Getting
defined abs is most people’s dream. Just to give you an idea, almost
every exercise you do affects this muscle group, and indeed, you should
give priority to this part of your body, because if you have a strong
core, you’re avoiding unnecessary overloads on critical parts of your
body, like your back, the lumbar area and your neck.
To make
your abs start showing, it is not enough to just put your heart and soul
into your workouts at the gym. The moment that requires more discipline
is the meal time. For those who want to lose body fat, paying attention to what they eat is the starting point for any process.
Now that the summer is just around the corner, you really need to give your abs an ultimatum:
1. Start working out your abs 2 to 4 times per week.
2.
Resting is very important. When you work out your muscles, you’re
causing little tears in muscle tissue, to which your body responds with
the growth of new tissue to repair and build muscle mass. However, this
only happens during resting and recovery periods.
3.
As you perform the movement, do not use impulse or put pressure on your
neck. Focus all your strength on the abdominal area to execute the
exercise and get the best out of your efforts. Your hands should be
relaxed, behind your head, or you can choose to touch your ears with
your fingertips.
4. A
15-20 minute daily session is all you need to build tighter abs, if you
maintain a high intensity, with a 30 second break, or less. Another
option is to reduce your resting breaks between exercises as much as you
can, using supersets. This option causes an aerobic effect that can
help reduce the percentage of body fat.
5. Do
the reps with a calm rhythm, varying the speed, from constant to fast,
but always controlling it. According to a study conducted by the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research,
increasing speed in muscle contraction during reps allows the
recruitment of more muscle fibers, increases strength and muscle size –
always in a controlled way, and without jumping.
6. Work
your upper, lower and lateral muscles. You can do 2 exercises per
muscular area of the abdomen, with 3 to 4 sets (maximum) for each
exercise, with 10 to 20 reps (maximum).
7. Aerobic activities are great tools to burn more calories
and sculpt nice abs. Running, walking fast, riding the bike and
swimming are examples of excellent exercises. Daily sessions of 20-30
minutes speed up the metabolism, contribute to the elimination of
superficial fat and allow your abs to start showing.
8.
Throughout the day, do simples exercises of abdominal contraction.
Contract your stomach and focus all your energy there, expelling the
air, and holding it in for about 15-20 seconds. This simple exercise
allows an even greater control of the muscles of the abdomen.
9. Exercises
like squats, dead lift or dips with your body weight cause an excellent
overload on your abs and lumbar zone if you contract them during the
execution. Leave specific abdominal exercises for the end.
10. Pick a group of efficient exercises. Take look at the following ones.
We
challenge you to complete one of these plans during next month! You’ve
got 30 days to tone up and increase your abdominal muscles!
The first challenge
consists of performing only one classic abs exercise for 30 days. The
number of reps increases gradually and the main goal is to be able to do
140 reps in a row on the last day.
The second challenge
has 4 different exercises for you to do every day. The time you spend
to complete the 4 exercises increases gradually every day, so you can
increase muscle mass gradually and make sure that you’ll be able to
easily complete the last day of the challenge.
You can choose 1 challenge or even both and repeat the “challenge of the day” as many times as you want.
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