Friday, May 29, 2009

Six Pack Abs Are You Doing It Wrong?

Six Pack Abs: The Myths and Facts About How To Get 6 Pack Abs


Let's face it we all notice the guy or gal with the slim and trim midsection. One of if not the most important body part to people is getting six pack abs. Good looking guys and women with slim and trim abs are admired and make other people’s jaw drop. So all you have to do is hundreds of crunches and other ab exercises and then like magic you'll have six pack abs.

The Six Pack Ab Myth
Most people who begin exercise programs are going about it the wrong way.

It's not your fault there is alot of misinformation out there. seems like not all that we hear from “experts” or overhear in the public or read in the magazines is right. Maybe the reason why we are not getting those perfect abs is because we are not doing it right. I will say most workouts I see people doing is a terrible waste of your time. So we need to know the myths and what is real to get those chiseled six pack abs we want.

Six pack ab Myth 1: Abdominal muscle is different from regular muscle.

Muscle is muscle. Abdominal muscle is the same as our biceps and lats. The only difference is the location. Abdominal muscles are not resting on a bony surface, instead it is against the stomach and intestines. There is no significant difference whatsoever.

Six pack Myth 2: Strong abs means a strong back.

The key to a strong back is a balanced abdominal muscles. You can work your abs, which will help your back muscles. Total body workouts for all around strength and fitness is the key. Infomercials give the false belief that by working out just one part of your body will give your health great benefits.

Working out and exercise should not just be concerned with one part of the body. What you need is an overall total body conditioning to be healthy.

Six Pack Myth 3: You have to train your abs at least every other day.

I love it when I hear personnal trainers telling their clients to get six pack abs you need to train them everyday. You need to train your abs hard enough twice a week like any other muscle group. The key is to choose exercises that fatigue your abs, so that they actually need recovery time. Include exercises that use the abs functionality. Since abs are used to stabilize the body, holding a push up position without letting your body sag will really feel and develop your abdominal muscles.

Six Pack Myth 4: To gain results, high repetitions are required.

The key to six pack abs is the exercises you choose that are not ab specific. As far as reps go the abs are no different than any other muscle. If your aim is abdominal endurance, the more crunches you do each time, the more you can do later on. It does not strengthen the abs very much but it does eat up most of your time.

Six Pack Myth 5: Hard rock abs can be attained by doing a lot of sit-ups.

Many doctors say that sit-ups and crunches are the work exercises and perhaps should never be done. A common mistake done during crunches, is throwing the neck out. Crunches and sit-ups cause the abdominal muscles to be pulled to tight, this excessive pulling put stress on the neck or what is known as throwing the neck out. The overuse of crunch type exercises may even lead to the reduction of thoracic extension and contributes to bad posture.

Six Pack Myth 6: It takes years to get great abs.

Everyone has ab muscles, you just need to train them in the correct manner. To start with you need to get rid of the fat surrounding your abs. Healthy eating is as important as exercise for getting that set of six pack abs. For some, it would take a few weeks. For other it may be longer. Different body type develop at different rates.

Too much information out there today has us doing the wrong exercises and workouts especially when it comes to getting a trim and toned stomach. If you want to get those six pack abs continue reading at Ab Truth

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

How Busy Women Are Getting 6 Pack Abs

The Busy Womans Guide For Six Pack Abs

The trend of getting six-pack abs among women

Getting six-pack abs has become one of the popular choices to keep the body fit and healthy among women. This is because it does not only guarantee a fast way of improving muscle but also the body's endurance and strength as well.

Experts say that for a woman to develop six-pack abs, she must undergo workout training where the exercises are designed for total body conditioning.

Here, the woman's muscles exert force against different forms of resistance like free weights, kettlebell training and interval fat loss training which greatly aids to the development of wonderful six-pack abs as well as total body fat loss.

Strength training as the key to six-pack abs

Women who are looking forward to having six-pack abs must undergo strength training so she can endure all the physical requirements of her goal. To start with, it is ideal to do strength training exercises at least 3 times a week for at least 20 minutes or so to prepare the muscles for more rigorous physical movements.

weight training is still the best course to up your metabolism which will keep your body burning fat off long after your workout is over.

Aside from preparing your body's muscle for more extreme physical exercises, strength training can also give a woman firm muscles for a great looking physique in the future. Studies show that strength training is very important for women who are gearing towards having six-pack abs because it can increase the endurance and strength of the developed muscles that can allow women perform tasks daily with lesser exertion and effort.

This can also improve the working capacity of the muscles but also aids the body's coordination, balance, and blood circulation as well as the strength of the joint, ligaments, and bones.

Experts say that to be able to develop muscle and achieve six-pack abs through strength training, women should always make it a practice to warm up properly before she starts strength training and after she has performed some weight exercises to prepare the joints for the pending motion during the weight lifting.

Stretching is very important for beginners because it can reduce soreness after the exercises and can help prevent cramped muscles while increasing the range of your motion.

Women who are doing workouts to get six-pack abs can do common stretching exercises such as warm-ups that include flexibility and stretching exercises to keep the muscles supple, increase the joints' range of motion, heart rate and body temperature, and blood flow to muscles, enhance flexibility, and improve coordination. Cool-downs are also important to return the heart rate as well as the blood pressure to resting mode gradually. Since they are composed of slow walking and stretching, it can relax the sore muscles during and after the exercise.

After stretching, the strength-training exercises using compound exercises can help women who are into the trend of getting six-pack abs:

Squats

Deadlifts

Presses

Bench Presses

By concentrating on compound exercises you use more muscles in the body at the same time. You might also be surprised to learn how much work your ab muscles get by using compound exercises.


Getting Six Pack Abs and losing body fat is not about doing endless reps of crunches and ab specific exercises. Total body conditioning compound exercises, kettlebell training and interval fat loss training plus healthy eating is the fastest path to six pack abs.

See Also

Ab Truth for workouts, exercises and healthy eating guiges.