Importance of Warming Up Muscles to Get Sexy Flat Stomach and 6 Pack Abs

                

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To get that flat tummy and 6 pack abs you are pursuing, you will need to implement
proper warm up and muscle stretching.

Important: Please consult your doctor before doing any fitness routine, especially
if you have heart, high blood pressure, lung conditions etc.

A gradual warm up is very important before any exercise routine. We should not
confuse warm up with stretching.

The difference between warming up and stretching?

Warm up - increases your heart rate and it brings blood to and increases your
tissue temperature. When your tissues are warmed up, you can then do stretching.
It will be more effectively and safely.

Stretching - Helps to loosen the joints and helps with flexibility and strength.
It is important to warm up and then stretch before exercising and can help prevent
injuries. It will also reduce muscle soreness.

Safety Tips

* It is import to always make sure that your body is properly warmed up before
you participate with any exercise or strenuous activity.

* If you encounter any discomfort or pain rather consult a medical practitioner.

* It is a good idea to stretch at the end of your warm-up and after you are finished
exercising, to help prevent stiff and sore muscles.

* Avoid stretching of cold muscle(s), since it can lead to injuries.

* Proper posture is always good to have. A awkward back angle or position can cause
discomfort.

* Drink water to avoid dehydration.

How to warm up:

Gradually increasing your heart rate, body temperature and breathing rate. When
your body is warmed up you will begin to feel warm and start to sweat. Start the
warm up lightly and gradually increase the intensity.

Your joints also need to be warmed up. Try jumps, knee lifts, squats, trunk rotations,
bending, arm circles and side steps.

Warm up for approximately 10 min.

How to stretch:

* A stretch should be done after a warm up, because the muscles will still be
cold.

* Focus on the muscles that you will be using.

Stretch for approximately 5 min.

After you have done a proper warm up and stretching routine you can now start
training the muscles you want to focus on. In our case it will be the abdominal
muscles.

As we can see that proper warm up and stretching are important, to get a sexy
flat stomach and six pack abs.

Lawrence Carelse, author of fitness articles.

Owner of http://www.6pack.co.za

Abs: How Often Should You Work Your Abs?

                

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How important is it to train the abs frequently if your goal is “visible abs”?

There is no shortage of opinions on this topic. People can succeed (and fail) with all sorts of abdominal training programs. Besides, great abs have been found on many people that train them religiously each day, but better abs have been found on athletes that do no formal abdominal training at all!

The most important factor in developing eye-catching abdominal muscles (the “6-pack”) is decreasing the body fat in that area, plain and simple. As for training techniques, almost everyone should train this area as you would any muscle group. Why spend 20 minutes per day doing endless crunches when 5-10 minutes every other day (or less!) will accomplish the same results? Only athletes (or back pain rehabilitation patients) may need additional abdominal work to assist their core stability in sport (or everyday function).

While most individuals in the gym believe that daily, high-volume training is optimal, there is nothing special about the abdominal muscles to suggest that a greater training frequency is required. Muscle biopsies have determined the rectus abdominis to be composed of 46% slow-twitch fibers, not unlike the vastus lateralis of the quadriceps (Johnson et al., 1972). As mentioned earlier, a more important aspect in developing a well-muscled midsection that can be shown off at the beach, is the reduction of as much body fat as possible.

To be precise, in order to have visible abs you must decrease your body fat to 10% or less. Test your body fat monthly. Have the same skilled professional do the testing each time in the same manner under the same conditions (i.e. same time of day, pre-workout, same day of the week, same diet pre-test). You would be surprised how small fluctuations in these variables can influence the outcome of body fat estimation tests.

Fortunately, the greatest body fat reductions are not achieved through multiple sets of high repetition abdominal exercises and therefore there is no need to waste your precious time performing endless sets of abdominal crunches. In fact, your time is better off spent including compound resistance exercises (exercise using many of the body’s large muscle groups; i.e. the squat, bench press, pull-ups, deadlifts, etc) and performing strategic anaerobic interval and aerobic training.

When you perform compound exercises and interval training you will realize that more muscles are working and more metabolic effort is necessary in comparison to a simple abdominal crunch. Remember that when you head back to the gym!

Compound exercises should be the best choice for helping to maintain muscle mass while shedding body fat. Anaerobic interval training promotes the expenditure of energy (fat) long after you have left the gym, thus helping to shed the body fat while you are no longer exercising. Aerobic exercise is beneficial for individuals with a lot of fat to lose (i.e. if you test at greater than 15% body fat). However, if you only have a little fat to lose before the muscle stands out, then dietary manipulations and more anaerobic training (intervals and resistance training) are the priority changes.

As for specific abdominal training recommendations, isolated abdominal training 1-3 times per week is sufficient. Abdominal training should be brief and to the point (i.e. 2 exercises, a handful of sets, and a high-intensity of training). This will require passing on the basic lying abdominal crunch and instead use exercises that incorporate resistance. Like any other muscle group, the abdominals can be trained in a rep range of 6-15 per set. This will help build optimal abdominal strength for sport and daily function and will be of greater benefit in attaining abdominal musculature “definition”.

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit http://www.TurbulenceTraining.com

Nice Abs - 3 Killer Secrets for Stellar Abs

                

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Are you looking for the best way to get nice abs?

Getting nice abs can be a difficult task if you are not using the right tools.

When most people try to get nice abs, they try to do it by doing hundreds of crunches and by crash dieting. This approach is sure to end up with a lot of frustration and very few results.

Getting nice abs requires a very specific approach that is probably not what you expected. Nice abs do not happen overnight. If you really want nice abs, you will have to put in the time and effort to make it happen.

Here are some guidelines for what is takes to really get nice abs:

1. Decrease your overall body fat percentage.

This is the most important part of getting nice abs! You might great abs, but if they are under a layer of abdominal fat then you will never see them.

Lowering your body fat percentage is an absolutely crucial part of getting nice abs.

For men, you will need a body fat percentage of <10. For women, you will need a body fat percentage of <14.

Getting nice abs by lowering your overall body fat can be done by taking the right approach to diet and a specific type of exercise.

2. The right food choices for nice abs.

In order to lower your body fat percentage to get nice abs you have to make good food choices. This can be accomplished by following these guidelines:

Decrease your overall number of calories.

Depending on your body size and caloric needs, this will be different for each person. However, the general rule remains the same. If you eat less food, you will decrease your overall number of calories and be on the way to getting nice abs!

Eat 4-6 small meals per day.

This is an important step to getting nice abs because it helps to regulate your blood sugar. When you eat a big meal, your blood sugar spikes. Your body responds by releasing more insulin, which then stores the excess blood sugar as body fat.

Consume high quality protein, complex carbs, and healthy fats.

Eating chicken, fish, turkey, etc. are all great sources of hgh quality protein.

Complex carbs are great for getting nice abs because they require extra energy during digestion. Simple carbs (also known as high glycemic) are broken down very easily and cause your body to release more insulin to stores the excess as fat.

You can find healthy fats (omega 3's) in a lot of fish, which is also a great source of high quality protein.

As you can see, having a great diet is key to lower your body fat and have nice abs!

3. Total body workouts.

Instead of doing lots of crunches and hoping nice abs will be the result, try doing total body strength training workouts.

Total body workouts should include lots of multijoint exercises for your chest, back and legs. Doing core work is also a great idea. More core work will not get you nice abs all by itself, but it will help your body develop a strong base.

Total body strength training for nice abs is important because the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. This is also known as increasing your metabolism!

So instead of trying to do lots of crunches to get nice abs, try doing more intense total body strength training instead.

If you follow these guidelines, you will find that getting nice abs isn't so hard afterall. It just takes some hard work and dedication!

Want to Reprint this Article on Nice Abs?

Reprinting is welcome as long as the content, links, author bio, and resource box are all included and remain completely unchanged.

For a FREE 47 page ebook titled How to Fire Up Your Metabolism and Lose Fat Permanently, go to Nice Abs and learn some killer fat loss tips.

Tom is also the author of http://www.ScamFreeFatLossProducts.com, where he offers independent reviews of high quality fat loss products.

Tom Gifford is a Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) through the American Council on Exercise and also holds a bachelor's degree in Kinesiology (Exercise Science). Tom specializes in effective fat loss training for people who have tried all the fad diets and exercise gimmicks

Tighten Up Your Abs & Lose Your Love Handles

                

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The number one way to lose your love handles and get great looking abs is through making changes to your diet. Yes, it really comes down to what you put in your mouth and the main focus should be eating clean nutritious food while eliminating all the empty calories from your nutrition plan. Along with a clean diet, you will also need to implement a cardio training routine into your overall program. I recommend a high intensity cardio routine because it burns major calories and only takes 20 minutes per workout! Remember, everyone already has a 6-pack of washboard abs. Its just usually hiding under a layer of body fat that's ruining having a sculpted midsection!

In terms of diet, I would recommend focusing on lean protein sources (chicken breast, turkey breast, egg whites) and lean fibrous carbs (broccoli, mushrooms, squash, zucchini). A quick daily menu could consist of:

8am:
1 chicken breast (8 ounce), 1 cup of steamed brown rice, 1 small salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

11am:
turkey sandwich with whole wheat bread (8 ounces of lean turkey breast, lettuce, tomato, mustard) (NO cheese or mayo).

2pm:
8 ounces of top round steak, 1 cup of broccoli, 1 cup of non-fat cottage cheese

5pm:
egg white omelet (8 egg whites, mushrooms), 2 pieces of whole wheat toast (NO butter)

8pm:
8 ounces of fish (salmon, catfish, trout, halibut, etc.), 2 cups steamed zucchini, 1 small salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing

In terms of a specific movement, here is my favorite exercise for the love handles:

http://www.shapefit.com/abs-exercises-air-bike.html

Allow your abs to recover for at least 24 hours before working them again and stick with around 5 sets of 25-40 reps per set.

Kris created ShapeFit.com to provide quality health and fitness information to people from all over the world. He has an extensive background in strength training, nutrition and wellness planning. ShapeFit.com currently provides over 2,000 pages of free health and fitness content to over 300,000 visitors every month. ShapeFit.com provides numerous diet and exercise articles on building lean muscle, burning body fat, increasing energy levels and living a healthy lifestyle. Some of the fitness tools include weight loss diets, muscle building workouts, and weight loss advice

Bodybuilding - Rock Hard Abs

                

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Abs are not only about the washboard stomachs we have grown accustom to seeing on the professional bodybuilding stage. There's a lot more to it then meets the eye. The actual anatomical make up includes the Rectus abdonomis, the external abdominal oblique muscles, serratus anterior and the internal abdominal oblique. Most of us tend to train our abs as a finishing touch on our overall appearance but we forget the main function of the abdominals. The abdominals are responsible for permitting our bodies to bend forward and back as well as to the side. Their main function is keeping our posture but they also aid in keeping our body stable when partaking in different activities and of course in both upper body and lower body lifts while bodybuilding.

By fully understanding the functions of our abdominals we can then implement effective ways of training them. As you read earlier our abdominals allow us to "flex our trunks" or in other words bend forward. The best way to effectively train them is to replicate this movement while in the gym. The reason most bodybuilders train their abs is definitely to increase the overall definition of the abs. There are a number of ways to go about obtaining this. One theory is to eliminate the fat that covers the abdominals. This can be achieved through both dieting and cardiovascular activity. Another way to help define your abdominals is to do abdominal exercises intensely with very high repetitions. The reason for this is that you don't want to add any unwanted mass to your abs. Cardiovascular conditioning is easily the most important aspect used to help a bodybuilder achieve defined abdominals. Bodybuilders use cardio as a tool to help shed unwanted fat. The key to effectively using cardio is to know exactly when to implement it into your routine. If you start doing it to early you will curtail all the gains you're desperately trying to make, but if done to late you won't have enough time to get your abdominals in the shape needed for competition. A good starting point is about 11 weeks out from your competition. This will give you enough time to cut your body fat and water retention.

The most misunderstood and under utilized tool for bodybuilders looking to obtain shredded abs is definitely dieting. I would go as far as saying that dieting alone is responsible for over 80% of a bodybuilders overall physique. If you look at it as, what you put in your body will either dictate whether your body gets bigger or smaller you'll certainly understand what I mean. The general rule of thumb is that your body needs to have 4-6 small meals that are high in protein, spaced out over a 2-3 hour span to keep your metabolism high and prevent fat storage.

As you can see, nothing I've written here could be considered rocket science but many bodybuilders don't take full advantage of this information. If you follow these simple guidelines you will achieve the washboard abs you've always dreamt of.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Body Building

Take The Low Approach To Great Abs:

                

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Not only are rock hard abs a symbol of fitness, but strong and flexible abdominal muscles help trim your waist and end back pain. Two very important health goals of many who enter an exercise facility. It allows you to move from side to side with stability and control. Men and women want to walk on the beach and show off all their hard work by exposing their abs. From what has been seen in gym and health facilities, it is most worked on muscle group or it is the most neglected. What category do you end up falling into? There are many ways in which you can work you abdominal muscles. There is scientific sequence to effectively shaping and creating great abs.

Most people are stronger in their upper to middle abdominals compared to their lower abdominal muscles. It is recommended that you work your lower abs first since you are freshest and have the most energy to get the most out of your stomach. The abdominal muscles react and provide optimal results visually when performed to failure. Failure occurs when the muscle is thoroughly exhausted and the exercise can no longer be executed. This means you can not do one more painful repetition. Your mid-section should be worked in this manner all the time.

Some examples for lower abs are as follows:

The reverse crunch (using the slant board) - with your hand holding the bars and your legs straight on the floor, raise your knees to your face, while bending your knees, until the fetal position. Then slowly drop your rear end until you touch the board and repeat the exercise.

Leg lifts (performed on the Roman Chair) - Start with your back on the back support and lift your knees/legs to its highest point. Feet should not be allowed to swing behind your rear end at its lowest point for safety and momentum purposes.

Hanging leg raises (performed on the cable machines) - Start by hanging from the middle pull up bar on the cable machines. The hanging leg raise is probably the most result producing stomach exercise since it is generated from the lower abs and then incorporated the upper abs at its peak. It begins by having your feet lift over and above your waist until it reached approximately where your hands are holding on. Remember to keep you body from swinging back and forth. This will cause you to use more stomach muscles and less momentum.

Then proceed to your upper/middle abs to get that desired burn.

The Ab Roller, which is great for upper abdominals and obliques, is great to start with since it promotes safety and immediate results. Exercises utilizing the ball and floor mats are great ways to end a stomach workout. The utility ball allows for maximum stretching to hit all areas of the mid-section.

Since your stomach is considered your smallest muscle, you are able - and recommended to - train them up to 6 days per week. A cardiovascular work out which consist of constant aerobic activity which last for more than 30 minutes at your 80% target heart rate is extremely beneficial and necessary to achieve that ever desired six pack.

Great abs are only obtained through hard work, perseverance and proper form. They are the central point in which your motion begins and ends. In the end, great abs will give you the needed support for your workout and your life.

For a ton of f.ree, valuable tips, tricks, and secrets visit: http://www.MaximizeYourMetabolism.com Wisdom Books, LLC & Christopher Guerriero WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it: Christopher Guerriero, is the founder of the National Metabolic & Longevity Research Center and a best-selling author, speaker, and coach to millions. He is creator of the award-winning 'Maximize Your Metabolism' system. To learn more about this step-by-step program, and to sign up for FR*EE how-to articles and F.REE teleseminars, visit http://www.MaximizeYourMetabolism.com