ARE SIX PACK ABS HEALTHY?
	There are drawbacks to every new fad exercise and you may find six-pack abs are one of those exercises.

In order to get abdominal muscles like those in the magazine ads, you have to have a body fat ratio in the single digits. In order to keep that six-pack, you have to maintain the single digit body fat ratio. Getting and keeping body fat in the single digits can be a difficult, and unhealthy, task for some people. Some body types aren’t destined to be weight lifters or body builders and others won’t ever be good long distance runners or cyclists. If you have problems getting your body fat below 15% you may be the body type that will never have rippling abs, and you may be healthier for it. Everyone is different and so is our healthy body fat ratio for who we are. I’m definitely not advocating overweight as being healthy, but if you find you feel, or look, worse at 9% body fat than you do at 18%, go for the 18.

Many of those who strive to have six-pack abs also have problems with constipation. Thinking about it we can find the reason. If you tense the outer muscles of the abdomen you tense up the internal muscles including the intestines. It’s virtually impossible to relax the intestinal muscles while the external abdominal muscles are under tension, and keeping that six-pack look requires tension. Many of those striving for the six-pack look forget that they need to balance the lower back muscles as well. When the muscles in front are shortened without balancing out the tension and strength of the muscles on the opposing side, the lower back muscles in this case, the tendency is to begin collapsing the chest and lowering the sternum. That posture in turn restrict breathing and lessens lung capacity.

A collapsed chest leads to rolling in of the shoulders, putting excess stress on the thoracic section of the back and pitching the head forward. Both of these can lead to headaches, particularly if you spend much time in front of a computer. If you give up on your exercise program because of headaches, or because you feel worse than before you started on your six-pack program, don’t revert back to the other six-pack for relief, just change what your doing to suit who you are. Forget what others think you should do, and work toward what you want to achieve for who you are.

The old school martial arts masters, including T’ai Chi and Qi Gong, knew that one of the secrets to health and longevity was turning at the waist. My quick ab workout uses their secret for health, longevity and impressive abs. Personally, I can’t think of anything worse than standing with a straight back and not being able to see my shoes, or anything else in between my waist and the floor.