Abs Training

Abs training is very important other than just looking good and attractive.  And here are the reasons:

• It is essential for back health.  The abs link the top half of the body with the bottom half for coordination of body movement.
• They facilitate bending, twisting, pushing and pulling motions as well as repeated lifting of objects.
• They provide a stable base of support for the back.
• If the ab muscles are weak (and remember they help the spine), they become easily fatigued, causing pelvis tilt and undue stress on the lower back.
• By strengthening the abdominal muscles as well as practicing daily stretching of the muscles in the lower back and hamstrings, we can help to prevent imbalances that lead to current and future back problems.
• Low back pain has a high recurrence rate, so the best way to reduce incidences of injury is by following a good, simple, exercise program every day, including:
  • Lower Back Stretches
  • Hamstring Stretches
  • exercise.fitnessguide101.com/2-minutes-ab-workout" target="_blank">Abdominal Crunches
  • Fanny Lifts (Reverse Curls)
  • Alternate Side Twists

Be sure to check with you physician or healthcare professional before beginning any exercise program. Endurance and repetitions of each of these exercises may increase over time, depending upon individual fitness levels. You can complete on average, 10-50 of each exercise daily, as long as you maintain good technique and form and you are healthy and free of injury.

Here are few tips to ensure proper form when you are strengthening your abdominals:

• Contract your abdominal wall towards your spine. This will help prevent arching of the back.
• Lift your head, neck and shoulders as if they were one part and not three separate pieces of the body.
• Avoid pulling on the neck to facilitate movement.
• Practice proper breathing techniques. Exhale on the hardest part of the movement and inhale as you lower your body back to the floor.
• Avoid bouncing, swinging or jerking body parts during the exercises.
• Stretch your muscles before starting any abdominal exercises and cool down following the same protocol.

Abs training needs not depend on fancy and expensive gadgets that promise you sculpted abdominal without consistent training, discipline and hard work.  But the bottom line is, you yourself have to be willing to ‘get down and do the exercises’ or all the abs machines, DVDs, books or any other tools you might have still won’t help getting you the abs you crave.

Flat Tummy Exercise Tips

exercise tips" src="http://fitnessguide101.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/flat-tummy.jpg" alt="flat tummy exercise tips" width="106" height="114" />Wanted a flat tummy but don’t know what to do? Maybe you have been doing all the tummy exercises but your flat tummy is nowhere to be found? Here are a couple of tips to get you on the right track.

Most people when come to getting that flat tummy back, they first thought of doing all the exercises that are tummy or abs related, such as abs crunches, sit-ups, leg press… but little did they know that is the fat around the tummy that they need to get rid of before they would see a flatter tummy. While doing tummy exercises will help tone up the tummy muscles, it doesn’t help much in losing the tummy fat. So you need to incorporate both fat loss exercises and toning exercises and a healthy eating habit in order to regain the flat tummy you once had.

You don’t have to go to a gym to do these exercises. If you are supper busy and only have about 30 minutes a day, that’s all you need, 5-6 days a week, right out of your own home.

For fat loss or fat burning exercise, do 30 minutes of cardio or often known as aerobic exercise, 3 days a week, preferably first thing in the morning. Since you have not had any thing to eat all night, your body will have to reach for stored body fat for energy when you exercise. Use the 5-20-5-workout pattern. First 5 minutes to warm up, then 20 minutes intense workout, end with 5 minutes cool down exercise. You can use exercise video, treadmill, or if you like to go out door, biking, jogging, walking, just so you will start to sweat. Find some thing you like and go for it. You can use a combination of various exercises on different days or even within each workout. It’s up to you, but you must pick one and stick with it if you want to flat out that tummy.

For the other 3 days, do some abs crunches and sit-ups, along with the whole body tone up program – weight training. Doing whole body weight training will build strong muscles. Building strong muscles will burn more fat, because muscle mass is metabolically more active than fat, and that means muscle will use more calories all day long. Roll out of bed, grab your elastic bands or dumbbells and in 30 minutes, you’ll build strength, muscle tone, help make those bones stronger, and in no time, you should see your flat tummy appearing again.

Well, most people don’t have much time in the morning. Do you have to do all 30 minutes of exercise at one time? No. You can do 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes at noon, and 10 minutes in the evening, all 30 minutes in the evening, it doesn’t matter. Although it is better if you do 30 continuous minutes, you do benefit from cardio exercise performed through out the day. However, 10 minutes is the least amount necessary to get benefits to the heart and blood vessels.

A brief tips on eating healthy: make sure to avoid fried food and refined food at all cost. Eat well-balanced meals and snacks during the day. Drink plenty of clean, fresh water, basically half your body weight in ounce. If you can manage, no foods 3 hours before bedtime, and your bedtime should be around 10:00 -11:00 at night, not 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. Your body needs to rest, rejuvenate and rebuild it self, and it is doing so between the hour of 10 pm and 2 am. So getting enough sleep at the right time is important in the effort to re sculpting your body.

There is a full guide of exercises and tips on how to get your flat tummy the most practical way.  Getting the fat off your belly is not that hard.  Keeping it off might be a challenge.