How to Reveal your "Six-Pack
Learn The facts about abdominal training!
OK people, it's time to get real. You may have heard this many
times before, but until you believe it in your heart and soul,
I believe that it is worth repeating:
No amount of weird exercises or machines will magically reveal
your abs. The ONLY way to reveal your abs is to lose that layer
of fat covering them. Now, the only way to lose the abdominal
fat is by consistent dieting and cardiovascular exercise. Period.
All those odd hanging, leg twisting, body contorting exercises
are no better than simple crunches.
The big problem is that intellectually, many people totally agree.
However, emotionally it does not click. I know this because day
after day I see people doing marathon abdominal work. They do
four or five different exercises. They think the more they do,
the more defined their abs will become. They try to target the
upper, lower, inner and outer, left, right, etc. Give me a break.
They do tons of weighted side bends trying to get rid of the love
handles.
Here's a news flash -- It won't work. You cannot spot reduce!
What I mean by this is that you can't pick and choose the areas
that you would like to lose the fat and do exercises that work
those areas expecting the fat to just magically disappear in those
areas.
Your body does not work that way. The only way to decrease the
amount of fat in certain key areas is by lowering your total body
fat levels. As you lose fat, it will come off all over your body,
not just in specific areas.
It's kind of interesting to watch sometimes. They have the right
motivation, but they are doing the wrong things. If they expended
1/2 the energy on their diet as they do doing rep after rep of
hanging leg raises, they would already have their six pack. Developing
a visible set of abs is simple.
Ab development can be boiled down to a
few simple steps
First, go on a fatloss diet.
If you have a high bodyfat percentage, the abs won't show no
matter how much you work. Once your bodyfat falls below 8% for
men, or 14% for women, your abs will begin to show through.
Your diet should consists higher protein intake, moderate fat
and moderate complex carbohydrate. You should cut out all excess
simple sugars, lower your dairy intake and eliminate excess saturated
fats. The majority of your dietary fat should come from essential
fatty acids (EFA's -- omega-6 and omega-3).
To lose fat you need to eat fewer calories. You should create
a mild caloric deficit when dieting. In other words, you should
be using more calories than you are taking in from your diet.
This way, your body has to get the extra calories it needs from
fat stores (hopefully). I say hopefully because if you drop your
calories too drastically, your body may prefer to use muscle tissue
for energy instead of fat. This is why many people who go on fad
diets look so soft. They lose almost as much muscle mass as fat
those drastic diets.
Second, start exercising aerobically.
Perform some form of cardiovascular exercise on a regular basis
-- at least 3 times per week. It doesn't matter what you do (walking,
running, cycling, aerobics, stairstepper, etc.), as long as it
keeps your heart rate elevated for at least 30-45 minutes. This
will speed your fat loss by elevating your metabolism, thus burning
more calories.
Finally, work your abs 2-3 times per week.
Work your abs like any other body part. Training them more than
once or twice per week is unnecessary. More is not necessarily
better. I typically do only two different abdominal exercises.
The first is the simple crunch (yes, crunches) and reverse crunches.
That's it.
Contraction is everything when working abs. Remember that your
abs work like an accordion, not like a hinge. So when doing crunches,
you should concentrate on crunching together rather than moving
your body upwards. This will maximize muscle tension.
You must concentrate on contracting your muscles as tight as
you can. This will cause them to fatigue faster. It does not matter
how many reps you can do; the only thing that matters is how hard
you can contract your abdominal muscles.
If it takes you 100 crunches before your abs begin to burn, then
you are wasting your time. Your abs should be fatigued at no more
than 20-25 reps. If they are aren't, you need to add weights to
your exercise and work on contracting the muscles tightly for
each rep. Don't concentrate so much on "how many" you
can do, but instead focus on "how hard" you can contract
the abdominal muscles
Contrary to popular belief (another myth), doing full sit-ups,
lying leg raises or hanging leg raises DOES NOT give your abdominals
the best workout. In fact, these exercises work your hip flexor
muscles (psoas major) much more than your abs!
Remember, the most effective exercises for working the abs must
involve a "scrunching" type contraction, like an accordion.
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Exercises Recommended
Crunches
Lie flat on the floor with your knees bent and legs about 1-2
feet apart, or you can place your lower legs up on a bench. Rest
your hands either gently behind your head or crossed on top of
your chest.
Raise up a few inches off of the floor and stop when you reach
maximum ab contraction. Exhale as you curl up and inhale as you
slowly lower. The goal of this exercise is to curl your upper
torso forward, bringing your ribcage toward your pelvis. Keep
the rest of the body stationary and you do not sit all the way
up.
If you are getting a sore neck from doing these, you need to
work on relaxing your neck muscles. Keep your hands and neck relaxed.
They should not be involved in this movement.
This is not a jerking motion. It should be smooth and controlled.
You should be working for maximum contraction and burn.
2-3 times per week, perform 4 sets of 20-25 slow reps with a
hard contraction at the top of the motion. Rest 90 seconds between
each set.
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Reverse Crunches
These are like leg raises, except that you are on an incline
bench and should keep your knees bent. Lie on your back on a slightly
inclined bench and grab the top of the bench. The object of this
exercise is to bring your pelvis up and towards your rib cage
by contracting your abs. Exhale as you crunch up and then slowly
lower your legs as you inhale.
You will not be able to do too many of these, so make them count.
Make sure to contract your abs as much as possible at the top
of the movement.
Do not swing into position. The motion should be smooth and controlled.
Also, don't let yourself slip too far down the bench, or you will
be out of proper position.
2-3 times per week, perform 4 sets of 15-20 (or as many as you
can do) with a hard contraction at the top of the motion. Rest
90 seconds between each set.
That's it. Nothing magical, just "smart" training.
Recommended Reading: Gain
Mass By Anthony Ellis
