Women With Abs Resistance Train

Time was when fitness aficionados sweating away in gyms and fitness centers were comprised of men. In the early days of fitness, there were no such things as aerobics classes and certainly no female bodybuilders. Those dark, barbaric days of exercising have are long gone and it’s now a common site to see women slugging it out in the octagon or pumping iron and getting ripped.

Women now rival the men in gym attendance. Indeed, the fit, athletic look that long defined male sexiness has crossed genders and modern society’s basis for female sexiness has gone from the voluptuous Monroe-esque image to the lean tanned surfer chick look complete with six-pack abs.

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 society’s partiality to the lean and athletic look has legions of women enrolling in Pilates, TaeBo and spinning classes across America and all over the world. Those that can’t leave their homes inadvertently fall for pricy gadgets and products touted as to produce “the ultimate six-pack” or something to that effect.

Fat-burning creams claimed by their makers to isolate belly fat, diet programs and expensive ab machines that promise a six-pack in a few weeks. These are what cheerleaders, office workers and housewives have been paying good money for just to get a chiseled mid-section in the shortest time possible.

Unfortunately, a large number of women find out all too soon that they’ve been let down after giving the latest product on the infomercials a try. Fact is, there is no way to really isolate belly fat. The only way to bring-out the abdominal muscles underneath the layer of fat around the midsection is by eliminating body fat first.

Experts have determined that the shortest path for women (and men, for that matter) in getting those six-packs out is through a combo of aerobic total body exercise and resistance training. Cardio exercises that keep the heart rate steady just below the anaerobic threshold (when it’s hard to talk without sounding like Darth Vader) eliminate body fat the fastest and weight-training elevates the body’s metabolism by increasing muscle tissue.

Experts have discovered these cardio exercises burn the highest percentage of calories from stored fat rather than from muscle-building glycogen. In burning belly fat, the main goal is fat-loss and not muscle-loss. Losing glycogen by through improper exercise and skipping meals makes us lose out on muscle repair and development and no fitness buff wants that.

| | | | | |