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They are 'What's the fastest way to lose weight?' and 'what are the best ab exercises?' Apparently as soon as people get started on any type of weight-loss program, they start thinking about being able to see their abs.
There's been a ton written about different methods of weight loss, so in this article we'll focus on abdominal exercises.
But first of all, a few caveats.
It's been stated often by numerous experts that it's impossible to spot reduce, but people seem to keep searching for exercises that will remove fat from their stomach area.
You can't do that.
You can surely perform exercise that will help to burn fat, and you definitely should, but there's no way to target a specific area such as the abs.
Your body will decide where and when it'll lose fat, and it's a sad but true fact that most people find that their most troublesome area is the very last place to finally lose that stubborn fat.
Well then, why do ab exercises? To build muscle that will show once the fat covering it is reduced enough.
And to be healthy and fit, because a strong body 'core' or midsection is a key to remaining injury-free throughout life.
So without further ado, here are my choices for two of the best ab exercises.
Actually, they're not really my choices.
A study done at San Diego State a few years ago used state of the art equipment to detect which movements elicited the most stimulation in the abdominal muscles.
The researchers found that the best movement for the abs was the one known as the bicycle.
To perform it, lie on your back, place your hands behind your head, raise your legs, and raise your shoulders off the floor to alternately touch one elbow to the opposite knee while straightening the other leg out.
To prevent back strain, keep the lower back pressed into the floor and be sure to initiate the motion with the abs and not the back.
The exercise rated the best for the oblique muscles (the 'love handle' area) was the captain's chair, which is a piece of equipment found in almost every gym that is also frequently used to perform the exercise known as dips.
It has a vertical pad for the back and also has handles, which usually are padded where the user's lower arms rest when doing this exercise.
It sounds like you have to belong to a gym to do this one, but that's not true, as reasonably priced versions of the equipment are available for home gyms, being that there are no moving parts.
To do the exercise, press your back against the pad and raise the legs, once again bending the knees and concentrating on using the abs to initiate movement.
As with the bicycle movement, keep the back firmly pressed against the back pad to avoid strain.
There are a lot of other ab exercises you can include in your workouts, but if you have a busy lifestyle like most of us these days, concentrate on these two, which'll give you the most bang for your buck.
When you have a little extra time, you can throw in some other movements for a little variety - but remember, you can do ab exercises till the cows come home, but you need to use aerobic exercise and nutrition to remove the excess fat covering your abs before you'll see the muscle you've built.
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