Abs

[Phantom]

Which ones better situp\'s or crunches?....... Anyone have any ideas on getting sexy toned abs.

[Elana]

I do 5 sets of 100 crunches a day and it works great for me.

[MAL224610]

My ab routine is primarily crunches, leg raises, side bends, and lower back raises......light, high rep....the rest of the work is done in cardio...

[Phantom]

yea it shows [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img], what else do you do when you work out (cardio, weights, pushups....ect.)?

[Elana]

I have a great butt work out. I\'ll see if I can find in online. It is a Pilates exercise and it works beautifully and puts no strain on your knees.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I\'m always interested in a great butt workout.

Druid has some good abs exercises - variations on leg lifts that will kill you.

[Elana]

This butt workout is the bomb. You lay on your back with your knees up and your hands to your side. Do 20 pelvic thrust like movements slowly while holding your tush tight. Go as high as you can go. Then switch to a holding motion. Put your pelvis in the air and hold it tight for 20 seconds. Keep alternating from thrusts to holding position. If you don\'t feel the burn, you aren\'t doing it right. This should not be done by people with bad necks.

[Elana]

and of course yoga, yoga and more yoga [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Phantom]

Thanks, Elana i\'ll try it out when I do my next workout.

[Elana]

[img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Be sure to show me the results

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I do squats and more squats - but on the Total Gym, set high - and I feel it right at the bottom of my butt cheeks, which is reassuring to me ... where do you feel it and where in those muscles do these thrusts focus?

(Bet you could make a million with that workout video, even just selling it here! [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] )

[Elana]

I feel it in my entire butt. I used to do squats, but I love this one so much better. Try it when you get home....or in the office if you want a extra bonus come Christmas[img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

[Phantom]

I have a Total Gym too, I always have it set on the highest. I lost the guide book that comes with it so i have no idea what to do with it, all I do is the pull ups.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Oh, you\'re kidding! You should go on the website and order another book. It\'s so great - you can work everything on it.

Elana, I\'ll try your exercise. Sounds good.

[Nutt]

::clears throat ::

this is a post from a guy called justdrew on another forum. (only thing I\'d add is its best to use some weight when you do crunches. muscles are msucles. the abs are nothing special and the only way a muscle grows is if its overload, and the theory is a wieght you can do for about 12 reps done for about that ammount of reps per set is about the best way to do this.

check out www.exrx.net/Exercise.html for specifics on how to do some of these exercises.

<blockquote><font class=\"small\">In reply to:</font><hr>



First off, I\'m new here, so I don\'t know if the others will agree with my recommendations, but I\'m pretty confident that my advice is correct. I fight(amateur boxing) in my free time, so I try to educate myself as much as possible in regards to ab strength.

It\'s impossible to \"target\" fat in certain areas, so don\'t think that sit-ups will burn belly-fat. Sit-ups CAN strengthen and slightly increase the visibility of abs by making them push further through the layer of fat above them, but I\'ve seen bed-ridden elderly men with six-packs, simply because they have low body fat &lt;--- THE key to a six pack.

I understand that your martial arts instructor may have you doing sit-ups as part of your training, but you may be surprised to find out that your abs are only used in the first 6\" or so of the sit-up. Your abs function to scrunch up your torso to make it stiff before you raise up... the actual sitting up part of the movement is done by the frontal hip muscles(psoas/ilio-psoas, aka hip flexors). That\'s why your feet try to come off the floor when you do a sit-up. It only gets worse when you have your feet held down by a person or object, so if you insist on doing sit-ups for abs, do them \"au naturale\" with no foot support, and do them slowly. When you do them fast, you:

a) Increase the effort of the hip flexors while reducing the duration of the effort of the abs(make them work for less time; it takes a 4+ second contraction to fatigue the abs).

b) Increase stress on the lumbar region of the spine.

c) Decrease load on the abs due to the forward momentum of the upper body(the momentum being created by the hip flexors).

So do slower sit-ups for increased ab effort, or just stick to partial crunches for an isolated ab workout. For a good crunch, lay on your back, bend your knees up and lay your calves across a bench, couch, or whatever; slightly flex your pelvis towards your face using your lower abs, while simultaneously raising your head and shoulders slightly off the ground and trying to touch both elbows to your front hip bones(it\'s impossible). You can also think of the movement as \"trying to suck your own dick\" if that floats your boat, LOL. Imagine that you\'re trying to make your torso as short as possible. When you do this properly, you\'re focusing strictly on what the abs are designed to do: shorten the torso by curving the spine outward.

Tips:
*Make sure you hold each flex for at least 4-5 seconds.
*Exhale as hard and as fully as you during each rep &lt;--- this works the intercostals(rib muscles), which function to contract your ribcage. You almost want your lungs to squish out of your mouth and land on your chest.
*Make sure your legs aren\'t doing ANY work... pretend they\'re paralyzed.

You should start to feel the burn after about 15 reps.


If you aren\'t doing any side-crunches or weighted side-bends, you might want to start. Hard and defined obliques(your side muscles), intercostals(rib muscles), and serratus(zig-zag muscles where the back muscles attach to the ribs) can really push through the fat and give you a leaner look.

You\'ll be working the intercostals during your crunches, and you can also work your external/internal obliques by doing crunches just like above, only with your knees pointing sideways instead of upward. Instead of the backs of both calves on the bench, put the side of one calf on the bench and then lay your other leg over it... you should be laying on your hip/side instead of flat on your back. Do an equal amount on each side(obviously).

To do weighted side bends, grab a dumbbell(just one) or a cable from a floor-mounted pulley. Stand up straight with the dumbbell or cable against the side of your thigh, slide the hand with the weight in it as far down your thigh as you can comfortably go, near your knee. Make sure you aren\'t leaning forward or backward... just straight to the side. You\'ll feel a good stretch on the side opposite of the weight. Now slide the weight back up your thigh and stand up straight. At the top of the movement, crunch the shoulder opposite of the weight downward towards your hip to get a full contraction in the oblique. Don\'t get carried away with the weight... too much is bad for the vertebrae. &lt;---This exercise greatly improves \"balance under attack\", or the ability to take a punch/kick from the side and still keep your footing.



If you want to further taget the lower abs to protect yourself from a low-blow, try leg raises(aka \"flutter-kicks\"):

Lay on your back with your feet together,
put your chin on your chest(this rounds out the spine and takes stress of the vertebrae and sciatic nerve),
put your arms out to your sides(or some people like to put their hands under their butt or on their abs),
raise up your left leg, with your knee locked, until your heel is about 3\' off the floor,
then as you start to lower your left leg back to the floor, raise up the other leg... your feet should cross paths about half way, 1.5 feet off the floor.
Just barely let your heel tap the floor, then kick back up
Keep alternating, counting your reps on the tap of your right heel

Once you get stronger, you can do them with both feet together if you want.

Serratus muscles are worked during close grip lat pulldowns, or lying pullovers(look \'em up).

My ab workout:

15(per side) fairly heavy(40lbs) weighted side bends
15(per side) side crunches
(^ I do my obliques first to pre-exhaust them before the frontal ab work)
25 crunches
25 flutter-kicks or leg raises
25 hanging knee raises(hang from a bar and raise your knees to your chest)

Repeat.

I do this twice a week and my waist feels like a tree trunk.

If you\'re a nerd like me and want scientific articles to back up my claims, here\'s a good source for ab info:

www.elitetrack.com/midtorsospeed.pdf




Now, to burn fat and show off your abs:

1. Do fat-burning runs(treadmill is easier)... properly.

2. Watch your diet... within reason.

3. Follow a few tips to maximize your fat burning.

1. Try cardio 3 times a week for 30 minutes minimum, up to an hour. It takes around 20 minutes to deplete blood sugar and glycogen levels in the muscles, so anything under 20 minutes and you won\'t tap into the fat supply for energy. The longer you keep your body in a state of exertion after that initial 20 minutes, the more fat you\'ll burn.

The key to \"tolerable\" cardio for the average person(one who HATES cardio) is to keep the intensity relatively low so you can go the full time limit. You want to stay at a pace that\'s fast enough to get your heart pumping, but not so intense that you can\'t say a sentence without gasping for air. It\'s the duration of the run that counts, not the intensity.

Start out with just once a week and work your way up gradually to the full three. Don\'t push too hard or you\'ll come to hate cardio.

2. You don\'t have to get on Weight Watchers, since you\'re a fairly lean guy, but it would make sense to at least be reasonable about your food choices. The way I look at it, no matter what I eat will fill me up the same, so if I can fill up on a grilled chicken sandwich, a baked potato, and water, why eat a cheeseburger, fries, and a soda? It\'s fine to splurge on some fatty food every once in a while when you have high metabolism, but it\'s pretty easy to find a lowER fat alternative to almost any food. Make an effort to choose chicken over beef, grilled over fried, and low fat side items like salads and baked potatoes over fries and milkshakes. It pays off even for lean guys like us. I\'m 5\'8\", 145lbs... down from 155lbs two months ago and no loss of muscle mass. The only thing I changed is the amount of fat in my diet... I get the same amount of calories by adding protein and complex carbs.

3. Keep your blood sugar low before your fat-burning workout. You can do this by avoiding sugary drinks(try water or diet soda), and avoiding high sugar snacks in the hour or so before your workout. Black coffee(or a caffeine pill/ephedrine pill, if you understand how to use caffeine and/or ephedrine without abusing it) will give you energy for an intense workout without adding to your blood sugar.

You can also lower your blood sugar before your fat-burning workout by doing your weight lifting immediately before you run. Drink a protein shake and some water, work out like normal, then instead of crashing on the couch, run for 30-60 minutes. Then go home and drink another protein shake or eat a low fat, high protein &amp; (complex)carb food.

--------------------------------------------------------------

It\'s hard to bulk up if you\'re doing this much cardio, so don\'t expect to gain 10lbs of muscle doing 30-60minutes of cardio 3 times a week stacked after weightlifting. You can, however, expect to trim up and still maintain your current muscle mass. If you want to bulk up, take a couple months to do so before you start a fat-burning regimen. It takes lots of calories to build muscle, so you don\'t want to expend too many on a treadmill.

Last tip: if you\'re gonna eat candy bars and chips, eat them early in the day. If you get hungry at night, you\'d be surprised how fast a big glass of water can kill a craving. It\'s hard to look at a Snickers bar when your eyeballs are floating in 20oz of tap water.





<hr></blockquote>

check out http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?s=&amp;threadid=99842&amp;highlight =weight for the whole topic, but that covers it nicely.
.

[phersurf]

The abdominal muscle group is only used to lift you torso up about 30% off the ground. Anything after 30% you start to use a muscle group in the lower spine/hip are called the psoas (sp?). Working out the psoas too much can cause lower back problems. There is never any need to do situps for abs, including Roman Chair situps..

You do however have to do seperate excersises for the lower and upper abs. They are not really seperate groups of muscle, but crunches alone will not really hit the lower part. Start off doing several sets of hanging leg raises, then do crunches since the lower abs will not fatige from crunches alone. Make sure you don\'t arch your back, keep your hips rotated foward. Do the crunches fairly slowly and give a little extra contraction at the top. Some of the newer Swiss Ball ab routines are also very good.

[jago25_98]

variation.

don\'t

forget to do sides. Working the lower (belly button down) is harder

[ToBeOrNotToBe]

The best for having

VISIBLE abs is to loose fat!! No exercises can help you if you have more than 12-14% of fat (except cardio or

exercises for loosing weight, of course). I have about 8 or 9% of fat and I work out my abs 1 or 2 times per week

(simple exercises, nothing too complex). It\'s more than enough for having clear visible abs.

[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Elana]

</font><blockquote><font

class=\"small\">Quote:</font><hr />
It\'s more than enough for having clear visible abs.

<hr

/></blockquote><font class=\"post\">

This is so true. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
Stay

lean and do your crunches.
If you are lucky you will look 1/4 as good as Tobe.

[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

[tigereyes]

One of the best exercises to

do to build up your ABS is to do cable crunches and weighted crunches whilst laying on a bench with the highest

incline.

Work you ABS even if they are not visible because even with an extremely low bodyfat if your ABS are not

that big they will not show. Great ABS take a lot of work and dedication but anyone can have the normal kind just by

getting a low bodyfat and doing a few crunches.

When i was getting \'bigger\' i had to put on a lot of weight

and didnt have my ABS but i still worked them harder than ever. Then when i started dieting to lose the fat they

became visible and now they are very \'cut\'.

When youve got them you only need to work them out a few times

per week doing normal crunches.

[Kari]

</font><blockquote><font

class=\"small\">Quote:</font><hr />
I do 5 sets of 100 crunches a day and it works great for me.

<hr

/></blockquote><font class=\"post\">

I do four sets of 25, on the \"red exercise ball of death.\"

[ToBeOrNotToBe]

But your ABS won\'t be

visible unless you have low body fat, no matter the intensity of your exercises. However, you may have good visible

ABS by just doing some simple exercises if you have low body fat (less than 10% perhaps). That\'s the difference.

[ToBeOrNotToBe]

</font><blockquote><font class=\"small\">Quote:</font><hr />
</font><blockquote><font

class=\"small\">Quote:</font><hr />
It\'s more than enough for having clear visible abs.

<hr

/></blockquote><font class=\"post\">

This is so true. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
Stay

lean and do your crunches.
If you are lucky you will look 1/4 as good as Tobe.

[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

<hr /></blockquote><font class=\"post\">



[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Sagacious1420]

</font><blockquote><font class=\"small\">Quote:</font><hr />
The best for having VISIBLE abs is to loose fat!!

No exercises can help you if you have more than 12-14% of fat (except cardio or exercises for loosing weight, of

course). I have about 8 or 9% of fat and I work out my abs 1 or 2 times per week (simple exercises, nothing too

complex). It\'s more than enough for having clear visible abs. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]



<hr /></blockquote><font class=\"post\"> 2B-
You\'re exactly right. I have 7% body fat and I don\'t

do any crunches or any other lameass ab work out and they look marvelous.

[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[ToBeOrNotToBe]

</font><blockquote><font class=\"small\">Quote:</font><hr />
</font><blockquote><font

class=\"small\">Quote:</font><hr />
The best for having VISIBLE abs is to loose fat!! No exercises can help you

if you have more than 12-14% of fat (except cardio or exercises for loosing weight, of course). I have about 8 or 9%

of fat and I work out my abs 1 or 2 times per week (simple exercises, nothing too complex). It\'s more than enough

for having clear visible abs. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

<hr /></blockquote><font

class=\"post\"> 2B-
You\'re exactly right. I have 7% body fat and I don\'t do any crunches or any other

lameass ab work out and they look marvelous. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

<hr

/></blockquote><font class=\"post\">

That\'s what I mean! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[apple]

how do you find your body

fat %??? ive never known about this stuff, i probably should try getting more knowledge since ive been getting

healthier over the past year itd be nice to know stats for how much ive changed

[Sagacious1420]

</font><blockquote><font class=\"small\">Quote:</font><hr />
how do you find your body fat %??? ive never known

about this stuff, i probably should try getting more knowledge since ive been getting healthier over the past year

itd be nice to know stats for how much ive changed


<hr /></blockquote><font class=\"post\">



Here ya go.

[apple]

have to pay for it? blah :P

maybe i can find out from my dr or something

[Gossamer_2701]

Apple.... you can

get a bath scale that reads both your weight and body fat.

I have one, and although its probably not 100% right

on... it\'s very very close to the reading I got at the gym.

Goss

[Elana]

http://www.sharperimage.com/us/en/

catalog/productview.jhtml?sku=TN420

http://www.sharperimage.com/us/en/catalog/productview.jhtml?sku=TN425