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People are always looking for an
awesome six pack. Women and men want hard, obvious and solid abdominal muscles
that are so defined they can cut through a t-shirt. So why is it that so many
people have the desire for a solid mid section yet so few people actually ever
achieve the result that they want? Well there are probably a number of reasons.
The lack of will power, a poor diet and a lacking exercise program are the
likely culprits. Of course the key to developing the actual muscle itself is
through your training program. That is what we are going to focus on here.
Anyone can achieve quality abdominal muscles if they follow a simple and
effective exercise guide. Try the following advice -
1. Is there a specific order I should do exercises in?
You should exercise the lower abs before the upper abs and do any twisting upper
ab movements before straight upper ab exercises. Twisting exercises work the
obliques as well as the upper abs.
Pick simple exercises to start with and when you can easily do about 2 sets in a
row of an exercise, try harder ones.
Only rest when you absolutely must. Take a short (10-15 seconds) rest between
two sets of the same exercise, but no rest between lower and upper abs. Try to
take about 1 second for each rep, except for ab crunches, which should be done
slowly (2 seconds per repetition) for a better contraction.
2. How many exercises, sets
and repetions should I shoot for?
I recommend 3 different exercises per workout session.
Each exercise should be done for 3-4 sets
Try to do sets in the 15-30 repetition range.
For Example:
1. Lying leg raises
Set 1= 15 repetitions
Set 2= 20 repetitions
Set 3= 25 repetitions
Set 4= 30 repetitions
2. Ball crunches
Set 1= 12 repetitions
Set 2= 15 repetitions
Set 3= 20 repetitions
3. Toning wheel
Set 1= 15 repetitions
Set 2= 15 repetitions
Set 3= 15 repetitions
3. How often should I train abs?
Some trainers recommend doing abs at every workout. Others recommend doing them
as you would any other body part. Three or four workouts a week are the standard
recommendation. Since most people want good abdominal tone more than a
bodybuilder's ripped torso, it probably makes sense to exercise the abs with
lower intensity and more frequency, rather than with high intensity and less
frequency. So try two to three times per week and train hard but not to the
point of throwing up! Simply push yourself to normal failure and aim for
frequency and quality.
4. Should I do side bends to reduce my love handles?
The answer is NO. Do not train your obliques when you are carrying any fat in
that area - that could be disastrous. Love handles - the extra rolls of fat above the hipbone at the side
of the waist are fat and only shrink with a low fat diet and general aerobic
exercise. You can't just remove the fat from that area on its own. Side bends
develop the oblique muscles under the fat and therefore make the fat more
prominent. Instead try:
5. Hanging Knee Raises
You need a chin-up bar, something you can hang from for this. Grab
the bar with both hands with a grip a bit wider than your shoulders, cross your
ankles and bring your knees up toward your chest. Since your grip will probably
give out before your abs do, its recommended that you use something like ab
loops to hang from. Your pelvis should rock slightly forward. Pause
at the top of the movement for a second and then slowly lower your knees by
relaxing your abs. Exhale when bringing the knees up and inhale on the way down.
Do not lower your legs all the way. Repeat the movement using just your abs to
raise your knees.
Make sure that you don't start swinging. You want your abs to do the work, not
momentum. It's important that you limit the range of motion during this exercise
so that the abs are isolated. Otherwise other surrounding muscles get in on the
action and do the work instead.
Make sure your pelvis moves, your lower back stays neutral, not arched, and that
your abs are doing the work, not your hips.
And that is a simple and straight
forward method to regularly train your abdominals for a good quality solid
midsection. Good luck.
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