You see them all over the place these days… nutrition bars that claim to be healthy and good for weight loss or muscle building, but when you read the label, you see an endless list of chemicals, sugars, processed trans fats, and other harmful overly processed ingredients.

There are so many types of “health bars” and “protein bars” on the market today, how do you know if you are actually getting something healthy or just junk food in disguise?

Again, just as I’ve talked about grocery store food choices, you really need to know how to read labels if you’re going to stand a chance at finding a truly healthy food bar.

To be quite honest, most of the bars out there are pure junk… candy bars disguised through labeling as a health food bar.

Just a couple weeks ago, I was going on a bike ride with a friend and needed a quick bar to make sure I had enough energy for the bike ride.

Well, I didn’t have any bars on me, so my friend gave me an extra slim fast bar he had.

Keep in mind that these slim fast bars are marketed as health foods for losing weight.

These things are just a flat out joke…there’s nothing even remotely nutritional about them. In my opinion, these slim fast bars are WORSE for you than candy bars!

The first ingredient in this bar that my friend gave me was corn syrup! Then the second ingredient was sugar (hooray more sugar!), followed by hydrogenated oils (source of deadly trans fats). After that, the list went on with nothing but junk such as artificial flavors, colors, evil artificial sweeteners, more hydrogenated refined oils, and rounded out with some highly processed soy protein isolate (which despite popular belief, processed soy is NOT healthy for you… I’ll talk in detail about that in a future article) just to give your body some more junk.

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So not only are these “weight loss” bars a disaster nutritionally for you, but the bar tasted absolutely horrible! It tasted like chemicals and was way too overly sweetened (not a surprise with all of the sugar, corn syrup, sugar alcohols, AND artificial sweeteners). This is a prime example of “over-engineering” of food.

So how do you determine a healthy protein bar or energy bar?

I look for simplicity in a good bar. Many of the healthiest and tastiest bars I’ve found have only a couple basic ingredients such as nuts, seeds, and fruit. I also look for organic ingredients and raw ingredients if possible.

A couple of my favorite truly healthy bars:

1. Organic Food Bars – This is actually the brand name.

Depending on which flavor, these are usually a base of organic almond butter (or cashew butter) with a certain type of fruit, organic seeds, organic biosprouts (quinoa, etc), and some organic rice protein. Some flavors include an organic dark chocolate as well. They also have a line of bars that use exclusively raw ingredients.

Not only are these bars extremely nutritious, but I think they are delicious as well and have a lot of flavors to choose from such as chocolate chip, blueberry, cranberry, high protein, and more.

You won’t find these bars at your local grocery store, but I have found them at several health food stores.

2. Larabars – These are even simpler in ingredients than organic food bars. Usually larabars are just 2 or 3 ingredients, and mostly raw… a blend of crushed nuts along with a type of fruit is the usual combination, but they have a lot of different flavors so it can vary.

These are also delicious and you will NEVER see a list of chemicals a mile long in their ingredient list… usually just nuts and fruit, and that’s it! Simple IS better. This is a very high quality bar. Again, you probably won’t find these at your local grocery store, but I’ve found these at various health food markets.

When you actually find truly healthy bars like these examples above, they make great quick snacks while you are traveling or while you are at work.

I carry some on me almost at all times, just to make sure I have healthy options to eat whenever I need a quick snack, so that I am not tempted by fast food joints or junk food vending machines. Good luck and be sure to read those labels to make sure you’re getting a health food bar and not a candy bar in disguise. See below for 5 unique tips to help you lose your stubborn belly fat.

Go to the following site to get a free report about belly fat and why even the best abdominal exercise will never help you lose stomach fat.

Mike Geary is also the author of the innovative fitness program for skiers that will show you how to get legs of steel for the skiing season with this effective Skiing Fitness Workout

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You may have seen a whole new slew of advertisements online and on television trying to revamp the poor image of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). They are basically trying to promote this junk food additive as “healthy”.

The advertising campaigns don’t come right out and make the claim that high fructose corn syrup is “health food”, but they do try to get clever and fool people into thinking that it’s not bad for your health. In fact, they make these misleading claims:

“It’s all natural”

“It’s no worse for you than table sugar”

“It’s made from corn”

“It has the same calories as table sugar”

As you can see, these ads are trying to deceive us into thinking that HFCS isn’t so bad after all… I mean, they do say that it’s “all natural” and “made from corn”. These ads are pure sleaze!

In my opinion, these ads are highly immoral. For one, as if our nation, and the world for that matter, wasn’t already suffering an obesity epidemic, as well as skyrocketing degenerative diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Now, they’re trying to make matters worse by fooling innocent people into thinking that high fructose corn syrup is somehow healthy. Meanwhile, as society and our kids get fatter and more unhealthy, they’re lining their pockets with massive profits since HFCS is in the majority of processed food.

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As for their claim that HFCS is “no worse for you than sugar”… I’m not even going to discusss any of the science about how HFCS affects the leptin and insulin process in your body, your blood sugar process, appetite levels, etc. Instead, I want to make a more important point:

Who cares if HFCS is “no worse for you than sugar”… because sugar is one of the worst things you can ingest in your body anyway, so it is not even a valid argument!

The point you need to understand is that if you want to be lean and healthy for life, you should be minimizing, or even eliminating all sugar and high fructose corn syrup. In fact, most processed food should be eliminated altogether if you want to be serious about getting lean.

As for their claim that HFCS is “all-natural”… don’t even get me started! It’s just a ridiculous statement to begin with. I don’t care if you call it “natural” or artificial, the bottom line is that it’s a highly processed, refined substance that makes you fat!

So the next time you’re thinking about drinking that can of soda, or eating that candy bar or cupcakes, just think about how that is only going directly against your efforts to lose body fat and can even lead to other health problems in excess.

If you want to lose your stubborn belly fat, check out these strategic workouts and diet tips at Ab Exercise Workouts

Also, learn some of the best tricks to live healthy and enjoy life while also losing body fat at Healthy Fat Loss Tips

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Don’t miss another powder day with an injury or weak legs that can’t ski more than a half day!

Every time I read a skiing magazine or see another so called “expert” recommending ski-specific workouts, I have to cringe when I see some of the exercises recommended! After all, isn’t the goal of an effective skier fitness training routine to reduce injuries while simultaneously building incredible strength and endurance in your legs and core?

Of course that’s the goal… we all want to tear up the slopes as long as possible, avoid the dreaded “jello legs” that might cut our day of skiing short, and also prevent those nagging injuries that might cut our season short.

The problem I’ve seen with traditional workout routines that are being recommended for skiers are that they not only use inefficient exercises that don’t carry over that well to actual skiing movements, but also may even be setting you up for an injury. For example, if you’ve seen workout routines that are recommending machine leg presses, machine leg extensions, and machine leg curls, please run screaming from that workout recommendation as fast as you can! It will only set you up for injury, and won’t even help your goal of strength and endurance that’s actually applicable to skiing movements.

The same can be said if you see authors recommending smith machine squats or any smith machine exercises whatsoever… they should all be avoided as smith machine movements follow unnatural movement patterns (not biomechanically correct) that can create excessive stress on the back and possible injury there and/or in the knees.

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Now what about wall squats (aka “wall sits”)? Well, although almost every skiing fitness program in existence seems to recommend this exercise for skiers, I don’t find it to be optimal. I will say that it’s a step in the right direction compared to the machine-based exercises that I mentioned previously. However, wall squats are still not a truly effective exercise that carries over directly to strength and endurance throughout the entire range of motion that the legs use during skiing. This exercise can be mildly effective since even an isometric exercise held for endurance in one joint angle will still carry over to a slightly wider range of motion, but I actually have at least a dozen exercises that are MUCH more effective than wall squats.

One of the other major faults that I’ve found with typical ski workout fitness routines is that they often neglect achieving a proper joint strength balance (proper strength ratios between quadriceps, hamstrings, etc). Although skiing demands a lot of work from your quadriceps and less work from your hamstrings and glutes, it is still vitally important for injury prevention to maintain proper strength ratios between all of the muscle groups of the lower body and also make sure the small stabilizer muscles around the joints are properly strengthened. This is yet another factor that’s lacking in most skier workout programs.

Want to know all of the specific exercises that really work in developing rock solid legs that will never quit on you on the slopes? Visit here for the best Ski Conditioning Exercises and learn the best kept secrets.

Mike Geary is a certified Personal Trainer and Certified Nutrition Specialist and the Author of the popular skiing fitness book for people that are serious about their ski season – Avalanche Ski Training, Your Guide to Carving Down the Mountain with the Power of an Avalanche.

Mike is also the author of the wildly popular book, The Truth about Six Pack Abs, which is the number one best selling abs program on the entire internet with readers in over 150 countries. Visit the following site to learn the truth about stomach fat exercises

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If you want to lose weight, we all know that eating a healthy diet should be your first priority. Sure, exercise is important, but diet is king when it comes to lifelong weight management. I hope this article gives you some simple, yet effective ways for you to make healthy changes in the way you eat on a daily basis.

1. Make sure to eat at least some healthy fats in most of your meals. Eating enough healthy fats is very important for maintaining proper fat burning and muscle building hormone levels in your body. Adequate healthy fats in your diet also helps in keeping your appetite under control.

The healthiest sources of dietary fats are raw nuts, seeds, egg yolks (from organic free range eggs), avocados, extra virgin olive oil (highest antioxidant content of olive oils), coconut oil (a great source of healthy saturated fats in the form of medium chain triglycerides), and grass-fed meats (a great source of the healthy fat, conjugated linoleic acid, which can help burn body fat and build muscle).

Try this tip — eat a handful of raw nuts (pecans, walnuts, almonds are great healthy choices) 3 times a day about 30 minutes prior to meals. This can help to quell your appetite and give your body some protein, fiber, and healthy fats so that you eat less calories overall at your meals and get more nutrition at the same time due to the high nutrient density of most nuts.

2. Try to eat a high quality protein source with each meal and snack that you eat. Quality proteins from grass-fed meats, grass-fed raw dairy, and even from plant sources such as nuts and beans provides good appetite suppression so you can control your calorie intake easier.

Getting ample quality proteins also helps you to build lean muscle (if you’re working out hard regularly) so that your metabolism can run at a higher rate from the increased lean muscle on your body.

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Eating sufficient protein at most of your meals also aids your body in controlling blood sugar and insulin levels by helping to slow the breakdown of ingested carbohydrates.

3. Although I do not fully agree with extremely low-carb diets, I do believe that one of the main reasons that so many individuals struggle to lose weight for most of their lives is due to eating excessive processed carbohydrates such as refined grain-based starches and refined sugars on a daily basis.

The natural sugars in whole fruits and berries are ok because the fiber in fruits helps to slow the blood sugar response in your body. Just make sure to avoid fruit juices, which are mostly sugar and have the fiber removed in processing the juice.

In my experience as a nutrition specialist, when people start to minimize their grain consumption (from cereals, bagels, breads, pasta, etc), they start to lose body fat much easier. What I usually recommend is for people to minimize eating grains and focus their carbohydrate intake on fruits and vegetables solely. This simple step alone usually helps people to start managing their weight more easily.

Try to implement these 3 tips for eating a smarter, healthier diet and I’m willing to bet that you’ll start to see a leaner body and more energy in no time.

If you want some ideas for reduced-sugar desserts that are healthy but also delicious, check out these lower calorie desserts.

If you find it hard to make the healthiest food choices at the grocery store, here is a good article on choosing healthy foods.

I hope you enjoyed this article and it helps you to start eating healthier and enjoying better health!

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In all of my years as a professional Nutrition Specialist, I’ve noticed that most people are shocked to hear some of my picks for the top fat burning foods that are best for weight loss and good health.

I won’t bore you with all of the typical “healthy foods” that you hear about all of the time such as fruits and veggies… everybody knows those. Instead, I’m going to show you some shockers that most people don’t realize are super healthy foods for fat loss.

1. Egg Yolks – yes, that’s right… full fatty egg yolks with all of their fat and cholesterol. By the way, you’ve been mislead about the cholesterol in egg yolks — it actually raises your GOOD cholesterol and helps balance proper ratios, so don’t be afraid of the fat and cholesterol in these little nutrition power packed gems. And if you choose cage-free eggs from free roaming hens, the omega-3 content is higher with a more balanced fat profile.

Egg yolks are also one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet in terms of vitamins, minerals, and trace nutrients. Trying to list all of the vital nutrients in egg yolks would take up an entire page so I won’t even try that here. Just realize that egg yolks should NOT be avoided in favor of egg whites. Even the protein is more bioavailable when you include the yolks!

So don’t be afraid to eat those delicious and healthy eggs and start burning belly fat faster.

2. Avocados – This is yet another “fatty food” that is also one of the best fat burning foods! Not only that, but avocados make just about everything creamier and more delicious. They are also power-packed with healthy fats, fiber, and antioxidants, as well as vitamins and minerals. The healthy fat in avocados also helps control appetite and fat burning hormones in your body.

Try adding avocado slices or guacamole to everything from morning eggs, salads, sandwiches, and burgers, and starting burning body fat faster! I would definitely consider avocados one of the best healthy super foods.

3. Grass-fed beef – While most beef you see at the grocery store is grain fed beef from cattle that are in poor health and has lower nutrition values and omega-6 to omega-3 fat ratios that are far out of whack, there is a better option… and that is Grass-Fed Beef!

Grass-fed beef is known to have much higher levels of healthy omega-3 fatty acids and lower omega-6 fats (which most people get too much of anyway). Grass-fed beef also contains higher levels of many vitamins and minerals, as well as containing high levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which is a healthy fat that is known to help muscle building and fat burning.

So don’t be afraid to live it up a little and eat more beef, as long as you choose healthy grass-fed beef instead of grain fed beef. Enjoy and start burning more body fat with these so called “fatty” foods!

If you want to lose body fat faster, check out these 5 tips to Burn Stomach Fat the smart and effective way.
Enjoy, and good luck with your fitness endeavors!
Mike Geary
Author – The Truth about Six Pack Abs

Let’s face it… building muscle is not the easiest thing to accomplish even despite regular hard workout schedules and trying every type of workout and supplement.

I struggled for years to gain any significant muscle mass, but over the years in my personal training business and with my own experimentation have found some important things that have helped make significant muscle gains possible even for hardgainers.

So, I’m going to give 3 important tips here so you can start building lean muscle mass faster and easier.

1. Make sure that 95% of the exercises you perform regularly in the gym are big multi-joint compound exercises. It doesn’t matter if your goal is fat loss or building muscle… big multi-joint exercises should comprise 95% of the exercises you do in your workouts if you want to get lean, ripped, and powerful.

It’s easiest to think of it in terms of the major movement patterns such as these (focus 95% of your workouts on these):

* upper body horizontal press (bench press, pushups, dips),
* upper body horizontal rows (1-arm dumbbell rows, seated cable rows, bent over barbell rows),
* upper body vertical pull (lat pulldowns, pullups, chinups),
* upper body vertical press (overhead dumbbell and barbell presses, barbell or kettlebell clean & presses)
* lower body squatting movements (front squats, back squats, overhead squats, bodyweight squats, etc)
* lower body deadlifting movements (regular deadlifts, sumo deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts)
* lower body single leg movements (lunges, step-ups, jump lunges, etc)
* abdominal and core exercises (these are important, but still are 2nd priority after all of the major upper body and lower body multi-joint movements… your abs and core will be worked from most major multi-joint exercises anyway)

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The other 5% of your exercises can focus on single joint exercises (isolation exercises) such as bicep curls, tricep presses, calf presses, shoulder shrugs, shoulder lateral raises, pec flyes, etc, etc. However, these exercises are only accessory exercises to do after the main focus has been the multi-joint drills.

2. Train hard and intensely 3-4 days/week for 45-60 minutes per weight training workout. Keep your workouts to no longer than 60 minutes as training too much beyond this point can trigger excess catabolism. You want to stay anabolic, but you still need to train your body hard and intensely enough to trigger muscle growth.

Try a super-set style of workout program to maximize the intensity that you can train. My favorite combinations are opposing upper and lower body movement patterns that don’t interfere with each other, such as squats coupled with pullups as a superset, or bench press coupled with deadlifts as a superset.

Don’t underestimate the effectiveness of these types of upper/lower body supersets done with heavy weights and a high intensity. The first time in my life that I experienced significant muscle mass gains were when I started doing these types of workout combos regularly (although still mixing up my training variables).

These are mainstays of almost any effective workout program — caloric intake can simply be adjusted whether your goal is fat burning or gaining muscle mass.

3. Eat clean with quality whole foods… REAL foods instead of highly processed over-hyped supplement powders and bars.

The quality of protein (and additional nutrition from vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants) are best assimilated by the body from real whole food such as eggs, meats, dairy (preferably raw), fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, etc. instead of from processed protein powders, chemical-laden bars, and meal replacements.

Forget about the hyped up workouts in the muscle mags that only work for pro bodybuilders or people on steroids. Forget about the over-hyped supplement “stacks” that pay the bills for almost every muscle mag… Instead, make these tips in this article part of your lifestyle, and you’ll see muscle gains and a leaner, ripped body like you’ve never seen before!

If you want to get a lean chiseled body, check out these tips to Get Ripped Abs the right way.

Enjoy, and good luck!

Mike Geary
Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist
Author – The Truth about Six Pack Abs

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As a Certified Nutrition Specialist, I like to find ways to prepare delicious foods that most people can’t believe are actually healthy for you. If you have a sweet tooth like me, I’m sure you’ve tried to find ways to still enjoy sweet treats, but also try to make them healthier than typical junk food desserts.

The major problem with most so-called “healthy” desserts is that most companies attempt to make them healthier by reducing the fat content and thereby increasing the sugar content or artificial sweeteners… there’s nothing healthy about either of those!

Below is my famous healthy chocolate-peanut-butter fudge recipe that takes only 5 minutes to make and is really simple. The great thing is that I use no added sugars, no artificial sweeteners, and all healthy fat sources. You’ll see why below.

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My healthy chocolate-peanut-butter fudge recipe (peanut butter can be omitted if you prefer plain chocolate):

* Extra dark chocolate bar (3-4 oz bar works well — look for at least 70% cocoa content, between 70-85% — this minimizes the sugar content)
* 4 or 5 Tbsp of your favorite organic nut butter (almond butter, cashew butter, peanut butter all work well)
* 2/3 to 3/4 cup of organic coconut milk (great source of healthy saturated fats from medium chain triglycerides – MCTs)
* 2 tbsp rice bran (additional healthy fiber source)
* 2 tbsp oat bran (more healthy fiber including soluble fiber)
* 1/2 cup raw pecans, almonds, or walnuts (yes, more healthy fats, antioxidants, and tons of vitamins/minerals)
* 1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins (optional based on your tastes)
* 1 tsp vanilla extract
* a little stevia to lightly sweeten (stevia is a natural non-caloric sweetener as opposed to harmful artificial sweeteners)

Start with the coconut milk, nut butter, and chocolate bar in a medium saucepan and put it on the lowest heat possible. Continuously stir as the chocolate, coconut milk, and nut butter melts together. Once these melt together add in all of the other ingredients and stir together very well.

Once everything is mixed well together, spread the mixture onto some waxed paper laid out in a baking dish and throw it in the fridge to solidify.

Now you have some of the healthiest chocolate fudge ever known to man!

Keep in mind that you still need to keep your serving portions small because this is still a calorie-dense snack even though it is super-healthy. The good news is that it is lower in sugar and calories than typical fudge and has loads more nutrition than any typical fudge.

Enjoy! Tell your friends that Trainer Mike Geary gave you this recipe.

Check out these 5 tips to Get a Flat Stomach faster with no bogus diet pills or useless “abdominizer” gadgets.

Good luck with your fitness goals!

Mike Geary,
Best Selling Author – The Truth about Six Pack Abs

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The 2 fattening foods that I’m going to talk about in this article may actually shock you… most people falsely believe these 2 foods are “healthy”. In all of my years working as a Certified Nutrition Specialist, this usually surprises people when I mention they should consider eliminating these foods from their diet.

Everybody these days knows how bad trans fats and high fructose corn syrup are for you, so I figured I’d spare you yet another lecture on those… Instead, read on to see a couple foods that may shock you that they may be packing on the blubber.

The first type of food that is often falsely believed to be healthy is wheat products… this includes most breads, cereals, bagels, muffins, pasta, crackers, and so on. And yes, I am including “whole wheat” in the category of this fattening food.

First of all, a large percentage of the population has some degree of intolerance to the gluten in wheat and some other grains. Full blown celiacs are the most sensitive to it, but what most people don’t realize is that the majority of the population was never meant to eat large quantities of wheat. The human digestive system has never adapted to large amounts of wheat in the diet.

The introduction of wheat into the human diet has only been in the last couple thousand years, and it has NEVER been in such large quantities in the human diet until the last 80-100 years. This is a small time frame compared to the traditional diet that the human digestive system developed over several hundred thousand years eating a hunter-gatherer diet of meats, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.

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From my experience with many of my clients, when they heed my advice and eliminate wheat from their diet for 2-3 weeks to see if they start to lose weight and feel better, this almost always makes a HUGE difference. Many times, they not only start losing body fat much faster, but they also finally get rid of headaches and indigestion that has plagued them for years. Sometimes even skin problems go away when eliminating wheat from the diet.

The 2nd example of the worst fattening foods that shocks many people because it is thought to be “healthy” is — fruit juice.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not an anti-carb advocate per se… I actually think most fruits are VERY healthy for us. However, we were NOT meant to separate the juice from the rest of the fruit and only drink the high calorie sugary mixture and leave behind the fiber and other beneficial components of the fruit.

When you only drink the juice of fruits (apple juice and orange juice being 2 of the worst culprits in the western diet), you are not getting the appetite satisfying effect of the fiber in the fruit, and you’re left craving more carbs. Also, the fiber in whole fruit helps to slow the blood sugar response when eating whole fruit compared to fruit juice.

Bottom line… overconsuming fruit juices makes you fat. On the other hand, eating whole fruits including all of the fiber helps you maintain a healthy balanced diet and high nutrient density (as long as the rest of your diet is whole unprocessed foods as well).

If you want the REAL truth on eating strategically for permanent fat loss, read these 5 tips for Losing Body Fat the smart and effective way.

Enjoy, and good luck with your nutrition endeavors!

Mike Geary -
Certified Nutrition Specialist,
Certified Personal Trainer,

Author of the world-wide best-seller: The Truth about Six Pack Abs

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Having a flat lower abdominal region is associated with fitness. Regarded as the aesthetic center of the body, the abdominal region is of vital importance to health and well being. These muscles also aid in proper digestion and lower back stability. The abdominal muscles do not work independently because they weave through your torso.. Having weak abs causes your buttocks and upper thighs to be weaker, which makes harder the work of support to the spine that the hamstrings provide .

Abdominal Crunches – Upper Abdominal Muscles.

To start these exercises for abdominal muscles, lie flat on your back. Bend your knees and hips. Your feet should be flat on the floor. Loosely place your hands behind your head, with your elbows facing outwards. Prior to beginning the movement, inhale. Don’t forget to exhale as your slowly lift your head, neck, shoulders, and upper back from the floor. Remember to keep the chin away from the chest. You should not take your lower back up off the floor. At the upper limit of this movement, “crunch” or squeeze the abdominal muscles by holding the position for 1 – 2 seconds. As you carefully release yourself back down to the beginning position, inhale. Repeat as required.

Bicycle Crunches – Oblique Abdominal Muscles.

To begin this exercise you will need to lay on your back on the floor with bent knees and hands behind your head. Next, lift your knees. Raising your upper body from the mat, exhale as you alternately touch your elbows to the opposite knee. As you place your legs back to the starting position, don’t forget to inhale. Repeat this exercise as many times as you want.

Lying Face Down Plank – Lower Abdominal And Lower Back Muscles.

Starting Position: Get on an exercise matt on all fours, with your elbows touching the matt directly underneath your shoulders. Your toes should remain on the floor while your legs are extended out as far as they can be. The position while doing this exercise is to lift your hips while keeping a flat back and holding yourself in a ‘plank’ position. These exercises for abdominal muscles don’t just work your stomach, but also help the hips and thighs, too. This is a challenging exercise because it involves so many muscle groups. Slowly, lower you hips back to the starting position. It is recommended to complete 15-20 more repetitions. (Some people are unable to do 15-20 reps and find 8-10 to be easier).

10 TIPS TO SUCCEED IN YOUR ABDOMINAL TRAINING PROGRAM

1. Before starting any fitness regimen, including exercises for abdominal muscles, you should get your Dr’s clearance. The necessity of this is even more vital to you if you are over 35 or have struggled with any of the following conditions: extended period of sedentary lifestyle, high blood pressure, smoker, high cholesterol, shortness of breath or chest pains.

2. Eating a healthy and balanced diet is crucial. Staying away from gimmicky fad diets is important.

3. Start your days smart by working out before breakfast. Research has shown that those who exercise in the morning are most likely to stick with an exercise program.

4. Do not go crazy too soon. Knowing your limits will help you to do what you can keep up with.

5. When you begin a new fitness program you should have a clear objective. Simply, “getting in shape” is not detailed enough. Using these exercises for abdominal fitness, you can actually drop a few inches from your waist in the next 6-8 weeks.

6. Any fitness program that you start has to work with your life. Liking and feeling comfortable with what you do is important.

7. Keeping your body working hard is something you should strive for! Mix up your program.

8. It is easier when you find someone to buddy up with who is motivating.

9. Always make sure to warm up and cool down before and after exercise.

10. Stop if you have pain in the neck, lower back or abdominal muscles. You may be doing an improper technique. Double checking a fitness chart or consulting with a certified personal trainer may be a way to correct the error.

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There have been many studies and reports about how our society as a whole has grown heavier and chubbier. In particular, we find that people battle against the tummy bulge. Most of us sit at a desk all day, and have no use of our abdominal muscles. Many people only eat a diet loaded with fatty foods and extra beers. Whatever the excuse for our love handles are, one thing is sure, there are a lot of abs exercise equipment designed to help get rid of the belly flab. Some of these techniques and equipment work better than others, just like any other product, a few work better than others. Hopefully, after reading this, you will have a better time knowing the difference.

Losing fat in your stomach area will not be done by abdominal exercises and abs exercise equipment. Burning more calories than you take in is the only sure way to lost fat, whereas abs exercise equipment works solely to tone and shape muscles. Although exercise will help you to accomplish this, it is process that affects the whole body, not just certain areas.
It is also important to note, that for many people, a flat stomach is not in their genetics, even if they are in good physical shape. No matter how many crunches are done, some people always keep a small pouch in their abdominals. However, the exercises and equipment discussed below will help tone, strengthen and define your abdominal muscles.

Abdominal Exercises & Equipment

Abs exercises and abs exercise equipment can be found in many different varieties. One of the most effective of these, the Roman Chair, is not strictly an ab machine. You can find this piece of a equipment at any health club and use it to perform ab exercises. The Roman Chair is comprised of two stationary, parallel arms and a straight, padded back and is somewhat tall. There is not a seat.

Thebest way to use this type of abs exercise equipment, is to place your forearms flat on the armrests with your back firmly against the back of the machine. You should have the Roman Chair set high enough that your legs dangle straight down when you are in position. Once you are in position, lift your knees to your chest and hold the position before lowering them to the beginning position. In a San Diego State University study that ranked the top abdominal exercises and abs exercise equipment, this exercise was ranked number two.

This survey listed the Bicycle maneuver as the number one ab exercise. Many people are familiar with this common and fun exercise. As it turns out, this familiar exercise is surprisingly one of the best exercise for working your abdominal muscles. Doing the exercise correctly requires you to lay on a mat and press your back flat. Put your hands beside your head. Tighten your abdominal muscles and bend your knees toward your chest until they are at about a 45-degree angle. Bring your right elbow in contact with your left knee. Starting with the alternating elbow and knee, repeat. You should feel it in your sides and abs.

Leg Crunches are like the the Bicycle but with crunches, your upper body does most of the movement. Lie on the mat again with your lower back pressed flat. Place your hands at your sides or by your head, whichever is more comfortable. The exercise will lose it’s effectiveness if you put pressure on your arms.

Lifting your legs perpendicular to your head, bend your knees slightly. Contract your ab muscles and then lift your torso up toward your knee. Return to the original position with your back flat on the mat. Relax your abs for a second and repeat. Breathing is one thing not to be neglected.
An exercise ball is another tool used for crunches that many feel is more effective than standard crunches. Once you are sitting on the ball, your feet should be about a foot apart on the ground. Start by rolling your back cautiously on the ball until you are lying on your back fully extended. Contract your ab muscles and raise your torso up off the ball until you are at about a 30-degree angle. Return to the extended position and repeat.
Because of the relatively low price and versatility, exercise balls are a great piece of abs exercise equipment. Stretch bands are another alternative for low cost fitness equipment. These are just what they sound like, a stretchy band made of lycra, nylon or sometimes rubber. Stretch bands, or resistance bands as they are commonly called, use resistance allowing you to work a muscle group while stabilizing the opposing muscle. Beginners or people who have experienced injuries are able to use these bands along with people who just want to strengthen and stretch their muscles.

Some people prefer something a little more advanced and there are certain pieces of abs exercise equipment made to work specifically the abs. There are the Ab Crunch Machine and the Back and Ab Machine. Both of these pieces of abdominal exercise equipment have been designed to support the lower back and the neck. They also come with adjustable resistance settings.

The Ab Slider, Ab Wheel, and the Ab Trainer are different varieties of equipment made to focus on the abdominal muscles. Just as with other exercise equipment, best results can be found with proper use and the addition of other abdominal exercises. It is important to fully research the equipment and read instructions before using.

In recent years, six-pack abs have been all the rage. Because of this the fitness community has worked overtime creating new products, reinventing old exercises, utilizing the old ones all in effort to target the abs. With a combination of these recommended abdominal exercises, regular exercise and a healthy you will quickly lose extra fat and tone your tummy.

If you have made up your mind to start a new fitness program are you wondering what the best ab exercise machines are? After doing internet research, you may be more confused than when you started!

Most people who are selling ab exercise machines will tell you that they have the best product, backed up by testimonials, research or studies. Most exercise equipment that is sold via TV use the perfect bodies of male and female fitness models to help sell the piece. Before these people were ever hired to sell this exercise equipment, they already had developed that physique.

If you’re going to try and find yourself the perfect exercise machine, you have to ask yourself a few questions first, the main one being “what do I want from this equipment?”. The more specific, the better. Don’t say things like, “I just want to lose weight”. Narrowing in on specific goals, like losing 3 pant sizes or gaining ten pounds of muscle and losing twenty pounds of fat are the way to go. This will help you to make more educated decisions.

Another question to ask is if you would prefer a strength training machine or an aerobic training machine. Both types of machinery are not required even though you need both types of exercise to get into shape. We will get back to that later. The elliptical, treadmill, rowing machine, stepper, exercise and spinning bikes, are just some of the different types of aerobic machines.
Multi-gyms, power racks, half racks and smith machines, are just a few of the types of strength training machines that focus on just about every muscle group in your body.

How many of these machines are required? You don’t actually need any. If you have the funds and the space for them, then they can make exercise more convenient. Don’t let these things limit you because you can get a great strength training workout with a bench, dumbbells, and weights. If that is still not an option that is not a problem. You can do bodyweight exercises such as pushups, dips, pullups, situps, crunches etc. Making these exercises effective for every person is easier than you think. That’s what’ll keep you exercising consistently, and doing it consistently is the main key to getting the results that you want.

To obtain that common fitness goal of flat ab muscles, most folks are willing to try any tool to help improve their results.

Selecting the best abdominal exercise machines will assist you in reaching your goals! When you make the right choice, an ab exercise machine may be your best option when trimming that waist and making an impact on those abs. Toning hard to target areas with traditional ab exercises can be overcome with the use of this type of machine. The most common problem with traditional ab exercises like sit-ups or leg lifts is the likelihood of injury or poor technique.

With each repetition, you may overdo it, or do it the wrong way and hurt yourself. With an ab exercise machine, you target the abdominal muscles and minimize accessory muscle contraction, which means you can get results faster and with less effort. These machines are designed to give you the most resistance to specific areas in your abs. Complete muscle stimulation is the end result when muscle fibers are stimulated into action with each repetition. It’s like going full throttle with abdominal exercise training.

You may think of the ab muscles as the ‘aesthetic center’ of the body, but they serve a more important purpose. They represent the structural foundation of your torso and spine, and are part of the ‘core’ muscles. These muscles act as stabilizers and serve to protect your spinal cord and support your torso. As you can see, considering the importance of these muscle groups in your overall routine is paramount to your physical health.
Having done extensive research on the subject to help you in making your decision, I highly recommend the use of abdominal exercise machines and several other pieces of exercise equipment. Like I said before, finding the right abdominal exercise machines is essential in making the necessary adjustments in your technique so you can make the proper movements while performing the exercises.

As with any exercise routine, you need to start slow. The answer to firm and flat abs is not tons of sit-ups.Remembering to train smart not hard is the key. Any abdominal exercise machines that you buy will be of assistance to you in maximizing your exercising efforts.

You can find many machines on the market, beginning with the ab roller. Choosing the right machine should be determined based on the comfort level, lack of neck strain, and if you feel it working in your abs.

To achieve the best results, you can do 10-15 reps to start and complete 2 sets. With practise, increase the number of repetitions of abdominal exercises to 25-30 in each set and upto 3 sets. More is not better in ab exercise because you are looking for quality not quantity training.

Don’t wait any further, do some more research, and try out abdominal exercise machines that work for you. Your dream body is just around the corner if you start targeting those hard areas now.

Lower ab exercises are necessary to any workout routine for athletes. This area is responsible for firming the spine. A strong abdomen likewise helps in the prevention of back injuries. There are two muscle groups- the rectus abdominus which is lined up along the abdomen and works by pulling the pelvis towards the belly button, and the transverse abdominus located across the abdomen and pulls the belly button towards the spine.

Properly exercising your lower abs can be very difficult. Focused muscle control is required when performing these exercises, unlike exercises for other parts of the body. Accidentally using your hip flexor or lower back muscles while doing crunches is a common way that people cheat while doing these exercises. Although the sit-up is the most popular lower abdominal exercise that there is, other exercises are actually more effective.

A plank exercise is when a person lies on the ground with the elbows touching the floor to support the body. The position assumed by the person, is similar tothat of a push-up. Like other lower ab exercises, a plank requires the use of stomach muscles to raise the torso off the floor.
The person then has to hold this position for a couple of seconds before returning to the original position. As you get more used to this exercise over time, it is possible to hold yourself in this position for quite a long time.
It is effective in that it “switches on” the muscles in the stomach.
Another effective ab exercise is hanging leg exercises. In this exercise, one holds onto a bar while using your abdominals. This is an effective exercise considering the pressure on the lower abs, and it can be very tough to perform especially for beginners.

Simply flattening your back against the ground, can be a very effective lower ab exercise. You perform this exercise by lying on the floor with your knees raised and your feet on the ground. This position creates a space underneath the lower back with the spine’s natural curve. Performance of this exercises effectively uses your stomach muscles while you flatten your abs for a few seconds and hold keep the position. This is one of the best and most basic low impact exercise that everyone can do, even with back injuries.

When you are focusing on a muscle group, you should feel those muscles working the hardest.The focus of lower ab exercises is on that specific muscle group and should not require the use of any other muscle group. Likewise, there should not be any pain on the back while doing these exercises. If you experience pain in your back, it is an indicator of weak muscles or that the exercise is being improperly done.

These exercises should be done with a lot of care involved – slowly but surely. Careless motions will not strengthen the lower abs, but can cause back injuries.Performing lower ab exercises steadily will producethe most out of your regimen.