Ok, Hazel, let's let the Master step in, haha.
but first:
(Nov. 01, 2011 4:05 PM)Uwik Wrote: [ -> ]The key to life is diet and exercise.
Fixed.
Ok, so now:
(Nov. 01, 2011 10:59 PM)Hazel Wrote: [ -> ]I'll pitch in here. First off, to address the large amount of crunches/situps you're doing - stop it. Do not push your abdominal muscles that hard, as you have to keep in mind that you're putting quite serious strain on your colon if you do not have sufficient muscle mass. Do not ever do them within an hour after a fair sized meal, either. You need to do lower numbers of reps at first, in small bursts.
[...]
And finally, to contribute to Uwik's point, Abdominal Muscles are typically built easily, but shown hard - you need to have cardio, a good diet, fair protein intake, and a could fiber regulation(supplement if you need to) in order to expedite the process best.
The big reason isn't even that. First of all, it's not even beneficial to his abs if he wants a six pack or to burn fat. Second, it's mostly his back that will take the hit, moreso than his colon. Finally, it's just not worth doing the same move over and over and over, no matter what exercise.
The one hour rule goes for all exercise. Not necessarily because of injury (because only idiots exercise right after they eat), but because it allows your body to resort to burning triglicerides, rather than the food you just ate.
(Nov. 01, 2011 11:01 PM)Ultrablader Wrote: [ -> ]Will doing sit ups help to reduce the amount of fat in the stomach area or will I need to something else as well with it or something else entirely?
(Nov. 01, 2011 11:05 PM)Hazel Wrote: [ -> ]Situps will burn some of the weight(and also force colon purging which will usually drop visible flab a slight bit), but you'll need more in order to burn actual visible weight off. My post above yours explains it, basically. Diet, cardio + situps, fiber, and protein.
Here's the thing, it doesn't work this way. It shouldn't work this way and it's not benefitting you this way. Trying to get one specific thing is not good. Neglecting areas of fitness is not good. I think the best way to explain this would be to start from Ultrablader's question. When you have a proper training program, your metabolism is always going to be high (as long as you eat right and exercise daily). The more muscle you have, the faster you burn fat. You need strength training. Sit ups and weight training won't burn fat. You need cardio. I could babble my way on for the rest of my life about how beneficial yoga is, but you need it. When you've got everything, you're already going to be burning fat and building muscle. So you do Ab moves as well! But not as a source of cardio or strength training. Neglecting abs is also not a good thing, because it's also a muscle group, and neglecting a muscle group is like not wearing a shoe.
That's all the exercise side, but like Hazel and Uwik said, it's also about food. You need to eat food. You need to eat food frequently. Every 2-3 hours, make sure you eat at least something. If you want to burn fat, but are doing an intense program, I don't recommend trying to shoot for a calorie deficit, I recommend focussing on getting high quality foods, frequently, and consistently. It's about fuel, not starving. When you're eating proper things, you can play with the protein:carbohydrate:fat ratio. The more protein you have, the more fat you'll burn. The thing is, if you sustain that for too long, it stops working. Plus you'll bonk more often in your workouts because you have less carbohydrates. For general health, 40:40:20 is what you'd want to shoot for, but just focus on keeping it balanced nicely with something that works for you. If you are a high level athlete, training for a competition or something physical, up the carbohydrate ratio. You'll have more energy, but it'll be harder to burn fat. This is because you also have to burn carbohydrates.
(Nov. 01, 2011 11:16 PM)Ultrablader Wrote: [ -> ]What exactly is Cardio? Also i'm cycling to school three days a week so that's not the only thing i'm doing.
Hazel's explained what cardio is, I want to explain why.
Firstly. It's activated a lot during cardio. BDNF is what puts smile on my face every day. I'm a happier person, more outgoing person, I can focus longer, remember better, listen better, communicate better. I'm just a better person, and I'm confident it's because of cardio (and yoga!). Secondly, if you want to be a better athlete, you need better blood flow, you need to get oxygen through your body better, and you need to transport nutrients better. Cardio does all this. Finally, although it's a simple answer, it burns fat. Is too much fat good? No. Is fat bad? No. Is too much fat bad? Yes.
(Nov. 01, 2011 11:26 PM)Ultrablader Wrote: [ -> ]oh that's fine then since I cycle at least 3 days a week for around 2 hours on one day and 1 hour on each of the other days.
(Nov. 01, 2011 11:30 PM)Hazel Wrote: [ -> ]The biggest key to Cardio is that you suffer "use it or lose it" much faster than with other types of workout, so make sure you do your best to stay consistent.
You'll want to not just cycle 3 days a week. I don't mean add more, I mean that if you want to improve your body, doing the same thing over and over (like I said when I spoke about abs) is not good anywhere in fitness. Cycling isn't bad, but variety is better.
There's lots of different general types of cardio you can do. The previous link I posted (the second one of the two) explains each. It's not necessarily a "use it or lose it", it's more of a "use it in the most productive way".
Talking too much
I did misread the thing about ankle weights, though.