Secret to great looking abs

While diet and regular exercise play a major role in creating a flat stomach, it is the development and toning of abdominal muscles that will really do wonders for your physique.

Muscles and Fitness The most obvious benefits of developing your abdominal muscles are the visible changes to your physique.

A set of washboard six-pack abs are, of course, much more preferable to the flab of bulging belly. It is also very obvious to those around you that you will have lost weight once those six-pack abs have been developed.

There is a catch, though: you need to lose all that fat before your abs will stand out enough to be seen. This should then a flat stomach a much more important priority to achieve than washboard abs.

This is, however, not always true.

Muscles and Calories Building and maintaining muscle requires energy, and the plump body has a readily available source of energy in the form of stored fats.

This is because muscle consumes energy simply by resisting the forces of gravity, and your body consumes more energy as you build up more and more muscle mass. Once your body has built enough muscles, it would then be for it to start eating up the fats stored all over your body.

This then helps you slice off bodily fat without even moving a muscle - so to speak - and this is how muscles and bodybuilding plays an essential role in slimming down and shaping up.

Muscles and Health Another great benefit of building muscles is the health that comes with it.

This is another obvious side-effect of proper exercise and diet, which is why there exists a high correlation between muscle-mass and general health. Muscular people also tend to live longer, which becomes more and more obvious as one begins to age.

Muscles are, after all, developed not by just lounging around. Keeping in tip-top shape and constantly on the move will yield not only a flat stomach but a longer, healthier life to boot.

Muscles and Diet And the last but definitely not the least benefit of building muscles is the versatile diet that comes with the deal.

Bodybuilding demands a rich and heavy diet, but one that is geared more towards bodily development than simple weight loss. This allows you to eat more instead of starving yourself, in effect building muscle instead of fat.

This does not mean, however, that you can gorge on anything you want. A healthy, filling and protein-rich diet still requires some thought to plan out, especially if you are planning to lose weight in the long run.