To get your 6 pack abs quickly, one of the most efficient exercises remains the classic abdominal crunch: lie on the floor with your arms across and your chest or your hands held firmly and tightly behind your head. Keep your feet on the floor. Tighten your abs and slowly curl your shoulders up off the floor one inch. Curl your shoulders up toward your knees until your shoulder blades come up one to two inches off the floor. Hold the position for 7 seconds and then return to the starting one.
The bicycle is a very simple exercise anyone can do to work out their abs. It does not require any equipment and you can do it pretty much anywhere you go:lie on the floor on your back. Now bring your knees to a 90 angle, put your hands behind your ears and, like on a bicycle, move your legs back and forth.
My number one abdominal exercise is the alphabet:lie down with your arms kept straight behind your head. Hold on to something like a chair or a table. Stretch your legs in front of you and hold them straight parallel to the floor. You are ready to start your alphabet! First, shape the letter A with your legs straight then move on to B, and so on. For each letter, imagine you have a pencil at the very tip of your feet and you have to "write" the letter-in capitals- just using your legs. It is a very powerful exercise to get 6-pack abs quickly and shape your lower abs effectively.
You must always remember that having six pack abs is also matter of having the right balance: if you have excess fat, you can exercise all day long and you will never see those 6 pack abs. That is why it is so important to balance specific abs exercises with appropriate cardio vascular training.
Stationary bikes are a very good way to maintain you cardio vascular system up and running. Because it's not complicated to use, it gives a person satisfaction in knowing that they accomplished their exercise routine for the day. You can ride while watching your favorite show or movie. The television keeps your attention on what's going on in the screen and you do not even feel like you are exercising.
You can also try using a mini trampoline to make your exercise routine fun. These can make your exercise program fun and easy to do because you can bounce around and get your activity done. These mini trampolines can be easily stored since they can fold up and be placed in a closet.
Keep a personal journal and mark on it each day when you've completed your exercise program. When you reach a certain number of marks, you can give yourself the reward of whatever you want. Exercising can be fun if you come up with ways to make it more interesting - and the more interesting it is, the more likely you'll be to keep it up for the long-term.
Before I can let you in on my step by step action plan, it is important to dispel some common myths.
Myth 1: If I just lose some weight, you will see my abs
Wrong!
If you want to see your abs, you need to lose fat, not weight. To explain it in more detail you need to understand how your body works. Your body is made up of fat mass and lean body mass (bone, muscle, organs, water). It is important that you decrease your fat mass and maximize your lean body mass. This will boost your metabolism and put you in the best position to achieve six-pack abs.
So, if you lose 10 kilos at the expense of losing some of your lean muscles mass, you will in fact slow down your metabolism and lose muscle tone. However, it you can lose 10 kilo on the scales and you can keep or even gain lean muscle mass, you will improve your performance, see more muscle tone and lose mostly body fat.
I am not a big fan of scales anyway. Scales are not a good indication of weight loss as the results can fluctuate. For example things such as hydration levels, time of day and in women, their menstrual cycle, can all lead to misleading measurements. Women especially find scales a great de-motivator, so my advice is to get rid of them. Don't worry about how many kilos you have lost. Instead focus on losing a dress size or taking before and after photos to track the changes you have made.
Myth 2: If I do lots of crunches, I will get six-pack abs
This is a common misconception and it is WRONG! There is no such thing as spot reduction. You can't just do exercises in one area and expect to lose fat from that one area. You need to do total body workouts.
You see, your body has a genetically pre-detemined way to lose body fat. You need to create a caloric deficit through proper eating and training. So to maximize the amount of calories you burn, you need to engage as many whole body movements during every training session. Compound, multi-joint movements like squats, lunges and push ups burn so many more calories than isolation movements like crunches. When you do a workout, focus on these types of exercises first, and then if you have some time at the end, add in some core work to help strengthen the abs.
Myth 3: Crunches are the best exercises to get six pack abs
Wrong!
For many years, it has been thought that by doing endless amounts of crunches, you will get a six pack. This is not the case. The muscles you see flex when you do a crunch is called your rectus abdominus and their primary function is to prevent hyperextension. But if you don't continually brace your abs as you crunch, your back will begin to hyperextend and put you at a greater risk for injury.
When we train, we focus on stabilization exercises in all three planes of movement: saggital - front-to back, frontal - side to side, and transverse - rotational. We use pillar exercise variations, which are also know as planks. Planks are a fantastic exercise as they activate the key transverse abdominus muscles which wrap around your spine and support your internal organs. By strengthening these core muscles, you will improve your posture and prevent injury to your neck and back. This is key as crunches often cause neck and back injuries.
Myth 4: You need to do long cardio sessions to burn the fat in your abs area
Wrong!
It has been shown in scientific research that aerobic training alone does not burn the fat off your abs. The key is total body resistance training combined with interval training. Interval training alone has been scientifically proven to burn nine times more fat that ordinary exercise so when combined with resistance training you have the one-two punch in your training program that will strip fat off your body.
So what is the action plan to get six pack Abs?
The Anti-Crunch Step By Step Action Plan for Six Pack Abs
Step 1: To see you abs, lose the fat that is covering them
a) Elevate your metabolism by eating the right things
-As soon as you wake up, drink 2-4 glasses of water. Then drink 1-2 glasses of water for every 2 hours you are awake. When you exercise, drink the equivalent of 1-2 glasses of water for every 15 minutes of vigorous exercise .
-Eat immediately when you wake up and then every 2-4 hours after that. That means you will have 3 meals and 3 snacks every day.
-Eat a wide variety of lean proteins, fruit and vegetables.
-Take a multi vitamin and an essential fatty acid (EFA) supplement
-Reduce carbohydrates. To achieve the best results, you the following step by step plan in the exact order:
1) Replacing all the white carbs with 100% wholegrain carbs
2) Replace al refined sugars with natural sugars
3) Limit whole grain starch and natural sugar consumption to within 1-2 hours post-workout or immediately upon waking for breakfast
4) Replace all starches and sugars with fruits and vegetables
5) Replace all fruits with green vegetables
6) Use strategic carb and calorie cycling to take your body to the next level.
B) Train to elevate your metabolism and lose fat
-Monday, Wednesday and Friday - Perform Total Body Circuit Strength Training
-Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday - Perform Cardio Interval Training
Step 2: Train your abs based on their true function: Stabilisation
Here is one of my boot camp workouts which my clients love to hate. There are no crunches or sit ups and they are all stabilisation exercises.
Tabata Workout
This is a 20 minute total body core workout. These exercises use your shoulders, hips and core.
For each exercise below, you will alternate between 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest. You will repeat this 30 second sequence 8 times for 4 minutes followed by a one minute rest and transition before moving on to the next exercise listed.
To get the most out of this workout, you need to actively pull your navel to your spine, engage your glutes and maintain a straight line from the heels through to the shoulders.
Exercise 1: Leg Extensions
Exercise 2: Russian Paddler
Exercise 3: Side Leg drops
Exercise 4: Plank
Try this killer core workout and when combined with the other steps of the Anti Crunch Action Plan, you will finally find your six pack abs.
Both Sophia Munoz & Mireille Ryan are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Sophia Munoz has sinced written about articles on various topics from Fitness, Guide Guitar and Cars. Sophia Munoz is versed into health and fitness and investigates little known secrets on how to get 6 pack abs quickly. She has recently started a new caree. Sophia Munoz's top article generates over 14800 views. Bookmark Sophia Munoz to your Favourites.
Mireille Ryan has sinced written about articles on various topics from Yoga. Mireille Ryan is an internationally renowned fitness boot camp instructor and real world fat loss expert. She is an author, radio personality and founder of Health Guru Boot Camp, the Gold Coast's Number 1 Fitness Boot Camp for Women. For a FREE 1-week t. Mireille Ryan's top article generates over 1000 views. Bookmark Mireille Ryan to your Favourites.