Ab exercises are not the answer to ripped abs. We are constantly bombarded with ads that promote ab exercises and machines, each claiming to be the answer to getting six pack abs. Achieving six pack abs, we need to look at our overall exercise activity to increase our overall metabolism and monitor our diet.

By monitoring the caloric intake of the food we eat and increasing our energy expenditure so that it's greater than our intake, our body will find other sources of energy. As a result, the body will utilize and burn the excess fat to fuel our activities.

Doing multi-joint exercises and resistance training increases our metabolism. We increase our lean body mass as a result of the increased training. When this occurs, our muscles increase their metabolic activity and require more fuel to burn.

Anaerobic interval training has also been effective in increasing the body's metabolism by forcing the body to quickly adapt to the increased demands of the exercises. The interval training shocks the muscles to be explosive and reactive, which results in increased muscle mass. The increased muscle mass thereby increases the metabolic activity in the muscles, which has been shown to last for several hours after the exercise session.

Diet also needs to be changed to help increase the body's metabolism. By eating a diet of quality foods made up of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals, we enable our bodies to utilize these foods as energy.

By decreasing our serving size and eating with greater frequency throughout the day, it will allow us to maintain our energy levels and help stabilize our blood sugar levels.

By decreasing our caloric input and increasing our energy expenditure, we allow our body to use the excess fat in our body as a fuel source.

Discussing ab exercises is important in understanding what we need to do to fully understand how the body works. Making adjustments to our overall diet and exercising, utilizing resistance and interval training, will get us to achieve six pack abs.