As Mr. Brightside pointed out the body doesn't use fat for energy untill glycogen has been depleted. Those times are right after a 30min-45min weight resistent session or 1st thing in the morning. 20 min is fine but 30-45 is even better. As far as intensity, there was study done that said the most fat is burned during a paticular heart rate. The formula was (220 - age) x .7. Sorry for not providing a link but i cant find the exact article.
I could have sworn I've recently read that Doctors have found out that moderate cardio is best for your heart, that if you do high intensity cardio, its not as good long term for your heart as regular moderate cardio.
Ok...another question: are crunches as effective as sit-ups? Do each target a different area (upper ab, lower ab regions?) After I do sit-ups, the only place I feel that I have worked out is my upper ab region.
Not a specialist on kinesiology, but I heard of studies that show crunches are the top ab exercise overall. If you feel a need to work the lower abs afterwards, wouldn't knee raises (with your arms on dip bars) take care of that?
As cohen stated, crunches are the way to go. I suggest you tighten your abs during the whole process as weel. It might be harder and you might do less but the constant tension on the upper abbs will benefit you in the long run. As for lower abs hanging leg raises work there are some others but describing them is a bit tedious. here is a link though. http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/exe...dominals&Equip=BodyOnly&Isolation=&order=Name
As everyone has said, spot reduction is a fallacy, but you'll need abs for a six-pack once the fat is gone. Sometimes people's bellies will protrude due to food allergies and increasing ab tone can make it appear that they've lost a ton of weight as the muscles flatten the belly. I know that the liver stores about 20 mins worth of glycogen, but thats used mostly for anaerobic exercise. In the morning when the body is already metabolizing fat, I would think that a moderate (aerobic) jog should burn fat from the start. Caffeine DOES improve performance, it's proven. I would recommend it before the jog. You must mix aerobic and anaerobic exercise. You're not just looking to burn calories while you're jogging, you need to increase your metabolic rate to continue to burn more calories the rest of the day. After a jog of significant duration and intensity your metabolism will stay elevated for iirc about 8 hours. But you can increase your basal metabolic rate by putting on more muscle. Aerobic exercise burns more fat while exercising but the downside is it is catabolic (breaks down muscle ... I guess you can visualize those skinny marathon runners). Your body is smart and adjusts to what you're doing. That's where anaerobic exercise comes into play. It's higher intensity requires more muscle and the net effect is anabolism (building more muscle... think sprinter's legs). The catabolic effects that occur during exercise are caused by the stress hormone cortisol. Some supplements such as phosphatidylserine, DHEA and Ginkgo have been shown in clinical studies to reduce cortisol levels, but I'm not certain if the reduction is significant enough to bother (and phosphatidylserine ain't cheap). So mix it up accordingly. If I were you, I get a little caffeine first thing in the morning (careful if it's coffee, it's acidic and may not feel good in your empty stomach while jogging). After a short warm-up then careful stretching (which is more effective after warming up the muscles), go for a moderate jog of sufficient duration. Based on your age, find your target heart rate online. Wear a watch (or jogger's heart monitor) so you can verify your heart rate during the jog and keep it there for at least 30 minutes (once you're able to), preferably a bit longer. Near the end of the jog, do some intervals (w/ sprints) to support the anabolic process. Don't worry about your heart rate staying in the target zone anymore, because it won't. The target zone is to insure sufficient intensity to maximize the benefits from the aerobic exercise... w/o going anaerobic. With sprints, you're intentionally going anaerobic. This won't be easy. If you haven't exercised much or are older, you might want a stress test from your doc first (disclaimer... I'm not a physician). Also, careful after about 2 weeks. Your body will rob your bones of calcium during those first weeks and tendons and ligaments will trail far behind the growth of your muscles. That is when you'll be most prone to injury so listen to your body.
I'd hit it...oh wait... Agreed, its a combo of sit-ups/cardio/diet/committment, etc...Plus I try to mix my workout up so my body doesn't get use to a certain routine...
Great advice. I want to take what everyone said tailored to what I'm looking for, I'll summarize it and if there's anything HARMFUL I'm doing tell me: I'm gonna wake up and take two hydroxycut pills (I know every single detail there is to know about this pill, don't worry). Then I'm going to do my usual warmup + stretch exercises. Once I do that, I need to calculate my heart rate thingie (which is apparently 138) and keep my heart rate there as best I can and eventually I should get to the point where I can keep it for 30 straight mintues. After that I will lift some weights for my upper body because I DO want to break down muscle in my legs. The reason for that is that due to genetics and starting soccer at an early age, I have muscular legs - most would say too muscular and I wouldn't mind seeing them get smaller and tighter. But I do want to build up my chest, back, shoulders and arms so I will ask my trainer to devise a schedule for me that I can follow. The total workout will last an hour (excluding warming up and stretching). Upto a couple of months ago I was in pretty decent shape. I'd play soccer twice a week, two hours each time, indoor (6-a-side) with almost no problems. However, I had a minor injury and a long vacation so I put on 18lbs over that time. I've lost some weight in the last 10 days (8lbs) which is good. But from this point right now, I want to lose 20lbs while monitoring my body fat % (to make sure its going down) and general appearance (to make sure I'm not losing muscle). If anyone sees anything wrong here, speak now or forever hold your peace. I just want to ask one last time... Is it perfectly fine to work out on an empty stomach? I ask because of two things I heard: 1) People who don't eat breakfast are 4.5 times more likely to be obese. 2) What's the point lifting weights or sprinting when you can't build muscle unless you have protein? Do you recommend some amino pills?
Is anyone here diabetic (1 or 2) and work-out? I'm a Type 1 diabetic and struggling with hypo after workouts. I don't do much cardio -- about 10-15 minutes on the eliptical to get my HR up -- but I lift heavy. I've heard people say to eat 45-70g carbs for every 45 minutes you'll be in the gym but even doing this my BG will drop drastically during and sometimes after my workout.
i agree will with the glycogen stuff but the negative part about that is extended amount of cardio will make u lose muscle!!!! for example compare sprinters to marathon runners. my advice 1. don't set six pack as your goal. set it in increments like..i want to lose 5 lbs..or 10lbs. and make it realistic. losing more than 2lbs is the dumbest idea. u will gain it back much faster. any more than 2 is most likely muscle anyway. so 2lbs a week max X 4 weeks = 6-8lbs a month. 2. lift weights. cardio is great and everything but what most people dont realize is your goal with exercise is to RAISE UR METABOLISM. say u spend an hour in the gym lifting weights..u probably burn max 200 cals. thats nothing. but the results come later on in the day when ur sitting and doing nothing..u are burning more calories cause ur metabolism is higher. 3. do a special form of cardio called HIIT. high interval intensity training. the fun part..this is not long and boring. max 15 or 20 mins. here's how you do it. get on a bike and warm up for couple of mins..then increase the level to almost the heighest setting. do that for about 30 secs..bring it down to a normal pace for about a min..back to 30 secs of highest. do that about 10-12 mins..cool down and ur done! in fact i just did that right now. it keeps your heart rate up throughout the whole 15 mins without you working like crazy. and most importantly EAT PROTEIN!!!!!!
I would do that but in the long-term I want to be lean. My shoulders are broad and my legs are very strong. However, I'm short. If I do what you're saying for a year, I won't like the way I'll end up looking. Clearly, my goal right now is not "six pack". It is a long-term goal, but one I can only seriously pursure once I've dropped a good amount of body fat. The reason I set my goal at 20lbs is because setting a weekly, small goal of losing weight is frustrating. Your body burns more fat at the beginning than it does later on, so the goal becoes harder and harder to attain. I'd much rather say 20lbs and set a realistic deadline. I've tried both ways and I seem to respond to this method much better. Also, according to a couple of trainers I spoke to, at my weight, it would be very normal to lose 10lbs a month. That's 2.45lbs a week. So my goal is that on the 1st of April I will be happy with my progress. That way if I don't hit my target one week I don't get pissed and dump it all.
Oh and one more thing... What's a good body fat %? I know athletes have theirs between 6% and 10%.. But what's the average and is it realistic to aim for those numbers? Any kind of advice on reaching a good body fat % would be appreciated as well..
