2010-07-06 23:48:36 - This article points out why the popular 8 Minute Abs program may not work for most people.

One of the most popular weight loss programs in history, 8 Minute Abs promises to flatten your stomach with an intense 8 minute abs workout once a day. The program has you follow a video and pushes you for 8 minutes, burning your abdominal muscles every moment of the most excruciating eight minutes of your day.

The problem, according to most fitness instructors, is that building six pack abs for men and a flat tummy for women, doesn’t happen by exercising your abdominal muscles as the 8 Minute Abs program suggests. You cannot “spot remove” fat from your body. In other words, you cannot exercise one portion of your body to remove the fat from that portion. Burning fat involves an

entire full body workout.

Indeed, the endless crunches and leg raisers characteristic of an 8 Minute Abs workout will certainly build your abdominal muscles. Most people, however, do not want to build their stomach, they want to trim the fat. The 8 Minute Abs program, then, may actually work against you rather than for you.

So if 8 Minute Abs is not the solution to a flat stomach and thin waist, what is? The answer is quite simple, suggests Mike Geary, of The Truth About Abs. Your abs are covered with more fat than other parts of your body and therefore you have to work at reducing the fat rather building the muscle, like in the 8 Minute Abs program. And reducing fat means cardio. The right kind of cardio will get you that flat stomach quicker than any other activity, especially 8 Minute Abs.

Mike likes to stress that the normal cardio routine will usually not do the trick either. Most people put on their running shoes and plod along on a seemingly endless run or bike ride and think that will get them a flat stomach. That system is almost as ineffective as the 8 Minute Abs program. Such cardio workouts will burn a little fat when you first begin them, but after a while your body becomes used to the routine and stops burning the fat. If you want a flat stomach, you have to alter your cardio and intensify the routine. Mike has a great program in The Truth About Abs where he outlines exactly the right workout and eating habits necessary to achieve that flat stomach.

Mike is not a big fan of the 8 Minute Abs program because he thinks it misleads people into believing in a “quick fix” for something that takes a little more discipline and effort. Mike Geary’s program is one of the best selling fitness programs on the internet and consistently outperforms 8 Minute Abs. The reason may lie in the results. According to many fitness experts, Truth About Abs provides solid results while 8 Minute Abs may not.