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How to Get Six Pack Abs
By Bill Nadraszky
Over the years I have seen a lot
of flimsy ideas of how to get a set of six pack abs. The most
common scams are special machines that will do it and sometimes
some kind of drink. I remember at one point Slim Fast seemed to
be showing chubby people suddenly spawning a set of six pack abs.
Anyway I wanted to put this notion
to rest that there is some magic to getting a six pack. Sure
there is some genetics involved in sculpting perfect abs but the
two most important factors are diet and exercise.
What? Did you think there was a
shortcut?
The diet part is fairly simple;
you need to drop any extra fat. You have probably heard this
before but there is no such thing as spot reduction when you are
losing weight. You will lose weight proportionately, generally,
as you lose weight. What you may find is that you have a large
stomach and if that is the case of course you will lose that fat
faster than you lose the fat on your legs but that is just
because that is where the fat deposits will be easiest for your
body to use.
As you probably know from reading
other posts of mine I subscribe to the idea that people eat too
many carbohydrates generally but I still do not support the
Atkins diet generally. I believe that you must increase your
protein to 20% of your diet, keep fats at about 20% of the
calories of your diet and then have carbs as the other 60% of the
calories of your diet. If you still have trouble losing you may
be a bit sensitive to carbohydrates and you can up the protein a
little.
As for exercise, to get a set of
six pack abs you will have to do two things; get in an hour of
cardio a day to increase your metabolism and start really
dropping the fat and secondly make sure that you do your
abdominal exercises at the start of your workouts.
For cardio exercise it does not
really matter what kind of cardio exercise you get but it is
always best to vary your exercise so that you do not overtrain
any one muscle group. I never see people speak of this in regards
to cardio training but I have found in the past with my bicycling
that when I am riding a lot my legs get sore but the rest of my
body recovers fine. So maybe try to alternate some kind of
biking, swimming, hiking, running, brisk walking and even using a
rowing machine if you have a chance. Do cardio almost every day,
five or six days a week is good, seven days a week is pushing it
a little too much in my eyes.
Next is the abdominal exercises
themselves. There are three places to target for your abdominals,
the obliques, which are on your sides, your upper abdominals and
your lower abdominals. Doing abdominal exercises is something
that some people believe you should do every day but I really
believe you are doing well if you just do them every second day
or three days a week.
For your obliques you can do
twists. Simply sit on a bench with you body straight up and down
and put some kind of a light bar or broomstick across your
shoulders and then do twists twist from one side to the other as
far as you can go for two sets of 100 reps. The key is to not use
much weight at all as gaining muscle on your obliques will widen
your midsection which is not something most people want to do.
To work your upper abdominals you
want to do some kind of sit ups or crunches. I am more a fan of
crunches as they are easier on your neck and mower back. Lie on
your back with your legs up on the seat of a chair so that your
legs are at a 90 degree angle to your body and then just lift
your shoulders a few inches of the ground and then let them down
again. This should put stress on your abs and you should feel it
pretty intensely after just a few reps. be sure to do this
exercise slowly and for at least three sets of 30 reps.
To work your lower abdominals you
need to do something that raises your legs in the air as opposed
to lifting your upper body into the air. The exercise that I
prefer for this is a kind of reverse crunch that I do not have a
name for. I lie flat on my back and hold something behind my head
to keep my upper body stable and then I just bring my knees up
towards my chest and back down to the ground again. If you get
really strong this way you can try just lifting your legs
straight out and up but sadly I am not that strong.
If you follow this plan you will
se results very quickly and depending on how much fat you have to
lose you can see rock hard abs fairly quickly. The other great
thing about strengthening your abs besides looking better is the
fact that strengthening your core makes you stronger overall and
help out with your balance and even your stamina.
Bill Nadraszky is
passionate about health and fitness. To learn more
read the fitness
book review. Or visit the greatest Fitness
Tips weblog.
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