FoolsGold

Alright, it's summer here in the northern hemisphere and I'm staring down a beach vacation in about a month's time. What's the best way to get nice abs? I currently do 360 situps a day-- 3 sets of 40 to the center, the right, and the left. I'm thinking a cardio workout would also be useful, but I'm not sure what would be most effective at trimming the fat off my tummy.

Yeah, I know 6-pack abs aren't for everyone, but I at least want to give it a whirl.

johnyto

do you run?, if not i recommend it. I run and i can say i have a flat stomach and i am starting to get a little more centered on my abs, but i am in no rush...basically i need to know of a good way to do situps and concentrate on those muscles while you sit. Thanks.

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kurty[B]

I am in a similar bout. I ride bicycles a lot, and have since gotten a flat tummy, but I'd like to get some definition in the abs.

Sparhawk

You can do situps until you die, but the only way you'll trim off the fat is to reduce your caloric intake, or increase your cardio workout to burn it off.

You probably already *have* six-pack abs, they're just gonna sit under the flab for ever until you up the cardio and/or improve the diet.

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evo_schen

yup, and a way to get more defined abs is with resistance training

broccoli

That's so true. Even weak abs are pretty visible on someone who has a low-low body fat %.

Keep doing cardio and eating right. The crunch/sit-up routine that you've got now is plenty to get a visible six-pack.

cjvasco

I would suggest crunches over sit ups, and vary them. Set of 100 with legs straight on ground, 100 with knees bent feet on ground, 100 with knees bent feet in air, 100 with legs straight feet in air, 100 with body curled to the left, 100 with body curled to the right, those will work just about every ab muscle you have. Also, for the lower abs, try dolphin kicks, flutters, and 6 inches. Hope that helps

bigoldalphamale

exercise the muscles and do your cardio. you MUST include altering your diet too. chill on the beer and snacks. eat better than you do now and you will see the results of the exercise even more.

taog

listen to this man


also, don't be afraid of going to a few health food stores and compare products to help you with what you want to do. If you are going to take something, make sure you ask every question you can possibally ask about it, so you know what you are getting into.


As for the exercising of the ab muscles. Treat them the same as any other muscle on your body and you will get better results. There is no point in doing 60000 situps a day if you run for a long time every day. You are already doing the cardio part of the exercise, why do it again?

I am actually in the same boat at the moment, and things are working out great for me. This is what i do for my workout.

day 1.... chest, back and abs (15 minutes on one of those weird cardio machines then 20 minutes of jogging home)

day 2.... shoulders, biceps, triceps (15 minutes on one of those weird cardio machines then 20 minutes of jogging home)


for each muscle group (other than shoulders and back) i do 4 different exercises. For shoulders and back i do 5. For every exercise i do 3 sets of 10, with putting on more weight as i go up in sets. For abs, it's the same thing, but i do three sets of 12 instead of 10.

in less than 3 weeks i can see some abs starting to poke through... i've only about 5 lbs... and everyone says i look a lot bigger now. I have basically trimmed down on the fat and added some muscle to my body again.


basically the whole thing is... you have to work out the muscles to get the motabolism going so you can actually lose the weight. Don't go to the gym on a full stomach, since you will just use the energy that is in the food, and not the stored energy htat is in your fat cells. Make sure you drink a lot of water. And, when doing cardio, make sure you stink after you are done. If you don't stink, you haven't burned off many fat cells. The smell is actually your fat cells. The more you stink, the more weight you just lost.

decryption69

Also consider that doing sit up/crunches produces lean muscle tissue, lean muscle uses fat for fuel, so in addtion to the Cardio and healthy eating, excercising those muscles will help in the long run.

yabobo

I work out 2 hours 4-5 days a week each time I do a
hour of cardio. My abs look fantastic....under all the beer
which I will never give up. So I have the abs you just can't see
them. My women feels them and knows what I do. i'm not really into "the look " I just want to be fairly healthy!

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RemyLebeau97

I work out 5 times a week and what I do for my abs is I normally do 72 sit up's every day, do however many ur comfortable with, don't try to kill urself. Then what I think the best thing to do is get in the set up position, go about half way up and hold it there for as long as u can. That should help strengthen ur abs up. Take breaks in between and try it a few more times, Hope that helps.

Vizzini

Tehy say perfect abs are built in the kitchen. Exercise and you build muscle but if it is all covered in fat...

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erockybalboa

As for a diet you want to make sure you eat low sugars and many small meals. Rather than 3 big meals a day, you want to eat 6-8 small meals. It keep s your metabolism up and burns food more efficiently.
You obviously want proper exercises as well. For great six-pack Abs.

surferlove007

I recently went to college and I noticed that I started getting a pooch so I decided i needed to hit the gym again.
I did swim team for 10 years and anyone else who has done it knows what it does for your stomach.
We did inverted sit-ups on the side of the pool with our legs above us and going up and down through the water.
Also we did flutter-kicks on the pool deck.
You lay on your back, hands under your butt and legs about 6 inches off the ground along with your neck off the ground, very inportant. Slowly kick keeping your toes pointed and do that for one minute three times through daily. It hurts like hell but it does wonders.
Pilates also do quite a good amount.
Do sit-ups in moderation. Around 2 or 3 groups of 75 works pretty well, or until you can't do them anymore.
Flip-turns did wonders for me when i was in HS. Swimming overall helps.
Also, look for a 15 minute ab class at the Y or your local gym, they can give you alot of points.
Medicine ball works your stomach.
Holy the ball over your head as you do a sit and slowly move it toward your knees, if you get a partner throw the ball to your partner and have them return it and then raise it over your head as you slowly go back down to position 1.
I love working out, there are so many neat tricks!
Hope these help!
Oh and the Plyo balls help!

Ch'i

Yikes. Cease that regiment immedeately.

The trick to abs, mainly for appearance, is quality, not quantity. There are five parts to your abdominals; upper abs, lower abs, obliques, transverse abdomis, and the lower back. You'll need to do a full body workout, and diet as well if you want to burn off those last 10 lbs (the last 10 requires the most work to burn unfortunately). In addition to your full body workout, do the following regiment for your abs:

10 Crunches (upper abs)
12 Reverse Crunches (lower abs)
20 Russian Twists (obliques)
30 second Vacuum (transverse abdomis)
10 Back-ups (lower back) (lay on your stomach, with your hands on your head, and lift your head as high as you can)

Do all of these slowly (two seconds up, two seconds down), and breath out hard at the apex of the repetition.