As more and more cultures are discovering the wonders and calories of fast-food from the west, the number of obesity cases is also fast increasing. In North American and metropolitan cities in Europe, an overwhelming majority of the populations are becoming overweight.
That said, more and more people are joining the fight against the flab and a large number don’t know the first thing about exercising to get fast abs. A lot of folks go about their workouts thinking rep after rep of sit-ups, leg raises and crunches are what a fast abs workout is all about.
Most folks that decide to start weight-loss programs on their own rely on conventional sit-ups and crunches for their abs workout. Unknown to most, there’s a more efficient alternative to these exercises and that is by doing complete core exercises. That includes the muscles of the lower back as well as the abdominal and oblique muscles at our sides.
Core-based exercise means strengthening all the muscles surrounding our midsection and this just isn’t possible with regular flat on your back abdominal exercises. The best way for a fast abs workout and including all of the core muscles is by doing exercises that require a balancing effort on an unstable surface.
Our spine has a natural curve to it and doing ab exercises flat on the floor or on a bench clearly limits our torsos range of motion when we’re doing crunches or sit-ups. Using a soft, curved medium like an exercise ball enables more muscle movement, resulting in more physical effort and more calories burned.
An actual study was done comparing ab exercises on a flat surface and on a curved, unstable one. Results of an electromyography test showed that a significant increase of muscular activity when ab workouts are done on an unstable surface such as a Swiss or exercise ball.
Doing abdominal exercises on an unstable surface also makes your workouts more efficient because more muscular effort is done trying to balance your body. Other muscles of the core, like the transverse abdominis is used to provide stability- resulting in more calories burned and a faster ab workout.
One of the main obstacles people encounter in working-out is boredom and monotony. Core exercises boost the fun factor because the movements are similar to those we do in our everyday activities. The less boring workouts are, the easier for us to stick to them and reach our goal of tighter, leaner abs.
