fao gym buffs! best work out to tone stomach
 

I've been recently generally been trying to lower my body fat levels all over and have been doing loads of running and sports etc.

I'm looking for a way of toning my stomach effectively, lots of people will generally say "sit ups", well fair enough but what type of sit up?

Sits to the left and right?
Straight sit ups?
Sit ups on an angle?
With a weight on your chest?
feet on the floor?
feet In the air?

Any other exercises?? Help me please!!!

the ONLY way to get your stomach looking good is via fat loss (diet). abs are made in the kitchen, NOT the gym.

if you're looking to strengthen your core, then the only ab exercise worth doing is full range weighted sit-ups. look up and keep your back straight as u do them.

your abs will get hit hard enough anyway with squats :)

do you not find it hard to diet and train hard at the same time?

I tend to find if i cut down on my eating, then i dont progress as well when training and lifting etc.??

Eeerrrr....maybe cutting down on the beer and duck pancakes would help!!

I'll have your share tomorrow evening shall I?

no, because calorie cycling is my friend :)

say your main max effort workout day is friday noon... while dieting keep your calories high (say 500-1000 over maintenence) from post-workout for about 1.5-2 days. then keep calories at a 500 calorie deficit each day the rest of the week while doing your dynamic effort and/or smaller body part workouts.

i only cut 3 months of the year. the rest of the time is spent bulking... and yes, if i dont calorie cycle and just keep calories low during those 3 months, i will lose strength. which is why i calorie cycle on diets :)

its also about WHAT you're eating. keeping ALL your calories totally clean and you'll be fine.

your other option is ckd, which is a personal favourite of mine, and is a VERY muscle sparing diet.... but also very technical (you are literally counting EVERY gram of everything).

the other thing is - when dieting you need to cut workout frequency WAY down. chances are you're probably overtraining anyway (at least 90% of people i know are), and when dieting especially, this can be horrific.

Do those electrocution things work on the abs

G/F has one...

Might nick it if it's any good :D

no.

there is no such thing as spot-fat reduction via stimulating muscles. the ONLY way to get visible abs is via diet.

the product you're talking about, doesn't even stimulate muscles in the correct way if what you're looking at doing is strengthening your core. the muscles want HARD work (more than that product could do) for VERY brief periods and then lots of rest. the product doesn't work that way at all.

thanks milo,

How many times would you say someone should workout a week then??

Currently i just workout 3 days (different musles on each day) each week

depends if you're natural or not. if you're natural, then 3 days a week is absolute maximum if you're looking for muscular strength AND size gains.

i was talking about more what you do in a workout as overtraining too.

Assuming you've got to the stage where you can see your abs, a combination of crunches, side bends, bar twists and hanging leg raises are the best movements for bringing out definition in each area.

Biggest mistake a lot of guys make is to consider abs as some sort of last-minute, end of workout tag on. If you want a great midsection, you have to work at it, just like any other muscle group. Abs showing from lack of flab but without training aren't especially impressive, although a damn sight better than rolls of fat bulging out! :)

Shagging..

Nah. Plenty of blokes with beer barrels get laid, somehow. :p

Liposuction. :D

OK, need to diet.

So the obvious thing is to cut out the beer :eek: BUT when I go to the pub etc...what do I drink, coke is worse isn't?

I can handle the food side of things, I'm half way there to a good diet, just it all goes tit's up on a friday night :(

a. dont go to the pub
b. if you must go to the pub, drink water


self-discipline, my friend :)

I'm looking to shift my beer belly too..
This week i've started running in the mornings..oh i forgot how sore i'd be after being a lazy git for so long..

this may be bo11ocks but I read in mens health once that to lose 1lb of fat from your abs by doing sit ups - you would need to do 250,000.

bugger that!

running is what's needed mate - fell running that is, along with orienteering - the number one sport for burning fat.

suprabeast have look here http://http://www.labrada.com
theres tons of tips on training and nutrition :)

I disagree, and I believe this is the central reason why many people abandon gym routines, or never even start them: they believe the regime to be too strict.

You have to have a life, there's no point in following a regime so strict that the result is you have no mates and a boring existence!

And anyway, Suprabeast did not say he was aiming to be Mr Olympia, he just wanted advice on Ab training.

Sorry Milo if you were only joking with the above quote :)

Blokes tend to carry excess fat around their stomach, thighs and/or chest. You can easily get your weight down through regular exercise and a decent diet, but to get an ultra-ripped stomach then it's all down to diet and you have to make serious sacrafices.

I do lots of running and train twice per day, 6 days per week and I still carry an extra inch around my stomach, but my diet is poor.

Fell running (or Hill running as we Scots like to call it) is great for fitness and general calorie burning, but it works your heart and lungs much harder than a flat run and will therefore burn more carbs/glycogen than pure fat.

It's not just about burning total calories, it's the percentage of the calories that is fat that you want to concentrate on (if your main goal is fat reduction). As Milo has already pointed out your body is simply incapable of spot-reducing fat. Your body composition will determine how fat is spread throughout your body and where your weak areas are. Personally mine is my stomach; others may have fat thighs or man-breasts :)

Here's a graph from one of my hill races from last season. It was a 7-miler and last around 60-minutes and I burned just over 1,600 calories. The coloured areas show the Heart Rate zones.

Red = very hard (90%+)
Orange = Perfromance (80-90%)
Green = Aerobic (60-80%)
Yellow = Temperate (50-60%)

http://stefanostadal.homedns.org/ima..._hill_race.jpg

As you can see, a good hill run will have your heart, lungs and legs on fire. Yes, you are burning calories (and burning them fast), but it's lots of carbs and little fat.

You would be much better to go for a long, slow, low-intensity run that will get your body burning fats. It also build endurance into your legs and gets them used to dealing with the lactic acid that will build up running at a much faster pace.

Here's another graph from a day hill walking. It's about a 9-10 mile route over a few munros. Took about 5hrs to complete and I burned over 3,700 calories, but a high percentage was from fat.

http://stefanostadal.homedns.org/images/hillwalking.jpg

So, if you want to lose fat train at the right intensity. If you want to get fit, then the intensity has to be higher. Somewhere in the middle you can do both.

Stefan

To answer your original question on situps, variety is the key.

Standard, incline, leg raises, hanging leg raises, tuck jumps, squat thrusts, etc.. Do anything that will target the different muscle groups:-

Lower abs (bits above your knob)
Middle/Upper ups
Obliques (bits under your love handles)

Don't forget to train your lower back to balance the trunk muscles. Dorsal raises (and all their varieties) are great.

Stefan

Ozzy,

Have you looked at HITT (High Intensity Interval Training)? Just something I've been reading about a bit this week and it seems to offer an alternative theory to low intensity, endurance programs. Loads more info if you have a quick Google.

Cheers,

Chris.

Hi Chris,

Yes, in a roundabout way I have.

I already do forms of Interval and Fartlek training. The theory behind them has traditionally been performance-related. It's designed to increase your oxygen uptake and cardio efficiency. Basically, increasing your VO2 max.

The upshot of such high-intensity training is that it speeds-up your Metabolism for the few hours after training. Whenever I do hard interval sessions, it takes longer for my heart rate to drop than it does after a long, slow 2-3hr run. Whilst my heart rate is high(er), I'm burning more calories per hour and since my heart rate is still pretty low I'm burning a large percentage of fat.

Most sports coaches have always advised me to build a good core fitness first before doing any hard training techniques. If you're not used to running, it would be very easy to get injured jumping straight into a hard Interval session.

For pure fitness, there's nothing better, but it's easier on the body to take it slow and easy to begin with.

Stefan

hi just about sit ups i think you should do leg raises as these stretch your stomach,hence giving you a flatter loooking and longer stomach which gives you a better posture and a much defined stomach.but as said before you have to diet

thanks for your help guys, my main reason for posting is that i'm losing the bodyfat slowly and when it does reduce enough for decent abs to show through, it would be nice to already have a decent set of toned abs underneath if you get what i'm saying!

So would you say walking or slow jogging is better for fat reduction?? And also, what should i eat after say a hours jogging??

I think running in a wheel will help.

errr... you're hilarious paul-s

Just give up and go back to being a fat bar$tard - you know you wanna!!

I know.

Suprabeast, fat gym session with heff tomorrow morning. Dont get too cained 2nite

sweet, that sounds like enough of a chance to shed some pounds!!