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Posts Tagged ‘Sit Ups’

Six-Pack Abs Require A Combination Of Diet And Exercise

November 26th, 2009


Many of us would love to have the six-pack abs. Everywhere you look there are commercials or ads promising these wonderful abs, but what really works? There are many of these ads that say taking a supplement can give you the envious abdominals and the flat stomach you’ve always wanted. Whether or not these supplement is still yet to be decided.  One thing that we do know for sure is that exercises such as crunches and sit ups  will get you the results you want.

Not all the supplements that are available to you are safe. Who knows what they are putting in these supplements that will give you these great abs. There have been reports of serious side effects resulting from taking these supplements. The good news is there is another way to get these great abs without having to take supplements and risking your health. With a little hard work, exercise and a healthy diet you can achieve great looking abs all on your own.

First thing you will need to do is get some sort of journal to keep record of your exercise and diet program. You can choose whatever kind of journal you think will work best for you. If you want to use a little notebook that you can take with you to help you stay on top of your record keeping that is just fine. If you have a personal digital assistant you can invest in a program that will help you keep your records. Whichever way you decide will work better for you is what you need to do.

The purpose of the journal is to keep track of your progress, and help find any areas that may need more attention. Information you will need to put in your journal will be what day it is, your weight, what exercise you are doing or did on that day, and your food intake. You will also want to make sure you record the time of each of these events to make tracking progress easier.

You will also want to take your measurements weekly or biweekly depending on how dramatic of results you like to see and record these also. How often you weigh yourself is up to you as an individual, it all depends once again on how dramatic you want the results to be. Just remember that if you do it every day it may make you more aware of your goals and make you try harder to reach them. Whichever way you decide to go, just make sure you are weighing yourself at the same time of day each time.

When you track this information it will make you more aware of what you need to work harder on the next day or week. If you have a record of what you did you can look and see if maybe you skipped a day of exercise, or didn’t eat very healthy. You want to make sure you are burning more calories than you are taking in. If you keep track of your how much food you ate and when you ate it, it will be easier to see when you need to watch more carefully. Maybe you are overeating everyday at the same time of day, if so your journal will help you see this so you can fix it.

When keeping track of your exercise you will want to write down what type of exercise you did, when you did it, and how long you did it. Keep in mind that just doing sit-ups will not guarantee that six-pack you dream of. You need to make sure you get rid of the fat so that you can see the great abs you are looking for.

To maximize your results you will probably want to do aerobic exercise or cardiovascular exercise to burn fat and calories, strength training to create more muscle, and abdominal exercises. Strength training is important because muscle burns more calories than fat, and will help power your aerobic exercises. Walking, swimming or training along with an aerobic exercise tape are all great ways to get you aerobic workout in. For abdominal work you can do regular sit-ups, or try something like Pilates. Pilates incorporates strength training for your abs and uses twisting movements to get better results.

Just remember that you should exercise four to five times a week, and keep an honest an accurate journal to maximize your results. You also need to realize that you will not get your dream abs overnight; it takes hard work and time.

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The Chair Workouts

November 22nd, 2009

If you do not have any workout equipment at home or there is no gym in the office, then do not fret.  There are things around your home and office that can be utilized creatively to help you get your daily dose of fitness.

In almost every place, you can always find a chair.  It is up to your imagination on what other household or work furniture you can use to help you with your exercise routine.  However a chair is quite versatile, thus the chair workouts:1.  Abdominal crunches.  Be careful not to slip when you sit on the edge of a chair.  Secure the position by extending your arms to the back and hold each side of the furniture.  Extend your legs to the front and hold the position.  Tilt your head and shoulder backwards to form a 90-degree angle with your legs extended.  Now, bend your knees to clench your abdominal muscles and then extend your legs back to the front.  This abdominal exercise is better and more effective than the traditional sit-ups.2.  Lateral leg raise.  Hold the back of the chair with one of your arms while standing straight.  With the other arm holding the side of the waist making a 90-degree angle with the elbow, lift the leg to the side and gradually lower it.  With the other leg, perform the leg lift and gradually lower it as well.3.  Triceps dips.  With your back towards the back of the chair, lay your hands on the back of the furniture and hold it.  The back of your hand should be facing the front so as to isolate your triceps muscles.  Gradually lower yourself by bending your knees.  As you lower yourself, your elbows will bend and your arms will almost align with your shoulders.4.  Triceps kickbacks.  Hold the back of the chair with one arm.  The other arm should hold a dumbbell.  Place one knee on the seat of the chair.  The arm holding the chair and the knee on the seat of the chair should be on the same side.  The two should either be right or left side.  Lower your chest so that it is parallel to the ground.  Gradually lift the weight towards your back thus, extending the arm.  Slowly lower the dumbbell thus, bending the elbow to form a 90-degree angle.  Switch arms and knees and workout.It is amazing how we can find another use to already useful objects.  Instead of buying expensive gym equipment or joining a fitness club, why not utilize what we already have?  Aside from the money you can save, you can save space at home or save on gas in going to the fitness center.

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The Best Ab Workout for 6 Pack Abs

November 21st, 2009

ADSENSE CODE #3

Men and women everywhere spend countless time and energy looking for the best ab workout they can find. Having a tight firm stomach has become something of a status symbol that denotes a healthy fit body. Getting a set of 6 pack abs does take work and dedication to the goal that is set.Everyday there is not shortage of TV and internet advertisements that cater to this very need. Everything from fat burning, appetite suppressing pills and potions to the latest ab exercise machine that twists and turns your body into all sorts of pretzel shapes are being sold to the six pack crazed public these days. Those fitness models and other “beautiful people” they feature in those commercials probably didn’t get those bodies using whatever it they are trying to sell. They worked hard to get their bodies in shape and they continue to live a healthy lifestyle to stay that way.No matter how many ab specific exercises you do on those machines or doing 1000s of sit-ups and crunches you will never get those hard firm abs you’ve been looking for without making some changes to the way you eat and exercise. You can have a 6 pack but nobody will se it if it’s hidden under a layer of fat.That’s right, the best ab workout doesn’t just focus on the abdominal muscles but the health and fitness level of your entire body. By focusing on living a healthy lifestyle that includes eating right and doing a variety of different exercises that work the entire body you can have the type of abs you see on those commercials.It will take some work and dedication to achieve that washboard stomach but the steps needed are actually quite simple, if you have the desire to do them. If anything just look at those fitness model in those commercials. They look that way because they made a conscious decision to get in shape.The best ab workout to get a set of 6-pack-abs consists of the following three things.1. A Healthy Diet – You are what you eat. That old saying is true in so many ways. Everything you eat or drink has an effect on your body, whether it be good or bad. The human body needs and demands certain forms of nutrients so that it can run at optimum efficiency. Giving it the nutrients and calories it needs will increase metabolism and burn away excess fat.2. Weight Training – If you weight train you will naturally strengthen not just the muscles specific to the exercise you are doing but also your abdominals and lower back because these are the muscles that stabilize the body during any form of physical activity. It will also increase lean muscle mass which require large amounts of caloric energy just to maintain.3. Aerobic Training – Aerobic or cardio exercise is a good way to burn excess calories and strengthen the entire cardiovascular system. Get out and take a walk, go for a bike ride, or any other form of activity that you enjoy doing.Getting a set of six pack abs will take time, how much depends on what kind of shape you are currently in and how dedicated you are to that final goal. Just remember that the best ab workout is a combination of diet and exercise. By making healthy lifestyle choices you can have the body you always dreamed about.

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Get Flat Abs – the Muscle Group Which is Guilty for Everything

November 17th, 2009

By thousands of sit-ups daily, abs are the most abused group of muscles on the body. People abuse them trying to bring themselves into shape. But they don’t know that abdominal muscles are skeletal muscles like any other on the body. Because of their function and position, they are more involved in body activities than other muscles, but that doesn’t mean they can be brought into shape if they are exposed to training everyday.

It is false that abs should be trained at least half an hour daily in order to be visible, as common belief says. Sit-ups should be made in kitchen, not on training, and the best exercise for abs is fork, spoon and knife!

Most of people have enviable, great built abdominal muscles. Moreover, this can be checked simply if you breath out completely on your mouth, contract your abs and touch them with your fingers. That firm, rocky thing which can be felt underneath the fatness are abdominal muscles. But why they are not visible?

I mentioned fatness — extra fat which has been deposited over abdominal muscles for years. Besides extra subdermal fluids, extra fat is the biggest reason why abs are not visible. If fat could disappear instantly for a moment, you would be shocked with the quality of your abs. True, not everyone have top-built abs, but people who are even a bit active sure do.

The abdominal muscle group can be compared with a small car which has low fuel consumption. On the other side, buttock and thigh muscles have high fuel consumption like a big truck. The goal is to assure high energy consumption on training in order to force the body to waste fat stocks. So, concerning fat that covers abs, it is necessary to increase intensity of leg training or volume of cardiovascular training and to correct nutrition immediately.

There is one big misconception — muscles and fat that covers them seem like closed union to people. They think that muscles during activity absorb exactly the fat that covers those muscles. But this is a big lie. The only truth is that abdominal muscles won’t be visible unless body fats aren’t lowered below 15%.

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Do You Want To Have Abs?

November 11th, 2009

ADSENSE CODE #5

Most men would like to have “six-pack” abs. Yes it is true that men can become more confident with their body shape if they have these sexy abs. However, it is not easy to train the abdominal muscle in order to develop the abs. So, how should you train your abdominal muscles?
In fact, there is nothing special in order to have the abs. The only way is to train it and do a lot of workout. For your abs workout, you should have high-intensity of muscular overload. However, you have to be very careful when you are training your abdominal muscles. You should never overdo it otherwise it will only hurt you. On the other hand, there will be no effect if it is under-trained.
Some people will do some sit-ups in order to train the abdominal muscles. In fact, it is really a very good way to train the muscles. However, this should only be the first step of your training. What you need to understand is that your muscle will develop if you try to overload it. As a result, performing 20 sit-ups a day will not help to develop your “six-pack” abs because you are not trying to overload your muscles.
As a result, you have to increase your intensity of the training if you want to develop the abs. You will have to make the period of performing the workouts longer everyday. Only by doing that you will be able to develop the abs. Generally speaking, exercises such as weighted crunches and weighted sit-ups are very good for developing your “six-pack” abs.
For weighted crunches, one of the best ways to do it is to lie on the floor with your head close to the low pulley weight stack. You should use the rope handle attachment. And at the same time you try to grasp the ends and pull the cable until it is tight. Remember, your hands should be resting at the side of your head near your ears. Then you should try to contract your ab muscles in a crunch that lifts your shoulders off the floor. This will draw the weight stack up an inch or two. Remember, the idea is to overload your muscles. As a result, you should choose a weight that is so heavy that you can only do 8 to 12 reps.
Of course you may even try to increase the duration and weight everyday. After some time your abs will be developed.

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