Dream of Great Abs? Add These Tips To Your Weight Control Plan

                

>>  Be Sure That You Will Never Get Six Pack Abs Unless You Know These Strategies <<

 

How many of people, not just those of us overweight, have dreamed of a "six pack" of abs? How many of you women have dreamed of having a stomach so flat and hard you would bounce a quarter off of it?

Judging by the number of “Rock Hard Abs” books and video’s out there, I’d say most of us dream of those abs!

Truth is, there is no “Silver Bullet” or “Magic Pill” for those kind of abs. It takes hard work and the right nutrition to produce abs that will turn heads.

Here are a few quick tips you can concentrate on while working your midsection out.

Don’t forget breakfast:

Why so many people skip breakfast is a puzzling to me. A good breakfast will help jumpstart your metabolism and give you energy to attack the day. Ramp up your metabolism to help burn all fat, not just the fat around your midsection. Go easy on the carbs such as breads and cereals. Mix your carbs with a good source of protein, you’re abs are growing muscles and muscles need protein.

Mind you Mother, Eat your Fruits and Vegetables!

Fruits and Vegetables such as citrus fruits and green vegetables such as broccoli have huge amounts of Vitamin C. Vitamin C is just one of the many helpful vitamins that you’ll get from fruits and vegetables. Vitamin C has been shown to help muscles repair damaged muscle fibers.

Specifically Work That Midsection!

While stretching and balancing routines due help strengthen your abs, you need to develop specific workout routines for your abs. Ask the personal trainer down at your Gym what exercises you can do to help you build up those abs. Some of the ab machines you see on TV actually do work, but you have to get up off the couch and use them. Best to stick to the Gym's free weight attachments until you get committed about chiseling your abs.

Feed the Abs

Small meals throughout the day will keep your metabolism going. Long gone are the days of eating 2 or 3 huge meals. Studies have show that smaller meals with smaller portions keep your metabolism going strong. When your metabolism is high, you feel like working out. Working the abs is the only way you’ll end up with a “six pack”!

Leave the Salt Alone

Salt stores water in your body. There are other negative aspects of too much salt. It’s a good idea to hide the salt shaker as many processed foods are loaded with salt (and sugar). As long as you’re drinking plenty of water and keeping your salt intake down, you body will most likely keep passing the water through your system, not storing it.

Watch the Fat

Let’s face it, we all know our bodies like to store fat at the midsection and on our thighs. You can work out 5 days a week like a banshee, but if your fat intake is through the roof, you can forget about the rock hard abs! Some fat is necessary for our bodies to function properly, just make sure you don’t go overboard. People who have low body fat find it easier to chisel abs (like you didn’t already know that).

The recommendations above are only a starting point if your goal is rock hard abs. The benefits you’ll discover along the way is that these same recommendations will also help you lose bulk in other areas of your body. Training your body to burn fat and build muscle is the first step on your journey to a healthier you. The abs will be a bonus!

Donald Lawson is the Webmaster at “The Biggest Loser Forums”. A website dedicated to the weight loss community. You can find other articles, weight loss tools and diet planning by going to The Biggest Loser Forums. While there, sign up to become a Charter member on the new Forums.

Rock Hard Abs!Do You Have What it Takes?

                

>>  Be Sure That You Will Never Get Six Pack Abs Unless You Know These Strategies <<

 

If your abs look good, your whole body looks good. Having Big arms and chest is one thing but having rock hard defined abs is so another.

Everyone knows that nothing turns heads like a defined full set of abs. And hey, chicks love em. What more needs to be said.

Contrary to popular belief, the abs or Rectus Abdominis is really only one muscle. It stretches from the top of your pelvis up to your ribcage. The "six-pack" as it is called is merely sections of this one muscle.

Dispelling the Ab Myths:

The action of any muscle is simply to contract. And as you can't contract half your bicep or quad, it makes sense that you cannot contract half your abs as well. Therefore the myths about "upper ab" and "lower ab" training are total nonsense. I'm not discounting those training methods but the simple fact is that if you can't see your lower abs, it just means you've got fat covering them, not that you need to work them harder.

Say goodbye to hanging knee-raises, straight-leg raises, and any other type of leg raises for building your abs. They simply don't work. The primary role of your abs is to stabilize your body. When you raise your leg for example, your hip flexors pull on your spine and arch it forward/downward. Your abs stabilize this action by resisting and essentially keeping your back from breaking. Take note that this is the static action of the abs. It doesn't build or strengthen. Leg raising exercises only feel like they are effectively working your abs because of the repeated strain and exhaustion of your muscle producing catabolic, lactic acid build up. Search for "lactic acid" at http://www.muscle-body.com for more information.

What Really Works:

What does strengthen your abs is what strengthens any other muscle in your body. Contraction! In this case - Decreasing the distance between your rib cage and your pelvis.

So we come back to the good old sit-up. But there are a few things to keep in mind.

Firstly, forget about the cool all-the-way-up sit-ups you see in the movies. Your abs are fully contracted when your shoulders are about 5 to 6 inches off the ground. So don't bother trying to impress or outperform someone by touching your elbows to your knees. It does nothing for you. Crunches as they are sometimes called are the way to go.

Secondly, don't wedge your feet under something to help you get up. You don't need to do this if you are doing crunches properly anyway. Your legs should be at 90 degrees to each other and your knees at 45 degrees to your waist. If you need to, use something to press your heels back against to stabilize yourself. This way you will use your hamstrings instead of your hip flexors which will keep the focus on your abs.

Thirdly, keep your hands lightly held against the side of your head or crossed on your chest. Don't clasp them together behind your head or neck. If you do you will be tempted to pull with your hands to get the last few reps out, which will put unnecessary strain on this fragile part of the spine.

Alternative:

Another good exercise for abs is kneeling crunches. You will need special equipment to perform this exercise. This is where you kneel and contract your abs so that your upper body arches forward/downward. You hold a rope attached to a pulley with weights for extra resistance. Most gyms will have a rope attachment to the triceps pull down to perform this exercise. The idea is to lock your arms against your upper body so that you pull down only with your abs and not your arms.

Ab Training Devices:

In 2 words - Forget it.

You don't need them. Most of them do nothing for you. Building muscle is hard and it hurts. Most of these devices are designed to take the pressure off your body making the exercise seem easy and con you into thinking you are really targeting your muscles. Don't believe the hype. Ab training is definitely hard work but definitely worth it's reward.

The Secret:

The difficulty in obtaining great abs is not so much building the muscle. It's cutting enough fat from your body for them to show. You probably know by now that spot-reduction of fat simply doesn't work here. In order to show those abs you need overall fat loss. Check out http://www.muscle-guide.com for more info.

You can find more great Muscle Building information at http://www.muscle-guide.com

The Most Common Myths about Abs

                

>>  Be Sure That You Will Never Get Six Pack Abs Unless You Know These Strategies <<

 

Myth 1

Abdominal muscle is different from regular muscle.

Your abdominal muscles are just like every other muscle in your body. The abdominal is different only in location and unlike biceps or quads they don’t rest on a bony surface. So you should train them the same way you would train, say, your biceps or your chest. The basic laws of physiology apply to all your muscles, including your abs. This means that you have to do exercises in the correct plane of movement to effectively work the muscle.

Myth 2

You have to train your abs everyday.

The rules of weight training state that you should give your muscles at least, a day of rest to recover and this applies to your abs as well. Instead of working your back everyday, do them every other day or even just three times a week. They need a break just like the rest of your body. The trick is to train them hard.

Myth 3

Doing ab exercises gets rid of abdominal fat.

There is no such thing as spot reduction. People assume that if you have fat deposits on your abdominal, exercising the muscles underlying the fat will make it go away. But they assume wrong. You can’t get rid of the fat over a muscle by repeatedly exercising that body part. The only way to burn fat from your tummy is through prolonged exercise and a healthy, low calorie diet.

Myth 4

High repetitions are required to make gains.

As you’ve read earlier, abs are just like every other muscle in your body. That means, you should train your abs the same way as the rest of your muscle groups. To make strength gains with your abs, you have to overload your muscles.

Myth 5

Anyone can have a flat stomach.

For many people it’s not physiologically possible to achieve a flat stomach. In most of us the abdominal muscles are designed to be somewhat rounded, not flat. Age, genetics, gender all these factors decide the size, shape and appearance of you belly.

Myth 6

If you have a bad back, training the abs will worsen it.

Training your abs will strengthen you back. The opposing muscles in you body always assist each other. So if you have weak ab muscles, the load of the work falls on the back. So strengthen the abs and your back will become stronger as well.

Don’t waste time by falling victim to six main ab myths. Train intelligently in accordance with scientifically based training techniques and get super abs.

Indy Stewart also writes on how to Abdominal Workouts. More info: http://www.Bigmusclesbuilding.com

An Exercise To Create Those Sexy Six Pack Abs

                

>>  Be Sure That You Will Never Get Six Pack Abs Unless You Know These Strategies <<

 

Would you like to have abs that make your friends jealous and are a serious attraction to the opposite sex? I have a great exercise for you. It's called the "Cross T Ball Exchange." The only equipment we need is an inflatable exercise ball.

First, let me remind you that big determinants to how your abdominals look are your nutrition and your well-rounded exercise routine. You have to have both of those in place to get visible results from ANY ab exercise. Despite television ads to the contrary, it's impossible to "spot reduce" fat from a particular body part. If you have a "beer belly" or this is the only exercising you do, we will make your abs stronger and more toned but a layer of body fat will cover up your six-pack treasure. The bottom-line is to make sure you are doing your part with a good nutrition program and a solid exercise plan.

Start the "Cross T Ball Exchange" by lying on the ground face up. With your legs straight or slightly bent, bring your feet six inches off the ground. Hold the ball at arms' length directly over your upper torso. Touch the ball to the ground to your left at about waist level, keeping your torso on the ground and your legs elevated throughout the exercise. Now touch the ball to the ground at waist level to your right. While extending your arms, touch the ball to the ground over your head. Now move your legs and arms toward each other so you can exchange the ball from your hands to your legs, placing the ball right between your ankles. The straighter your legs are during the exercise, the more difficult it will be. Lower your legs until the ball touches the ground and then bring your legs back up to your hands to take the ball and start again. That is one repetition.

This is not an exercise for anyone with lower back problems. It is for people who are already in good shape and are looking for a way to spice up their ab routine. It is a regular part of many of my clients' routines, typically for three sets of 12 to 15 reps. The exercise uses your entire core area; making it a good ab exercise for someone wants to work the entire muscle complex but has limited time.

If the exercise seems too difficult at first try having your feet higher than six inches off the ground and/or bend your knees significantly. Don't get discouraged if you can only do a few reps at first. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither are great abs. Just add a repetition or two as you become accustomed to the exercise. The "Cross T Ball Exchange" will help take your abs to the next level!

Cliff Wiese has been active in fitness, sports, and sport psychology since 1981. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, as well as a Sports Performance Coach. He works with a varied international clientele, ranging from world-class athletes to pre and post rehabilitation patients to Special Olympians. A speaker and writer in high demand, Cliff can be reached by email at cwiese@lycos.com or by telephone in the USA at 979-229-6276.

Cliff attended Schreiner University on athletic and leadership scholarship and has done graduate studies at the University of Oklahoma. He is active in Special Olympics as a Powerlifting Coach and is a volunteer grant writer for a number of charities, primarily organizations involving at-risk children. Cliff is also personally active in sport and has won championships in five different sports. He is currently finishing his first book, aimed at creating and sustaining successful and life-long workout routines for non-exercisers.