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In this fitness tips newsletter, I will touch on a very commonly asked question of which you may probably at some time or other pondered upon too.
Question:-
I have seen many advertisements about electric stimulation gadgets touted to help me lose fat around my waist and to build six pack abs muscles. Some of the ads also claim that a 20 minute stimulation with their gadget is equal to doing 300 sit ups. Is it possible to lose weight around my waist and to bring out my 6 pack washboard abdominal muscle with these gadgets?
Free Fitness Tips:-
I will ask some questions in return. If these gadgets really work, then all professional bodybuilders and people with washboard abdominals can simply use these stimulators instead of doing so much cardio exercises to lose fats and so many crunches to build and show their abdominal muscles isn't it? These products, if they are so effective will be flying off the shelves and the world's obesity problems would be solved a long time ago won't they? But why didn't they? Ahhhhh....I think you are getting the picture.
Electric Muscle Stimulator(EMS) has it uses. It is a medical technology to treat victims of traumatic injury. It aids in pain relief, accelerate healing and prevents muscle breadown through lack of use while patients rehabilitate. But can they help me to build a 6 pack washboard abdominal muscles? No way! The only way to get your six pack is to lose the fats around your waist is through healthy dieting and cardio exercises with old fashioned abdominal exercises such as crunches, hanging leg raisers, reverse crunches and other core muscle exercises.
So before you get anymore misinformation and rush out to buy some EMS gizmoz in believing that you will own great abs just by using them while watching TV with your favourite potato chips, well, think again now that you know the truth and keep that hard earned money in your pocket.
For more articles like these, visit www.sgfitnessonline.com
Thursday, August 24, 2006
6 Pack Abs | Still No Rippling 6 Packs?Are You Performing The Wrong Exercises?
Do you agree that practice makes perfect? If you do, let me ask you something. When you keep practicing something that is wrong, you will only perfect the wrong thing don't you?
I think it was the sales guru Tom Hopkins who said, "Perfect practice makes perfect". I think that makes sense.
Day in and day out, I am seeing people doing sit ups after sit ups, crunches after crunches and yet after some months or even years, they still do not own the 6 packs they have trained so hard for. Why is that so? Simple. They are doing the exercises in the wrong form and techniques. They practiced what is wrong until they perfected the wrong exercises.
Before we discuss the exercises themselves, let me refer you to an earlier article on this web site"Why You Do Not Have Killer Abs". There are a few things from that article that I want to reiterate and that is exercises alone is not the only key to a washboard abs.
The ONLY way to reveal your abs is to lose that layer of fat covering them. No amount of crunches or sit ups you do is going to change that if that blubber around your waist is still there. So the magic formula is no magic after all. Just lose that fat and through the correct exercises, your six packs will show and they will show magnificently.
Once your body fat is below 12%, your abs will start showing. For the girls, they will show when body fat is below 15%. So, how to lose the fats? Check out my other article "Lose Fats - Gain Confidence".
How To Work Your Abs ExercisesWork your abs like any other body part. Training them more than twice per week is not necessary. I recommend these 2 exercises. The common crunch and reverse crunches. Sometimes for variation sake, I will throw in a V-crunch, a bicycle-crunch or a "plank" for core development.
Contraction is everything when working abs. Remember that your abs work like an accordion, not like a hinge. This is where most people do the wrong thing. They bounced up and down on crunches and sit ups going as many possible reps as possible in the shortest time. If that is the case, they are using momentum and that do not work on the muscles.
Next and the most destructive thing that happens is that if there is no tight sustained contraction on the abs, it is not going to work! Yet, you see people doing it wrong everyday, every where and every time!
So when doing crunches, you should concentrate on crunching together rather than moving your body upwards. Imagine a log lying across your abs and your upper body is curling around the log to reach your thighs. You must concentrate on contracting your muscles as tight as you can when doing that. It does not matter how many reps you can do; the only thing that matters is how hard you can contract your abdominal muscles. Hence the name Crunch. So crunch it!
If it takes you 100 crunches before your abs begin to burn, then you are wasting your time. Your abs should be fatigued at no more than about 20 reps. If they are aren't, you need to add weights to your exercise and work on contracting the muscles tightly for each rep.
Forget about sit ups and leg raisers you may have learnt in school or in the army. These exercises work out your hip flexors more than your abdomen. Yes, you have been perfecting the wrong exercises since God knows when and may not believe me. Next time you do a sit up, put your hands on the body part where your hip connect to your thighs. Then sit up. What will you feel? You will feel that part of the muscles worked real hard. When that is the case, it will take away the load which your abs should be taking. Then tell me, how will those exercises train your abs well?Worse, you will be putting a lot of strain on your back too resulting in back problems.
Think of the accordion when the player squeezes it to press the air out to produce the sound. That is the way you should crunch.
The Crunch
Lie flat on the floor with your knees bent as shown above. Place your hands just touching your ears. Do not grasp them behind your head or you may be straining your neck.Curl off of the floor as if there is a log between your chest and your thighs and stop when you reach maximum ab contraction. Then hold that position and crunch it hard. Exhale as you curl up and inhale as you slowly lower. Keep the rest of the body stationary and you do not sit all the way up.It should be smooth and controlled. Do not let momentum and speed come into the picture. You will soon feel the burn... enjooooy...
Reverse Crunches
These are like leg raises, except that you are on an incline bench and should keep your knees bent. Lie on your back on a slightly inclined bench and grab the top of the bench. This is like the reverse of the crunch. The log is still on your belly. But this time, you are curling your thighs towards your chest encircling the log to achieve the hard contraction.When you hit maximum contraction, crunch it hard for a few seconds, the slowly lower down to the original position.Exhale as you crunch up and then slowly lower your legs as you inhale.
Again do it slowly and focus on the abs to avoid momentum.
That's it. Perfect these exercises and cut your fats, I will bet my last dollar that your abs will be the envy of everyone in a few short weeks. Wanna bet? SFO
link to http://www.sgfitnessonline.com
I think it was the sales guru Tom Hopkins who said, "Perfect practice makes perfect". I think that makes sense.
Day in and day out, I am seeing people doing sit ups after sit ups, crunches after crunches and yet after some months or even years, they still do not own the 6 packs they have trained so hard for. Why is that so? Simple. They are doing the exercises in the wrong form and techniques. They practiced what is wrong until they perfected the wrong exercises.
Before we discuss the exercises themselves, let me refer you to an earlier article on this web site"Why You Do Not Have Killer Abs". There are a few things from that article that I want to reiterate and that is exercises alone is not the only key to a washboard abs.
The ONLY way to reveal your abs is to lose that layer of fat covering them. No amount of crunches or sit ups you do is going to change that if that blubber around your waist is still there. So the magic formula is no magic after all. Just lose that fat and through the correct exercises, your six packs will show and they will show magnificently.
Once your body fat is below 12%, your abs will start showing. For the girls, they will show when body fat is below 15%. So, how to lose the fats? Check out my other article "Lose Fats - Gain Confidence".
How To Work Your Abs ExercisesWork your abs like any other body part. Training them more than twice per week is not necessary. I recommend these 2 exercises. The common crunch and reverse crunches. Sometimes for variation sake, I will throw in a V-crunch, a bicycle-crunch or a "plank" for core development.
Contraction is everything when working abs. Remember that your abs work like an accordion, not like a hinge. This is where most people do the wrong thing. They bounced up and down on crunches and sit ups going as many possible reps as possible in the shortest time. If that is the case, they are using momentum and that do not work on the muscles.
Next and the most destructive thing that happens is that if there is no tight sustained contraction on the abs, it is not going to work! Yet, you see people doing it wrong everyday, every where and every time!
So when doing crunches, you should concentrate on crunching together rather than moving your body upwards. Imagine a log lying across your abs and your upper body is curling around the log to reach your thighs. You must concentrate on contracting your muscles as tight as you can when doing that. It does not matter how many reps you can do; the only thing that matters is how hard you can contract your abdominal muscles. Hence the name Crunch. So crunch it!
If it takes you 100 crunches before your abs begin to burn, then you are wasting your time. Your abs should be fatigued at no more than about 20 reps. If they are aren't, you need to add weights to your exercise and work on contracting the muscles tightly for each rep.
Forget about sit ups and leg raisers you may have learnt in school or in the army. These exercises work out your hip flexors more than your abdomen. Yes, you have been perfecting the wrong exercises since God knows when and may not believe me. Next time you do a sit up, put your hands on the body part where your hip connect to your thighs. Then sit up. What will you feel? You will feel that part of the muscles worked real hard. When that is the case, it will take away the load which your abs should be taking. Then tell me, how will those exercises train your abs well?Worse, you will be putting a lot of strain on your back too resulting in back problems.
Think of the accordion when the player squeezes it to press the air out to produce the sound. That is the way you should crunch.
The Crunch
Lie flat on the floor with your knees bent as shown above. Place your hands just touching your ears. Do not grasp them behind your head or you may be straining your neck.Curl off of the floor as if there is a log between your chest and your thighs and stop when you reach maximum ab contraction. Then hold that position and crunch it hard. Exhale as you curl up and inhale as you slowly lower. Keep the rest of the body stationary and you do not sit all the way up.It should be smooth and controlled. Do not let momentum and speed come into the picture. You will soon feel the burn... enjooooy...
Reverse Crunches
These are like leg raises, except that you are on an incline bench and should keep your knees bent. Lie on your back on a slightly inclined bench and grab the top of the bench. This is like the reverse of the crunch. The log is still on your belly. But this time, you are curling your thighs towards your chest encircling the log to achieve the hard contraction.When you hit maximum contraction, crunch it hard for a few seconds, the slowly lower down to the original position.Exhale as you crunch up and then slowly lower your legs as you inhale.
Again do it slowly and focus on the abs to avoid momentum.
That's it. Perfect these exercises and cut your fats, I will bet my last dollar that your abs will be the envy of everyone in a few short weeks. Wanna bet? SFO
link to http://www.sgfitnessonline.com
Six Pack Abs | Why you do not have "killer abs" or that "6 pack" Abdominal Muscles?
Ask any woman what is the most attractive part of a male body and most of the time, they will tell you it's the six pack abs meaning that your abdominal muscles showing up with beautiful definition.
The abs is considered by many as a sexy muscle and is a symbol of a fit and healthy man. Women are instinctively drawn towards a man brimming with health and fitness because it is a primitive indication that the man is strong enough to protect her and her brood. A rippling six pack abs is one such indication.
So is it any wonder that in every gym, you will see men of all ages doing crunches, leg raisers and sit ups religiously in the hope of obtaining the much coveted killer abs? Unfortunately, most men will never get to see their abdominal muscle in its glorious splendor. Why? The following fitness tip will show you why. You may not like what I am going to give to you straight in the face here. But I will give it to you anyway. So here it goes. Listen up carefully. You may do a zillion crunches a day, then another another million leg raisers , but as long as there is a layer of fat covering your tummy, you will never see your abs because it is covered by the blubber of fat. In fact, your waistline will become bigger because you are adding muscles underneath the fats! So instead of having a slim waistline and showing off your abs, you will have a bigger waistline and thicker love handles. Now get this straight. There is no such thing as spot reduction! Once the fats are off, your abs will show. That I promise you. It is just that simple to display your abs. Lose fats! That's all.
Late night TV commercials or magazines has been telling you that you can have well defined abs by using this gadget or that electronic gizmo. Do you really believe that it is that simple? If it is so, then everyone will have that six pack abs in no time, won't they? Then why isn't that so? Because it doesn't work that way. To lose fat effectively and permanently for your abdominal muscles to show, you must include a mildly deficit calorie restriction diet, frequent cardio workouts and strength training with weights to build muscle so as to raise your metabolism in order to lose weight and burn fat naturally. Your weight loss goals will not be achieved effectively or permanently when any one of the three elements is done wrongly or not even incorporated in your slimming program. I repeat the three elements again :-
A mildly caloric deficit diet - A mildly caloric deficit diet to help you lose weight.
Frequent cardio workouts - Frequent cardio workout to exercise your heart and lungs and burn fat at the same time
Weight Lifting to build muscles - Build muscles to burn fat permanently as muscles use up more calories from your food for energy. Lifting weights will also give you a well toned body and help your abs to show.
Forget about any fad diets or popping slimming pills . These may work initially but in the long run, they are bound to fail. Now supposing that you are successful in your lose weight lose fat program and have very little fat covering your torso but yet you do not have well defined abs....what happened?
Well, read "Common Mistakes of Abs-Abdominal Muscle Exercises" and find out why and how to develop a washboard abdominal muscle SFOChris Chewwww.sgfitnessonline.com
The abs is considered by many as a sexy muscle and is a symbol of a fit and healthy man. Women are instinctively drawn towards a man brimming with health and fitness because it is a primitive indication that the man is strong enough to protect her and her brood. A rippling six pack abs is one such indication.
So is it any wonder that in every gym, you will see men of all ages doing crunches, leg raisers and sit ups religiously in the hope of obtaining the much coveted killer abs? Unfortunately, most men will never get to see their abdominal muscle in its glorious splendor. Why? The following fitness tip will show you why. You may not like what I am going to give to you straight in the face here. But I will give it to you anyway. So here it goes. Listen up carefully. You may do a zillion crunches a day, then another another million leg raisers , but as long as there is a layer of fat covering your tummy, you will never see your abs because it is covered by the blubber of fat. In fact, your waistline will become bigger because you are adding muscles underneath the fats! So instead of having a slim waistline and showing off your abs, you will have a bigger waistline and thicker love handles. Now get this straight. There is no such thing as spot reduction! Once the fats are off, your abs will show. That I promise you. It is just that simple to display your abs. Lose fats! That's all.
Late night TV commercials or magazines has been telling you that you can have well defined abs by using this gadget or that electronic gizmo. Do you really believe that it is that simple? If it is so, then everyone will have that six pack abs in no time, won't they? Then why isn't that so? Because it doesn't work that way. To lose fat effectively and permanently for your abdominal muscles to show, you must include a mildly deficit calorie restriction diet, frequent cardio workouts and strength training with weights to build muscle so as to raise your metabolism in order to lose weight and burn fat naturally. Your weight loss goals will not be achieved effectively or permanently when any one of the three elements is done wrongly or not even incorporated in your slimming program. I repeat the three elements again :-
A mildly caloric deficit diet - A mildly caloric deficit diet to help you lose weight.
Frequent cardio workouts - Frequent cardio workout to exercise your heart and lungs and burn fat at the same time
Weight Lifting to build muscles - Build muscles to burn fat permanently as muscles use up more calories from your food for energy. Lifting weights will also give you a well toned body and help your abs to show.
Forget about any fad diets or popping slimming pills . These may work initially but in the long run, they are bound to fail. Now supposing that you are successful in your lose weight lose fat program and have very little fat covering your torso but yet you do not have well defined abs....what happened?
Well, read "Common Mistakes of Abs-Abdominal Muscle Exercises" and find out why and how to develop a washboard abdominal muscle SFOChris Chewwww.sgfitnessonline.com
Monday, August 07, 2006
Low body fat and getting a flat tummy or six pack abs
To realistically get a flat firm tummy you will have to work on your overall body fat. It does not make sense to focus just on one part of the body when all the other parts are lacking. When you bring your total body fat down it will be much more easier to get that sexy six pack abs or the flat tummy that you desire.
There are a wide variety of different types of abdominal exercises available which include abs crunches, traditional situps, side bends, leg raises etc. There are also a multitude of different types of abs machines, workouts on video tapes available on the market.
There are a wide variety of different types of abdominal exercises available which include abs crunches, traditional situps, side bends, leg raises etc. There are also a multitude of different types of abs machines, workouts on video tapes available on the market.
The problem is that all of these exercises and equipment will only help strengthen and build your abs muscles. Realistically if you have a layer of fat covering your abs those products and exercises won't make a huge difference to make your flat tummy or abs visible. You will have to burn the fat over your stomach first, before you are going to see any positive results.
To burn those fat covering your abs, you will need to have:
Proper nutrition or diet in place
Good cardiovascular or aerobic workout that will help to burn the fat..
People in general tend to think that the key to getting a firm sexy flat stomach or six pack abs is to do with, lots of abs exercises and workouts with abs machines. You can do thousands of crunches or sit-ups till you are blue in the face and still not see any results.
The key to getting perfect abs or even just a flat tummy is having LOW BODY FAT.
It is so simple. Get your body fat down. Get you flat tummy or six pack abs.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
The mindset to lose weight and get a flat stomach or six pack abs
What has the mind got to do with losing weight?
Psychology has a lot to do with loosing weight. You can have all the information of how to lose weight, but if your mentality is not right then it becomes futile.
The right mindset will give you motivation, dedication, perseverance and help you to avoid temptation and distractions. You will stay focused and achieve your goals.
Self believe is an important element in the whole process. You must believe that you can lose weight and get flat and sexy abs. It is all in the mind. Think positive.
The moment you conquer the mental aspect in your weigh loss endeavour then you can achieve anything you put your mind on.
It is easier said than done. Discipline is another important factor that that will determine if you’re going to be successful or not.
The mind
The mind is like a processor in a computer. It controls your thoughts and actions and influences your behaviour. As we enter different phases of our lives we develop along the way, habits and different mannerisms that control our lives. Over time your subconscious controls various actions which you might be unaware of. People that struggle to lose weight might have habits that hinder their weight loss.
These stumbling blocks can be removed if you can develop a strong mentality. People with strong minds can take control of their subconscious and change bad habits or formed associations.
The mind is a very powerful tool if utilised correctly. There is quote that goes like this: “A mind is a terrible thing to waste”.
Re program the mind
As with most things in life … there are no quick fixes. Will power can make a huge difference in your pursuit of weight loss.
Think positively. Focus on the good things in life, things that make you happy, things that you enjoy doing.
Set realistic goals. Write it down. Speak it.
Associate yourself with positive people. It can and will rub of on you.
Encourage and motivate yourself.
www.6pack.co.za
Psychology has a lot to do with loosing weight. You can have all the information of how to lose weight, but if your mentality is not right then it becomes futile.
The right mindset will give you motivation, dedication, perseverance and help you to avoid temptation and distractions. You will stay focused and achieve your goals.
Self believe is an important element in the whole process. You must believe that you can lose weight and get flat and sexy abs. It is all in the mind. Think positive.
The moment you conquer the mental aspect in your weigh loss endeavour then you can achieve anything you put your mind on.
It is easier said than done. Discipline is another important factor that that will determine if you’re going to be successful or not.
The mind
The mind is like a processor in a computer. It controls your thoughts and actions and influences your behaviour. As we enter different phases of our lives we develop along the way, habits and different mannerisms that control our lives. Over time your subconscious controls various actions which you might be unaware of. People that struggle to lose weight might have habits that hinder their weight loss.
These stumbling blocks can be removed if you can develop a strong mentality. People with strong minds can take control of their subconscious and change bad habits or formed associations.
The mind is a very powerful tool if utilised correctly. There is quote that goes like this: “A mind is a terrible thing to waste”.
Re program the mind
As with most things in life … there are no quick fixes. Will power can make a huge difference in your pursuit of weight loss.
Think positively. Focus on the good things in life, things that make you happy, things that you enjoy doing.
Set realistic goals. Write it down. Speak it.
Associate yourself with positive people. It can and will rub of on you.
Encourage and motivate yourself.
www.6pack.co.za
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