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Male Abs
By admin | May 3, 2008
How men need to work their abs in order to get an eight pack
Male abs can be a guy’s sexiest feature. But men also are far more likely to gain fat covering the abdominal area than women are.
Therefore, it is an even harder struggle for men to get ripped abs. Men need to concentrate both on toning their stomach muscles through ab exercises and burning off that layer of fat that they are genetically predisposed to gain in their abdominal region.
Many men have trouble getting rid of that “spare tire”. It’s certainly not sexy, and carrying abdominal fat is also not healthy. It can even lead to an increased risk of heart trouble.
So how can a guy burn off that layer of abdominal fat?
The best way to lose the spare tire
Traditional logic has held that there is no real way to “spot tone” or to lose fat from a specifically targeted area like the abs or the obliques.
This is still held to be true - we are all genetically programmed to gain fat in certain areas, and, unless we have fat liposuctioned off, we will lose it in the reverse order in which we put it on.
For most guys, this means you put it on first in your stomach, and therefore your stomach will, much to your chagrin, be the last place you will lose the fat.
But recent studies have given a ray of hope to any guy wanting to burn fat from his midsection and reveal his six pack abs.
According to the studies, people who followed an aerobic exercise routine lost a full one third more fat from their midsection and abs than did people who dieted.
So for men, this is great news - you really can spot-target your abs, and you don’t have to diet to do it. You simply have to get off your couch and get active.
Make exercise fun
Aerobic exercise can really be a blast. Do something you really love - play hoops, in line skate, ride a bike, play volleyball. All these are great aerobic workouts, and their far more fun than running on a treadmill.
And studies show that guys are far more likely to maintain an aerobic workout program if they are doing something they love. It’s common sense, really.
So join a hoops league or a hockey league or a water polo league - anything that gets your heart pumping for at least a half hour, several days a week.
Also start working on an ab exercise routine. There is an excellent free one here.
Male abs are easier to be had than you might think. Just start burning off that fat, and you’ll start to see results much sooner than you might expect.
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A Great Lower Ab Workout
By admin | May 3, 2008
Wondering what lower ab workout really works the best to get you that totally ripped “eight pack” look?
Is there an exercise or exercises out there that will really let you focus on the lower ab muscles and get them toned?
While many sites and even experienced personal trainers will try and teach you specific exercises that supposedly target the lower abs, and many companies sell products that are also supposed to target this region, I believe in checking the latest research before recommending an exercise.
What does the latest research say?
According to research conducted by the respected American Council on Exercise, in which electromyographic readings of abdominal muscles were taken during a wide range of exercises (from crunches to reverse curls to leg lifts), the test subjects seemed to be unable to “differentially recruit” either the upper or lower abdominal muscles.
What does this mean in plain English? People can’t isolate the lower or upper abs in any exercise. Furthermore, even in exercises where the lower abs might FEEL like it has been worked harder (as in leg lifts), this did not translate into actual muscle isolation according to the electromyographic readings.
This might all seem highly technical, but the net result is that you simply CANNOT isolate the lower abs in any exercise. Instead, the abdominal muscle was shown to be a “continuous sheath”of muscle.
So how do you get ripped lower abs?
Is it possible then to target the lower abs and get that eight pack look? Absolutely! In fact, the above study shows that it is even easier to target the lower abs than was previously thought.
Any exercise that targets the upper abs will automatically target the lower abs too! That means you don’t have to do two sets of exercises to get cut upper and lower abs. Instead, you just need to concentrate on doing your basic ab exercises with perfect form.
So the best exercises for a lower ab workout are the same as for any ab workout. According to another study, those exercises are:
- The bicycle maneuver
- The “Captain’s Chair”
- Exercise ball crunches
To learn how to do these exercises properly, check out this page.
So if you have ever heard from a trainer or read in a magazine that you need to to special exercises to target the lower abs, you now know better.
For the best lower ab workout, simply concentrate on a solid ab workout plan featuring aerobic conditioning, proper diet, and the right ab exercises. It really is that easy!
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