Monday, December 7, 2009

How To Get A Flat Stomach & Perfect Abs In 2 - 3 Weeks



If you want to get a flat stomach and perfect abs fast, this article has the answer you seek. While many people believe that it takes months and even years to get the flat stomach that they dream of, this is simply a misconception. If you play your cards right, follow the right diet guidelines and do the correct workout routines, you can get an impressive flat stomach in as little as 2--3 weeks. This article will show you how.

In order to get flat abs in 2--3 weeks, you need to burn off that layer of stubborn belly fat which hides your abdominal muscles. To do so you need to invest in proper nutrition and exercise.

Nutrition

1. Avoid fried food -- All that fried oil is like a blanket of fat which goes to your belly and covers your abs.

2. Avoid sugary drinks -- All that artificial sugar is quickly converted to fat.

3. Avoid trans fats (unhealthy processed fats) -- Check each article of food that you buy in the supermarket to see whether it contains trans fats. If it does, forget about it for 2--3 weeks.

4. Avoid un-complex carbs -- white bread, regular rice, regular pasta and other pastries are full of empty calories which give you little energy and are quickly converted to fat by your body. Eat whole flour or wheat bread, whole rice, pasta made from whole wheat, and avoid useless pastries.

Fitness

1. Avoid regular cardiovascular activity -- Most people do continuous cardiovascular activity at a regular pace for a long time. This is a mistake. By doing interval cardio activity, you will burn much more fat and bring out those sexy abs.

2. Avoid doing crunches and sit-ups -- These kinds of low intensity exercises do little to develop your ab muscles. They also waste your time and you'll need to make excellent use of every minute of it in order to get a flat stomach in 2--3 weeks.

3. Avoid focused workout routines -- Invest your time in full body workouts. These kind of workouts are much more strenuous and so will burn a lot more fat from your entire body in general and your stomach in particular.

4. Avoid workout machines and gadgets -- working out with free weights or barbells is much more effective. These kinds of exercises will develop your body and cut down on your body fat much faster than workout machine exercises.

If you follow these 8 nutritional and fitness tips, you will see fast results. In 2--3 weeks, your stomach will be flatter and your abs more prominent and attractive.

To discover 27 additional nutritional tips to boost your metabolism rate and more fitness tricks to take your workouts to a new level, click here: Tips and Secrets To Getting A Flat Stomach And Sexy Abs. John Davenport achieved his flat stomach and six pack abs. To read how he did it, click here How To Get A Flat Stomach Fast.

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

Friday, January 9, 2009

The Best Abs Crunch Exercise



This has got to be the most popular and asked question, ever. And it's also one without a real answer, since there are dozens of great abs crunch exercises. The best is a matter of continued debate and opinion, with personal trainers, bodybuilders, fitness experts, nutritionists, yoga instructors and hobbyists all arguing over which abs crunch exercise is the best.

Luckily, they do generally agree on a few things, which is that the best abs crunch exercise is actually a combination of several exercises rolled into one. This killer abs crunch exercise will work out your upper and lower abs (at least, it will work your rectus abdominis from several angles to ensure maximum fiber stimulation along the entire vertical length of the muscle, since isolation is impossible within a single muscle), it will attack your obliques, and promote size and strength of the entire abdominal section.

So here it is, the best abs crunch exercise. Be warned though, it's not for the faint of heart. If you want all in one, you have to be prepared to put in all your effort.

Lie on your back, and cup your hands behind your head. Lift your head off the ground, but don't use your hands to pull. They're just there for support - your abs should be the muscles doing the work. Next, bring your knees up to your chest. OK, that part was easy. Now comes the hard part.

Straighten out your right leg, keeping your foot 10-12 inches off the floor. Your left leg should stay where it is, bent with your knee up to your chest as far as is comfortable. As you straighten your right leg, lift your shoulder blades off the floor, lean forward and twist your upper torso so you touch your right elbow against your left knee. Feel the abs and obliques working?

To complete one repetition, you basically swap legs. Relax your shoulder blades back onto the floor, then draw your right knee back into your chest and simultaneously extend your left leg. As you do so, lift the shoulder blades off the floor and twist your upper torso the other way, touching your left elbow against your right knee as it reaches your chest. You should be doing a kind of bicycle motion with your legs, and twisting your torso left and right alternately whilst doing mini crunches. Perform 10-15 reps, then rest. After 90-120 seconds, do another set, and then another if you can manage it.

After doing a few sets of the best abs crunch exercise, you should be able to feel the effect all over your abs. The twisting works your obliques, the crunches work your upper abs and the bicycle legs work your lower abs, all at once. So there you have it. The best abs crunch exercise.

David Spencer is a fitness nutcase. He has spent years learning about exercise and just as long working on his own six pack abs Getting your own flat abs is not as hard as everyone makes out, but you do have to do it properly - visit The Truth About Six Pack Abs to find out exactly how David and hundreds of others got theirs, and how you can get yours.

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

Monday, May 26, 2008

Six Pack Abs - 8 Ways To Flatten Your Belly



So you are among the many looking for those sexy six pack abs. This is a goal sought by many but attained by few.

Why? Because it takes more than just doing a few situps in the morning. It takes complete dedication to a healthy lifestyle including a good diet.

With that in mind here are 8 ways to flatten your belly. These are whole life tips, not just another exercise routine!

1) Drink a lot of water. This cannot be stressed enough. If you are involved in any sort of strenuous physical activity you need to stay hydrated.

2) Do some cardiovascular exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes 3-4 times per week. Cardiovascular exercise will help burn the fat that is covering those sexy six pack abs that you know you have under all that flab.

3) Change your choice of carbohydrates. Go with whole grain breads and cereals and stay away from white bread and rice. White breads and rice break down into simple sugars and are retained by the body and stored as fat. Whole grains are a healthy alternative and provide roughage.

4) Do not eat before bed time. Eat your last meal 4-5 hours before bed so your body has a chance to digest your food and run it through your system.

5) Follow a good abdominal routine every day. Yes, abs can be worked every day. Just make sure to change up your routine and work different parts of the abdominal each day so you do not get bored.

6) Break up your meals into smaller portions and eat 5-6 times per day. This will help boost your metabolism and also help keep you from getting hungry and snacking between meals.

7) Start a weight lifting routine. Muscle is an active tissue. It burns calories even in a resting state, unlike fat that just sits there.

8) Get plenty of rest. Muscle needs time to repair itself. As you exercise you tear down the muscle. Only with rest and proper nutrition can you rebuild it.

Do not forget. Six pack abs can be attained with a little self discipline and planning. These 8 ways to flatten your belly are just a part of an overall healthy lifestyle.

Discover the best ways to flatten your belly and get a trim, toned, sexy body and show off those six pack abs at http://www.secretstoflatabs.com/

Labels: , , , , , ,

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

How To Get Six Pack Abs



Whether you want to get six pack abs, or just looking to lose a bit of extra luggage you're carrying around the mid-section, there are 3 "key" areas you need to focus on to get six pack abs.

Strong abs not only help strengthen your lower back, but also improve upon your posture. Most lower back injuries occur, believe it or not, due to weak abs. Focus on these three areas and over time, you will see improved results.

Key # 1- Proper cardiovascular work

You can have the greatest, most muscular set of six pack abs in the world, but if they're blanketed by a layer of body fat, who cares. In order to rid yourself of the extra body fat around your midsection, you need to incorporate effective cardio sessions into your fitness plan.

You cannot spot-reduce the midsection by doing extra ab exercises like crunches or sit-ups. You first must burn off the body fat through proper cardio to properly define the area. Abdominal training by itself will not do much. Cardio needs to be intense enough to do the trick.

Three to four sessions a week, 20 minutes at a time, of intense jogging, running, the Stairmaster, the elliptical, jumping rope, or biking should be enough to get the process in gear. Swimming, hiking, and taking aerobics classes are beneficial as well.

Nothing beats jogging or running. It is the most intense, efficient, and effective method of burning calories. If running outside hurts your joints, try running inside on a treadmill or outside on a dirt path. It definitely is easier on the body.

Again, you NEED three to four intense cardio sessions a week, at least 20 minutes a session, to help create a calorie deficit and help rid the body of the fat that covers and lessens your chances of getting six pack abs.

Key # 2- Proper Nutrition

Do not sabotage your results in the gym by giving yourself a passport to pig out. Ridding the body of fat once and for all is accomplished by proper nutrition more so than incorporating cardio. At the end of the day, if you have consumed more calories than you have expended, you add body fat. So you need to burn more calories than you consume.

Nutrition is important because you can reduce the amount of calories you take in, therefore greatly having an effect on the amount which you have to expend through cardio. Eat five to six small, well-balanced meals spaced apart about every three to four hours. Try to keep something healthy on hand.

If not, when you become real hungry, you will opt for something that isn?t as good for you. When you become overly hungry, all rational thinking goes out the window. But it is important to get something in you. Not eating on time or at all is almost as bad as eating too much.

Keep protein intake high (approximately 50% of daily calories), carbs moderate (40%), and fats minimal (10%). Muscle fiber is made of tightly-wound protein molecules that is damaged during a workout, so you need more protein than the sedentary person to help that muscle tissue repair.

Carbohydrates have an important role in the body, but do not base your meals on them. Try to avoid simple sugars like cane sugar, honey, fruit juices, syrups, and even a lot of fruit.

Drink at least a gallon of clean water each day as well. It will help in nutrient absorption and digestion and will help flush toxins from the body.

Bottom line, make sure you are supplying your body with well-balanced, healthy food every three to four hours. To ensure you are creating a calorie deficit, you should find out your daily caloric requirements that you need just to maintain your current bodyweight.

Since you are looking to reduce your current body weight by getting rid of some fat, you want to speed up creating a calorie deficit. One way is how we talked about above, doing cardio.

The other is by reducing the amount of calories you consume by 150-200 calories per day off your daily calorie maintanence amount.

For example, if you require, at your age, weight, activity levels, etc...2000 calories just to maintain your current weight, start reducing that number to 1800 to 1850 for a couple weeks.

If after a couple weeks you still do not see results, lower that number again by 150-200. Now you would be at 1600 to 1650 calories.

Again, the key to getting six pack abs is ridding your body of the fat covering the abs.

The only way to do this is by creating a calorie deficit so that your body burns calories for needed fuel. When you burn stored calories, you're burning body fat. The way to properly do this is a combo of increased, intense cardio and a gradual reduction of calories.

Key # 3- Weight training the abdominals

Here is where most people go wrong in their attempt to develop their abs. I often ask those I train, "Would you train your biceps with sets of 50 reps with no weight"? Of course, they say no. "How about your chest, 50 reps with no weight?" Another no. I then ask, "Then why would you do that with your abs"?

Here's an important key. If you want proper ab development, you need to add resistance (weight) to your ab exercises. Abs are muscles just like biceps, triceps, pecs, glutes, whatever. You need resistance to properly strengthen and build them. The same goes for abdominals.

Here are some effective ab exercises to incorporate for proper ab stimulation.

Weighted crunches. Grab a dumbbell, either hold it in front of your face, or let it lie on your upper chest, under your chin, and perform regular crunches. You are now using your abs more to work against the leverage the dumbbell has created. Stick with a heavy enough weight where you can handle 10-15 reps, but no more. Remember, you need to create enough resistance where your abs are forced to work.

Cable Rope crunches--grab the tricep rope, kneel on your knees, and bend downwards, forcefully contracting your abs on the way down. It's basically a crunch, only, you are on your knees. But the contraction is the same. Don't swing with the hips, you are not using the abs very much if you do. Just a slight, 30 degree contraction until you feel the abs contract, hold for a couple seconds, then back up.

Weighted leg raises-- Lie flat on your back, with your hands tucked under your butt. Wrap your feet around a small dumbbell, and perform leg raises. Start with your feet about 6 inches from the ground, then raise them about 12-16 inches from the ground and then back down slowly. These can be done on the end of a bench as well.

Seated ab machine-- once again, do not swing all the way down, just far enough (30 degrees) to fully contract the abs, hold for a couple seconds, then back up. This is very similar to Cable rope crunches.

Stability Ball Crunches-- working on the stability ball will incorporate balance into your abdominal work. They are effective at strengthening your core region, which is your abs and lower back.

You lie down on a stability ball like you are going to perform a crunch. Position yourself on the ball so your lower back is resting on it. Keep your feet close together on the floor making your body less stable (helps incorporate more balance on your part) and place your hands behind your head or folded on your chest. Crunch your upper body towards your knees, exhaling as you contract your abs. Under muscular control, lower yourself back to the original position keeping full tension on the abs.

Regardless of what exercise you do, the key is to add weight/resistance. If not, you will never increase the amount of lean muscle tissue in the area. You only need to train your abs twice a week for maximum results. Once again, treat them like any other muscle group (which means you wouldn't train them more often). Combine this weight training with proper diet and intense cardio and that elusive six-pack is yours to be had!

Personal trainer and natural bodybuilder Shawn Lebrun shows you, step by step, how to build more muscle and lose more fat in less time. Click here now to learn how.

Labels: , , , , , ,