The Real Truth About Six Pack Abs
- Date: 2009-02-14 - Word Count: 579
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Every four years I can't wait to watch the competitions of the summer Olympics. The performance of each athlete is amazing in itself but another thing I am in awe of is the physique of these athletes-especially in the gymnast's and their abdominal development.
You might be thinking that all Olympians are born with great abs-but I doubt it. Sure some may have great genes but even the greatest athlete needs to put in a lot of work for a stunning six pack.
Olympic gymnasts have some of the most amazing bodies in the world, so why is that no one seems to seek out their training methods when trying to get ripped abs?
Dont get me wrong, I dont expect any of you to wake up tomorrow morning and start doing back flips off the pommel horse. But we can certainly investigate how these Olympians train, and decide what aspects of their regimen can be integrated into our training routine.
First, they dont perform traditional ab workouts. I have spent a great deal of time at several Olympic training centers, and I can tell you that I only saw them perform two direct ab exercises on a regular basis. These two exercises were:
1. The Hanging Leg Raise- Grasp a chin up bar with an overhand grip. Initiating movement with abs, raise your legs up until your shins are almost touching the chin up bar. Return in a controlled fashion until waist, hips, and knees are extended. Repeat for the prescribed number of reps.
2. The V-Sit Up- Lie down on the floor or mat with arms extended overhead. Raise torso and legs at the same time while reaching hands towards feet. Return body to starting position and repeat.
Olympic gymnasts work their abs directly and indirectly. The workouts listed above are direct workouts but they also work their abs indirectly with total body movements.
The take home lesson here is simple: we must perform full body movements that require our abs to stabilize our torso. These exercises never involve using a fancy seat, bench or back/chest support. Let me give you 3 examples of exercises that incorporate full body movements, so you can get started right away.
1. Ditch the bench press for suspended push ups. When you lie on your back on a bench, your abs basically go to sleep. The opposite is true with suspended push ups. In addition to working your chest, shoulders and triceps, this exercise works the abs significantly better than most direct ab exercises.
2. Ditch the pulldown for chin ups. When you sit down on the pulldown seat, you abs do no work at all. On the other hand, your abs really get fired up during chin ups.
3. Ditch the leg press for tuck jumps. Just like the bench press, the leg press puts your abs to sleep because of the bench support. But the leg press even has a second strike against it. Since the sled is on guiding rods that only allow it to move linearly, no stabilization or support is needed from your abs. Tuck jumps, on the other hand, provide a great leg workout AND a great ab workout in one single exercise.
In addition to working your abs better than most traditional ab exercises, these movements are much more time efficient because you basically kill two birds with one stone. Make the changes that I suggested today and learn how to get ripped abs faster than you thought was possible!
You might be thinking that all Olympians are born with great abs-but I doubt it. Sure some may have great genes but even the greatest athlete needs to put in a lot of work for a stunning six pack.
Olympic gymnasts have some of the most amazing bodies in the world, so why is that no one seems to seek out their training methods when trying to get ripped abs?
Dont get me wrong, I dont expect any of you to wake up tomorrow morning and start doing back flips off the pommel horse. But we can certainly investigate how these Olympians train, and decide what aspects of their regimen can be integrated into our training routine.
First, they dont perform traditional ab workouts. I have spent a great deal of time at several Olympic training centers, and I can tell you that I only saw them perform two direct ab exercises on a regular basis. These two exercises were:
1. The Hanging Leg Raise- Grasp a chin up bar with an overhand grip. Initiating movement with abs, raise your legs up until your shins are almost touching the chin up bar. Return in a controlled fashion until waist, hips, and knees are extended. Repeat for the prescribed number of reps.
2. The V-Sit Up- Lie down on the floor or mat with arms extended overhead. Raise torso and legs at the same time while reaching hands towards feet. Return body to starting position and repeat.
Olympic gymnasts work their abs directly and indirectly. The workouts listed above are direct workouts but they also work their abs indirectly with total body movements.
The take home lesson here is simple: we must perform full body movements that require our abs to stabilize our torso. These exercises never involve using a fancy seat, bench or back/chest support. Let me give you 3 examples of exercises that incorporate full body movements, so you can get started right away.
1. Ditch the bench press for suspended push ups. When you lie on your back on a bench, your abs basically go to sleep. The opposite is true with suspended push ups. In addition to working your chest, shoulders and triceps, this exercise works the abs significantly better than most direct ab exercises.
2. Ditch the pulldown for chin ups. When you sit down on the pulldown seat, you abs do no work at all. On the other hand, your abs really get fired up during chin ups.
3. Ditch the leg press for tuck jumps. Just like the bench press, the leg press puts your abs to sleep because of the bench support. But the leg press even has a second strike against it. Since the sled is on guiding rods that only allow it to move linearly, no stabilization or support is needed from your abs. Tuck jumps, on the other hand, provide a great leg workout AND a great ab workout in one single exercise.
In addition to working your abs better than most traditional ab exercises, these movements are much more time efficient because you basically kill two birds with one stone. Make the changes that I suggested today and learn how to get ripped abs faster than you thought was possible!
Related Tags: fitness, health, exercise, diets, fat loss, workouts, ab workouts, six pack abs, how to lose belly fat, ripped abs, ab exercies
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