The Truth About Abdominal Exercise Programs

With today's workout regimens focus on abs toning and strengthening, it really isn't a wonder why a number of abdominal exercise programs prevail.

Abdominal exercise programs are pretty much exercise programs which target the rectus abdominis, in common terms the "six pack" area, and the obliques, the waist area. They are among the most common of exercise programs, as well as among the most wrongly done, wasting time, energy and effort.

Here are some truths about abdominal exercise programs, which could save exercisers from "waste of time" mistakes when it comes to abdominal exercise programs.

Muscle is Muscle

The belief that abdominal muscles are different from the other muscle types in the body is wrong. The only difference abdominal muscles have over other body muscles would be their location in the body. There is no physiological difference between abdominal muscles from other muscles in the body, no difference with how it contracts, or how it strengthens with regular exercise.

Muscle is Muscle. Plain and simple.

Daily Abdominal Exercise Programs

One doesn't have to do abdominal exercise program routines on a daily basis. It is advised that they be done every other day, giving the abdominal muscles time to recover, just like any other muscle group in the body.

As most abdominal exercise programs aim to fatigue the ab muscles, recovery time is needed in their successful flow.

Abdominal Exercise Programs and Fat

Abdominal exercise programs aren't exactly geared to reduce the fat in one's abdomen area, as a combination of an overall workout regimen and a balanced diet successfully resolves this issue with exercisers. What abdominal exercise programs do is build more muscles, as well as helps raise an exerciser's metabolism rate, keeping an exercisers abs fit. Again abdominal exercise programs don't convert the fat over the abdomen area into all muscle. They don't melt the fat away.

The Power of Sit Ups

Requiring only the most basic of exercise equipment, proper sit ups are pretty much enough to make an abdominal exercise program effective on an overall scale. Sit ups don't necessarily have to be "full sit ups" as these sit ups basically strengthen muscles with are already strong, and are not the abdominal muscles.

Going on a variety of sit ups, targeting the rectus abdominis, has proven to be quite effective.

The most important reason why training one's rectus abdominis is essential is for back health. With this, it is quite important to incluce the exeternal obliques, internal obliques and the transverse abdominals when doing sit ups.

Bottom line, variety is the key, through the application of proper abdominal exercise program routines, in the making of six pack abs.

Milos Pesic is a professional fitness trainer who runs a highly popular and comprehensive Abdominal Training web site. For more articles and resources on abdominal exercises, abdominal workout tips, abdominal fitness equipment and much more visit his site at:

http://abs.need-to-know.net

Abdominal Exercises - The Truth

Abdominal exercises are one of the hottest, and yet, most controversial topics in the fitness and exercise industry. Hundreds of ab gadgets, gimmicks, and exercise machines have flooded the market for people looking for sexier and flatter abdominals... that sexy six-pack abs appearance that everyone seeks.

The problem is that most of the abdominal exercises that are recommended all over the internet, and in magazines, etc, are not necessarily the best method to get that six-pack abs appearance. First and foremost, the most important aspect for great looking six pack abdominals is losing the extra belly fat that is covering them up. To be honest, most people already have decent abdominals underneath, yet the six-pack abs are simply covered up by all of that extra flabby stomach fat.

Instead of focusing so much on abdominal exercises to make your stomach flatter and more like a six-pack, you will lose much more body fat by focusing the majority of your training time with special combinations of high intensity full-body, multi-joint exercises. The best exercises for losing that abdominal fat are the exercises that work the largest portions of the body at once.

Exercises that work the large muscle groups of the legs, upper and lower back, and chest give you the biggest metabolic bang for your buck in terms of abdominal fat loss. Combining these types of big multi-joint exercises in high intensity super-set, tri-set, or circuit fashion gives you the biggest fat-burning and metabolism boosting response from your workouts.

And that is one of the best kept secrets for flat sexy abdominals that are actually visible as a six-pack!

Now when it comes to abdominal-specific exercises, another mistake most people make is mindlessly pumping away with hundreds of crunches and other meaningless abs exercises that barely give your abdominals much resistance to work against. If you want to actually develop your abdominals to the best extent possible, don't waste your time with exercises that you can do more than 20 or 25 reps... that means you are definitely not doing an exercise that provides enough resistance to the abs. Exercises that give you enough resistance to get you down into the 6-15 rep range per set works great for the abs.

Generally, higher resistance abdominal exercises that provide a much larger stimulus to the abs come in the form of exercises that involve raising/curling the legs and pelvis either upward or inward closer to the trunk. A couple great examples of these higher resistance abdominal exercises are hanging leg raises or knee raises using a "pelvic curl up", or an exercise like lying hip thrusts. Many times, the same people that can do 50 or 100 crunches, can't even complete more than 2 or 3 properly executed hanging leg raises.

If you really want tighter flatter abdominals that look like a six-pack, remember that losing that extra belly fat is the MOST important factor. Also, when it comes to abdominal-specific exercises, always remember higher resistance exercises that involve curling/raising the legs and pelvis upward or inward are what develops the abs to the best extent possible.

To discover over 27 more abdominal fat loss and metabolism-boosting secrets, go to Abdominal Exercises & Stomach Fat-Loss Secrets to download a FREE report revealing the strategies of the super-lean.

Michael Geary (CPT) is an International Fitness Expert with clients in over 150 countries world-wide, contributing writer for Muscle & Fitness Hers Magazine, and author of the internationally-popular book, The Truth about 6-Pack Abs. Mike is also the owner of 4-Minute High-Intensity Workouts for Busy Men

Mike Geary's The Truth About Six Pack Abs Review - 2 Major Flaws Found

I'll cut to the chase regarding The Truth About Abs.

I've reviewed The Truth About Abs and truly believe that it is THE best ab workout program available.

But I found 2 serious flaws with The Truth About Abs program that I wanted to share with everyone before they invested their money in this program. These were 2 flaws that I had to personally find solutions to fill-in-the-gaps. Simply put, you'll be wasting your money if buy The Truth About Abs the way it is. Continue reading to find out what I found and how I fixed them...

In the Truth About Abs, Mike Geary pulls no punches and gives you the truth on what it takes to get 6 pack abs. In fact, he overdelivers with his product, which can overwhelm not only the rookie, but the advanced gym-goer as well.

The Truth About Abs covers a TON of topics that include:

* The exact science behind getting defined abs - Why multi-joint exercises will always outperform single-joint exercises (after reading this, I realized that my current workout program was ENTIRELY WRONG!)

* The myth that cardio is the "answer" - Why doing too much cardio and crunches might actually stop you from getting a 6 pack (this totally goes against conventional wisdom, but the evidence is there to back every single word written in The Truth About Abs)

* Proper Diet & Nutrition - The two hidden monsters in our diet that are preventing us from burning fat, no matter how much we exercise (I was guilty of this one!)

* Advanced secret weapon exercises that aren't focused on your abs, but work your abs better than any crunch could (this blew my mind!)

* Over 50 exercises that will help you get a 6 pack...exercises you probably have not ever seen before!

So, you can see how I could have been overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information in The Truth About Abs. In fact, it took me 3 whole days of doing nothing but reading The Truth About Abs to get my hands around the exercises and diet habits enlisted by Mike Geary.

I have to tell you, Mike Geary knows his stuff and presents it in a way that is easy to understand. He is truly a guru, and The Truth About Abs is the real deal. But, even with this wealth of information, there are 2 obvious things missing from The Truth About Abs.

Honestly, I couldn't believe that Mike Geary didn't have this as part of his Truth About Abs program. So what was I to do? Like they say, necessity is the mother of all invention, so I had to create these two items myself.

And like I said previously, The Truth About Abs covers all the material in very good detail. But when I started to implement the program, I was running into stumbling blocks that were stopping me from getting the results that I wanted. So I created 2 tools to help increase the effectiveness of my workouts.

I'd like to share the 2 tools I created, so that you are aware of what can be done to help your workouts.

What was the first solution?

Like I said before, there is a TON of information in The Truth About Abs, and so much to absorb. There was no possible way that I could memorize the workout routines that Mike Geary put out in full detail. There were so many different exercises that I have never heard of, and didn't know how to perform correctly.

So I had to bring The Truth About Abs to the gym. Do you know how inconvenient that was? I had to flip through pages & pages trying to find the right exercise and how to do it. It was both embarrassing and inefficient.

To solve this, I personally recorded the workout routines on MP3 files, detailing each exercise in the same order as in The Truth About Abs. I walk through each exercise, and give you step-by-step instructions on how to properly perform each exercise.

To help myself out when I was at the gym, I recorded:

1. How to correctly hold the weight & proper body positioning - This way, I didn't have to think about it anymore...I just followed my instructions and to do the exercises correctly.

2. What muscle I should feel "working" - I know exactly where I should feel my muscles 'squeeze' and 'flex' to get maximum results.

Then I downloaded these files to my iPod (or any other MP3 player) which I followed along at the gym. No lugging around any books, flipping pages trying to find out how to do each exercise while somebody is waiting for my bench.

It's like having a trainer with me every step of the way!

What was the second solution?

In The Truth About Abs, Mike Geary lays out workout routines in great detail. His workouts are very creative, and truly involve your entire body to get you strong, toned abs.

But he doesn't provide a way to track your workouts!

If there was one tip that I could give to anyone who wants true results from their workout program, it would be this...TRACK YOUR RESULTS! Like the saying goes, "What gets tracked, gets results." That holds very true in this case.

I painstakingly created workout tracking sheets that I could just print them out, put them into a binder, and bring with me to the gym to track my results. Each sheet represents one workout. I took the exact workout routine from The Truth About Abs and put it into a format where I could track my performance for each workout.

Each exercise is already filled in, so I didn't have to remember which exercise to do. And the Truth About Abs workout tracking sheets are synchronized with the Truth About Abs MP3 files above to keep my workout fluid and efficient. All I have to do is fill in your results.

The funny thing is, I didn't even believe it myself, but I got stronger each workout when I started tracking my results. I lifted more weight and performed more reps simply because I knew what I did the last workout, and wanted to outdo it. Coincidence? I think not.

So, as you can see, The Truth About Abs provides a wealth of information to you. The core knowledge provides all the information you need to get six pack abs. But it is lacking in 2 areas: having an audio workout that you can follow along in the gym AND a way to track your workout performance.

But now you have the solutions for those 2 missing elements in Truth About Abs, which should jumpstart you on your journey for six pack abs. Use them in combination with The Truth About Abs and your goal of ripped, defined abs will follow.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stan Metcalf is a workout fanatic and diligently follows The Truth About Abs workout, which he truly believes is the best ab workout program available. But Stan found 2 major flaws with The Truth About Abs and personally created 2 key tools to fix them. In fact, Stan does not recommend buying The Truth About Abs without his 2 tools. Luckily for you, Stan wants to give them to you for FREE if you purchase The Truth About Abs through his website. To purchase The Truth About Abs through Stan's website and receive the 2 tools FREE, click here

Learn the Truth About Weight Loss and Getting Great Abs

Debunking The Ab Myth

Ab training has been done to death but it's time

to take another look. Why? Because people are still

training their abs wrong so all that ab training

information must not be doing the job.

1 - No Spot Reducing - Endless crunches will not

melt away the fat from your midsection. It just

doesn't work that way. And despite the "burn" of

high rep ab exercises, you barely burn any calories

while doing those endless crunches.

Your fat burning time is best spent elsewhere on

more effective training. You also don't work the

ab muscle intensely enough to develop it.

So endless high rep crunches fail on both counts -

poor muscle building and poor fat burning. Two

thumbs down as the cliche goes.

2 - The Abs are a Muscle and should be trained as such.

You don't need high reps and lots of sets to work

your abs. This just leads to overtraining.

Now, abs are a more endurance oriented muscle so

slightly higher reps may be more effective. However,

you should keep the reps at 20 or lower and work on

increasing the resistance.

Yes, you should be increasing the weights on ab

exercises, just like your other exercises. The stronger

your abs, the better they will look when the fat

is stripped away.

Ever see a really thin guy with a flat stomach but

no abs? The abs haven't been trained and aren't

developed enough to stand out even when the fat is

stripped away.

3 - Don't train the abs - What the heck do I mean

by this? Well, your abs get a lot of indirect work

from other exercises so you really won't need more

than a couple of hard sets of weighted crunches to

work your abs.

Your abs are a factor in exercises such as squats,

deadlifts, seated or standing presses, dumbbell

pullovers, pulldowns, etc. Don't believe me?

Next time you work out, do a few hard sets of standing

stiff armed pulldowns on the lat machine and tell

me your abs aren't sore the next day. I did them

yesterday and my abs are more sore than my back today.

If you want to develop a flat stomach with your abs

visible, you need to treat your abs like a muscle

and train that way. And you need to strip away

the fat with a proper training and nutrition program

designed around total fat loss, not trying to spot

reduce through endless crunches.

Is there anything out there in the fitness world

suffering from more misinformation that how to get

abs?

The number of ab machines constantly coming to

market is mind boggling. Especially considering

that they aren't needed and won't give you the

results that you want.

Let's set the record straight on ab training right

now and give you the real information you need so

you can say no to the next infomercial ab machine

and yes to actual abs.

1 - Training your abs consistently will eventually

give you the flat stomach or six-pack that you want.

No. It's not gonna happen if your abs are covered

by a layer of body fat and doing endless sets of ab

exercises is not the way to rid yourself of that

excess body fat.

2 - Train your abs everyday for best results.

Again, no. Your abs are a muscle, just like your

chest, lats, arms and so on. You should train your

abs just like these other muscles, with progressive

resistance and high intensity - then allow them to

rest and recover. Never train your abs more than 3

days a week.

3 - You need to do hundreds or reps and feel the burn

to get great abs.

Yep, again the answer is no. The abs a muscle just

like I mentioned above. To get six pack abs you

need to strip off the fat, but you also need to build

the abs to get them to really pop out.

If the muscle isn't developed, you'll just have a

flat stomach but no abs. The name of the game is

progressive resistance for sets of 8 - 20 reps, just

like your other muscles.

4 - Train the abs with lots of sets and high reps to

burn off stomach fat.

You guessed it. This is also false. Spot reduction

just isn't going to happen as much as we'd all like

it to. You can't burn fat on your stomach by doing

endless crunches.

You need to put together a proper weight lifting

program, nutrition plan, and cardio in order to rid your

stomach of that stubborn layer of fat and bring yout

your abs.

Gregg Gillies

Gregg Gillies is a speaker, consultant, fat loss expert, trainer and author. He teaches fitness via his articles, books and courses at his web site http://www.buildleanmuscle.com . He is the author of two books: Complete information on his books, along with lots of free articles are available at his site. And while there, don't forget to sign up for his free newsletter, "Fit Physique".