Richard Guyer, president of the Texas Back Institute. That’s because the “full flex” movement—the actual “crunch” part of crunches – puts an unhealthy strain on your back at its weakest point. The section with the most nerves (and most potential for nerve damage) is in the back of the spine, which is the very part that bends and strains during a sit-up. Yikes!

Twisting or Side Bending

Some people do twisting or side bending to reduce their love handles. Again, love handles are basically fat and you can’t get rid of them by only doing an isolation workout. Just like sit-ups and crunches these exercises involved your back spine as well. Be careful, you don’t want to risk your disks there.

Those workouts above are three lower abs workouts most people do to remove their tummy fat. Please don’t repeat the same mistakes people have been doing. There are a lot of different ways to bring your abs muscles exposed and yet safer to your body.

Being a flabby belly owner I used to listen to doctors, fitness pros and other health professionals prescribing low to moderate intensity aerobic training (cardio) to people who are trying to lose their body fat. I religiously performed 60 minutes cardio 3 times a week hoping that this activity will burn some fat off my belly. Unfortunately doing cardio didn’t work at all. I seemed to carry the love handles no matter how hard I tried to.

After trying for 3 months I came to conclusion that cardio was not a game for me. First of all I didn’t see any good results; I still couldn’t get rid of my extra weight and I have to admit that cardio was also the most boring activity to do.

Then I decided to focus on my abs alone and abandoned the cardio totally. I jotted down an abs workout plan based on the “best abs workout program” I found online. I didn’t realize that internet was full of scam programs and I just wasted my money on the first six-pack-workout product I purchased online. And then the same story happened again. Before I realized I threw in some more money on the other bogus products, including those abs machines heavily promoted on TV.

Pathetic, eh? But I guess most of people wanted to get rid of their stomach fat – especially women – would do everything to free them from this ugly abdominal fat.

Why those abs machines and abs exercise failed to give me the waist shape I wanted?

Ab exercises such as crunches, sit-ups, and ab machines are actually the LEAST effective method of getting six pack abs (men normally are looking for this) or flat abs for women. The well toned abs muscles will never be exposed because they are hidden and surrounded by the belly fat. And I was told such abs training can’t burn the surrounding fat (after spending a lot of money!). When you exercise your muscles they will respond and adapt to the training given but there is no way to train your tummy fat. Fat should be burned off first – not exercised –in order to reveal the six pack you are dreaming of.

Now as I mentioned above I failed to remove the belly fat by doing cardio. I also failed to exercise my abs because obviously the stubborn fat was still there covering my abs muscles. There must have been a better way to deal with my problem.

In my next post I’ll reveal how to get rid of the belly fat, which method works and why it works. You will see why lower abs workout can’t solve your belly fat problem.

While most moms seem they have lost all the weight after maternity I do believe that actually they don’t lose all of it. In my case I couldn’t remove the extra 30 lbs no matter how hard I tried to get rid of them. What really depressed me was the fact that I should carry the ugly love handles for the rest of my life.

I had had no weight or tummy fat problems with my first son, my tummy went back after a couple of months but it was really flabby after I gave birth to my second son. Due to this reason I didn’t swim anymore because I just looked bad in my swimsuit.

Three months after my second baby delivery I started looking for the best lower abs workout. I tried most of the tummy exercises methods and abs exercise equipment including the famous abs roller, some boring crunches plus cardio on a treadmill, riding a stationary bike, or coasting on an elliptical machine but none of them worked. I still had that stubborn belly fat!

I was really happy after finally my husband found a great e-book and we decided to give it a try. Since then I could say good bye to the belly fat and the best thing was my waist got back to its firm shape. It took me quite a long journey to find a good solution for my fat deposits problem, 18 months to be precisely.

The Myths I Found About the Tummy Fat Best Solution

- Lower abs exercises burns belly fat away giving us the six pack abs or flat abs we always dream of
- The so-called “fat burner pills” will burn off the fat deposits
- Boring repetitive cardio exercise routines is the best way to lose body fat
- The so-called “health foods” won’t deposit fat on your body
- Infomercial abs machines as seen on your TV will turn your flabby tummy into a six pack abs

To get rid of your belly fat and to get a six pack abs (some women can develop them as well!) are completely two different subjects. You CAN’T work out your fat, your body muscles will respond to the workout but not the fat. Period. Abdominal exercise will give you the flat abs only after your tummy is free of the tummy fat deposits, but contrary to what you’ve probably believed you should not concentrating on your abs part only.

I wasted money on the “fat burner pills”. They were expensive and didn’t improve my belly at all. I don’t know if some of you have different results. Even if they worked, what would happen if you stop buying them?

I wasn’t good at cardio, I even never liked it. I tried stationary bike, treadmill and elliptical machine but none of them seemed work for me.

Some people drink zero sugar soft drinks and think that those kind of drinks won’t harm, however cleverly disguised junk foods or soft drinks can actually stimulate you to gain more belly fat.

Most of you probably have seen the abs machine infomercials. Do you think the people you watched on your TV got their shaped and toned bodies because they do lower abs workout with the help of those machines? They got their flat abs by doing real exercises and at the same time they controlled what they ate. Follow their REAL methods and you can expect a better shaped body.