<====== ATHLEAN-X CERTIFIED SIX PACK ABS Hey guys! So we talked about the dangers of belly fat and how every inch you’re adding to your midsection is getting you that much closer to finding yourself six feet under.
Here’s A Wake Up Call…
Again, I’m sorry to be so blunt guys, but sometimes we all need a wake up call…and the recent research is staggering. Men who carry large amounts of belly fat are setting themselves up for nasty health problems. See…a good set of six pack abs isn’t all about just vanity anymore!
So if this information wasn’t enough of a wakeup call to get you to spring into action, perhaps a well-timed picture of a killer six pack will get you thinking about taking action once and for all! So with the motivation in place and the desire to change your current state of affairs, you’re ready to start doing a regular ab workout that can give you the results that you want…BUT…you don’t have the first clue of where to start!
Don’t worry. It’s ok. Better to read a little blog post to get the know-how that you’ll need to do the workouts right than to guess and wind up doing a lousy job using exercises that don’t work AND waste your time. And believe me….there’s lots of those out there.
How to Choose Ab Exercises
So without getting into the specifics of WHAT abs exercises you should be doing, wouldn’t it be more helpful if you knew HOW to choose the abs exercises…so you could create an unlimited number of workouts that would help you to chisel the six pack? Ok, so just a few rules to remember and you’ll be on your way. Follow this progression and you’ll never have an ineffective ab workout again:
1. Bottom Up Movement – exs. hanging leg raises, hanging knee raises, reverse crunches, etc
2. Bottom AND top Movement – exs. 90/90 crunch, physioball pass crunch, recliner crunches, etc
3. Lying Rotation – exs. windshield wipers, figure 8’s, etc
4. Obliques – exs. side crunches, body scissors, circular crunches, etc
5. Top Down Movement – exs. standard crunches, full sit-ups, med ball carry crunch, etc
6. Standing Rotation – exs. standing tubing twists, med ball woodchoppers, etc.
Basically what this means is that when you’re structuring your abs workouts you want to make sure you’re starting with exercises that target your weakest movements. By far, exercises that emphasize the lower part of your abs more (as the bottom up movements do) will need to be done when you have the most amount of energy. Great examples of these are posted here and may be seen in more detail by checking out the “12 Weeks to 6 Pack Abs Workouts“.
Moving on, you’re going to want to work your way “up the abs” to the next area….a middle fiber activing movement like the physioball crunch pass. This will get both the shoulders crunching down and the pelvis crunching up.
Next, you want to start incorporating the all important rotation. Remember…one of the primary jobs of the abs is to rotate the spine and to control rotation of the spine. Work both the obliques and the abs with the great exercises suggested in these categories.
Next, move to a “top down” crunching movement. For these, the hips and pelvis stay fixed on the ground and it’s just the shoulders that are curling or moving forward. Classic crunches and full sit-ups will do the trick here.
Finally, get on your feet and finish with some functional rotation. Just the way the abs were meant to be worked. A tubing twist where you keep both hands on a handle of tubing and twist to the right and left making sure to engage the abs to do so is a perfect way to do this.
With all ab workouts….push yourself to failure on each exercise. But make sure you’re using good form. Use your abs and not just momentum and you’ll quickly see how the RIGHT WORKOUTS will get you results that hours of the wrong ones have been failing to produce for years. So there you have it.
A little fear (but true), a little motivation (chicks dig the six pack!), and a solid plan. Now go start designing some fun abs workouts that you can do TODAY to make sure you DON’T become just another big belly corpse.
Best in health,
Jeff
