Truth

Forget crunches and medicine balls to get your six pack- the quickest way to real abs is through cardio exercise in addition to specialized movement. And while running may be the best cardio activity to slim out your mid-section, 65-80% of regular runners get injured every year, no matter how many miles or how fast you are. A much better alternative to pounding the pavement to get your ab-focused cardio on is yoga. Not that you can’t still run- but if you’re looking for rock solid abs, getting injured running in your six-pack quest would be discouraging and lead you away from your fitness goals.

By focusing on 60-90 minutes of yoga 4-5 days a week, with running on other days or in addition to yoga, in order to get that sexy stomach may prove to be more fruitful. The best cardio benefit from doing yoga results from practicing hot yoga, that is, yoga in a room heated to 95-105 degrees Fahrenheit. Studies have proven that exercise done under duress provides greater cardiovascular benefit. Professional runners train at high altitude to increase their cardiovascular capacity by running with less oxygen available. Having excessive heat stressing your system also reduces the ability of your cardiovascular system to efficiently convert aerobic energy, making your body work harder than it would without excessive heat to achieve the same physical goal.

This doesn’t mean that you should give up on ab exercises. It just means that you will achieve real results and a much slimmer stomach if the focus is on cardio as well as specialized exercises. Hot yoga combines those two workouts perfectly. Not only will you be working out for an hour to an hour and a half, core strength is the most centralized concept in bikram, hatha and anusara yoga next to deep breathing. You achieve increased oxygen utilization, greater focus and concentration, sculpted abs, but, legs, and arms (ever held downward facing dog for a minute and not felt a searing burn?), and not to mention the obvious flexibility. The best part about have better flexibility and more fluid joints is that your body alignment allows for greater overall blood flow, giving you more energy in addition to that tip-top tummy. So go get your yoga on, either by signing up for yoga channels Direct TV service to work out at home or enrolling in classes at a local studio, and look and feel like a million buck showing off those awesome abs.