Ab Exercises For Women – the Most Effective Way to Tone Up Your Tummy at Home
Posted by admin in Ab Exercises on November 21, 2011
Most women desire to have a toned flat stomach and are willing to work hard to get it. Many adhere to the myth that ab exercises for women will actually burn the belly fat off of the abdominals by isolating them as a muscle group. This is not the best approach for abdominal exercises. For women with stubborn fat around the tummy the best approach is to use exercises that challenge the entire body as a whole in order to stimulate the metabolism to burn more fat. This can be done at home and you may be surprised how thorough of a workout you can get when you choose the best ab exercises to give you more bang for your buck.
The first thing you should know is that ab exercises for women are about the same as what men do. Some of the most effective abdominal workouts may require a little upper body strength which is why you see many men doing these but challenging yourself to do these movements you will reap the benefit of toning your entire body and burning more calories which of course leads to more fat being burned.
Home Ab Exercise Equipment
It is possibly to equip yourself with just 2 pieces of very inexpensive equipment that will give you the versatility to work your abs from all angles and give yourself a thorough overall workout. I can’t stress enough how doing more challenging exercises that require many supporting and stabilizing muscles will give you much quicker and visible results.
The first really effective piece of equipment that women can use for ab exercises is an ab wheel or “Power Wheel”. A standard ab wheel that you may have seen in a gym is basically just a small wheel with a bar going through it so that you can roll yourself forward and backwards while on your knees. This is an exercise for abs that is so much more effective than crunches that you will notice the difference after just a few sets. See how your stomach feels the next day and how deep the soreness in your muscles is and over a much greater area. Read the rest of this entry »
Protect Yourself From the Sun, Not Your Sunscreen
Check your sunscreen label. If the active ingredients include one or more of the chemicals listed in this article, you need to look into a mineral based alternative.
In 1927, 12,745 physicians endorsed smoking Lucky Strike® cigarettes as a healthful activity; by 1999 smoking-related illness had become the number one cause of death in United States. Similarly, the rate of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, has been on the rise since the first sunscreen arrived on the market in the late 1960′s. Worldwide, the greatest rise in melanoma has been experienced in countries where chemical based sunscreens have been heavily promoted.
While it is important to protect your skin from the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) radiation, it may be just as important to protect yourself from the chemicals used in most sunscreens. Chemical-based sunscreens include ingredients that absorb UV radiation from the sun. These chemicals get into the skin and absorb UV radiation which leads to free radical release. Free radicals can damage cells and are believed to accelerate the progression of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and aging.
Health-related U.S. government agencies including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Centers for Disease Control and prevention (CDC), and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) all have important information about potential dangers of these chemicals.
The good news is avoiding chemical-based sunscreens may be easier than you think. Below is a list of some potentially dangerous sunscreen chemicals. Read the rest of this entry »
The A to Zinc of Hair Loss
Zinc is a trace mineral that has many important roles in the human body. All of these roles are essential for the growth of thick, healthy hair. Zinc helps the body reproduce cells, absorb vitamins (yes, even those all important vitamins for hair loss), controlling hormones and the synthesis of proteins.
Whilst all of these are obviously important one of the more important ways zinc helps the body is by controlling hormones, most importantly testosterone. By keeping an eye on your testosterone levels zinc is doing its part to not only hold on to your precious hair, but also help you grow more!
So now we all know that zinc is important to stop normal hair loss the next question is how do we get enough zinc in our bodies? The most obvious choice is through our food. Food that is rich in zinc include: shellfish, wheat germ, veal liver, squash seeds and peanuts. Unfortunately their are a few issues when it comes to getting all of your zinc from food. The main issue is that the body only absorbs a small amount of zinc that is present in our foods, between 25-30% in fact. The other is that what you consume the food with affects how much zinc is absorbed. Both calcium and fibre prevent the body absorbing zinc completely. Calcium competes with zinc for consumption whilst zinc and fibre bind together so that your hard earned zinc ends up in the toilet bowl. Read the rest of this entry »