Abs Exercises

Workouts For A Flat Stomach

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If you’ve been looking at workouts for a flat stomach, you know that there are a lot of them. Not all are sensible or even possible for many people just starting an abs exercise routine. If you are having problems figuring out where to start, here are some things to keep in mind.

  • Your general health – age, weight, overall health
  • Injuries or conditions – back problems, fatigue, or pregnancy
  • Where you can exercise and the time available

Don’t know where to begin? Try making an appointment at a gym. Most larger gyms want to give you a tour with their sales pitch, and that will include a discussion with a trainer. Ask questions specific to your situation.

  1. What can I do safely, with my back condition?
  2. What is a good beginning program?
  3. How late or early do you open?

If they offer a free trial, take it. It will get you started, with enough instruction to make sure you do your exercises properly, without strain. Most gyms offer equipment that you don’t have at home.

Try it out to see if it’s comfortable for you. You may decide to stay with it for awhile, or discover that you can do this all at home and save yourself both time and money.

If you are pregnant, or have other health conditions, many hospitals and therapy facilities offer programs specifically for you. Ask your doctor, therapist, or fitness professional to see what’s available in your area.

There is also the question of active versus passive exercise to consider.

Most active programs include weights, crunches, bicycles and curls, which can be hard on your back. Passive exercise includes, isometrics, yoga, stretching, swimming and water exercises. These are all less straining on other parts of your body, but can take longer to perform.

Time can be a factor, if you’re on an offbeat schedule. However, most larger cities now have late hours or 24 hour gyms that you can use. The benefit of going later or very early is that you never have to wait to use something. The drawback is not all gyms that are open around the clock offer group exercise during their off hours.

Sorting through exercise programs becomes a little easier, after you figured out what you are capable of doing. Once you have gotten started on a program, let your intuition take over. It won’t take much to realize you are overdoing it. Soreness is alright, but pain is a sure indicator that you need modification of your program. Cut back and try something less strenuous.

Remember to eat healthy, and drink lots of fluids along with those workouts for a flat stomach. You’ll get faster results and feel better while your are getting it. Good hunting.

Toning Stomach Muscles

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If you are working on toning stomach muscles, here are a few things to think about.

  1. Not everyone is born with the same set of abdominal muscles.
  2. Toning muscles involves stretching as well as exercising.
  3. Swimming is the best single exercise for toning stomach muscles.
  4. It is easy to strain your back doing abdominal exercises

Abdominal Muscles:

That’s right. Some of us simply don’t have a pyramidalis muscle. This means that no matter how hard you go for the washboard effect, you will not have the same number of bulges. You’ll get the six pack, but not the 8 pack.

Why are abdominal muscles different in some people? Doctors simply do not know. Consider that this will not just influence the all over number of toned muscles, but the lack of a pyramidalis will influence your ability to strengthen lower abdominals, as well.

Stretching:

Building exercises and toning exercises are not exactly the same thing. While you won’t get toned stomach muscles without a workout that isolates this muscle group, you won’t get the tone without doing a lot of stretching, as well.

People often neglect this as part of a routine. These are some of the easiest and most rewarding exercises to do. They are great for warm ups. As any athlete or aerobics instructor will tell you, they keep you from straining. Arm stretches, leg stretches, bending and twisting are all good ways to limber up before you hit the weights or machines.

A little Yoga added to your routine, with its exaggerated movements, can save hours of discomfort with torn or strained muscles, later.

Swimming:

The best addition to any routine that has focus on toning muscles is swimming. It is not only an all over good workout, with fantastic cardiovascular benefits, but it stretches and works those stomach muscles like no stationary exercise can. Almost every muscle in the body is used in swimming.

If you think it isn’t what you want or you don’t have time to add it to your routine, just look at those professional swimmers’ bodies. They all have long, lean torsos, with well defined abdominals and v shaped bodies. They got those bodies by swimming!

Not only is swimming really good for you, it won’t hurt you. Swimming is considered passive exercise. That means less strain on muscles and organs.

Risk of Injury:

Most crunches can be brutal on your back muscles, so don’t add more than 2 additional repetitions to your current routine at one time. That is repetitions and not sets. When you add a new set to your abs routine, do it by adding 2 reps until you fill it out.

If your back hurts, use a brace, or switch to just ball exercises. You don’t have to stop completely, just modify. Check to see that you are doing your exercises correctly, as this can lead to strain faster than anything.

A little common sense and effort will keep you toning stomach muscles till they look great. Just keep these 4 important things in mind.

Great Abs In A Month

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If you want to have great abs in a month, there are 3 things you need to do.

  1. Workouts
  2. Diet
  3. Activity

Most people believe they can get by with joining a gym. You can, if you eat moderately and work out four times a week for six months. But, if you want great abs in a month, you need to put in a little more effort.

Everyone else thinks that exercise and diet are all there is to it. That is the biggest part, but not all. There’s another great strategy – it won’t give you great abs in one month, but it will help. Let’s cover these 3 first.

Workouts

Always start by warming up. Body stretches that focus the abs with side twists and front and side bends are good. Don’t cut this short. At least 15 minutes of just warming up will double what you get out of your routine, and help you avoid muscle strain and soreness.

Throw in some aerobics. Pick something you can do in 20 to 45 minutes, that gets blood circulating and burns calories as well. Jumping rope, swimming, using the rowing machine and regular aerobics are all good for your heart and your abdominal muscles, as well.

Now you are ready for the leg lifts, crunches, ball crunches, curls, bicycles and weights. A good gauge of what you need is to try doing ten. Whatever you can do is a set for you.

Do one set of each. Rest, stretch, walk around, then do one more of each. The next time you start, your set will contain one more of each exercise. Repeat this till your up to multiples, then switch off to something more intense.

If you’re a female, you might try just leg lifts or reverse crunches instead of standard crunches. They are less hard on the neck, a frequent point of strain for many women due to anatomy.

And diet?

You are going to get out of it what you put into it. This doesn’t mean you should starve, but if you don’t reduce your caloric intake to less than you burn each day, you won’t lose a pound. Since most extra pounds are fat, you need to shed them to expose those abdominal muscles hiding underneath.

Recommendations:

  • give up desserts and junk food
  • reduce bread and other starchy foods, like pasta and rice
  • increase vegetable and fruit intake
  • increase your water consumption

Other activities

If you don’t know it yet, the gym or mat is not the only place to give yourself a good workout.

You can:

  • spend a few hours on a weekend morning walking the dog.
  • take up rowing, swimming, hiking, rock climbing, just for a start.
  • stretch every chance you get. This means at work, also – some isometric exercises require no more than resistance, like a wall, and they’re great for abs.
  • walk to the store instead of driving

Note: There is one more thing that is important, and that’s your posture. If you slump or lean when standing, you will never look fit, no matter how much time you spend exercising. Think good posture all the time.

  1. Sit up straight in your chair, at work and home.
  2. Imagine a cord that lifts you from the top of your head. Let it pull you up, stand tall and then relax.
  3. Think posture when you work out and you’ll get more out of your exercise and avoid back strain, as well.

Most exercise outside of the gym is free, and it will keep you healthy long after those abs have turned into washboards.

Top 3 Long-Term Exercises for Your Ab Workout Routines

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Six pack abs require work, dedication, and attention. Even when you already have it, you’ll still need to perform ab workout routinesregularly to maintain muscle definition. I know I do.

True enough, washboard abs are attained by continuous training and conditioning. It’s not something that happens overnight nor is it something that will stay that way without working out.

I find myself wanting to improve or at least maintain how my abs look. That’s why I keep a constant exercise regimen for my whole body and my abdominals, and so should you.

The secret is to start and follow up your ab workout routines with exercises that work your entire abdominal muscle group. That way, your upper abdominals, lower abdominals, and obliques get the attention they need.

Here are some of the most basic yet highly effective abdominal exercises you can do whether you’re just starting your fitness program or maintaining your washboard abs.

1. Ball Crunches. These types of crunches are really good for a long-term abs fitness program because they provide support while working your abdominal muscles. The exercise ball absorbs some of that pressure and, in turn, isolates your core muscles so that your abdominals do most of the work, not your back or neck. Regular floor crunches are OK, too, but I strongly suggest that ball crunches should be part of your permanent ab workout routines.

2. Bicycles. This exercise never gets old simply because it’s very dynamic and really fun to do. Not only that; compared to its simpler counterparts, doing bicycles require a wider range of motion and involve other parts of your body as well. It works your upper and lower abdominals, your obliques, shoulders, arms, lower back, and legs.

Talk about a full body workout.

Bicycles, when done properly and efficiently, will certainly get your entire abdominal muscles toned and buffed. Who knew cycling upside down and in the air could do your abs so much good in the long haul.

3. Weighted Sit Ups. To add resistance in your ab workout routines, weighted sit ups are your best bet. You can start off by using small weight, like water bottles and hardbound books, and then gradually increase their heaviness through time by switching to bigger loads, like a bag of flour or your baby.

Performing three different abs exercises every other day at 3-5 sets each should help build AND maintain six pack abs. Just to give you an idea how to go about it, you can start off with 1 set of ball crunches, followed by 1 set of bicycles, then another set of weighted sit ups. Complete this cycle 3-5 times to work all areas of your abs without straining them.

There are many ways to develop ab workout routines. Just always remember to execute each exercise with care and precision. That should help you get and maintain a great body.

What other exercises should be included as part of your abs routine? Add your own below.

Exercise Tips – Abs (Not) to Die For

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One of the biggest exercise tips abs exercises is this: Exercise is just one facet of any fitness program. Diet plays just as important a role as any exercise regimen.

Using the two together, you’ll make twice the progress.

Exercise tips abs will definitely improve your muscle tone, but to really make a difference you need more. Exercise needs fuel to burn and to develop muscle mass. Before you begin exercising, make sure that you’ve got a workout and a diet plan in place. Exercise is an important component, but real results require a healthy diet and cardio workout, as well.

You may be on some kind of diet anyway, but it may not be the right kind for serious exercise. Protein is requisite for building muscle mass. To make sure that you get lean muscles, you should follow strict exercise tips abs by reducing fats and sugars, and consuming a moderate amount of carbohydrates.

For a lot of people, this can be a big change from their normal eating routines. For others, such as vegetarians, it may be de rigour. If you eat out a lot, you probably eat a lot of stuff that’s got more fats, sugars, and calories than anything that you prepare for yourself.

Gourmet French cuisine may be a joy, but it may not be the best idea for improving your abs. Try sushi, or a vegetarian restaurant. Both of these routinely have less fat and calories, while still maintaining proper protein levels.

When executing exercise tips abs, safety should always come first.

Get an exercise mat, or use a carpeted floor. Make sure that your room’s temperature is comfortable, and make sure that you stay well hydrated.

Burning or tingling can be signs of overworking your muscles, which can lead to injuries and strains. If you feel any burning or tingling after exercising, perform less repetitions at one time.

Start off slow and work your way up as you become ready. Exercising once every other day is a good starting point. Start with only 5-10 repetitions of each exercise and take a short rest between exercises. When you feel ready, try increasing up to 3 sets of 20 repetitions, and don’t forget to pause between them.

The best exercise tips abs don’t require any pricey equipment. A study at San Diego State University put 13 abdominal exercises against each other to find out which ones were the best, scientifically. Some of the top performers can be done in your own home easily.

  • Weighted Sit Ups
  • Ball Crunches
  • Full Body Crunches
  • Bicycles

Exercise on a regular schedule, and follow these exercise tips, and great abs will soon follow. Proper development takes time, but you will feel a difference quickly. The longer you practice your regimen, the longer you will keep the results.

If you follow these exercise tips abs, your dreams will become a waking reality.