Health and Fitness

Are you looking for a no-BS way to achieve rock hard six pack abs by June? Then stop wasting your time and hard-earned money on worthless fat burning pills and useless tips in the fitness magazines. Anyone interested in fitness desires great looking abs and everyone has the ability to achieve firm, rippled and well-toned abdominal muscles along with a lean and trim waist.

Just beware of accepting any myths about instant flat stomachs and targeted fat reduction around the waist. You want guaranteed solid abs? Then you must exercise hard enough and eat clean enough to burn the fat covering up those cherished muscles.

As you exercise, you consume energy measured in calories. When you consume enough to deplete the available energy, and enough to reduce the sugars that convert easily to energy, the body goes after stored energy. That stored energy is largely in the form of fat deposits in adipose tissue. But that process takes place non-selectively. Unfortunately, you do not get to choose which fat deposits the body converts into energy. That means you cannot target belly fat specifically by working on your abs. The effect is still achievable, but doing abdominal exercises alone does not target that fat.

When you focus your exercise on the abdominal muscles, you will build strength in that area by increasing the mass in those muscles. That is helpful because it builds a firm, strong layer of muscle which helps keep the stomach and other internal organs well inside the plane defined by your hips. It also results in a solid amount of energy burned by your body since the abdominal muscles are relatively large as compared to many other muscles. However, working the abdominals does not directly target a reduction of belly fat.

There is no gadget, supplement or drug currently on the market that will do that safely and effectively. It can only be done through proper diet and regular, moderate to heavy exercise. There is no shortcut to a trim waist, at least not yet.

In order to reduce body fat around your mid-section, you must work all of the large muscle regions of your body to force your body to burn more energy than you are consuming. The best way to do this is to work the larger muscle regions of the body, such as the legs, chest, shoulders, back and arms, as wells as the abdominal muscles as part of a regular weight lifting routine.

By adding weight lifting to your regular fitness routine, your body will consume a larger amount of energy and burn fat much longer following your workout than performing cardio alone. After a strenuous weight lifting workout, the body will continue to burn fat for up to 24 hours! The result is more calories burned, more weight lost, and more fat converted to energy.

So, basically, you are targeting your mid-section body fat by targeting the all of your body fat. Some people store more fat around the middle more readily than others and there is also no control over where the body accesses fat for energy. Gender and genetics make a difference in how and where your body stores and burns fat as well.

In order to achieve the most fat-burning benefits, you have to approach muscle fatigue in your workouts. Proper diet is just as important as exercise to achieving six pack abs this summer. You must commit yourself to a lean healthy diet with meals spread out 5-6 times during the day to really rev up your metabolism. I have other articles specifically addressing the proper diet and nutrition to achieve the best results.

When exercising the abdominal muscles, there is no need to perform hundreds of crunches. Done correctly, 20-30 reps per set is optimal.

For a great ab workout, warm up and try the following:

Lie on your back, with your knees bent and heels on the floor. Raise your torso up halfway, hold for half a second and return to the starting position. Keep your hands on top of your head and do not use them to pull yourself up. Do 20 reps.

Then, immediately perform 20 reps of the following; lie on your back with your legs raised straight up in the air. Then lift your shoulders off the floor, reach for your toes with your hands, and hold for 2 seconds.

Finally, return your knees to the bent position with your heels on the floor and hold your body at a 45 degree angle (the half-way sit-up position). Holding your hands together in front of your torso, twist to the left until your fingers touch the floor and then all the way to the right until your fingers touch the floor. Complete 20 reps of this exercise.

Once you have done all three of these abdominal exercises back to back, rest for one minute and then repeat the cycle two more times for an amazing ab workout! Exercise your abs hard in this way 3 times per week, feel the burn, and you will definitely see results. Author Resource:- Jay Miller is fitness enthusiast dedicated to finding the perfect balance between nutrition and exercise to help you maximize results for a leaner, stronger, and healthier you. Learn more at http://www.PerfectBalanceFitness.

There are things that make a mother's heart "smile". Things that make us feel like we're doing a great job as a mom and that all is right with the world.

Like most moms, my list includes things like listening to my kids in the midst of major belly laughter, cuddling with them, watching them sleep, 'catching' them play together in some great imaginary world, reading together, listening to them pray, going for a walk with them, peaceful moments of sweetness, watching them run and jump and play, holding hands with them, really big hugs, giving them the freedom to really be kids, witnessing them learn a new skill or a new piece of knowledge, spending quality family time together... the list goes on forever!

Sure, motherhood has its share of less-than-rosy moments, too, but overall we are so blessed to be moms.

I notice that one of the things that really makes my heart smile occurs when I see "it" all come together. When I can see the principles that I've been teaching in practice and writing about for so many years, the principles of Health and Wellness that I believe so strongly in, come to fruition in my own children, it's a feeling of fulfillment that's hard to match.

When it comes to creating optimal health and happiness, I use "The Wellness Formula" as a guide. The Wellness Formula simply states that in order to achieve a state of Wellness, we must make lifestyle choices that are pure and sufficient (meeting our body's innate genetic requirements for health), while simultaneously reducing or eliminating toxic and deficient lifestyle choices. We need to make these healthier choices consistently over an extended period of time in order to create optimal health and happiness.

"Lifestyle" can be broken down into 3 main components: how we move, how we eat and how we think. These categories encompass every component of our lives: how much and how often we move, what type of movement we do, what we eat, how we eat, the quality and quantity of our food, what supplements we take, our stress levels and our response to stress, life balance, sleep patterns, what we're feeding our brains, our belief systems, our emotions, our outlook on life, our spiritual connection... everything!

In each of these areas health and balance are created when we add purity and sufficiency, and limit toxicity and deficiency.

It's not about being perfect, it's about making better choices more often. We have a mantra in our family, "Fill up with Health FIRST." This means, make sure you give your body, mind and soul what it needs everyday... do that consistently. You don't have to say "never" to the toxic and deficient things, just say "yes" to them less often, and always choose pure and sufficient things first.

In the case of my kids, I love it when I see them eating and enjoying pure and sufficient foods, or when I see them moving their bodies with sheer power, energy and joy, or when I notice shared moments of perfect happiness and connection with them. I know that in these moments, they're meeting the needs of their bodies and hearts. I know it's the best chance they have to create optimal health and balance.

Since I'm so passionate about Wellness-based nutrition, some of my heart's biggest "smiles" happen when I prepare an ultra healthy, delicious meal for my family, loaded with fresh, clean foods. There's something about the entire process, the entire scene, that resonates deeply with me and makes me feel like I'm doing something really important for them. When I take the time to prepare a healthy meal, set a nice table for my family (nothing fancy, trust me!), and we all sit down together, pray, share great conversation and everyone enjoys the great food... ahhhh... fulfillment!

(You and I both know that this scene doesn't happen every single meal! C'mon, we ARE a real family, too! I just do my best to create this setting for the majority of our meals each week.)

It doesn't even have to be an entire meal that elicits this response in me. I feel the same thing in the mornings when I start their day with a heaping plate of fruit. They usually have 4 -6 different fresh fruits on their plate each breakfast. I still get a kick out of it each and every morning - how happy they are with their plate of fruit and how quickly they gobble it up! I follow it up with a serving of protein shortly after. A little thing like that gives me the satisfaction of knowing we're meeting their nutritional needs right from the get-go each day.

Who knows what toxicity and deficiency they'll encounter as their day goes on... as their life goes on! For now, my heart is smiling and fulfilled when I see their overall health and happiness being created one meal at a time, one moment at a time.