Crunches Are The Better Known Belly Fat Exercises

November 21st, 2011 Posted in Fitness for Life
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A public demonstration of aerobic exercises

Crunches are the better known belly fat exercises … it’s not just wishful thinking to hope to lose belly fat with exercising, combined with aerobic activities and eating right.

Crunches are done lying on your back with your heels flat on the floor, knees shoulder apart. With your hands behind your head lift your torso using your stomach muscles … avoid pulling on your head.

If you want to concentrate your efforts on your lower abdomen, then  while you’re lying on your back cross your ankles and lift your legs six inches off the floor. Hold for a few seconds,  drop and repeat several times

A simple variation of crunches with a fancy name is isometrics, you can do these anytime sitting or standing, you just contract your stomach muscles for 10 seconds at a time … it’s like performing stomach crunches without lying on the floor.

Be sure to continue your aerobic exercises to condition your heart and lungs, and walking, jogging, swimming also use up fat from all over your body for energy,  eventually getting to the belly fat!

When it comes to getting back your figure, you will get the best results by combining strength training of your stomach muscles with aerobic exercises.

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How Exercise Prevents Muscle Loss With Aging

November 12th, 2011 Posted in Dr.Mirkin Says
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Competitive masters athletes, 40 to 81 years old, who trained four to five times per week did not lose any muscle size or significant strength with aging (The Physician and Sportsmedicine, October 2011;39(3):172-8).

This shows that loss of muscle size and strength in older people is caused by lack of exercise, not just with aging.  The athletes did gain fat in spite of exercising.  Those in their 70s had almost as much strength and thigh muscle size as those in their 40s.

MOST PEOPLE LOSE MUSCLE:

Recent studies show that after age 40, men lose more than eight percent of their muscle size each decade, and this loss of muscle increases after age 70.  The people who lose the most muscle are usually the ones who die earliest.

They are also most at risk for falls and broken bones.

HOW EXERCISE PREVENTS MUSCLE LOSS WITH AGING:

Muscles are made up of thousands of individual muscle fibers.  Each muscle fiber is innervated by a single nerve.  With aging, humans lose the nerves that innervate muscle fibers, and with each nerve loss, they lose the associated muscle fiber so muscles become smaller.
We used to think this happens because of aging.  However, this new study and others show that lifelong competitive athletes do not lose the nerves that innervate their muscles with aging. They retain the nerves and therefore retain most of the muscle fibers that they would have lost if they were inactive.

If you exercise regularly, continue to do so. If you don’t, check with your doctor and then get instructions on how to start an exercise program.

Collage of varius Gray's muscle pictures by Mi...

 

Image via Wikipedia

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