1) Proper Form - To achieve your goal of getting the best ab workouts possible, proper form should be your #1 priority. The quality of your reps comes first, not the quantity. Study the descriptions and demonstrations of each exercise so you know how to do it right.
Proper form consists of: keeping your technique strict, controlling the speed of movement, working through a full range of motion, and keeping constant tension on your ab muscles. Common technique errors include: Going too fast, jerking, rocking, pulling on your head, and shortening the range of motion.Strictly adhering to proper form will go a long way toward giving you the best ab workout possible.
2) Breathing - Rule #1 on breathing: Don't hold your breath!!. This is a very common error. Holding your breath will result in straining and will temporarily raise your blood pressure. Best way to breathe: Exhale on the Effort, or lifting phase of each exercise. Ideally the exhalation will come in the last half of the rep. You would then inhale on the lowering phase. I've found with my clients that if I have them focus on the exhalation phase and make a sound when exhaling, they will get into a proper breathing rhythm that is easy to maintain.
3) Speed - Unless you're training for explosive movements common in athletics, your speed of movement required to get the best ab workout is a slow and controlled one, for both the lifting and lowering parts of an exercise. General speed guideline: Take one second to lift, pause for one second, then take one second to lower back to the starting position. Tip to remember-- Anytime you want to make an exercise harder: Go Slower. Try it, you'll see.
4) Range of Motion - To get the best ab workout results, always work through a full range of motion. Failing to do so can limit your flexibility, as well as, your progress.
5) Constant Tension - Maintain constant tension in your ab muscles throughout the entire rep. Control the movement and focus in on the muscles being worked. Don't rest at the bottom of the movement. I have my clients stop just short of the bottom which helps them maintain a tight contraction in their ab muscles. Pausing at the top of the movement also assists in feeling each and every contraction, assuring the best ab workout.
6) Reps - How many reps should you do to get the best ab workout possible?? With each routine I give a rep range, but they are only suggestions. It is difficult to give an exact number. Everybody is different- different fitness levels, abilities, talents, and goals. Here is a principle to remember that will help you get the most out of every set: Do as many reps as you can and still maintain perfect form. When you break form, STOP, you're done with that set. As you fatigue, you're going to want to: speed up, shorten your range of motion, pull on your head, etc.. All examples of bad technique. Don't do it. Perfect form is your #1 priority. Doing as many perfect reps as possible will always result in you getting the best ab workout possible. So don't get obsessed with numbers-- quality of reps beats quantity every time!!
7) Progression - As you get stronger you will need to increase your work load to keep making progress and get the best ab workout. You can do it by increasing the reps, the sets, adding some external resistance (dumbbell, weight plate, or medicine ball), or taking on more challenging exercises. You can make certain exercises more difficult simply by changing the leverage. With crunches, for example, you could have your hands: extended forward towards your knees, across your chest, held lightly behind your ears, or extended straight over your head (clasped together along the floor). Each level is progressively more difficult because of the change of leverage.
8) Exercise Order - While it's not always possible to isolate the abs into specific parts, whenever possible work the lower abs first, the obliques second, and the upper abs last. The upper abs are generally the strongest and have to assist when working the lowers and obliques. Therefore they should be trained last.
9) Variety - Doing a variety of ab exercises is important. It allows you to hit the muscles from different angles. It also helps prevent boredom and keep you motivated. I rarely have my clients do more than one set of an exercise. I certainly have them work an area with more than one set, but it will be with different exercises. Fortunately, there are a lot of ab exercises to choose from. Variety is a key part of getting the best ab workout.
Feel free to discuss your own Ab workout secrets.
1 comment:
Did you know that the vast majority of people in this day and age have excess abdominal fat? The first thing that most people think of is that their extra abdominal fat is simply ugly, is covering up their abs from being visible.
However, what most people don't realize is that excess abdominal fat in particular, is not only ugly, but is also a dangerous risk factor to your health. Scientific research has clearly demonstrated that although it is unhealthy in general to have excess body fat throughout your body, it is also particularly dangerous to have excess abdominal fat.
There are two types of fat that you have in your abdominal area. The first type that covers up your abs from being visible is called subcutaneous fat and lies directly beneath the skin and on top of the abdominal muscles.
The second type of fat that you have in your abdominal area is called visceral fat, and that lies deeper in the abdomen beneath your muscle and surrounding your organs. Visceral fat also plays a role in giving certain men that "beer belly" appearance where their abdomen protrudes excessively but at the same time, also feels sort of hard if you push on it.
Both subcutaneous fat and visceral fat in the abdominal area are serious health risk factors, but science has shown that having excessive visceral fat is even more dangerous than subcutaneous fat. Both of them greatly increase the risk your risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, sleep apnea, various forms of cancer, and other degenerative diseases.
Part of the reason visceral fat is particularly dangerous is that it apparently releases more inflammatory molecules into your body on a consistent basis.
The first thing you must understand is that there is absolutely NO quick fix solution. There are no pills or supplements of any sort that will help you lose your abdominal fat faster. Also, none of the gimmicky ab rockers, rollers, or ab belts will help get rid of abdominal fat either.
The ONLY solution to consistently lose your abdominal fat and keep it off for good is to combine a sound nutritious diet full of unprocessed natural foods with a properly designed strategic exercise program that stimulates the necessary hormonal and metabolic response within your body. Both your food intake as well as your training program are important if you are to get this right.
Now the important thing to realize is that just any old exercise program will not necessarily do the trick. The majority of people that attempt getting into a good exercise routine are NOT working out effectively enough to really stimulate the loss of stubborn abdominal fat. I see this everyday at the gym.
Most people will do your typical boring ineffective cardio routines, throw in a little outdated body-part style weight training, and pump away with some crunches and side bends, and think that they are doing something useful for reducing their abdominal fat. Then they become frustrated after weeks or months of no results and wonder where they went wrong.
Well, the good news is that I've spent over a decade researching this topic, analyzing the science, and applying it "in the trenches" with myself as well as thousands of my clients from all over the world to see what works to really stimulate abdominal fat loss.
If you follow the guidelines, you WILL lose your belly fat that has been plaguing you for years. It is a proven system that works time and time again for all of my clients on every corner of the globe that actually apply the information I teach. If you apply it, the results will come. It's really that simple.
Don't waste another day allowing that nasty abdominal fat to kill your confidence as well as contribute to your risk for MAJOR diseases.
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Train hard, eat right, and enjoy life!
Mike Geary
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