If you want to have great abs in a month, there are 3 things you need to do.
- Workouts
- Diet
- 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.
- Sit up straight in your chair, at work and home.
- Imagine a cord that lifts you from the top of your head. Let it pull you up, stand tall and then relax.
- 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.