A flat abdominal is
every bodies dream. Abdominal muscles consists of upper, lower and side oblique,
and each of the area is to be trained with different form of exercises.
The
simple 2 step process to gaining six pack abs is to strengthen
your abdominal muscles and
lose
body fat. The
concept is simple, but putting it into action is not. It will take dedication,
willpower, patience and time to get a six pack but in the end, the effort is
well worth it. Here is some info on the process.
here are a few tips to
get a six pack great abs.
Build
Muscle
1.Do Crunches. Lie on
the floor (with or without a mat). Do not place both hands behind your head but
rather cross your arms in front of your chest. Placing both hands behind your
head can cause lower back problems in the long run as it places unnecessary
stress on that part of your body. Draw in your abdomen to your spine while
inhaling through your nose. Now raise your upper torso towards your knees while
keeping your back straight, using strictly your abdominal muscles. As soon as
you begin lifting off the floor, exhale through your mouth, using a "Haaaaah"
sound, ending with a gasp at the top of your crunch. Then pause for a second and
exhale the last bit of air from your diaphragm while flexing your abs. The
proper breathing and flexing make all the difference. Now lower back down slowly
and controlled while inhaling through your nose, just until your shoulder blades
touch the ground. Do not let your head touch the ground and repeat.
2. Do Sit Ups. Lie on the floor, feet
on the floor, knees up and hands behind your head or crossed on your chest. Sit
all the way up, lifting your lower back off the floor along with your shoulder
blades. Lower yourself down. Repeat. Once this becomes relatively easy for you
(i.e. you can do a quite a bit with ease) start adding more challenges. Find an
incline bench or do these on an exercise ball. Once you "graduate" from that, do
weighted sit ups. Hold a weight on your chest while you do these. As these
become easier, hold heavier and heavier weights. You might also try lifting your
feet off the ground while doing the sit ups or alternating the leg in the air,
like pretending to pedal while sitting up. If your hands are behind your head,
bring your left knee up to touch your right elbow and then your right knee to
the left elbow.
3. Do Leg Lifts. Lie on the floor, legs
straight out, hands at your sides. Lift your legs straight up (not bending your
knees at all) until they're at a ninety degree angle (or close). Lower your legs
and repeat without letting your legs touch the floor. For more challenge there
are equipment at most gyms that will allow you raise yourself up using your arms
as support and dangle your legs. You can perform leg lifts there too. If you're
using this piece of equipment, you can make it easier by just raising your knees
to your chest. It's more difficult to raise your legs to a horizontal position
with your legs straight. This helps firm up the lower abdomen. If you're truly a
monster, try doing leg lifts with a medicine ball hanging from your feet. Or
hang from a pull up bar and raise your legs in front of you all the way up to
the bar. Still too easy?...
4. Do Jackknife Sit Ups. Lie down flat on the
floor. Place your hands on the ground to your sides for balance; you can pick
them up as you get used to the movement. Simultaneously raise your knees and
torso so that your knees and face meet on an imaginary line extending from your
pelvis to the ceiling. You should be able to kiss your knees at the top of the
motion. Your legs will naturally fold bringing your feet towards you hips, much
like a jackknife. Lie back down (i.e. "spread out") and repeat. Place a weight
between your feet when you think you can handle it. What's that?
More?
5. Do V-ups. Lie on the floor, legs
straight out, hands on the floor but this time extended out over your head.
Simultaneously raise legs and torso. Don't bend your knees! What kind of V would
it be if you bend your knees? Reach with your hands toward the raised feet.
Touch your feet if possible (might require some flexibility). Relax, return to
starting position and repeat. Add weight between feet to match your
taste.
6. Train Your Oblique Muscles. It's not as important
to work on your oblique muscles at first, but eventually you'll want to start
working these too. These are the muscles to either side of your stomach. There
are multiple ways to do this and anything that includes twisting your torso
against a resistance counts. There are twisting machines at gyms, you can twist
while you do sit-ups, you can do side bends, you can twist side to side with a
medicine ball in hand, etc. Be aware though, that many beginners tend to have
weak oblique compared to their abs (it simply isn't used as much in daily life)
so go easy on the sides at first.
7. Other stuff Since it is,
literally, the center of your body there are many other tricks you can use to
train your abs, and some of the other movements will more or less involve your
abs. Including every abdominal exercise in existence would make this article
painfully long and new methods are being developed constantly. Now that you've
made up your mind about a washboard mid-section, get creative! Find new ways to
crunch, bend and twist in your daily life. Some possibilities
include:
8. Use a stability ball. Do your crunches on the
ball to introduce instability to your workout, which will improve your balance
too. There are also lots of core exercises that can be done with a stability
ball.
Duck and twist during
your daily routine. Reach with your left hand to things on your right and visa
versa. If you feel like turning around to face something, see if you can do it
with keeping your hips in place and twisting at the waist (warning: awkward when
talking to other people, use only against inanimate objects). While walking or
standing, pretend that something is coming toward you and you have to duck to
get out of the way. Do this as often as you are comfortable or at times when it
won't look weird. You can bend forward from the hips or, if you're really into
it, bend at the knees too and really "sink" out of the way.
Here
are some extras to add variety to your abs workout and could give you amazing
results
Body
Tightness
1.- Begin by lying on the
floor on your back, with your arms above your head and legs straight out. Then
pull your arms down by your side and lift your legs an inch or two above the
ground. Your back should be the only part of your body touching the floor, and
your lower back should be rounded and in contact with the floor. Do not let your
lower back arch and come up off the floor; this would place harmful stress on
your back. Hold this position for a set amount of time (between 15 and 30
seconds). Rest and repeat for the same number of seconds as before.
Tuck-ups
2.- Begin in a body
tightened position with your arms above your head. Use your stomach muscles to
lift your chest and pull your knees to your chest simultaneously. Drop back into
a body tightened, without touching your arms or legs to the ground.
Lose Fat
Lift
Weights.
The more muscle your body has, the more calories your body burns, even at rest.
Many people are afraid of getting huge due to weight lifting. This is
meaningless. You will NOT gain a lot of mass if you're not taking in a lot of
calories as well. Also keep in mind that most of the huge people you see on TV
or in print achieve that state by going on high protein and high carb diets.
They increase their caloric intake specifically to bulk up. So the fear of
bulking up should NOT be a reason to not lift weights. As a rule of thumb, the
larger the muscle the more energy it will burn to sustain itself. Therefore the
most effective muscle groups to work for fat loss are large muscle groups:
thighs and hamstrings, the back, and the chest. You can also lift your body
weight without going to a gym, through pushups, sit ups, chin ups, etc.
Do
Cardio. No
matter how muscular your abs are that six pack isn't going to show if you cover
it up with a layer of fat. Running, biking, swimming, stair climbing, jumping
rope, tennis, volleyball, dancing, squash, or any other activity that gets you
moving and keeps you moving is a great
way to burn fat. The key is to stay in motion for an extended period of time.
Diet Tips
Keep
Metabolism Steady. Eating one small meal (such as a potato, a salad, etc.) every
three hours that you are awake will not speed up your metabolism, rather, it
will keep it going. Your metabolism goes and slows with your food intake and
eating something small every three hours will keep that metabolism burning
calories and will help you lose weight.
Eat
Smaller Dinners. Cut down
on the size of your dinner. If you're hungry, snack on fruits or other healthy,
low calorie snacks. Large dinners tend to hurt a fat loss process because most
people aren't very active after dinner. This is the basis for advice along the
lines of "don't eat anything within X hours before going to bed". The claim that
your entire dinner is stored as fat isn't entirely true (the process is more
complicated than that) but the fact you don't move after dinner is enough to
hurt your cause. You can offset this by eating a larger lunch or snacking
healthily before dinner. Fresh fruits or vegetables are excellent choices for
curbing appetite not to mention other health benefits. A handful of nuts might
do the same. Drink a large glass of water before sitting at the
table.
Eat
More Fiber. Most
people don't get enough fiber. The recommended amount is actually not that much
if you eat a healthy diet. "Fiber foods" include whole grains, fruits and
vegetables, and nuts and seeds. Other options are fiber supplements.
Eat
Breakfast. Many
people skip breakfast because they don't have time for it. Keep this in mind:
You don't have time to skip breakfast, it's simply too valuable to skip. The
fact that skipping breakfast messes up your concentration and other mental
functions is beyond the scope of this article. The harm of skipping breakfast
from a weight loss perspective is it makes you eat a huge lunch since your body
hasn't had anything in the past 12 (or more) hours. When you eat a huge lunch
you get that after meal drowsiness so now you're both unproductive and inactive.
Cereals don't take much time to prepare and consume, and most of them are very
healthy nowadays. If you are extremely pressed for time, consider grabbing a box
of breakfast bars or a smoothie and throwing one in your bag when you leave for
work or school. Some breakfast bars out there are also excellent sources of
fiber.
Eat
Smaller Meals More Frequently. This
helps raise your metabolism too. It's not easy to do though since it's a
relatively big change to most people's routines. But it doesn't have to be a
full blown meal, simply eat often but less. A jar of nuts in the office will do
just fine, grab a handful when you feel like it. Most fruits can last for a
couple days without refrigeration, and if you have a refrigerator at the office,
make use of it.
Drink
More Water Everyday. Many places suggest 8
cups of water a day. It sounds like an absurd amount of water, but actually, you
can drink tea without sugar to make up some of the quota. In fact tea,
especially green tea, rev up your "metabolism" (actually cause a temporary
increase in calories burned). For fat loss purposes, consuming water instead of
the other junk will keep you away from the carbs and curb your appetite.
Needless to say there are many benefits of water. 70% of your body is made of
it!
Tips
1. It may
help to use a record-keeper or plan book for your exercise program. Exercise
journals are fantastic for this purpose because as you enter daily information
in the journal, you´re putting together a complete record that can be referred
back to in the future.
2. If you
feel you need to, ease into the changes in your lifestyle. Start eating
breakfast. If you have difficulty with this, start with a couple glasses of
water or a large cup of coffee right when you wake up. It'll go down easy and
prepare your stomach to get back to work. Cut the amount of dinners little by
little. For the exercises, start slow and increase pace and/or repetitions as
you are comfortable. Attempting lifestyle changes in a drastic, sudden manner
can backfire. Do what you can but don't sell yourself short.
3. Make a
photo diary of your body but don't take pictures too often, maybe once a month.
Don't study your pictures intensely since you might not get motivated if you
don't see a difference. If you are consistent in your diet & exercise you
should see changes monthly. Keep in mind that you won't see changes in the
mirror everyday since they will be very small improvements.
4. Unless
you are watching your weight for another reason, ignore the reading on the
scale. You may be decreasing your body fat but your weight may stay the same (or
even increase) as you build muscle. Muscle tissue is denser than fat so it will
be heavier than the same volume of fat. Water weight can also vary your readings
by a surprisingly large amount.
5. Try to
keep a steady eating routine. It will throw your body off if you skip a meal and
starve yourself only to stuff your face later. Avoid such situations as much as
possible.
For added
variety you may look into using a stability ball and/or a medicine ball during
your ab workout. Doing crunches on the stability ball will improve your balance,
or you may use it to get a little more flexion in your abs. The medicine ball
has many different uses, the simplest one being added weight.
Warnings
1. This
exercise regimen will only work for a select few individuals. For some people,
this exercise advice will actually provide the opposite desired effects. For
example, for people who have a few extra pounds around the belly and start this
from scratch, they are actually more likely to look larger in the belly for a
period of time since they are putting on muscle beneath their fat at first. You
may want to begin for a significant period of time by doing more cardio to lose
fat all over the body. Doing specific muscle exercises, unfortunately does not
remove fat from that specific area of the body. Additionally, focusing solely on
the abs can produce an imbalance in the body and may cause back problems where
there were none before or exacerbate any existing problems
2. As with
any exercise program, consult your doctor before making major changes in your
workout routine if you have medical problems. Increase loads slowly. Being eager
is great but setting unrealistic goals isn't going to help you in the long
run.
3. If you
have a bad back be especially careful when doing abdominal exercises. You can
injure it or aggravate any injuries you may have. Always stretch after warming
up (a short jog or brisk walk is a good way to warm up) and after
exercising.
4. Don't
starve yourself. If you go hungry for an extended period of time your metabolism
will slow down. The body, thinking that no food is available tries to make the
best of what it has and goes into power-saving mode. Not only that, but starving
yourself makes it very easy to go on eating binges, building up your desire for
high-calorie foods.
5. Fiber
also acts like a mild laxative. Be careful if you eat a lot of fiber. It can
also cause some gas if you're not used to taking in so much fiber. If you
increase your fiber dosage by a lot, increase your water intake too. Excessive
fiber with little water can result in digestive problems.
6. Habitual
snacking on unhealthy foods is often done almost subconsciously. Many people do
this and don't realize how many calories they take in. They insist they eat very
little (which is true during their major meals), but they don't realize that
their snacking is making them gain weight or stopping them from losing weight.
Avoid buying high sugar snacks and instead buy healthy, low calorie snacks. A
way to prevent unhealthy snacking is to write down everything you eat in a day.
As you watch the list grow you will be inclined to put that donut
down.
7. Be wary
of ab machines that you may see on TV. You can get a great ab workout just by
using the floor. Remember that it's not the exercise that will give you the six
pack. It's the combination of strength exercises and fat loss. Playing more
athletic sports, weight lifting, and cardio exercises are millions of times more
effective for fat loss than using an exercise machine. If you feel you need to
use those machines, a gym membership will likely suit you much
better.
8. Supplements
can be useful, but they are just what they advertise themselves to be;
supplements. There is no magic pill to make you lose weight with no work. There
are some supplements out there that can help you lose
weight by increasing your metabolism or by helping you curb your appetite, but
you still have to work. Most tend to be "snake oil" and will not really give you
any results while costing you great deals of money. And remember, even if they
DO help, all supplements still require the consumer to watch their diet and
increase their exercise. A simple multivitamin/mineral pill is likely all that
most people will need.
If you
are already skinny, but simply don't have the abdominal muscle that you want,
passively exercising while doing other things can help a great deal. If you
spend a long time in a sitting position, try continuously clenching your
stomach. Get in the habit of doing this for hours at a time and you may be
surprised at its effectiveness.
9. Sit ups
can be bad for your back. They have caused many lower back problems and are not
recommended by most doctors. A good alternative to sit ups is to lay on your
back, lift your feet in the air as high as you can reach them, and lift your
butt off the floor instead. The best results come when you do them slow and
tighten your abs (and even butt). When you lower your legs do not let your butt
touch the ground completely, then repeat. This exercise conditions, tightens,
and hardens all the same muscles as a sit up when used with crunches as
well.
Dear friends hope you
enjoy it and will benefit from it. So happy exercising . For any further
clarification do contact me or email me at fitness.trainner@gmail.com
