Honor Your Body. Honor You.
While I was on my recent week-long Pilates adventure, I learned a new ab exercise called “100s” that I’d like to share with you. It’s powerful, effective and you can do it pretty much anywhere.
It’s important to incorporate new exercises into our routines. It keeps our bodies evolving and helps prevent plateaus – so I’d recommend that you give this one a try.
Watch the video below.
Your core muscles inclue all the muscles around your pelvis and trunk (no, not that trunk). Strengthening those muscles should be a part of every fitness program, and it means doing more than the occasional sit-up or crunch.
According to the Mayo Clinic, there are 7 important reasons to exercise your core. Strengthening your core:
In addition, a strong core can help prevent lower back pain and improve your posture.
Now that I’ve sold you on the importance of core-focused exercises, my absolute favorite is the plank. It’s simple but challenging – and there are a lot of variations.
To do a basic plank:
I made a quick and simple video to show you some of the variations you can do with the plank:
I’ve included a complete 20-minute core workout in my three-video Jock Workout fitness and nutrition program. Use discount code “blog” before June 7 to save 25% during checkout! Learn more and watch a free preview today!
When doing a hanging leg raise, it's important to extend the legs all the way up.
Of all the lower ab exercises that exist, one stands out above the rest: The hanging leg raise.
When done right, it’s extremely powerful and effective. Unfortunately, most people quit half-way through each rep – when their legs are only parallel to the floor. To do it right, lift your legs up until they point to the ceiling, and are entirely perpendicular to the floor.
Here’s how to do a proper hanging leg raise:
Try do do a few sets of hanging leg raises in each of your ab or lower ab workouts.
Also, you may want to try this tip: Once your lower ab muscles become fatigued, simply bend your knees so that your legs are no longer straight. This will make the exercise a bit easier, and continue until your muscles fatigue again.
Give it a try, and let me know what you think!
Tall, dark and delicious! Can I get an amen?!
I’m about to rock your world with some new research. Sit down for this one.
You’ve probably heard that, when it comes to the speed at which you perform strength training exercises, slower is better. The idea behind slow training seems logical. By going slow, you remove all the momentum from your movements – and so all the tension is directly on your muscles. It seems to make sense, but new research is proving otherwise.
It turns out that super slow training is significantly less effective than traditional training. One study showed slow training strength gains of 15% compared to gains of 39% for traditional training.
But wait, there’s more.
Additional research has been done on the variable of speed in abdominal exercises – and crunches, in particular. Researchers divided participants into 4 groups, and had those groups perform crunches at different speeds (1 crunch per 4 seconds, 1 crunch per 2 seconds, 1 crunch per 1.5 seconds, 1 crunch per 1 second). Turns out, the participants in the fastest group – 1 crunch per 1 second – had the highest amount of muscle activation.
In actuality, the results shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Compare the legs of a marathon runner to the legs of a sprinter. Sprinters, who engage in fast bursts of rapid movement, have very muscular legs.
Of course, this isn’t a green light to rush through all your exercises. But it does mean that increasing the speed at which you crunch can be a good thing. But increase the speed slowly; progressively build up to a faster pace over time. And remember that form shouldn’t be sacrificed for speed!
Yesterday, I was hitting the gym and chatting it up with a new member. He was asking me about a few of the machines, including one that works the obliques (aka side abs). He was totally excited to try the machine out, and explained to me that he’s trying to get rid of his “love handles” and extra fat around his waist.
But alas, the belief that ab exercises will reduce love handles or create a flat stomach is one of the most pervasive exercise misconceptions out there.
Ab exercises build and strengthen abdominal muscles. They do not convert fat tissue into muscle. And they don’t shrink your midsection. In fact, it’s impossible to target parts of the body from which to lose weight.
If you have a belly, and embark on a comprehensive and ass-kicking ab workout, then you’ll likely develop much stronger and bigger ab muscles over time. But those ab muscles will still be hidden under a layer of fat – and even the smallest layer of fat will hide a six pack.
If you want a flat stomach, then you need to do three things:
So, if you aspire to showcase a washboard stomach – or just flatten things out a bit – then know that you can crunch your way until kingdom come, and it won’t make a whole lot of difference. Instead, do cardio, strength training and eat right. Simple and easy? No. But it works.
Bust you belly and let your abs shine through!
Hi Davey,
I am 5′ 8” and 173 lbs. I used to weigh 194 lbs. I started to diet and exercise, but I have not managed to loose any weight on my stomach. I have this little pot belly that I just can’t get rid of. I have tried cruches, side bends. It will not come off.
Can you please give me any hints as to what I can do to get this belly off of me.
Thanks,
Kenny
Dear Kenny,
First of all, thanks for the email and congratulations on the weight loss.
Second, you’re in good company. Turns out, most of us can’t crunch our way to a flat stomach or six pack abs. That’s just not how it works.
If you want more muscular arms, doing strength training arm exercises will do the trick. We can target muscle growth to the areas we want. But the same is true with getting rid of body fat. We can’t pick and choose those areas of our body from which to release body fat. It comes off in a predetermined and often unbalanced order – and yes, the belly is often the last place where men lose it.
The best way to release body fat is to use a workout that combines cardiovascular activity and strength training. The cardio (I always recommend interval training) gets your heart pumping, and the added muscle from strength training burns calories all day long. Oh, and don’t forget about nutrition – that is, of course, the other side of the health and fitness equation.
If showcasing your six pack is a focus, know that you’ll have to achieve a very low body fat percentage (probably 6% – 8%). Even the smallest layer of body fat will prevent your abs from popping through.
Doing crunches or side bends alone won’t really do much. At the very most, it will create some strong ab muscles that will be hidden under your belly.
Hope that helps!
Many fitness enthusiasts are fairly committed to the gym and working out, but often perform the same routines with the same weights over and over again. They don’t see any changes in their bodies or increases in strength, and often excuse their lack of results with the mistaken belief that it takes many years to see any real changes.
As it turns out, the human body doesn’t change unless it is forced to do so. If your body doesn’t need to adapt by getting bigger or stronger, then it won’t.
Enter a concept known as progressive overload. Developed by Thomas Delorme, M.D. to help rehabilitating World War II soldiers, progressive overload is the the gradual increase of stress placed on the body during exercise training.
The concept is beautifully simply and scientifically proven: In order for a muscle to grow, it must be overloaded. Doing so activates the natural adaptive processes of the human body, which develops to cope with the new demands placed on it. In addition to stronger and larger muscles, stronger and denser bones, ligaments, tendons and cartilage are all resulted through progressive overloads.
There are 7 techniques to incorporate progressive overloads into your workout:
You’ll need to map these 7 techniques to your exercise goals. For example, increasing the resistance is great for people that want larger muscles. Increasing the repetitions or decreasing rest time may be better suited for people that want increased definition or endurance training.
Whatever your goals, make this powerful time-tested technique work for you.
Truth be told, the double plate press isn’t just an ab workout. It works your chest, forearms, biceps and shoulders – but I feel most of the burn in my abs.
I freaking love it!
Here’s how you do it:
It’s new, it’s different and it’s a lot of fun.
Give it a try, and let me know what you think. And, if you’re up for it – browse some of my additional ab tips and exercises.
Enjoy!
A few days ago, while discussing the 7 ways that 2011 is the healthiest year of my life, I mentioned adding variety to my workout:
Our muscles become accustomed to our routines, and thus they can become less challenging over time. By changing up our workout variables (like base of stability, rest time durations, sequencing, intervals in cardio training, exercise type, etc.), we can keep our workouts challenging.
Sequencing is the easiest way to spice things up because it doesn’t require any new equipment, tactics or training. But it can be extremely effective.
There are two aspects of sequencing: Individual exercise order and muscle order.
1. Individual Exercise Order
On a bicep day, you may typically start with barbell curls, then do a few sets of 21s and some dumbbell curls. To switch up the sequence, start at the end and work your way backwards. You’ll may be surprised to discover that the reversed sequence is challenging – your muscles may have adjusted to your routine. It’s a great way to switch things up.
2. Muscle Order
When it comes to the order in which you train your muscles, there is less room for variety. In general, it’s wise to train the largest muscles first. Why? Because larger muscles are supported by the smaller muscles. If you exercise and fatigue the smaller muscles, the larger muscles won’t be able to work properly.
The big muscle groups are the thighs (quads and hamstrings), back, and chest – they are centered around your torso. These are generally trained first. The smaller muscles include the shoulders, biceps, triceps, forearms, calves, etc. These are generally trained second.
For example, most back exercises require grip strength. If you’ve already exercised your forearms, your ability to work your back will be limited by your fatigued forearms and not the muscles you are targeting!
Bottom line: Experts recommend changing your workout several times a year – as often as every six weeks! Whether it’s changes in exercises, resting times, base of stability or sequencing – keep your workouts fresh!
A lot of people do “more of the same” when performing exercises – and yet are unhappy with the results. Watch this video to change the status quo:
