Are you seeking that flat stomach and killer six pack? Regardless of age or gender, a well toned and developed abdominal region is something that most people crave, however few succeed in achieving. It is by far the most difficult muscle group to make visible on the entire body due to the fact that it is usually covered by a layer of fat.
Some of you may be seeking just a flat belly and others those washboard abs, however all of you are most likely curious on how to rid the midsection of the body fat covering this widely admired muscle group.
Here are 10 tips to guide you in developing a strong core and midsection revealing your firm sexy abs!
1. Proper nutrition is the most important abdominal success factor:
Maintaining a clean and healthy nutritional plan is hands down the number 1 reason you will see you abdominal region. Without paying special attention to this you might as well just forget it! Make sure you are eating at least 3 small meals and 2-3 small snacks paying special attention to low glycemic carbs and minimal trans fat intake. You will see a big change in your abdominal region if you keep this up for a period of time with persistence and discipline.
2. Kick the cardio up a notch or two:
An extremely important step in attaining that flat and sexy midsection is the need for cardiovascular exercise! Participate in swimming, running, cycling or using cardio machines to help rid you of the excess body fat. Many of these activities recruit the usage of your abdominal muscles as well and help define them and make them stronger. If you are really serious about achieving your goal, then I would highly recommend doing 45 min - 1 hour 5 times per week! I do an hour in the morning and an hour at night 5 days per week when I am getting ready for a competition.
3. Understand your genetic factor:
Everybody has their own uniquely shaped abs! Sometimes it can be a motivational killer when you are seeking the abs of some sexy picture in a magazine or your favorite celebrity and it turns out that yours are shaped completely differently when you actually get your body fat levels low enough to see them. Please recognize that this is out of your control and don't get frustrated if they aren't identical to the perfect image in your mind! Believe me, if you can see abdominal development in any way, you will be noticed!
4. Constantly change up your abs workout routine:
When training your abdominal muscles, like any other muscle group, in order for you to see significant gains, you must add variety to your exercise regime. Always be thinking of new ways to shock and push your abs out of their comfort zone which is known as progressive overload. This can be done by adding weight, changing the speed of your repetitions, the length of each contraction or simply adding a twist!
5. Don't over train your abs:
This is a very common mistake amongst many who are very eager to get quick results! If you work out your abs too often and too frequently they will have little time to rebuild and heal. Like all of the other muscles in your body, they need time to fully recover in order to grow otherwise you will be counter-productive. Five times per week is more than enough!
6. F O C U S:
The most important element of ab training is having razor sharp focus on your abdominal region while doing each exercise so you don't recruit secondary muscles which will make the results less favorable. Think of nothing else while training your midsection and pay special attention to each contraction. Training abs is all about quality more so than quantity. Make every rep count!
7. Breathing is key:
Each and every time you do an abdominal exercise, make sure that you are breathing properly on the exertion and recovery. Basically, you need to breathe all of the air out of your lungs to make room for the crunch, leg raise or twist so that the abdominal muscles have room to contract effectively. Always breathe in through the nose on the recovery and out of the mouth on the exertion which is generally the hardest part of the exercise.
8. There are many excellent exercises to train your core:
It is very important to make sure you are doing a variety of exercises to target the upper, lower and side abdominals to ensure a well toned, strong and sexy midsection. Some of the best ab exercises are the crunch, side crunches, hanging leg lifts, the plank, the side plank, abs machine, leg lowers, ball crunches, cable crunches, cable twists, reverse cable ax chops and of course the traditional sit up and twisting sit up. If you haven't learned how to do these properly with the correct technique, I would highly advise hiring a trainer for one session and getting them to focus completely on teaching you these aforementioned exercises. It will exponentially expedite your results!!!
9. Strengthen your pelvic-floor muscles:
When these muscles are effectively developed they assist your deepest abs in doing the exercises correctly. The best way to actively engage this muscle group is to focus on gently pulling your belly button in towards your spine which will also help you keep the abs fully contracted during the exercise. The trick is to pull your abs up and in rather than pushing the pelvis down. The best way to see if you are doing it correctly is by placing your hand over your abs during a sit up and if you feel you're pushing your stomach out, then you are not doing it properly.
10. Go to the beach or the community pool:
Here you are typically going to hang out half naked or at least without a shirt covering your belly where everyone can see you! Talk about some serious motivation!!! By having a well developed and defined core says a lot about you as a person and could possibly lead to some interesting human interaction (providing you are single…lol) This is hands down the most effective tip I can give you on developing those firm sexy abs!!!
So as you can see, there are many techniques to help you get the results you seek for tighter abs and a flatter stomach. Some methods work better than others and you have to see what works for you. My best advice is to utilize all of them!
James Erdt
Joyzone Inc.
Founder / President
joyzone.com
