People usually think about just doing crunches and other ab exercises and spend hours every week doing them, without really seeing any noticeable results. Most likely they already have developed abdominal muscles if they have trained for a while already. For some reason they are just now showing. The reason is that their abs are just covered by excess body fat. Next question that rises in our minds is how to get visible abs if the exercising hasn't helped. Main thing is to concentrate on losing that excess fat.

It has to be said, that your ab muscles have to be in some shape to get that ripped six pack appearance. In the end though, it doesn't really matter how big abs you have, if your body fat percentage is too high, so aim is to get this percentage lower. Generally body fat percentage should be less than 11% to really get those abs out, and to get a really ripped look under 8%. For women these percentages somewhere between 15 % and 19 %. Remember though, too low body fat isn't healthy so for men 7% body fat is enough! These percentages don't mean that everyone who has 10% body fat will get abs showing, while the man next to you might even get a ripped look at the same percentage. It has much to do to your individual body fat distribution.

You have to look after your diet and your exercising habits to get leaner body and six pack abs. You have to do ab exercises to get those abs to shape up, but at the same time look what you are eating and maybe do different fat burning exercises. Getting your abs showing is a small, but not impossible, challenge.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tanja_Taas

I'll bet you know more about your car or T.V. celebrity or reality show more than you do about your body. That's right, the very thing that takes you to earn money, enjoy your entertainment and anything else you desire. So why do we treat it so poorly? Because we have been trained to be dependent on the Health system and we take it for granted until it breaks down.

I'm not here to insult anyone I just want to bring awareness to the subject of health. I see people run to the doctors everyday if they stub there toe or have a pain here and there. I want to discuss the difference between physical and physiological awareness of your body by using my experience as a example.

From my early years to my mid forties I was always health conscious as far as exercises and physical fitness. I was on the track team in high school and became aware of the differences between muscle soreness and tears. After years of working out I knew just how far I could push my body before a soreness turned into a muscle tear or worse. Exercise was invigorating and a stress release almost to the point of being addictive. I took good care of my body physically and eating I was OK. I figured I knew my body pretty well by this time and I could analyze any problem going forward. I was wrong, in my forties something changed.

I slowly started to wake up every morning a little weaker, less energy. Oh the doctor and friends said it was a middle age slow down so I gave it time to adjust, but it didn't. As time passed it got worse and more sleep didn't help matters. Exercise became harder and it started having the reverse effect. Instead of invigorating exercise was exhausting and almost painful. Nausea and headaches became more prevalent as the day wore on. It was the first time I was ever afraid because I always knew my body and was able to solve most problems. I tried everything I knew and nothing worked, it was like a battery that wouldn't recharge.

Fear created stress and it just got worse. I quit work and gave the doctors two years to find the problem. Among other things I lost my voice and the only thing they came up with was Botox injections into my vocal cords for life. If you would have seen the 12 inch needle the wanted to put in my throat every 6 weeks you would have passed out and this didn't fix the original problem of fatigue. Little to lose I took the next 5 years learning how the insides of the body works and here I am today almost fully recovered and talking without Botox.

I tell you this because I really thought I knew myself, but it was only one aspect, the physical side. What happens inside your body is a whole different game. So that's why I ask the question "How well do you know yourself" and that's the reason I started the Health Hub. The health system like other systems in our society make things complicated for one reason, dependence. You feel they are the only ones that can intrepid health, not true. You can be Independently Healthy just take some time to know your body..



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ric_Bai