Six Pack Abs - Don't Go Through Life Without Them!

Why Are Six Pack Abs So Rare?

A washboard stomach is a rare thing these days. Although you see a lot of people in magazines and movies with great abs, you rarely see a regular guy or girl walking around with a six pack. Most people eventually give up on their quest to get a defined midsection. They believe that it is only something for movie stars or super models. I'm telling you to quit thinking that way!

Lifting a Large Amount of Weight is Not As Impressive as Toned Abs

There are many, many more guys who can bench 315 pounds, than there are guys with a tight midsection. Many women can jog over 6 miles, but not many women have 6 pack abs. If you want to be exceptional, than having a defined midsection is the way to go. If you are spending any time in the gym at all and you don't have a 6 pack, then you are spending your time doing the wrong things. You will need to shift your focus if you want great muscle tone in this area of your body.

When Your Abs Are Defined, Your Whole Body Will Look Great

The fat around your stomach area is usually the last to go. If you get to the point where your abs are showing, then I guarantee you that the rest of your body looks amazing as well. I believe that this is the reason that people find toned abdominals so sexy...they know that the rest of the body must look toned as well! So if you focus on a 6 pack, everything else will fall into place.

Getting a Washboard Stomach is Mainly About Diet and Cardio

I swear that you could drop all those crunching and sit up movements and get amazing abs. How do I know this? Well, I haven't done a crunch in over 5 years and my abs are more defined then ever. Have you ever seen the TV show "Survivor". By the end of the show almost every person has really defined six pack abs and I know that none of them got there by ab exercises. You don't want to go to that extreme, but it does show you what low body fat will do.

Ab Exercises Probably Account for Only 10% of the Results

I don't think you need to directly target the abs to get a great mid section, but if you want pick one and hit it for 4-5 sets. The majority of your time should be spent on a bit of lifting for the rest of your body and intense cardio. As far as choices of cardio go, running on a treadmill or running outside is the way to go. Your abs work harder with running, because there is a certain amount of balancing involves between your legs and upper body. If you are on an exercise bike, your abs don't have to work at all. Your body is being stabilized by the seat.

Summary: You probably just need to increase the cardio and decrease the calories if you don't have six pack abs. I know it sounds almost too simple, but believe me it will work for you.

About The Author: Rusty Moore is the author of the controversial fitness blog...The Fitness Black Book. Learn advanced aerobic exercise and lifting routines that give you a sexy lean body instead of a bulky one! Too much muscle is "cheesy"...find out how to look attractive! Visit his site today... Fitness Black Book

Another Exercise to Create Those Sexy Six-Pack Abs

This exercise will help add to the "WOW!" factor when people see you in a swimsuit. It is a great workout not only for your abdominal complex but also for your lower back and for overall body strength in general. It is sounds extremely simple to explain. Let me assure you that the first few times you attempt it you'll find it to be quite difficult. However, after a week or two you will have mastered the motion and be able to increase the amount of weight you are using, thus exponentially improving the exercise results. This exercise is one more "arrow in your quiver" to get the abdominal look you want.

The exercise is called the "Russian Twist." It was taught to me by Jim Cawley, the owner of Dynamax Medicine Balls. I don't normally mention specific products in my writing but his product is pretty much the industry standard for medicine balls and I want you to know how to get one.

Jim is a fine gentleman living in Buda, Texas, where he makes those great medicine balls. The balls are available in two-pound increments from 4 pounds to 20 pounds. I would highly recommend getting at least one as they are among the most versatile pieces of exercise equipment ever invented. To show medicine balls versatility and timelessness, I read that one of the U.S. Presidents in the early 20th century, Theodore Roosevelt I believe, would set-up a volleyball net on the White House lawn and have the staff divided into two teams. One team would throw a medicine ball over the net and if the other team was unable to catch it, a point was scored by the throwing team. The medicine balls pre-date Teddy Roosevelt, but I believe that example helps show the versatility of the ball in exercise.

To perform the Russian Twist, begin by sitting on the floor with a medicine ball in your hands. I recommend you start with a four-pound ball until you have mastered this movement. When you have mastered the exercise, you can increase the weight of the ball. With the ball in your hands, tilt your upper-body back to about a 45 degree angle. Now raise your feet about six inches off the ground while keeping them together. The only part of you body in contact with the ground is your glutes. While maintaining your balance, slowly move the medicine ball around your waist to one side and touch the floor with the ball. Immediately move the ball to the other side of your body and touch the ground with it on that side. Each time the ball touches the ground is considered one rep. Try to do 10 reps the first time. The exercise will seem awkward and unstable at first but I promise your form will improve drastically after only a week or two.

As I mentioned in a previous article about abdominal exercise, 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. If you want those abs to be visible, the bottom-line is to make sure you are doing your part with a good nutrition program and a solid exercise plan.

When I'm performing this exercise I normally use a 12-pound ball (the heaviest at my facility) and do 30 to 40 reps per set for 4 sets. It will take a little while but soon you will be doing the same number of reps and sets and maybe even surpassing my work. The Russian Twist is one more step down the road to sexy six-pack abs!

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.

A Guide To Getting Abs Of Steel

These days it almost feels like we are inundated with image after image of the perfect body. It’s definitely a hard thing to get away from, which is probably the reason why so many of us are striving to get ‘abs of steel’. And while that may sound like a title for a very cheesy movie, you can be assured that quite a few people can say that without cracking a smile!

To get abs of steel though, is not an easy matter, and it does not matter what all those magazines and TV shows will tell you. You need to put in time effort and energy into getting abs of steel, and nothing you do will make nature work any faster. There are a many factors which you will need to take into account when thinking about getting abs of steel, and these will all affect your results.

And the first one that you should perhaps realise, and probably the one thing you won’t normally learn about until too late, is that not everyone can get abs of steel, or a six pack. Some of us have to be content with merely getting firmer, flatter abs. It’s a genetic thing, and depending on your body makeup you will have to be satisfied with what you can achieve.

That was the first point that you will need to take into consideration when trying to get abs of steel. The next thing is that you will need to work hard in order to achieve your dream. Abs of steel don’t just come about because you have been doing all the right ab exercises for a week or two, you will need to continue at it for a longer while, until you reach your goal. The time limit on this obviously changes with the amount of time and effort that you put into over the months.

You really can’t have abs of steel if you have a rolling belly getting in the way. So the first thing you need to do is to get rid of that. And to do that, you will need to adjust your diet so that you don’t add to the problem, but so that you are in fact helping to get rid of the problem.

The next thing you will need to look into is a getting into a fitness regime that will help you to get rid of your roll of belly fat. Once this is accomplished, you can then think about keeping your overall diet to a healthy one so that you get your abs of steel.

Peter Curtis lives in Las Vegas. You need to see these excellent Ab Workout guides or the more specific Get Firm Flat Abs guide.

http://www.aerobic-activity.com

The Top Fat Loss Secrets for Flat Six Pack Abs

I had the pleasure of being interviewed recently by a fitness professional from NYC, Geovanni Derice, of 4evertoned.com. The interview is below and I think you're going to like it...I reveal some of the hardest hitting strategies for getting rid of body fat to uncover those six pack abs that everyone wants.

"GD: Welcome Mike Geary to 4everToned's Fitness Journal. For those who do not know you, please tell us a few things about yourself.

MG: Thanks for having me, Geo. Well, to go back a little, I have been heavily involved in fitness and sports for about 15 years now, ever since I was a teenager. Being involved in sports in high school got me interested in strength training and conditioning. At that point, once I started feeling more energetic, getting stronger, and looking better, I was instantly hooked for life. I'm 30 now and still addicted to the way living a healthy and fit lifestyle makes me feel energetic, confident, strong, and youthful on a daily basis. I decided earlier in my 20's that I wanted to make the commitment to help other people experience the excitement of being fit and getting in the best shape of their lives, especially since we've reached an epidemic of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, depression, etc.

That's why I became a fitness professional. It just gives me so much satisfaction to help others, who have struggled for years to get in good shape, and show them that it can be done, and it can be fun in the process. I've expanded over the years from just reaching local individuals with personal training, into being able to help people all over the globe achieve their fitness goals with the reach of the internet. I only hope that my passion for fitness inspires people to take action and improve how they look and feel for life.

GD: Now Mike, there's so many things out there as to what works and what does not work...if you had to pick 3 things that work time and time again to get flat abs, what would they be?

MG: The first and most important thing to get control of in order to get flat abs is cleaning up your diet. Exercise is important, but your diet is king when it comes to losing body fat so that you can see your abs. There's so much confusion these days about what a healthy diet that promotes fat loss really is...after all, we are bombarded by conflicting messages in the media about what is healthy and what is not, and you have all of these gimmicky diet books about low carb, low fat, high protein, vegetarian, fasting, atkins, south beach, liquid diets, and hundreds more. There's so much conflicting info, that the average consumer doesn't even know where to start when it comes to eating for fat loss.

The second thing that works time and time again, is to focus on the intensity of your workouts and focus on working the body as a whole in order to get the best metabolic response to lose that stubborn body fat. In order to really get lean, the workouts should have a high intensity, with short rest periods, working the largest muscle groups of the body, instead of trying to isolate specific small muscles like the biceps, triceps, or calves.

For the third thing, let's talk about actually training the abs specifically. When it comes to training the abs, if you want real results, I always recommend forgetting about the crunches and situps for the most part. They are ok for someone that is really deconditioned, but most people that already have some training under their belt need a much better stimulus for their abs than crunches. Crunches are one of the abs exercises that actually provide the least amount of resistance, and remember that resistance is what develops and tones the muscles. I provide a ton of great abs exercises in my book, but one of THE highest resistance exercises for the abs, is hanging leg raises (but NOT the way you see most people at the gym doing them). The key to doing these and actually working the hell out of your abs is to curl your pelvis up as you raise your legs. Almost nobody ever does this right. To be honest, the majority of people cannot do this at first, but I provide some strategies in my book as to how to progress to doing these correctly.

GD: What are people doing wrong when it comes to developing the coveted "6 pack abs"?

MG: Well Geo, I know this sounds funny to most people, but the MAIN thing that people are doing wrong to get those 6 pack abs is...are you ready for this? They spend entirely too much time focusing on training their abs! Sounds crazy, but it's true. Remember, having a visible six pack of abs is all about getting down to a low body fat percentage. In order to do that, your workouts must focus on stimulating a fat burning hormonal environment in your body, and increasing your metabolic rate. That just does not happen when you focus too much time training a small muscle group like the abs. Instead, you must use the majority of your time focusing on training the largest muscle groups of the body like the legs, back, and chest. That's what stimulates your metabolism and the fat burning hormones that will get you truly lean and sporting a sixxer!

GD: Which exercises are the top exercises that people need to do if they are to get maximum defintion with their midsection?

MG: When it comes to developing the abs themselves, I again refer to any kinds of hanging abs exercises, as well as some good floor exercises like lying leg thrusts (all described and illustrated in my book). However, maximum definition in the midsection comes from losing bodyfat, and the most effective exercises featured in my program for that goal are various forms of swings and snatches (unique dumbbell or kettlebell exercises that almost nobody ever does in normal gyms), squats, deadlifts, lunges, step-ups, clean & presses, mountain climbers, sprinting, and other full body exercises and calisthenics. If you want great looking abs, focus on those instead of focusing so much on training the abs directly!

GD: When it comes to diet Mike, people really have tried millions of ways to get one thing...and that is fat loss. What recommendations have you used to successfully help your clients lose fat and keep it off?

MG: I have included a fully comprehensive discussion of this topic in my book, which accounts for almost half of the book, but I'll try to make some nice simple generalizations to get people started on the right path immediately. The most important thing is that your diet is as natural and unprocessed as possible. It almost always comes back to the overprocessing of food that makes it unhealthy, and makes it totally wreck your metabolism and hormone balance in your body. For example, why eat refined grains, when you can eat whole grains. Why eat refined sugar, when you can get natural sources of sugar from a high nutrient whole food like fruit. Why eat highly processed, refined, and hydrogenated vegetable oils (these are THE worst thing in the modern diet), when you can eat natural sources of healthy fats like nuts, avocados, fish, eggs, coconut milk, organically raised meat, and so forth. The point is to not fall for some gimmick like low carbs, low fat, high protein, or any other combination that has you focusing on one macronutrient vs. another. Your body needs all macronutrients to thrive and obtain a variety of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, etc. Trying to cut an entire food group out just works against what your body needs. I get into much more detail on this vitally important topic towards losing body fat for life in my book.

GD: Thank you very much Mike for sharing with us all of this great information. For more info on Mike Geary and his internationally popular Truth about Six Pack Abs book, please be sure to visit his site below. Remember that 6-7 weeks from now, summer will be here, and if you wait until then, I'm afraid to tell you, but it will be too late!"

Visit http://truthaboutabs.com/freenewsletter.html to receive a free copy of the innovative ebook, Training & Nutrition Secrets for a Lean-Body, as well as your own free personalized metabolic rate calculator.

Michael Geary is a nationally dual certified personal trainer and author of the internationally-selling The Truth about Six Pack Abs ©2004-2006. Also, be sure to visit http://4evertoned.com for more valuable fitness tips.

Toning Your Abs - Common Exercising Myths

1. The 'Chew Then Crunch' Myth

Crunches are good exercises for toning the abs and stomach if done properly and combined with a low fat diet. However many people think they can continue to eat what they want and end their day with 100 crunches to "work off" all the bad stuff they put in their body throughout the day.

If you're not lowering your fat intake by watching what you eat, it doesn't matter how many exercises and crunches you perform. Not only will you see zero results, but you may actually see your stomach increase in size!

This is because you're building muscle underneath the existing fat. We all have flat stomachs, it's just that some have layers and layers of fat on top of that muscle we must get rid of first.

You've got to work off that existing fat first by training and toning your abs and stomach area.

I had this problem when I first started exercising. I didn't lower my caloric or fat intake much but I started doing crunches. For three months straight I did my 8-minute ab routine like clockwork. I couldn't understand why I wasn't seeing results. In fact, my stomach started protruding even more.

Well after doing lots of reading I discovered that I was going to also change my diet if I was going to see the results I wanted.

2. The Numbers Myth

Twenty-five good, quality crunches are much better than 250 half-done crunches. Many people just want to get it over with so they lie down and do as many fast crunches as they can while lacking in quality.

The best thing to do is perform 4 sets of 20-25 solid crunches while resting 90 seconds in between each set. That is a much more effective way of training your abs than 250 lackluster crunches in a row.

3. The Spot Toning Myth

This is the one that frustrates me. I have always been very thin and recently started gaining weight in my hips and thigh area. I welcomed the added pounds because it gave me a curvier figure. Unfortunately it also left we with a slightly flabby stomach.

I wanted to keep the hips and thighs but lose the stomach so I started exercising my stomach and abs by doing pilates and crunches.

Well, I didn't see any results. I discovered through reading that you can't just spot tone because if you only focus on one area (ie. your tummy), you won't raise your metabolism enough to burn that extra belly fat. So the key to flattening your stomach area is to increase your body's metabolism so it can effectively get rid of those layers of excess tummy fat.

A total body exercise is the key to slimming your waistline.

4. The Six Pack Myth

Whether you're a man or woman, we'd all love to have that solid six pack to show off when we're at the pool right? Well, what most people don't realize is that solid abs don't start in the gym, they start in the kitchen. If your body contains a lot of fat, your abs won't show no matter how much you exercise.

Your first goal should be to lose that fat, and it starts with your diet. Decrease the amount of fat and calories you consume and increase the amount of protein. Protein is an absolute necessity for ridding fat and building muscle.

5. The Running Myth

Did you know that running does very little when it comes to toning your stomach? This is because it can cause your pelvis to pull forward and arching of your lower back.

Don't get me wrong, running is good for you and can burn a lot of calories, but if you aren't doing any other stomach toning exercises in conjunction with running you'll see little if any results.

Conclusion

Hopefully you've learned that flattening your stomach is not about doing 100 crunches per day. It's about total body fitness and changing your overall diet.

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Lisa Irby is the author of http://www.flat-stomach-exercises.com, a site that encourages people to understand their bodies before they begin that ab workout.