Truth About Abs
Posted By admin on December 11, 2009
Truth About Abs
Posted By admin on November 5, 2009
Ab Exercise Checklist To Tighten Your Tummy
Posted By admin on December 7, 2009
How to get abs fast! There are two important components in getting great abs – below I have compiled two checklists to make sure you are on the right track.
Diet
Diet is an important component in how to get abs fast – you will need to get your body to a body fat percentage of less than 10-11% for men and 16-19% for women. Here are the essential points:
• Aim to lose 1-2 pounds per week
This is a safe, sustainable weight loss that ensures that you are losing fat rather than muscle or just water. If you are following a muscle building exercise programme you will actually be losing more fat than this as muscle weighs more than fat.
• Eat little and often
Every meal you eat uses energy to chew and digest – a surprisingly large amount of energy, so more meals means more energy used. In addition regular small meals will help to keep your energy levels stable through the day and reduce your chances of snacking or needing a boost.
• Avoid Processed foods
Natural foods will take longer to digest and so satisfy you for longer. That is not to mention the effects of various additives which are only there to make the food more palatable and provide no nutritional benefit.
Exercise
Of course you aren’t going to get good looking abs if they aren’t fit and toned! Here are the essential points:
• Multi Joint Exercises
Working as much muscle at once as you can is more useful for everyday life. These exercises also give a greater release of hormones that promote muscle building and fat burning.
• Use Free weights
Free weights mean that you are doing all the exercise yourself – using a machine means that the machine will be doing some of the work in keeping you stable.
• Play sports for cardio workouts
Stopping and starting – the way we move in most sports – is a more natural way for our bodies to move. Studies have also shown that it is better for a fat burning cardio workout.
• Ab specific training at the end of your workout
Work larger muscle groups during your normal workout to exercise all your muscles, then concentrate on just one area at the end. This means that you will not injure yourself in the middle of a work out as one set of muscles gives out. It also means that you can safely work a problem area to exhaustion.
• Train 3-4 times per week
Your muscles need to be worked often enough to strengthen and tone them, but not too often, or they will not have time to recover and repair.
As a bonus here are three more important tips that will show you how to get abs fast:
• Reduce your stress levels – a stressed body is afraid of starvation so it holds on to fat.• Drink lots of water – good hydration allows you body to burn fat properly.• Get enough sleep – you body needs to recover from exercise, and it does it best in sleep.
As you can see how to get abs fast isn’t rocket science – but it does require discipline and determination.
Abs Exercise and Fat Reducing Errors That Must be Avoided!
Posted By admin on December 6, 2009
If you are interested in knowing some of the things that are leaving your abdominal exercises and your fat loss efforts in the wrong, you may be interested in reading this article. In this article we are going to discuss the myths of abdominal workouts, and other related fitness mistakes in this topic. A lot of people want to know where most go wrong when it comes to abdominal training. The amazing thing is in their expedition to six-pack abs, the main mistake people make is wasting too much time focusing directly on all these different abs-specific workouts.
The person tries so hard to get the abdominal six-pack to show. They do all these various crunches, sit-ups, twisting workouts, etc. With all the time that has just been wasted directly focusing on the abs, they could have been doing a well-designed full body exercise instead. The fully body workout would give you a much greater metabolic reaction. In the end the most important part of these abdominal strategies is to make the abs visible. The chances of this happening with the above listed exercises does not cause as much of a metabolic reaction towards the body, leaving you with completely wasted time and effort.
The lesson learned is that try to get a full body workout plan, other than focusing directly on certain workouts. If you look at people who run a lot, they often have great abs because they are getting a full body workout when running, not to mention other things like sports. Hockey, Football, Cross Country skiing… you name it! As long as your getting a full body workout you are going to have a greater chance having visible abdominals.
A lot of people also wonder about gender differences; is there a gender difference when it comes to abdominal training? Well most woman are afraid of most weight training other than lightweights. Its not very good to be afraid of weights if your looking to have control of your body fat for life. The goal is to maximize the lean muscles, you also want to work those muscles through intense resistance workouts as often as you can. Woman who are afraid of “bulking up” understand that strength training with heavier weights will not do this as long as your calorie intake is stable.
Training with heavier weights is probably the most effective workout if you’re looking for losing body fat, and staying lean at all times. It’s not uncommon to see most women and men spending way too much time with their cardio exercises. It’s not necessary, and the way to combine high intense resistance training into this to just do a “full body workout”.
With all the controversy about sit-ups, I hope I can give you some valuable advice. I don’t think they are necessary. There are many more exercises with greater results out there, sit-ups should only be done on the occasion, but don’t waste your time with them.
I have mentioned a lot about this “full body workout” but I have not given many examples, other than mentioning something athletic. The entire core of your body needs to be worked out, then once you have some abdominal strength, stay away from those exercises that can last you through 50-100 reps without any exhaustion. An example of a high resistance exercise would be hanging leg raises. It’s funny because people who have been doing hundreds of these crunches, sit-ups etc. can only do a few of these. We also don’t want to avoid rotational movements. These movements create more resistance, and a better workout. The main answer to the title of the topic would be to avoid the easy stuff, push yourself, and you will see greater results! Higher resistance is the key.
The Top Ten Weight Training Exercises for Building Muscle
Posted By admin on December 3, 2009
Author: Jason Ferruggia Bodybuilding Expert and Author of Muscle Gaining Secrets
1) Deadlift- Not many weight training exercises work as many muscle groups and build muscle as fast as the deadlift. The neck, traps, upper, middle, and lower back, glutes, hamstrings, quads, biceps, forearms, and abs are all utilized in the deadlift. No other exercise is a better test of overall body power. While uninformed people always ask, “how much can you bench,” the question they really should ask is, “how much can you deadlift?” A deadlift is the most basic exercise anyone can do. Bending down and picking a weight up off the floor is the one weight training exercise that mimics everyday real life situations. Most people will rarely find themselves on their back needing to push a heavyweight off their chest but everyone has to bend down and pick things up. If you could only do one exercise to build muscle this would be the one to do.
2) Squat- The squat has been known for years as the “king of all muscle building exercises” and for good reason. I’m not talking about sissy boy half squats either; I’m talking about real below parallel, full squats. If you don’t at least break parallel it’s not a squat. Like deadlifts, squats involve an enormous amount of muscle mass and stimulate the release of anabolic hormones such as testosterone. This is great for building muscle fast. The squat is probably the most revered exercise among serious lifters and the power rack is considered our sacred ground. If you ever want to develop any kind of real lower body strength and build muscle fast, you have no choice but to squat.
3) Chin up- Not many exercises will build muscle in the upper body like chin ups. Known as the upper body squat, chins stimulate nearly every muscle from the traps down to the abdominals. Any exercise that allows you to move your body through space as opposed to moving a weight or fixed implement around you has a much higher degree of neuromuscular activation, and therefore a much greater potential to elicit gains in size and strength. Look at the development of male gymnasts and you will see for yourself what years of chin ups and dips can do for the upper body. If you want tobuild muscle fast, be sure to include chin ups in your weight training program.
4) Parallel Bar Dip- A close second to chin ups as one of the best upper body exercises for building muscle fast, and for all the same reasons. If you want big arms you had better include dips in your training program. No otherweight training exercise will add slabs of muscle to the triceps as effectively as dips. A huge chest and enormous pair of front delts are also a pleasant side effect that comes with regularly performing this outstanding muscle building exercise.
5) Hang Clean & Push Press- A total body muscle building exercise which hits the calves, hamstrings, glutes, quads, lower and upper back, traps, shoulders, biceps, triceps, and forearms. Although it is, by definition, an Olympic lift, it can be done in more of a strict manner to really target the traps, upper back, and shoulders. When done in this manner, it is not performed solely with the intention of developing explosive speed like most Olympic lifts are performed. Doing the clean and push press in this manner is a form of power bodybuilding and will really blow up the traps and shoulders. If you could only pick oneweight training exercise for building muscle, this might be the one. It’s a shame you don’t see this in more bodybuilding programs.
6) Bench Press- This is one of the three powerlifting exercises and along with Military Presses, is the greatest of all pressing movements for building muscle in the upper body. When looking at the effectiveness of an exercise, the questions to be asked are what will allow the lifter to use the most weight and what exercise involves the most muscle mass. The bench press meets both of these prerequisites and besides being incredibly effective as amuscle building exercise, it is one of the best measures of upper body power.
7) Military Press- Also known as the front press, this was once considered the number one measure of upper body power and was the premier muscle building exercise for the upper body. In the old days of strength training most people didn’t even do bench presses; every weight training exercise was done standing up. Bench pressing was looked down upon as a show lift and real men only did overhead presses to build muscle. Bench pressing took over with the development of powerlifting and bodybuilding and the military press took a back seat. It is still however, a great measure of upper body power and should be done by anyone interested in building an impressive set of shoulders and building overall muscle mass throughout the upper body. Even though some uninformed doctors will have you believe that overhead pressing can be dangerous, old time strong men argue that there would not be as many shoulder injuries as there are today if the military press had remained the upper bodyweight training exercise of choice. Equally effective variations of the military press include the push press, push jerk and split jerk.
Bent Over Rows- When it comes to building muscle in the upper back and lats, bent over rows are hard to beat. This weight training exercise can be performed many different ways; palms up, palms down, wide grip, close grip, to the abdomen, to the sternum, with an ez bar or with a straight bar. However you do them, nothing will develop thickness in the back like rows will, and anyone who has been involved with bodybuilding for a while will tell you there is nothing more impressive than a well developed back, muscular back.
9) Good Mornings- Although they are a rarely performed weight training exercise by a large majority of bodybuilders, good mornings remain one of the staples of a good size and strength gaining program. Powerlifters seem to be the only ones who know about the muscle building properties of this outstanding exercise. The reason thismuscle building exercise is often avoided is that good mornings are brutally hard work. But that hard work brings huge rewards. Good mornings will build muscle fast and pack tons of size on your lower back, glutes, and hamstrings. They are also one of the best weight training exercises to help improve your squat and deadlift, which is the main reason they are a mainstay in powerlifting.
10) Pushup- Yes, you read that right, I said pushups are one of the best weight training exercises to build muscle fast. For a beginner pushups are the absolute best muscle building exercise to do for the pecs, delts, and triceps. However, as you make progress and get stronger pushups become too easy and are usually forgotten about. That is a huge mistake. There are several varieties of pushups that can be used by intermediate and advanced lifters such as elevated pushups on pushup handles, dumbbells, or chairs. Pushups can also be done on gymnastic rings hanging from chains and suspended a foot or so above the ground to make them even more challenging. When either of these versions of this awesomemuscle building exercise becomes too easy you can have a partner hold weight on your back, use a weighted vest or even drape heavy chains across your back. If you are looking for more variety, Hindu pushups are another great version of this exercise and can sometimes humble even the strongest of men.
So there you have it, the best weight training exercises for building muscle fast. All the food and supplements and drugs in the world are worthless if you train like a Nancy boy. Machines and isolation movements are as effective as running on a treadmill when it comes to getting big and strong. Stick with the weight training exercises above; make them a staple in your training, and start saving up for a new wardrobe. Its time tobuild muscle fast!
Does the Contour Abs belt work?
Posted By admin on December 3, 2009
Does the contour abs actually work?
The biggest selling ab toning device on the market in the USA, the contour abs belt is famous because of the infomercials used to promote it. There are all sorts of claims in the infomercial, and if you’ve seen it you could be forgiven for thinking all you have to do is strap on this ab belt and magically your waistline will decrease, the pounds will simply melt away leaving you with amazing slim, sculpted abdominal muscles.
Unfortunately, its not just that easy!
The contour ab belt DOES ‘work’ in the sense that like all other electronic toning devices, it will cause your ab muscles to contract and work while you are wearing it. It can therefore help to build stronger ab muscles.
But – the contour abs belt (and no other ab belt for that matter) will NOT cause you to lose weight on its own.
To acheive the results you want, you will have to exercise and eat well to burn off the excess fat covering up your abs. Once you have done this, then and only then will you start to see the results of the ab belt you choose to buy as your ab muscles begin to show.
Is the contour abs good quality?
We consider the contour abs belt to be of poor qaulity, given its total price of around $220. It is not a particularly up to date design, and still uses batteries to power the device instead of a rechargeable power pack like its competitors.
In additon, it seems difficult to find a phone number for the company, and customer service is not the best – it can take up to 6 weeks for you to receive the contour belt after you place an order!
We feel that the Flex Belt ab toner offers much better value for money, quality, a better design and great customer service.
Read more about the contour abs and its features, and see a direct comparison with the Flex Belt ab toner here. Its recommended you read reviews such as the ab belt comparison before you buy the contour ab belt.
Tummy Fat Exercise â Ab Exercises for Fat Tummy
Posted By admin on December 1, 2009
By: FitNRG.net
If you do nothing but perform hundreds, or even thousands of ab crunches each day, you will still have problems getting rid of your tummy fat. The only true way of getting rid of your love handle is to have a good overall program that includes good diet and nutrition and exercises to burn overall body fat.
With that said, we will provide a quick abdominal exercises workout below that will allow you to quickly exercise your stomach muscles at home. However, I will reiterate that while performing these tummy exercises, you will be able to train your abdominal muscles, but to get rid of your tummy fat, you will need to combine it with a good diet and nutrition program.
Follow the tummy exercises as listed in order:
Abdominal crunches – With your feet flat on the floor, you can place your hands by your sides, or behind your head. Raise your shoulders and upper body off the floor using your ab muscles. Perform 20 reps.
Abdominal twists – In the same position, raise your shoulders of the ground except do it with a twist this time. Keep your hands behind your head. As you curl up, alternate aiming for your left knee with your right elbow, and aiming your right knee with your left elbow. Perform 20 reps.
Flutter Kick ab crunches – Keep your legs extended in front of you, raised above the floor by about 10 inches. For each rep, curl your shoulders off the floor, and start off with twisting toward the left side with your right elbow curling up to meet your left knee. Next, curl up and twist to the right side, with your left elbow meeting your right knee. Alternate like this, performing 20 more reps.
Lying Leg Raises – place your hands under your bum, and extend your legs fully in front of you without touching the floor. Raise your legs up to the top, and the lower it back down to starting position, without letting your feet touch the floor. Perform 30 reps.
Abdominal Tuck Crunches – still lying on your back, cross your arms in front of your chest, or behind your head. Bring your legs up, and with the bottom of your feet pointed towards the ceiling. Curl your shoulders off the floor towards your leg, and then back down to starting position. Perform another 20 reps.
Remember that doing abdominal exercises is not the solution to get rid of tummy fat – for that to happen, you need a good diet, nutrition, and a entire body workout program that works to burn fat everywhere, including your tummy fat. Get yourself started on the right track with the Fat Loss for Idiots diet, and learn the method behind true fat loss, keep the fat loss permanent, and burn off your tummy fat.
The Untold Secret – Using Visualization to Optimize Ab Exercises
Posted By admin on December 1, 2009
The power of the mind to affect the body is an amazing thing. Recent breakthroughs in the mind – body connection have been shown to improve health and heal the body in many ways.
One area that many people feel the need to improve is their abdominal muscles. There is a reason why so much attention is paid to this area of the body – it is the core, and vital to the protection and support of many body systems. Establishing an ongoing practice of visualizing positive changes to your abs can help you to increase the effectiveness of diet and exercise programs, and can really help you to get the abs that you want.
To begin with, take a look at some photos or drawings of healthy abdominal muscles that resemble the abs that you would like to have. You might even have a photo of yourself at a time in your life when you were healthier and enjoyed the way that your body looked. Decide on one image and give it to yourself. Really look at the image, and then imagine your own body with those abs. Take a deep breath and see yourself looking the way you want to look. See the detail of your muscles and the way that they move your body – it is important to be very specific as you visualize.
Take the visualization a step further, and begin to feel the way that you will feel once you have made the changes to your body that are necessary in order to have that wonderful, tight set of abdominal muscles. Perhaps you have been overweight your whole life. Even so, just imagine how it will feel to sit, stand, and walk with perfect posture. Imagine yourself undertaking an athletic activity that you have always dreamed about – try horseback riding, hang gliding, or scuba diving. Put yourself into the activity and feel the wind or water around your body. Enjoy the freedom that comes with having a light, mobile body and realize that you can do anything.
Imagine yourself wearing a wonderful outfit – or nothing at all! Imagine the way that other people respond to you in your healthy body. Now realize that it is indeed possible, and really know that you will soon look the way that you imagine.
As soon as you have finished enjoying the wonderful process of creative visualization, write down the details so that you can use them as a memory jogger. Use the process daily, believe it, and do the things that you will do once you have achieved your goal. As you eat healthy food and exercise in a way that is pleasurable to you, be sure to remember all the sensory details that you enjoy while focusing on the positive changes that you are making.
This is an incredible process with life changing potential. You do need to use healthy diet and exercise to achieve your goal, but the way that you feel while undergoing this wonderful transformation will be well worth the effort.
You dont get six pack abs by simply doing specific abs exercises
Posted By admin on November 30, 2009
Learn the number one mistake both pros and people starting out make
One of the common errors that many people make when working on those much wanted six pack abs is to focus the whole workout session working out on the stomach. It may sound strange, but it’s true more than not that many out there feel you have to do only abs specific exercises in order to build a wash board hard, flat tummy. In reality, for you to accomplish this you must spend some of your time raising your fat-loss hormone level to burn fat and at the same time increase your metabolic rate.
Exercises that maximize Six Pack Definition.
I mentioned earlier that to get six pack abs, it starts from losing or reducing body fat. the most ideal exercises are those that do hanging abs training and solid floor exercises which focus on full body training with calisthenics. Here are proven exercises that are highly suggested:
Various forms of snatches and swings
Step ups
Squints
Lying leg thrusts
Presses and cleans
Dead lifts
Lunges
Squats
Food suggestions for your Diet
The most important thing is a diet that is natural. It should be unprocessed and as pure as possible. There are so many processed and over processed foods that is virtually free of nutrients and food value. In many of foods we eat, therefore, these foods are unhealthy. Unhealthy foods can ruin your body hormone balance as well as slow down stimulation of your metabolism. The worst type of foods are refined grains. refined sugar, refined and hydrogenated vegetable oil. These highly processed food you should avoid at all costs. These foods contain the worst ingredients that form unwanted fats and toxins. these toxins can sometimes make it difficult to lose fat. That’s where cleansing is advised. Instead of eating junk, you should eat the following:
Whole grains
Natural sugar sources like whole fruit
Natural fat sources like eggs, fish, nuts, organically raised meat, avocados, coconut milk.
You will find many natural foods or regular non organic food you can eat. So there is no reason to say you cannot eat a healthy and nutritional diet. This can be done in almost every walk of life. When you eat the right type of food you provide your body with the correct assortment of vitamin, minerals and antioxidants to use for improved health.
Some Advice for your Diet
So some research and find out how the diet works and make a decision. I really like the low carb diets because you lose weight fast. However there are many different approaches. Study and find one that makes sense for you. Rememeber, you want a diet that burns fat fast because this way you will see progress and you will continue. If it will help you, go to a professional like a nutrition expert or a fitness guru and seek their advice on the type of diet you should be on.
Great Ab Exercises
Posted By admin on November 29, 2009
In addition to a solid cardiovascular exercise routine, developing your abdominal muscles requires specific targeted exercises that work out the different abdominal regions. To begin, we will look at the different abdominal muscles.
The first region is the Transversus Abdominus, which wraps around your torso and plays a major role in your posture. The second region is the Internal Obliques, that are on the sides of the torso. The obliques are worked when rotating the torso. The third group is the Exernal Obliques, which are also located on the outside of the torso, and are also worked when rotating the torso. And finally, the fourth region is the Rectus Abdominus, which stretches from the bottom of the ribcage and down to the pelvis. The Rectus Abdominus is comprised of two parallel muscles and are separated by a band of connective tissue. The Rectus Abdominus region is what is commonly referred to as a, “six pack.” Now, lets take a look at exercises that target each specific region.
The Transverse Abdominus is often ignored, because many common exercises do not place heavy emphasis on the trunk. An excellent exercise the work the Transverse Abdominus is the side leg raise, and side bend. To perform a side leg raise, lay on your right side, with your elbow underneath your right shoulder, with your weight on the outside of your right foot and your right arm. Lift your body so that it is in a straight line. If performed properly, you will feel the action in your trunk as you left your hips the ground. An advanced version of this exercise involves holding the position for a period of time, before lowering your hips back to the floor.
The obliques can be targeted with many of the same exercises as the Transverse Abdominus. However, one exercise that is an exceptional obliques-targeting workout is the lying crossover stretch. To perform this exercise, lie on your back with your arms straight out from your sides (perpendicular to your body, for support). Lift one leg straight up, then lower it to the opposite side. For example, lift your right leg straight up, then lower it to the left side, crossing over your left leg, then hold and stretch. Alternate legs and repeat.
The Rectus Abdominus can be targeted with various crunch and leg lift exercises, but one of the most popular and highly recommended workouts is the bicycle exercise. To perform this exercise, lie on the floor with your hands behind your head, bring both knees to your chest, lift your shoulders slightly off the ground. Then, extend your right leg to where it is at a 40-45 degree angle with the floor, while rotating your upper body to the left, bringing the right elbow towards the left knee- Alternate and repeat.