Upper Ab Exercises

Working the muscles at a variety of speeds ensures that you have strength throughout your whole range of motion, and helps overload the muscles, thus making you work harder and producing more rapid gains in strength.

Basic Crunch

Beginner: Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet shoulder width apart on the floor, hands behind your head. Pull your belly button to your spine and slowly squeeze your abs as your head and shoulders come up off the floor. Lift straight toward the ceiling, chin pointing up. Slowly lower to the floor and repeat.

Intermediate: Lie on your back with your knees bent and pulled in toward your chest, feet hanging close to your buns. Pull your belly button to your spine and slowly squeeze your abs as your head and shoulders come up off the floor. Lift straight toward the ceiling, chin pointing up. Slowly lower to the floor and repeat.

Make It Harder: Rather than placing hands behind your head, extend your arms as if you’re diving into a swimming pool, keeping forearms close to your ears. Focus on relaxing the shoulders to keep tension out of your neck. Also, try varying the speed of your lifting and lowering motion.

Helpful Hints: Try not to lower completely to the floor at the bottom of the movement. Try to clear your shoulder blades from the floor; be sure you’re not just lifting your head. Really focus on pulling your belly button down toward your spine.

Frog Legs

Beginner: Lie on your back with the soles of your feet together, letting your knees fall open to the sides. Place your hands behind your head to support your neck. Pull your belly button to your spine and slowly squeeze your abs as your head and shoulders come up off the floor. Lift straight toward the ceiling, chin pointing up. Slowly lower to the floor and repeat.

Intermediate: Lie on your back with your knees bent and pulled in toward your chest. Cross your ankles and let your knees fall open to the sides. Place your hands behind your head to support your neck. Pull your belly button to your spine and slowly squeeze your abs as your head and shoulders come up off the floor. Lift straight toward the ceiling, chin pointing up. Slowly lower to the floor and repeat.

Make It Harder: Extend your arms as if you’re diving, keeping forearms close to your ears. Focus on relaxing the shoulders to keep tension out of your neck. Also, try varying the speed of your lifting and lowering motion.

Helpful Hints: This exercise works the upper part of the rectus abdominis and into the lower segment. Be sure to really pull your belly button in tightly to protect your back and don’t lower all the way to the floor at the bottom.

Demi-Crunch

Beginner: Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet shoulder width apart on the floor, hands behind your head. Pull your belly button to your spine and lift shoulders and head off the floor, just a few inches. You should feel a contraction in the abdominals. Now lift straight toward the ceiling, chin pointing up and slowly return to your starting position - do not go all the way to the floor.

Intermediate: Lie on your back with your knees bent and pulled in toward your chest, feet hanging close to your buns. Pull your belly button to your spine and lift shoulders and head off the floor, just a few inches. You should feel a contraction in the abdominals. Now lift straight toward the ceiling, chin pointing up and slowly return to your starting position - do not go all the way to the floor.

Make It Harder: Lie on your back with your knees bent and walk your feet away from your buns until your legs are almost fully extended - be sure to keep a slight bend in the knee. If you feel any pain in your lower back, bring your feet in closer to your buns. This leg position gets the lower abs, too.

Helpful Hints: Be sure to really pull your belly button in tightly to protect your back and don’t lower all the way to the floor at the bottom.

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Essential Nutrients

These are the six essential nutrients that your body needs on a daily basis.

WaterCarbohydratesProteinsFatsVitaminsMinerals

Water

Water is the most essential nutrient the body needs. Your body is around forty to sixty percent of water. Forty to sixty percent of your body weight is water. Muscle composition is approximately 70% water. It is vital that while you exercise you continually drink water to ensure that your body does not dehydrate. If you feel thirsty it will take around 20 minutes for the liquid to be utilized by the body. Obviously the amount of water you need depends on your body weight, height and any activity you take part in but on average you need around three and a half pints of water a day. This may seem a lot but a lot of water will come from your food such as fruits which contain 75 to 90 percent of water.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are usually referred to as sugars or starches. Complicated carbohydrates are the carbohydrates that we keep hearing about that we should improve our food intake of. These carbohydrates are found in such foods such as potatoes, bananas, pasta, bread, cereals etc. Carbohydrates are converted into sugars by the body. Carbohydrates come in two forms:

Simple Sugars

Simple sugars are sugars like processed sugar and sugar from fruits. This kind of sugar is used almost immediately during exercise. Just eating these sugars would not give you endless amounts of instant energy because as your sugar level in your blood increased, more insulin would be released to grab the sugar and dispose of it because there is too much. All this insulin grabs all the sugar and more as well so eventually you would have even less energy than you started with. This is why when you eat a chocolate bar you feel great for about 15 minutes, your body will then loose energy and become slightly fatigued.

Complex Sugars

This kind of sugar is taken from foods like potatoes, bread, pasta, rice, vegetables and fruits. The difference between these sugars and simple sugars are that the sugars are released at a slower level so you do not get this insulin rush. As the sugar is released a lot slower it also lasts a lot longer because it takes the sugar a lot longer to be broken down. It should be obvious to you that these complex sugars or carbohydrates as they are better known are a 100 times better for you than the simple sugars. We need to be looking at around 55 percent of our daily intake of complex sugars.

Protein

Protein is composed of amino acids, which help to build muscle mass. Cells in the body are being replaced all the time every day 365 days a year, so we need to give the body the tools to complete the task of keeping our bodys fit and healthy. Protein is found in such foods such as chicken (white meat), egg white, beans, skimmed milk etc. The bigger and leaner your muscles are the higher your basal matabolic rate is. Your basal metabolic rate is the amount of calories the body uses just to live for the day, so even doing such things as sitting watching television your body will be burning more calories which means burning away more body fat. We need about 70 to 80 grams of protein daily in our diet.If you eat too much protein the excess will also be stored as body fat, you should be looking at 20 percent of your daily calorific intake to be of protein.

Fat

Fat is another term for lipid. Too much fat in your diet can lead to obesity, heart disease, heart attacks, and strokes. Fat does have its uses though, the body needs some fat to process vitamins and minerals and to insulate its inner systems. Fat is also used by the body to provide energy to the body during exercise. Cheese, nuts, cooking oil etc are high in fat content. There are more than one kind of fat, here are the three:

Saturated Fat

Saturated fat is the worst fat for the body. Saturated fat causes the arteries to clog which in turn can cause strokes, heart attacks and coronary heart disease.

Polyunsaturated Fat

Polyunsaturated fat has fewer fatty acid molecules than saturated fat, so is a lot better for you than saturated fat. A type of polyunsaturated fat is Omega 3, this is found only in fish oils, this fat helps with the developments of the nervous system and a host of other bodily functions.

Mono Unsaturated Fat

Mono unsaturated fat has even fewer fatty acid molecules than polyunsaturated fat, and for this reason is the best of all three fats. You should have a higher intake of mono unsaturated fat than the other two fats.

Vitamins and Minerals

Vitamins are needed in small amounts to help the body with chemical reactions within its cells and are organic. Vitamins come in two forms, they are fat soluble and water soluble. Fat Soluble Vitamins (A, D, E, K) are stored in the fat tissue and can build up high levels of toxins in the body if they are not utilized. Water Soluble Vitamins (B, C) are excreted by the body if your daily amount of intake is too great.

Minerals are inorganic substances in other words they are man made and they regulate processes within the body. Minerals are put into different structures within the body to create enzymes, hormones, skeletal bones, skeletal tissues, teeth and fluids.

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Combination Exercises

Combination: Obliques Crunch

Beginner: Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet shoulder width apart on floor. Pull your belly button to your spine. Place your left hand on your right thigh; put your right hand behind your head for support. Contract your tummy and slide your hand up your leg to the outside of your right knee, exhaling on the lift. Slowly slide down to the starting position. Finish a set on one side, then switch to the other side.

Intermediate: Lie on your back with your knees bent and pulled in toward your chest, keeping your feet close to your buns. Place your right hand behind your head and your left arm on the floor by your side. Pull your belly button in and lift toward your left knee. Exhale as you lift. Slowly return to the starting position. Finish a set on one side, then switch to the other side.

Make it harder: Extend your legs toward the ceiling, rather than keeping them bent. Even harder? Reach for your toes with your fingertips as you lift.

Helpful Hints: Rotate the shoulders toward the opposite knee, NOT the elbow. Keep elbows relaxed back and chest “open.” Think of lifting on a diagonal toward the knee, feeling the bottom of your rib cage and your hipbone squeezing toward each other.

Combination: Full Crunch (This exercise combines the basic and reverse crunch)

Beginner: Lie on your back with your knees pulled in toward your chest, feet hanging close to your buns. Place your hands behind your head. Pull your belly button in tightly then contract the lower abs so that your hips and buns lift off the floor while you lift your shoulders from the floor using the upper abs. Exhale as you lift.

Intermediate: Lie on your back with your legs extended toward the ceiling. Place your hands behind your head. Pull your belly button in tightly then contract the lower abs so that your hips and buns lift off the floor while you lift your shoulders from the floor using the upper abs. Exhale as you lift.

Make it harder: Extend arms into diving position overhead.

Helpful Hints: If you feel any strain in your lower back, pull your legs closer to your chest. The closer your legs are to parallel to the floor, the harder the exercise is for your back.

Combination: Negative Crunch

Beginner: Sit on the floor with your legs bent, feet flat. Extend your arms out in front of you at shoulder height. Pull your tummy in tight and slowly lower your back toward the floor, rounding your back as you go. Only go about halfway to the floor. Then exhale, contract your abs, and return to starting position.

Intermediate: To make this more challenging, walk your feet further away from your body.

Make it harder: Change the rhythm of your movement: lower for 2 and contract for 2 … lower for 3 and contract for 1 … lower for 1 and contract for 3.

Helpful Hints: Keep the small of your back rounded and only go as far as you can without losing your abdominal contraction. When returning to sitting position, don’t go too high. You should feel tension in your abs throughout this movement.

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Think Yourself To A Flat Stomach

In order to lose weight and achieve a flat stomach it basically comes down to eating less and moving more. Almost everyone knows this. So why isn’t everyone walking around with the body of Angelina Jolie or Brad Pitt? Perhaps a lot of it has to do with internal baggage that we are carrying around in our subconsciousness? In order to get over this you then have to reset your mind and focus your thoughts on the positive, set yourself weight loss/flat stomach goals and keep these visualized in your mind.

The first step to thinking yourself to a flat stomach is making the decision that you want to change and that you really want to reap the rewards of making that change. This also applies to general weight loss and almost any other goal you want to achieve in your life. You have to be prepared to do anything and everything to achieve your goals. The second part is then believing in your mind that you can change and that it is possible. This is the part that often involves overcoming the internal obstacles that we have placed in our minds.

A lot of us spend our time thinking about the negatives in our lives. This can often be made worse by the negative articles and pictures we see in the media and the friends and family we surround ourselves with. The negativity in our lives can become a self fulfilling prophecy. Ultimately preventing you from losing weight and gaining control of your life.

These negative emotions and feelings surrounding us and infesting our thoughts mean that we often resort to food for the wrong reasons. We eat because we are bored, tired, sad, lonely and angry and we don’t think of the consequences of eating, only the short term feeling of fulfillment that food may bring. It’s only after we eat the food that we feel guilty and create more negativity. Stop and think! No matter how much emotional eating you participate in it’s not going to fix anything and you will never feel better long term from it!

You need to break the negative cycle and replace your negative thoughts with positives one. You also need to stop and think before you put food into your mouth. Ask yourself if this food is providing me with energy (the purpose of food) or am I eating for other reasons?

Creating a new positive mindset around food and weight loss means developing a whole new relationship with food, our mind and our bodies. Perhaps the most powerful thing to keep in the front of your mind and on the tip of your tongue is that we always have the power to choose. You can have that chocolate if you want but do you need to have it?

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 Filed Under: Flat Stomach, Food, General Health     Tags: diet, emotion, fat loss, goal setting, goals, lose weight, losing weight, visualization, weight, Weight Loss
   

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Ab Workout #2

Try this workout the next time you work abs.

Start with truck twists. Do three sets of 20 reps.

Next, move over to the lat pulldown station for pull-down crunches (with the rope device). Do 3 sets of 20-30 reps.

After pull-down crunches, move over to the mat for regular crunches. Do three sets of as many reps as you can.

Next, move over to the leg lift station and do three sets of 25 reps.

After leg lifts, do side stretchers with dumbbells. Do three sets (per side), 25-30 reps per set.

Finish off the workout with regular sit-ups doing 3 sets of as many reps as you can.

Related Post: Ab Workout #1

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10 Minute Flat Stomach Workout

With constant challenges, clever workouts and healthy eating you can easily get a flat stomach. Here is a quick 10 Minute Flat Stomach Workout I have devised for when you are short of time. Alternatively you could add this 10 minute session to your normal workouts as a great warm up or cool down exercise.

Exercise 1: Squats
While standing extend your arms out, parallel to the ground while flexing your triceps. Then, initiate a squat from your hips by sitting back and down keeping the weight on your heels as opposed to the balls of your feet. Squat down to a position where your thighs are approximately parallel to the ground, then return up to the starting position. Complete 10 to 20 reps.

Check out this article for a full description on the squat.

Exercise 2: Plank Push-Ups
Begin in a push up position but with your elbows on the ground and resting on your forearms. Your elbows should be bent at a 90 degree angle. Push off the ground with one arm and then the next. Squeeze your abs as you push up. You should be lifting yourself up to a fully extended push up position. Lower back down to the starting position and repeat, this time leading with the opposite arm. Aim to not let your back sag down towards the ground. Complete 10 to 20 reps.

Exercise 3: Walking Lunges
Start with your feet at shoulder width apart. While maintaining a straight line, stride forward with your right leg and land with your left toes just touching the ground, your left heel should be raised. Once your right foot lands, allow your left knee to fall down to the ground. Push back up with your right leg and then repeat on the other side. You should try form a consistent rhythm, just stopping the lunge and pushing back up before your knee hits the ground. Complete 20 repetitions.

Exercise 4: Bent Over Rows
For this exercise you need a barbell, workout bag or you could use dumbbells. Use a medium weight on the bar and grip the bar a little wider than a shoulder width apart. Stand up straight, pull your shoulder blades down, keep your head straight and contract your abdominals. Slowly bend forward, keeping your back straight and pushing your hips out, stop when your chest is almost parallel with the floor. Pull the bar into your chest keeping your elbows out to the sides. Exhale as you lift, inhale as you lower the bar down. Gently return to a standing position. Complete 2 sets of 12 reps.

Exercise 5: The Sprinter

The sprinter is very similar to the bicycle crunch except that the hands are not behind the head, rather positioned in a sprinting motion and you sit up higher with the sprinter.

Lie down on your back, making sure your back is firmly against the floor. Lie down flat but keep your heels hovering about 6 inches off the ground. Crunch up and bring your left arm up with the elbow bent to resemble a sprinters motion. At the top of the crunch bring your right knee into your chest. Repeat for the other side of the body and do 20 reps.

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 Filed Under: Cardio, Cross-Training, Flat Stomach, Stomach Exercises     Tags: 10 minute, abs, bent over rows, Cardio, crossfit, exercise, fat loss, lunge, plank, push up, sprinter, squat, squats, Weight Loss
   

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Ab Workout #1

You may not think abs have much to do with strength, but they do. Abs are the counter-balance for your back. If you have weak abs, your back strength is bound to be hampered. Ab strength indirectly affects almost every muscle group in your body and remember, that well developed abs make you look good. Keep them strong.
Start this workout as always, by stretching.

After stretching, start with standing trunk twists. I recommend that you keep a broom handle or other stick behind the head while doing this exercise (rest you arms on the stick).

Do 3 sets of 50-75 reps. Each rep is a full rotation from left to right.

Following the truck twists, start with crunches. You are going to do three sets of as many reps as you can do. Make sure you push yourself, but use proper form. Do not rush through the reps, work them slowly.

After crunches, you are going to move on to ab-wheel rollers. If your gym does not have an ab wheel, they can be purchased at a sporting goods store for $10.00-$20.00. Use the wheel that looks like a lawnmower wheel with a bar stuck through it. You don’t have to spend a lot of money for this piece of equipment.

With the ab wheel, do 3 sets of 50-75 reps.

Following the ab wheel, do side stretchers. With side stretchers, you take a dumbbell in one hand and lean in the opposite direction. When you pick your dumbbell for this exercise, make sure that the weight is heavy enough that you feel it, but not too heavy. Do three sets of 25-50 side stretchers (make sure you work each side for the set).

The final exercise is going to be regular sit-ups. Do three sets of as many reps as you can. Good luck.

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100 Free Motivational Fitness Quotes

I stumbled across this early in the new year and I have meant to post about it for a while now. Eartha from Trying Fitness has developed a list of 100 Motivational/Inspirational Quotes focused around fitness.

You may have already checked this out earlier in the year but I think it’s worth going over again and having a second look. You might have missed a great quote that will inspire you to push that little harder to get a flat stomach or lose those few extra pounds. It might also be a good idea to go and pick out and some new quotes to help you achieve your fitness goals as we enter into the second quarter of 2009.

The download link is below or you can click on the cover picture to view/download the e-book. Happy quoting!

100 Motivational Quotes (PDF)

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Oblique Exercises

The exercises below will strengthen your oblique muscles.

Side Lift

Beginner: Lie on your left side with legs together and knees bent. Place your left arm comfortably in front of you and place your right hand behind your ear, elbow bent. Exhale and use your obliques to lift your right knee while simultaneously lifting your upper torso to meet it. Inhale and slowly lower to the starting position. Do all reps and switch sides.

Intermediate: Lie on your left side with legs together and legs extended. Place your left arm comfortably in front of you and place your right hand behind your ear, elbow bent. Exhale and use your obliques to lift both legs toward the ceiling while simultaneously lifting your upper torso. Inhale and slowly lower to the starting position. Do all reps and switch sides.

Make It Harder: Raise and lower for variable counts: up 2, down 2 … up for 3, down for 1 … up for 1, down for 3.

Helpful Hints: Keep abs tight throughout to control the lowering phase. Try not to allow your legs to touch the floor when you return to the starting position.

Leg Overs

Beginner: Lie flat on your back with your arms extended at from the shoulders, perpendicular to your body. Bring your bent knees in toward your chest and hold them with thighs perpendicular to the floor, calves parallel to the floor. Inhale and use your obliques to lower your legs to the left side, keeping knees bent. Exhale, pulling your knees back to the center and lowering them to the right side. Be sure to keep both shoulder blades flat on the floor throughout the movement.

Intermediate: Lie flat on your back with your arms extended out from the shoulders, perpendicular to your body. Extend your legs straight up to the ceiling. Inhale and use your oblique to lower your legs to the left side until they barely touch the floor. Exhale, pulling your legs back to the center and lowering them to the right side. Be sure to keep both shoulder blades flat on the floor throughout the movement.

Make It Harder: Raise and lower for variable counts: up 2, down 2 … up for 3, down for 1 … up for 1, down for 3.

Helpful Hints: As you lower your legs to the side, allow your hips to roll with the movement. The extended-leg version of this exercise is very advanced; only proceed to a long-legged position after working through varying degrees of extension first.

Side Crunches

Beginner: Lie on your left side with legs bent perpendicular to your body. Place your left arm comfortably in front of you and put your right hand behind your ear. Using a slow crunching motion, exhale and lift your rib cage toward your hip. Inhale and slowly lower almost to the floor.

Intermediate: Lie on your left side with legs bent perpendicular to your body. Place your left arm comfortably in front of you and put your right hand behind your ear. Using a slow crunching motion, exhale and lift your rib cage toward your hip. Inhale and slowly lower almost to the floor.

Make It Harder: Raise and lower for variable counts: up 2, down 2 … up for 3, down for 1 … up for 1, down for 3.

Helpful Hints: Lift entire torso off the floor, not just your elbow and head. Focus on using the obliques to list your toros, and be sure to get the bottom shoulder off the floor during the lifting phase.

Related Post: Rectus Abdominis

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Improve Your Life With Healthy Sleep Habits

Having trouble falling asleep is a very common problem for a lot of us. At some stage around 20% of people will experience either too little sleep or poor quality of sleep. The following is a collection of tips and advice to assist you in improving your sleeping habits.

For more tips on how to achieve improved relaxation and sleeping habits check out these resources:

Tim Ferriss - Relax Like A Pro
Zen Habits - Benefits of Rising Early
Steve Pavlina - How to Become an Early Riser

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