1000’s of crunches. No abs! Why?

Filed under: How To Get Abs — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 1:41 am December 6, 2009

So what is the secret to perfect six pack abs? One thing I can tell you is the doing thousands of crunches or sit-ups is not the solution. There are so many people that slave away killing there lower back doing endless amounts of sit-ups and crunches and they never see any results. The reason why is when you are doing hundred or even thousand of crunches you are treating your abs as if they are somehow different than any other muscle in your body. If you were in the gym doing curls, way before you got to 100 reps most people will stop and think to themselves. Hey, maybe this isn’t enough weight for this exercise. If you can perform hundreds of repetitions in any given exercise you are not using enough resistance. Your abs aren’t any different. Now we have to make an important distinction here. The difference between have solid abdominal muscle with deeply cut grooves and being able to see those muscle you worked so hard to build. Here’s the thing. Everyone has six-pack abs. That’s just the way that the abdominal muscles look. For most people you simply cannot see the abdominal muscles because they are covered by a layer of fat. It doesn’t matter how much you workout your abs. If you have fat on your belly you won’t see the muscles. So while it is important to train your abs or you won’t get those deep grooves that separate the various sections of the abdominal muscles. If your not working to reduce your body fat you will never see all your hard work. A basic rule with fat goes “The first on is the last to go”. For the majority of people, especially men, the first spot that fat deposits itself is on the belly. It goes without saying that your belly is the last to go when you have started losing body fat. This is why great abs are so hard to achieve. Here’s the secret. Well, it’s not really a secret more of a good piece of advice that will get you going in the right direction to having a perfect, ripped mid-section. Rather that waste all your time doing an untold amount of crunches. Do cardio instead and focus on reducing your overall body fat percentage .Before you know it all your hard work will start to pay off. One last thing. When you train your abs train them like any other muscle, with resistance. 10- 12 reps to failure. This will save you a lot of time to hit that treadmill.

Secrets to Getting Washboad Abs

Filed under: How To Get Abs — Tags: , , , — admin @ 1:41 pm December 4, 2009

Washboard abs is the dream of every men and women. This article will help you realize that seemingly impossible dream. Diet rich in cholesterol-there goes the dreamy washboard abs. For flat abs low fat diet is an absolute necessity. If you wish to have washboard abs keep your body fat under control. It is easier said than done. It requires a lot of control and practice.
People aiming for washboard abs should realize that crunch is not the only way to get washboard abs. Typically, people try to do more crunches as a way to get flat abs. But there is a smarter way to get washboard abs. Proper mixture of right kind of exercises will help you get washboard abs.
To get washboard abs do not just rely on crunch alone. Following exercises will help you get flat abs.
• Crunch
• Reverse Crunch
• Bicycle
• Hanging knee lift
Crunch: Crunch is an effective abdominal workout. For better results from crunch, lie down on your back. Place your left foot on your right knee. In this posture lift your shoulders up and try to touch the left knee with your right elbow. Repeat this for the opposite side as well. You can also do this crunch having an exercise ball by the side. That would give better results.
Reverse Crunch: This exercise is the opposite of crunching. In this lower muscles of the abs are tuned. To do this, lie down on your back. Keep your hands on your side. Bend your knees by 90 degrees. Make sure that your upper thighs are perpendicular to your body. In this posture lift your hips and legs off the floor using your abs. This is a risky exercise. So take care and do this very slowly. Nevertheless this exercise is a very effective one and do ensure that this finds a place in your workout chart.
Bicycle: By bicycle exercise we mean twisting and extending your legs alternately. This slow and steady rapidly changing leg movement causes the abdominal muscle to contract thereby helping you get washboard abs. To this bicycle exercise, lie down on your back. Place your hands at the back of your head. Lift your left knee up. And slowly twisting your torso try to touch the left knee with right elbow. Next, while slowly moving down the left leg lift the right knee up. This time, twisting the torso in the opposite direction, try to touch the right knee with left elbow. Repeat this alternately. Do this as many times as possible. Doing this very slowly makes it very effective.
Hanging Knee Lift: This exercise should be done as slowly as possible. During this exercise the upper body should be stable and hip joints should not move at all. Keeping legs, hips and knees straight and stable lift your pelvis, legs and knees all together towards the chest. You may need an overhead pull up bar to do this exercise.
The above exercises, if done regularly, along with low fat diet will help you get the washboard abs that you are dreaming.

Want Strong, Powerful, Sexy Abs?

Filed under: How To Get Abs — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 1:45 am

If you are looking to have powerful, sexy abs, then you have come to the right place for that information. To achieve a six pack or flat stomach you will have to do more than just crunches. You will have to do cardio exercises involving your core, like running, skipping, playing a sport, or something of your choice. And you will have to eat a healthy diet.
Here are some great tips to achieve a strong powerful sexy core to help you with all your other exercises too. You will be able to jump higher, run faster, lift more weight in all your exercises, and on top of that you will look and feel great.
Abdominal Tips:
1. When doing and abdominal exercise you must focus on crunching the abs together. So concentrate on moving your belly button in a line towards chest bone. You will feel a tight squeeze in your abs, but be careful at first, as you can put the muscle into spasm if you aren’t used to it. This is how the abdominals work they crunch, not curl like a traditional sit-up.
2. Take deep breaths and drink cold water in between exercises to help reduce lactic acid build up, and to increase energy.
Abdominal Exercises and Tips:
Dynamic Core Stretch:
Stand up straight with your arms above your head go on your toes and reach up and then lean back sticking your pelvis out you will feel your lower abs tighten. Now come back forward with your arms still over your head and lean forward with your hips without bending your back. Try twisting your body around, but keep your body erect and stretched out, not slouching.
Hanging Leg raises:
This is an advanced exercise that involves more than just the abs, but is a great compound exercise that helps connect the abs with the hip flexors, which is useful for running, kicking, and jumping. So basically hang from a bar, if this is to hard, then use the leg raise stand. Now lift using your hips and pelvis first than lift you legs up, touch the bar if you can. And remember to crunch your abs.
Scissor Crunches:
This is a great total abdominal exercise that will target the entire abs, including the oblique muscles if you put a twist in it, just like with most core exercises. OK, for this on lie on the floor on your back with your legs stretched out and your arms stretched behind your head. Now raise your legs and arms at the same time, bring them up and towards each other as close as you can while focusing on crunching the abs together. For more power, raise you legs and arms together as fast as possible into a crunch position, then lower your legs and arms with control as soon as they are an inch off the ground power them back up, continue until your most powerful rep then stop and rest.
The Bridge/Plank:
Something that most people don’t know is that the abs are more than what you see on the outside, for example a 6 or 8 pack abs. There is also an entire abdominal wall that can be argued is more important to strength than the visual abs. The reason for this is because the interior core protects your vital organs for impact damage. This is why know matter the look of your abs, like a boxer for example, if he/she gets hit hard enough in the mid-section they will bleed from the mouth and/or cause serious internal organ damage, bottom line it’s nasty. So to help protect your insides more, add this to your core routine. And you and do this from different angles, reverse (chest facing up) and on the side too.
Here’s how it works:
Go into a push-up position on the floor; now bend your arms one at a time onto your forearms, after a few seconds you should start to feel you abs tighten to support your body, this is actually strengthening the inner core, try to hold it for at least 30-60 seconds, or work you way up to that. For more of a challenge move your arms further in front of you increasing the stretch in your abs, and back and more resistance. Good Luck!!

Bring Out The Best In Your Abs

Filed under: How To Get Abs — Tags: , — admin @ 1:36 pm November 29, 2009

Most people are in a constant struggle with their abs trying to expose them to the world but always seem to fail. Below we will share a few tips to help you win this battle.
1. CARDIO
Like it or not you can do all the weight training you want with your abs, but this is not going to be enough. You need to up your cardio levels so you start burning fat which in turn will let your abs be more visible. So first tip is to do some cardio like sprinting or guerrilla cardio which was discussed in the previous blog post.
2. DIET
Their is a famous saying “Abs are made in the kitchen, not in the gym”. Without the proper diet you can kiss your chances of good abs good bye. You really do need to keep your carbs low at night, protein high, and sodium low. The basics of a diet shoudl be enough to drop the belly fat and expose the abs.
3. Weighted Abs
Would you do 4 sets of bench press at 50 reps each with just the bar? not to many people would why should you do the same with abs? Add some weight to your exercises to actually build more muscles around the abs. This is already assuming you are on the right diet and cardio levels, but doing abs with weights is a great way to develop the actual abdominal muscles and make them larger and more defined.
4. WATER
When you think you have drank enough, you havent even gotten started. The pros drink more then a gallon of water a day so try and drink as much water as you possibly can. Make it part of your day, this flushes out fat and unwanted toxins from your body.
5. Flexing
When not in the gym, while driving your car, showering, or whatever you do keep your abs tight and flexed. Don’t ever let your stomach hang. Always keep the abs tight and sucked in, this in itself will train your abs to become tighter and can give visibly better results.
6. Shower Time
When in the shower, get some soap and lather it up around your abdominal and love handle sections. Now massage the soap into your abs and love handles vigorously up and down feeling the fat moving. What this does is break down the fat pockets and makes them easier to burn. This is done best before a workout. Haven t you ever seen those “ab creams” and they say to rub them vigorously around your abdominal area for a few minutes? guess what your actually doing, yea the same thing as with the soap ;-)

Sexy Abs – Discover the Best Kept Secret

Filed under: How To Get Abs — Tags: , , , , , — admin @ 1:33 pm November 23, 2009

Here’s the problem. Many abdominal exercises that are recommended to develop the abs are not necessarily the best method to get that sexy abs appearance. This is evidenced by the fact that abdominal exercises are one of the hottest, and yet, most controversial topics in the fitness and exercise industry. And despite the hundreds of ab gadgets, gimmicks, and exercise machines that flood the market, that sexy six-pack abs appearance evades the masses.If you really want flat sexy abs that look like a six pack, losing belly fat is the MOST important factor. To get the sexy abs you desire, you must lose the belly fat that is covering them up. To be honest, you probably already have decent abs. They just happen to be covered up by extra flabby stomach fat.Although most people tend to focus on abdominal exercises to make their stomach flatter and more like a six-pack, you will be better served by performing exercises that will help lose the belly fat. This can be accomplished by focusing the majority of your training time with special combinations of high intensity full-body, multi-joint exercises. In other words, exercises that work the largest portions of the body at once.Exercises that work the large muscle groups of the legs, upper and lower back, and chest give you the biggest metabolic bang for your buck in terms of abdominal fat loss. Some examples are lunges, squats and deadlifts. Completed in high intensity super-set, tri-set, or circuit fashion, these exercises will give you the best fat-burning and metabolism boosting response from your workouts.When it comes to abdominal-specific exercises, resistance is key. Steer clear of performing hundreds of crunches and other meaningless abs exercises that barely give your abdominals enough resistance to work against. Don’t waste your time with exercises that you can do more than 20 or 25 reps. That is a clear sign that you are not doing an exercise that provides enough resistance to the abs. You want enough resistance from abs exercises to get you down into the 6-15 rep range per set.Generally, the higher resistance abdominal exercises involve raising/curling the legs and pelvis either upward or inward closer to the trunk. A couple great examples of these higher resistance abdominal exercises are hanging leg raises or knee raises using a “pelvic curl up,” or an exercise like lying hip thrusts.One of the best kept secrets for flat sexy abs is to focus on exercises that lose belly fat. Core body exercises that work the largest muscle groups result in the biggest fat burning gains. And, always remember that when it comes to abdominal-specific exercises, higher resistance exercises that involve curling/raising the legs and pelvis upward or inward develop the abs to the best extent possible.

Best Lower Ab Workout- Exercises That Works Your Lower Abs

Filed under: How To Get Abs — Tags: , , , , , , , , — admin @ 1:34 am

Trying to work on your lower ab can be difficult and frustrating.  Especially when you’re not sure which exercises to do.  So, what I’m going to do is share with you the best lower ab workout.  That way, you’ll be able to have a great set of abs.The best lower ab workout is:1.  Leg raises.  This exercise can be done with you lying on the ground.  You’ll start off by letting your legs lay flat on the ground and then lift them straight up.  This will work your lower ab, which will really help you get a great stomach.You should do 4 sets of 15 reps.2.  Full crunches.  These can be done with a machine at your local gym or with you lying on the ground.  Full crunches consist of doing reverse crunches and regular crunches simultaneously at the same time.  It’s not as hard as it sounds.  You’ll do a regular crunch while at the same time, lifting your butt off the ground.You should feel your abs tightened from this movement.  You should do 3 sets of 20 reps with this exercise.3.  Hanging knee raises.  This is another exercise that’s part of the best lower ab workout.  Hanging knee raises can be done by hanging on a pull up bar at the gym.  While you’re hanging, you should lift your knees straight up.  You can do 2 sets of 20 reps.4.  reverse crunches.  Another exercise in the best lower ab workout is reverse crunches.  As stated above, all you have to do is lie on the ground in the same position as you would do a regular crunch, and lift your butt off the ground.  Do 3 sets of 10 reps.This is a lower ab workout that will help you hit the lower part of your abdomen muscles.  If you are serious about getting your stomach in shape and looking good, be sure to use the tips above.  It’ll help you get the best looking mid section.

Do the Abs Best Exercise That Works for you

Filed under: How To Get Abs — Tags: , , — admin @ 1:34 pm November 17, 2009

One of the major areas of concern whether you’re a health buff or not is achieving flat abs. The truth is it is not easy and even getting a six-pack abs can be very frustrating. Many of those have tried all the recommended abs best exercise from all source of information. In the internet alone, you can find thousands of links about this topic. There are more than enough of the types of abdominal exercises to choose from.

Why does it have to be the abs? This is because the abs is where the human body stores excess fats. Every person on earth needs fat. But to have too much of it is unhealthy. So the never ending pursuit of getting rid of unwanted fats in your body becomes a big deal. Now the argument is that if there are excessive fats in your system, you have to get rid of it.

There are several kinds of abs exercise claiming that these are the abs best exercise. The truth is, not all of them may work for you. In fact, you don’t need to try all of them. Just choose the ones that you think are easier and manageable. Read the step by step methods in each exercise to know which ones are easier. The bottom line is to get those muscles working in your tummy.

There may be countless exercises to choose from but some are recommended as more effective for you than others. Surprisingly, the traditional crunch isn’t the abs best exercise at all. Below are three most recommended but you may only need one or two to go.

- The Captain’s Chair. This is performed by relaxing your arms with two horizontal supports in a frame. An improvisation is by fastening these supports to a wall. Of course it follows that these must be able to carry more than just your weight. Then you bend your legs up to your abdominal area. This is similar to how you would do a leg raise with folded knees, except that you are doing this vertically straight up. Check out some websites on how this is done properly.

- The Bicycle Exercise. Specific abdominal muscles are targeted when doing this exercise. Generally this is done by lying face up with your body positioned as how the traditional crunch is done. When doing this, you will be moving your legs just like how you would ride a bicycle. Hence its name. This exercise is also considered an abs best exercise because particularly works for the rectus abdominis and the oblique muscles.

- The Exercise Ball Crunch. Another effective abs workout is this one. Although you need to buy an exercise ball to do this. It’s a flexible rubber sphere that looks like a very huge balloon. You do the exercise by resting your lower back and have your feet rest on the floor. Then you do the abs crunch. This type also targets the rectus abdominis. A lot of pictures are also available for better illustration.

People aim for six-packs. The sad thing is, if we don’t get it instantly, we get discouraged and give up. Flattening your abs requires discipline including your lifestyle. Yes, that is correct. Your lifestyle and that includes getting your habit for the abs best exercise regularly with proper diet. And while it is true that it requires hard work and the right mind set, all of these exercises only work if done repetitively. Great abs never happens overnight.

Flat Abs

Contrary to what many people think, flat abs are not a myth, nor are they something that only the elite of fit people can have. Everyone can get flat abs, as long as they conform to certain standards in their lives for them to be able to achieve this.

If exercising is the bane of your existence, or if you would prefer to be flayed alive than be seen in a gym or doing anything that remotely resembles exercise, then you might find that it’s slightly difficult to get the flat abs that you are dreaming about.

However, on the other hand, if you don’t mind the rigors of exercise and if you are alright with sweat dripping down your face and your muscles aching from here to eternity because you just had a good day getting down and dirty with your ab exercises, then there is probably hope for you yet.

You will find it easier to get into the groove of exercising and eating healthy in order to get your flat abs, because make no mistake, you will need to exercise and you will need to change your diet to something that is remotely resembling healthy into order to get flat abs.

That said, if all you want is to lose that belly pooch, and not necessarily to have flat abs, you should be able to significantly cut down on the ab exercises that you have to do, but remember this is only if you want to lose the belly pooch, not if you want to achieve great looking flat abs.

To achieve this unfortunately, you will need to exercise and you will need to eat in a healthy manner, and this includes the amount of alcohol you imbibe on a daily or weekly basis as well. Once you have come to terms with all of this of course, you have the option of getting yourself down to your doctor and getting a routine physical done, or you also have the option of just winging things and taking it slowly to begin with. The choice is entirely in your hands.

Then the next thing that you need to do is to find an ab exercise routine that will suit your physical fitness level as well as your goals. If you want flat abs, then you definitely won’t have to do as many exercises as you would if you wanted six pack abs. And when this is all sorted out, you can then set about the task of getting your flat abs today, without any more delay.

The 2 Worst Mistakes People Do When Training for Six Pack Abs

Filed under: How To Get Abs — Tags: , , — admin @ 1:29 pm November 14, 2009

Abdominal exercises are among the most popular, and still, most controversial themes in the fitness and exercise industry. A huge number of ab devices, gimmicks, and exercise machines have flooded the market for man and woman looking for sexier and flatter abs… that ideal 6-pack abs look that we all are looking for.

The issue is that a huge percentage of the ab exercises that are recommended all over the web, and in news papers, and so on, are not always the most effective route to get that 6-pack abs look. After all, the most important aspect for perfect looking 6 pack abdominals is removing the extra stomach fat that is hindering their apperance. The fact is, most people already have more than ok abs underneath, still the 6-pack abs are just covered up by all of that extra flabby stomach fat.

Instead of spending that much time on ab training routines to make your abs flatter and more like a 6-pack, you will lose much more body fat by spending the majority of your training time with special combinations of high intensity full-body, multi-joint exercises. The best exercises for working that ab fat are the exercises that works the largest portions of the body at once.

Work-outs that work the larger muscle groups of the legs, upper and lower back, and chest give you the biggest metabolic return of investment in terms of ab fat loss. Combining these different types of big multi-joint exercises in high intensity super-set, tri-set, or circuit fashion gives you the most effective fat-burning and metabolism boosting response from your exercises.

Now when it comes to ab-specific exercises, another mistake several people make is without limits pumping constantly with hundreds of crunches and other different abs exercises that does not even give your abdominals much resistance to work against. If you want to start improve your abdominals to the best extent possible, don’t spend all you’re time with exercises that you can do more than 30 or 35 times… That means you are definitely not doing an exercise that gives your body enough resistance to the abdominals. Work outs that give you enough challange to get you down into the 6-15 rep area per set works great for the abs.

5 Must Do Abs Crunches for a Killer Six Pack

Filed under: How To Get Abs — Tags: , — admin @ 1:41 am November 13, 2009

There are two contrary opinions among the people, about abs crunches. One group of people says that it works in developing a killer six-pack, while other group says that it does not work. The genuine answer to it is that it depends upon many factors such as genetics, stress, slow metabolism, and improper digestion, eating late night, poor posture. If you do not give optimum attention towards these factors and try to exercise your abs for a killer six-pack, you will hardly get any noticeable results. If you have a habit to eat late night, it will result in growth of fat over your abdomen. Still if you try to shape your abdomen by doing abs crunches, then how can you expect to get desired results?
Here are some types of abs crunches, if done regularly along with proper diet, will surely help you in developing a killer six pack.
The Basic Crunch:
The basic crunch is helpful for upper area of the abdomen and abs. The procedure to do the basic abs crunch is as under.
1. First of all lye down on you back.
2. Bend your knees and place your feet on the floor such that toes come near to your hips. This provides support to lower back. Now place your right hand on your left shoulder and left hand on your right shoulder such that both the hands make cross over your chest.
3. Now slowly try to rise up your upper half part of the body, simultaneously pressing your lower back against the floor. Exhale slowly, when you reach the peak of the crunch and when you start to inhale lower your back down slowly.
4. Repeat the above step No. 3 for about 20 to 25 times and take rest for about 1 minute. Then perform the crunches for about 3 to 4 sets by taking rest of 1 minute after every set, this will be sufficient for the day. But remember not to try to do excessive abs crunches in want of quick results, because after doing first 25 to 30 repetitions you will feel lack of energy and most probably you will not perform the crunches correctly.
Initially after doing 20 to 25 controlled and perfect movements you will feel you abs muscles working. If this is not the case then surely you are not performing the movements as ideally required. Your movements should be focused on your middle section, alternatively if your neck feels worked, then you should note that you are not performing the abs crunches properly.
The Reverse Crunch:
Lower portion of abdominal is worked by this exercise.
1. Firstly lie down on your back, place your hand straight along your body, touching the floor and palms facing towards floor.
2. Keep your back and head straight and slowly raise your legs up in the air, slightly bend your knees and cross your legs.
3. Now try to raise your hips off the floor for about 2 inches and try to keep this position without falling down. Stay in this position for 3-4 seconds and perform abs crunches, while keeping your hands, back and neck on the floor.
4. Lastly lower your hips slowly back and try more repetitions, do not forget to take rest of 60 seconds between each set of 20 to 25 abs crunches.
Cable side crunch:
Get the cable to highest position, now grab handle with one hand and rest the other hand on the grabbing hand. Perform crunch only between waist and lower chest, while keeping your arm stationary. The movement caused will be very small. Perform three sets of 10-15 repetitions.
Oblique Decline Crunches:
On a decline bench, lock your feet at the top and lie down inclined. Keep your left hand over left ear and right hand on your right hip. Now slowly raise upper part of your body and twist towards the right. Keep your abs tight and your movement should be controlled and slow. Try to touch your left elbow to your right knee. After that, slowly release your body to the starting position. Now perform similar set on right side.
Oblique Crunches:
Lie down on the floor, bend you knees and keep your feet flat on the floor. Keep your both hands on the back of head and elbows must be projecting outwards. Now perform abs crunches in oblique direction trying to touch your left elbow to your right knee. Slowly come to initial position and repeat.
You can get killer six packs by doing above five abs crunches. But remember if you do not take care of diet, merely doing abs crunches will not give you noticeable results. Also, don’t expect the results by tomorrow as it is difficult to burn your well earned belly fat in single day. Just concentrate hard and the day will come when you will have the sexy flat stomach.

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