3 Killer Tips to Uncover the Most Effective Abdominal Exercises in Your Routine!
Uncovering a killer routine for 6 pack abs doesn’t have to be difficult. You have probably searched unsuccessfully to find the secrets to revealing your six pack but have not had much success. Well I am going to reveal to you 3 secrets that you need to know in order to melt away the fat that is covering your six pack. In fact, don’t tell your personal trainer because he or she just may be out of a job.
I am not going to give you a list of exercises to do and tell you how many sets and reps for each. There are plenty of resources available that will list a lot of exercises. However, how do you know whether they are effective or not. I would rather reveal how to discover the most effective exercises. That way you will never have to worry about wasting time.
The first secret is to understand how the abdominals actually work. Everyone in the gym, including the personal trainers, think that the main reason we have abdominal muscles is to crunch our trunk (flexion). The truth is that it is not that difficult to flex your trunk when you are standing or sitting. If you just relax, gravity will take over and flex your trunk for you. So really that is not a huge issue.
Your abdominal muscles are most effective at slowing down motion. That’s right, slowing down. In the strength training world we call that an eccentric contraction. Most muscles thrive on being slightly stretched before contracting. Sure, there are times that you need to contract quickly to throw a ball, but your first motion will always be to slow down one direction so that you can accelerate in the opposite direction.
The second secret is to forget about isolating your abdominal muscles. Everyone seems to want to do an excessive number of crunches. An effective routine for 6 pack abs will consist of exercises that work all of the abdominal muscles together. This can be achieved by performing total body movements rather than isolated exercises. Some examples of total body abdominal exercises are push ups, woodchoppers and kettlebell swings. Each of these exercises requires a combined effort on all of the abdominal muscles in a way that will help everyday motions and activities.
The third secret to a routine for 6 pack abs is to select exercises that require stabilization of the trunk through the abdominal muscles. All movements require a stable base to anchor on to. For example, if you are going to throw a ball you will need to stabilize your core in order for your shoulder and arm to take advantage of as much strength as possible. If you are not sure about this, try throwing a ball with your feet off of the ground. You won’t be able to throw nearly as far as you could with your feet on the ground and your trunk stable.
If you take advantage of these simple, yet effective secrets you will be able to create a routine for 6 pack abs that will be effective and make you look better than ever before. You will also need to consider other factors that will help you to lose belly fat faster than an abdominal workout alone.