The year was 1991, my senior year of high school (Yeah, I'm only 29 for those of you trying to do the math while thinking, "Boy, he's young!"). For some reason my school decided to coordinate a senior trip to White Water (a water theme park). I noticed that many of my classmates seemed to be sneaking glances at me, especially the girls. Being shirtless and slightly insecure about my physique, as most teens are, I thought maybe they were laughing at me for some reason. After what seemed like an eternity (probably an hour), someone finally commented on how great my body was, especially my six-pack. I was just about floored, although relieved! I think to myself "so that's why everyone is staring at me, because of my abs? My abs aren't that good. Don't they read Muscle & Fitness and know what really good abs look like?" Evidently not, because they were impressed with my six-pack in the making.
I know this sounds corny, but for a not-so-suave 18-year-old kid who had only kissed three girls in his life, that day was a turning point. No longer did I only train for myself and the love of training, I now had extra incentive: to attract girls! I reasoned that if I had a killer six-pack, I wouldn't even have to muster up the courage to talk to girls, they would come to me. So I trained like a madman to improve my six-pack as much as I possibly could. It worked. I soon kissed my fourth girl!
If you think six-packs are only for guys, you're wrong. Practically all guys find a lightly muscled and toned six-pack on a female very sexy. Oh, and for the two of you reading this that don't want to look more attractive in the midsection, well developed abdominals are ultra important for sport performance and for preventing and alleviating lower-back pain.
Without further ado - unless you want more pathetic stories from my youth - here are six tips for developing a six-pack.
1) Do cardio - Yes you're reading the right article. As you well know, cardiovascular exercise (cardio) helps to burn body fat. If you have an inch thick layer of fat on your midsection, even the most well developed abdominals will be hidden. I’m sure you’ve seen those poor, misguided souls in the gym who train abs like there’s no tomorrow, and yet have no visible definition whatsoever. They probably have a great six-pack, but it’s under a bunch of fat. Remember, doing crunches does not burn fat from your stomach. Heck, it doesn’t burn any significant fat from anywhere. Resistance training builds muscle and cardio burns fat! Don’t forget that simple principle.
2) Eat Right - Yeah, I know. I can here you moaning from here. You want to know how to get a six-pack and I 'm lecturing you about diet. Sorry, but I'm not here to blow smoke up your skirt and tell you I've got a new cream that you can rub on your belly that will melt away the fat; I'm not going to reveal any miracle cures today because there aren't any! Eating right is imperative if you want to get lean and stay lean.
To make progress from where you are now, you simply need to improve your eating. Notice I didn't say eat fewer Calories. I said eat better. Sometimes that may be less, sometimes it may be more. I'm not going to get into nutrition specifics here, but as a general rule, you want to eat fresh, natural foods - stuff you'd eat if you lived on a farm and raised your own crops. One exception to this rule is foods that are processed, but done so to improve its nutrient density and absorbability. For example, meal replacement drinks like Lean Body.
3) Train Abs two to three times per week - OK, now we're talking. Let's move on to actual ab training. I've heard everything from 'train abs every day' to 'train abs once per week'. Personally I think both are wrong and I'll explain why. Training abs everyday is definitely wrong due to the simple fact that muscles have to recuperate to grow. Training causes micro trauma and inflammation to a muscle, but the muscle responds by laying down new muscle, which equals bigger and stronger muscles. By the way - you do want your abdominal muscles to be bigger. That doesn't mean that your gut sticks out. It means that each bump within the six-pack is simply thicker, making the grooves between the six-pack deeper.
Training the abs every day would not allow sufficient time for them to recuperate between workouts. I do, however, agree that the abdominals recuperate faster than most other muscles. Therefore you could probably get away with training them three nonconsecutive days per week, for example: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On the other hand, you could err on the side of caution and train them only twice per week, for example: Monday and Thursday. Either way should suffice.
4) Train abs with lower reps - Forget those sets of 50 crunches and especially those one-hour ab classes! It is well accepted among us exercise science geeks that eight to twelve repetitions is optimal for building fast twitch muscle fibers. The rectus abdominus (abs) muscle is just that - a predominately fast twitch muscle. Therefore, you should use enough resistance such that you can only perform eight to twelve repetitions before reaching failure. If you're a beginner, your bodyweight will likely be enough.
On the other hand, experienced trainees will likely need to add resistance to make the exercise more difficult. If you're doing regular crunches, the easiest way to do this is to hold a weight (plate or dumbbell) or medicine ball over your chest while performing crunches. If you're doing cable crunches, simply increase the weight on the weight stack. Don't forget, you can always make the set harder by pausing at the top in the contracted position and by lowering yourself very slowly to the starting position. You should be able to complete 12 reps in this manner before adding extra weight.
5) Train ALL areas of the abdomen - When we think of training abs, we typically think of doing crunches. If you typically think of "sit-ups," let me be the first to welcome you to the new millennium. Crunches primarily stress the upper abdominal muscles, while reverse crunches* primarily stress the lower abdominals. Some old school experts will say that you cannot stress upper vs. lower abs and that the whole rectus abdominus functions as one muscle. Wrong! This debate has been settled years ago with a slew of studies showing that the upper and lower abs each respond differently to different exercises. The last area of the abdominal area that you really need to train is the oblique muscles, which lie on the sides of your abdominal area. Obliques respond to twisting and side bending movements.
Let me give you a word of caution here: DO NOT train the oblique muscles with low reps, only with high reps. Remember, eight to twelve reps builds muscle which is what you want to do in the abs themselves. However, you don't want thick oblique muscles! You want fairly thin but defined obliques. Overly developed obliques can give the false appearance of "love handles" on the sides. Remember: thick abdominals, thin obliques.
6) Don’t forget the TVA - The Transverse Abdominus (TVA) muscle is the only muscle of the abdominal area that doesn't cause movement of the spine. Its job is basically that of a girdle: to keep the abdomen pulled in nice and tight, giving the midsection a smaller and tighter appearance. I'm sure you've seen people who are quite lean, they may even have a six-pack, but have a belly that seems to stick out quite a bit. This is made possible by a weak TVA muscle. Think about this: in clothes, people can't actually see your abdominal development; but what they can see is whether or not your TVA is doing its job.
Training the TVA is very easy. Simply blow all of your air out and suck your abdomen in as far as you can, bringing your navel closer to your spine. You can also train the muscle throughout the day by simply 'sucking your stomach in.'’ That may seem rather goofy, but it's very good for developing the TVA. Because you're training the TVA for neurological development rather than muscular development, you can (and should) train it everyday.
source: binaraga.info
I know this sounds corny, but for a not-so-suave 18-year-old kid who had only kissed three girls in his life, that day was a turning point. No longer did I only train for myself and the love of training, I now had extra incentive: to attract girls! I reasoned that if I had a killer six-pack, I wouldn't even have to muster up the courage to talk to girls, they would come to me. So I trained like a madman to improve my six-pack as much as I possibly could. It worked. I soon kissed my fourth girl!
If you think six-packs are only for guys, you're wrong. Practically all guys find a lightly muscled and toned six-pack on a female very sexy. Oh, and for the two of you reading this that don't want to look more attractive in the midsection, well developed abdominals are ultra important for sport performance and for preventing and alleviating lower-back pain.
Without further ado - unless you want more pathetic stories from my youth - here are six tips for developing a six-pack.
1) Do cardio - Yes you're reading the right article. As you well know, cardiovascular exercise (cardio) helps to burn body fat. If you have an inch thick layer of fat on your midsection, even the most well developed abdominals will be hidden. I’m sure you’ve seen those poor, misguided souls in the gym who train abs like there’s no tomorrow, and yet have no visible definition whatsoever. They probably have a great six-pack, but it’s under a bunch of fat. Remember, doing crunches does not burn fat from your stomach. Heck, it doesn’t burn any significant fat from anywhere. Resistance training builds muscle and cardio burns fat! Don’t forget that simple principle.
2) Eat Right - Yeah, I know. I can here you moaning from here. You want to know how to get a six-pack and I 'm lecturing you about diet. Sorry, but I'm not here to blow smoke up your skirt and tell you I've got a new cream that you can rub on your belly that will melt away the fat; I'm not going to reveal any miracle cures today because there aren't any! Eating right is imperative if you want to get lean and stay lean.
To make progress from where you are now, you simply need to improve your eating. Notice I didn't say eat fewer Calories. I said eat better. Sometimes that may be less, sometimes it may be more. I'm not going to get into nutrition specifics here, but as a general rule, you want to eat fresh, natural foods - stuff you'd eat if you lived on a farm and raised your own crops. One exception to this rule is foods that are processed, but done so to improve its nutrient density and absorbability. For example, meal replacement drinks like Lean Body.
3) Train Abs two to three times per week - OK, now we're talking. Let's move on to actual ab training. I've heard everything from 'train abs every day' to 'train abs once per week'. Personally I think both are wrong and I'll explain why. Training abs everyday is definitely wrong due to the simple fact that muscles have to recuperate to grow. Training causes micro trauma and inflammation to a muscle, but the muscle responds by laying down new muscle, which equals bigger and stronger muscles. By the way - you do want your abdominal muscles to be bigger. That doesn't mean that your gut sticks out. It means that each bump within the six-pack is simply thicker, making the grooves between the six-pack deeper.
Training the abs every day would not allow sufficient time for them to recuperate between workouts. I do, however, agree that the abdominals recuperate faster than most other muscles. Therefore you could probably get away with training them three nonconsecutive days per week, for example: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On the other hand, you could err on the side of caution and train them only twice per week, for example: Monday and Thursday. Either way should suffice.
4) Train abs with lower reps - Forget those sets of 50 crunches and especially those one-hour ab classes! It is well accepted among us exercise science geeks that eight to twelve repetitions is optimal for building fast twitch muscle fibers. The rectus abdominus (abs) muscle is just that - a predominately fast twitch muscle. Therefore, you should use enough resistance such that you can only perform eight to twelve repetitions before reaching failure. If you're a beginner, your bodyweight will likely be enough.
On the other hand, experienced trainees will likely need to add resistance to make the exercise more difficult. If you're doing regular crunches, the easiest way to do this is to hold a weight (plate or dumbbell) or medicine ball over your chest while performing crunches. If you're doing cable crunches, simply increase the weight on the weight stack. Don't forget, you can always make the set harder by pausing at the top in the contracted position and by lowering yourself very slowly to the starting position. You should be able to complete 12 reps in this manner before adding extra weight.
5) Train ALL areas of the abdomen - When we think of training abs, we typically think of doing crunches. If you typically think of "sit-ups," let me be the first to welcome you to the new millennium. Crunches primarily stress the upper abdominal muscles, while reverse crunches* primarily stress the lower abdominals. Some old school experts will say that you cannot stress upper vs. lower abs and that the whole rectus abdominus functions as one muscle. Wrong! This debate has been settled years ago with a slew of studies showing that the upper and lower abs each respond differently to different exercises. The last area of the abdominal area that you really need to train is the oblique muscles, which lie on the sides of your abdominal area. Obliques respond to twisting and side bending movements.
Let me give you a word of caution here: DO NOT train the oblique muscles with low reps, only with high reps. Remember, eight to twelve reps builds muscle which is what you want to do in the abs themselves. However, you don't want thick oblique muscles! You want fairly thin but defined obliques. Overly developed obliques can give the false appearance of "love handles" on the sides. Remember: thick abdominals, thin obliques.
6) Don’t forget the TVA - The Transverse Abdominus (TVA) muscle is the only muscle of the abdominal area that doesn't cause movement of the spine. Its job is basically that of a girdle: to keep the abdomen pulled in nice and tight, giving the midsection a smaller and tighter appearance. I'm sure you've seen people who are quite lean, they may even have a six-pack, but have a belly that seems to stick out quite a bit. This is made possible by a weak TVA muscle. Think about this: in clothes, people can't actually see your abdominal development; but what they can see is whether or not your TVA is doing its job.
Training the TVA is very easy. Simply blow all of your air out and suck your abdomen in as far as you can, bringing your navel closer to your spine. You can also train the muscle throughout the day by simply 'sucking your stomach in.'’ That may seem rather goofy, but it's very good for developing the TVA. Because you're training the TVA for neurological development rather than muscular development, you can (and should) train it everyday.
source: binaraga.info
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