You’ve heard all the myths about developing a six-pack, and now know that such things as spot training are ridiculous fads from the late 80’s. Doing a thousand crunches each day and nothing else won’t reveal your six pack; it will simply give you an iron washboard of abs beneath a few inches of fat. Instead, you need to combine the proper kind of exercise with excellent nutrition and supplements. That’s the magic combo, and it still takes months to go from average to ripped. So say you’ve got your Rev Abs or Insanity Workout, you’ve got the nutrition plan that comes with it, and now you want to know what else you can take to help you along your journey. Well, listen up: we’re going to give you some ideas.
Green Tea
What doesn’t green tea do? It cuts down on all mortality rates (check out the Japanese experiment), and now it’s been shown to not only assist in fat burning, but specifically to aid in the burning of ab flab. In a study published in the Journal of Nutrition, scientists showed that the test group given catechin (the fat burning substance in green tea) lost more weight overall and fat from the midsection than the control group. This seems to have occurred due to the boost in the metabolic rate. So go drink your green tea!
Vitamin C
Yes, Vitamin C can do anything, even burn fat, apparently. Beyond its abilities as an immune booster, antioxidants like Vitamin C are being shown to be a critical regulator of obesity related complications. Because fat is very active at a cellular level, it is subjected to a lot of oxidative stress, and Vitamin C can help prevent it from developing impaired cell function. Beyond that, a study by the University of Cambride on 19,000 people showed that those with higher levels of vitamin C in their blood had lower levels of fat. Put two and two together.
Calcium
Normally thought of only in terms of bone and teeth, calcium plays a crucial role in muscle contraction, and combined research from the University of Tennessee and the Mayo Clinic have shown that subjects on a calcium supplemented diet lost more weight and 30% more waist specific size than a control group. It is thought that calcium can influence fat-storage at the genetic level while increasing the production of a fat burning protein. All good things!
Conjugated Linoleic Acid
This trans-fatty acid is a well known sports supplement, use to both help increase muscle growth and decrease body fat. Now research from Uppsala University had found that people supplemented with CLA for just four weeks experienced a significant decrease in abdominal fat compared to a placebo group–and this without manipulating their diets or exercise. Sounds good? You betcha.
