What develops your Abs?

Abdominal workouts don't have to be as hard as you think. Did you know you could work out your abdominals just 2 to 3 times a week or less and get desirable results? Most fitness trainers are well aware of this fact, but to some, that may be a bit of a surprise.

Most people believe to get ripped abdominals, you have to work out a lot, but that's simply not true. In this article, I will explain the most effective method at getting the results you want and explain facts that you may not be aware of:

1. Exercising your abdominals too often is bad: The reason is because your abdominals (like all your muscles) need time to recover. By working them out too often you are not allowing enough time for your abdominal muscles to recover. This is why working them out 2 to 3 times a week is ok because you are not straining your abdominals. Anymore unnecessary workout to your core would just be ineffective and perhaps cause injury or muscle tear and depletion. Also, you muscles develop when they are given enough time to recover so this will further strengthen your abdominals the next time you work out. But by not allowing enough time, your muscles have no chance to recover and strengthen.

2. Do more anaerobic exercises instead of Cardio: Although Cardio workouts can be beneficial; they probably won't help you much at developing a six pack. Anaerobic exercises, or high intensity exercises involving weights or other highly intense activities such as Basketball, can be beneficial at increasing your metabolic rate. This in turn will help you burn off calories faster. The benefits of anaerobic exercises are that the high intensity last longer than Cardio. It can increase your metabolic rate even after you finished working out, up to 2 days. This means your metabolism is still at work burning off calories long after you finished working out. With Cardio, since the intensity is usually low, the benefit only carries over for 1 to 2 hours after you finished working out.

3. Work out all your Large Muscle Groups: The more you work out other larger muscle groups, the more all your muscles with benefit. By increasing your overall muscle helps at burning fat. The more you can you lower your fat percentage, the more you abdominals with begin to show. This is why it's beneficial to work all your large muscle groups so you can continue burning fat and reveal your abdominals. And also, everyone has abdominals. It's only because they are hidden under a layer of fat is why they're not revealed.

4. Effective exercises for Abs: These are exercises that focus on more stimulation to the abdominals and are more effective. An example would be an abdominal wheel, because it requires more work as far as balancing yourself and performing the motion correctly. The motion with an abdominal wheel also requires you to use more of your abdominal strength to maintain your balance. The result is you are using more of your ab muscles and working them harder and more effectively.

Summary

In addition, maintaining discipline and having a good diet is also important. Knowing something is not useful unless you put it to work. Try to find time and workout at least 45 minutes a day. Or you may decide to start with 45 minutes every other day. Whatever you choose to do, make a good habit of it and you will reach your goal.



Need more advice on cardio and abdominal exercises? Hire a personal trainer! If you live in Toronto you could hire me as your personal trainer.

Bicycling your Way to Fitness

6 Minutes on your Bicycle per Day...

If you weigh between 160 to 170 lbs 6 minutes on a bicycle (cycling as fast as you can) burns 120 calories.

You are only cycling 20 mph (32 kmph), but in 6 minutes you've burned 120 calories... And when you realize you are only supposed to eat approx 2000 calories per day then that is 16.7% of your daily calories in JUST 6 MINUTES.

Now of course you don't need to be racing / going that fast. You could go at a more leisurely pace.

At 10 mph you burn 47 calories.

At 12 mph you burn 62 calories.

At 14 mph you burn 79 calories.

At 16 mph you burn 95 calories.

And this is just for someone who weighs 165 lbs. The more you weigh the more you burn when doing cardio because it takes more effort.

If you weigh 220 pounds the numbers go up dramatically!

10 mph for 6 minutes = 62 calories.
12 mph for 6 minutes = 84 calories.
14 mph for 6 minutes = 104 calories.
16 mph for 6 minutes = 126 calories.
20 mph for 6 minutes = 168 calories.

And its just for 6 minutes! Imagine if you bicycled at a leisurely 10 mph pace for 1 hour (bicycling 10 miles)... the total is 630 calories.

Go weigh yourself, visit the free calorie calculator at fatburn.com/free_tool_activity_burn.asp and then calculate how many calories you can lose just by cycling daily...

And then go bicycle every day for a month and see how much you lose.

For fun you can also take up fixing bicycles. Lose weight, fix bicycles, bicycle, save money on transportation, have fun!

Fun Ab Workouts you can do at Home!

Abdominal exercises support your back to prevent and relieve back pain and increase your efficiency when working out by keeping your torso stable. Crunches are monotonous and only work your core from one position. By adding variation to your ab routine, you can create a fun workout that will tone your abs from all angles.

Boxing

Boxing requires you to engage all of your ab muscles to keep yourself steady as you move. Boxing with weights will tone your abs, especially your obliques, while also elevating your heart rate to burn fat. Stand with your feet wider than shoulder width apart, holding a 2- to 5-lb. weight in each hand. Sink into a small squat to lower your center of gravity, keeping your abs engaged, and bring both hands in front of your chest. Maintaining control over your movement, punch your right arm out across your body while you twist at the waist. Return to starting position. Repeat with your left arm to complete one rep. Perform three sets of 50 reps.

Jump Rope

Jumping rope is a great way to burn fat, tone your lower body and target your abs. Your core muscles are constantly engaged to stabilize your body as you go through the air. Stand with your feet together and begin jumping rope. Keep your shoulders down, your arms at your sides and your belly button pulled into your spine to keep your abs engaged. Land lightly on the balls of your feet for each jump, jumping once per revolution of the rope. Jump rope for 60-second intervals, then rest for 30 seconds. Complete 10 rounds of jumping rope, for a total of 15 minutes.
If you do not have a jump rope, mimic the movements without using the rope.

Yoga

Yoga strengthens all the muscles of your body while it relaxes and refreshes you. Yoga works your abs because each pose requires balance, which activates your core.

Try the boat pose to target your abs. Begin by sitting on your yoga mat, with your legs in front of you and your knees bent, with the soles of your feet resting on the mat. Engage your abs and elongate your spine as you lean back slightly. Lift your feet up off the ground so you are balancing on your sit bones, using your hands for support, and hold the position for 60 seconds. Keep your back straight and your chest lifted for the duration of the exercise, and perform three to five sets.

As you get stronger, work toward straightening your legs in the air and bringing your hands to extend forward on either side of your legs.

Ab Workouts

GET GREAT ABS - Here is a good tip for if you want nice abs... don't do ab workouts UNTIL after you've lost weight.

The problem with ab workouts is that they build muscle, they don't really burn that many calories.

To burn calories what you need to do is cardio. Running, jogging, swimming, cycling, jumping jacks, aerobics and so forth. Anything where your whole body is moving for a long period of time. That burns calories fast.

Ab Workouts like the video below only come into play when you've already lost the weight and have actual abs to brag about. Then you switch from cardio to ab workouts (or balance the two) in an effort to build muscle tone.