It may seem like I am devoting an awful lot of time recently to abs. Well, I am and there are a couple of reasons for that.

First, some of the top fitness expert have brought out new or updated abs programs and these need to be looked at and discussed.

Second, the most common fitness questions I receive from people all over the world have to do with their struggles with shedding that flabby stomach fat that sticks to them no matter what they do.

Well, fellow fitness professional Mike Geary of TruthAboutAbs.com is a well-known expert who deals exclusively with the most effective strategies for losing stomach fat so that you can finally uncover those hidden six pack abs that everyone tries to find. So I thought I would see what his upgraded program had to offer.

Some of Mike’s strategies deal with nutrition aspects and others deal with training techniques, but I was impressed to see that Mike has put together one of the most comprehensive resources for dealing with all of the aspects necessary to finally get rid of that nasty belly fat for good.

The key is that Mike focuses on the REAL techniques that are going to get you lasting results, and teaches you how to avoid all of these “quick-fix” scams and gimmicks that are all over the infomercials and the internet these days.

Several of the mistakes that Mike see’s every day where people are going wrong in their fat loss attempts are:

Mistake #1
Most people are wasting way too much of their time doing hundreds of reps of ineffective crunches, situps, and other “abs pumping” exercises in their attempt at losing stomach fat.

Mike has discovered that there are certain highly effective exercises that stimulate your metabolism much better, and increase your fat burning hormone levels much more. These exercises that Mike outlines are the best of the best for getting a lean, chiseled body.

Surprisingly to most, the majority of these most effective exercises for stomach fat loss are NOT “abs-specific” exercises. Not only that, but Mike shows you how to combine and sequence them to get the best metabolic and fat loss results possible, changing the shape of your entire body.

Mistake #2
Most people are wasting way too much time doing hours upon hours of boring monotonous cardio routines.

Mike has researched this topic extensively, including an entire course he’s taken comparing different modalities of cardiovascular exercise. After all of this research, we’ve come to the conclusion that the majority of people out there are not doing the right types of cardio exercise. In fact, most people may actually be inadvertantly decreasing their metabolic rate by doing too much of the wrong types of cardio!

The strategies that Mike reveals in his program go beyond “interval cardio” too.

Mistake #3
Most people are failing miserably with fad diets.

Mike reveals exactly why most low-carb or low-fat diets are actually working against what your body needs to become lean and ripped and maintain it for life! Mike shows you exactly how to stop falling for the gimmick diets and finally develop a truly healthy eating style that you can actually enjoy for life without being overly restrictive. It’s actually easier and more enjoyable than you believe!

Go to Mike’s Truth about Six Pack Abs site today and discover the exact system that Mike is using to help thousands of his clients from all over the world get leaner than they’ve ever been before. This system will help you to lose that stubborn stomach fat that has plagued you for years, so you can finally get that sexy six pack that you’ve always wanted. Here’s the site:

Truth About Abs

Don’t forget to visit Mike’s site today, as he’s giving away some great free bonus reports and other tools that might not be available much longer.

To a lean, strong, and healthy body for life!

Technorati Tags: Abs Exercises, Mike Geary, Six Pack Abs, truth about abs

Ab workouts and ab routines are one of the most looked for fitness workouts on the internet. And it’s easy to see why. Our waste lines continue to grow and hide that six pack we have.

There are several good abs programs to choose from and many that really don’t do the job at all. I have asked one of the top fitness experts, Vince DelMonte, to give us his take on all of the confusion. Here is what Vince had to say:

———————–

When trying to achieve the illusive six pack, it’s easy to get confused by all the “best ab workouts” available. You’ll likely notice that there is a multitude of ab workouts to choose from, so deciphering which ones will work the best can be tricky.

The thing to remember is that whenever you are trying to work your core, everything works, for a certain period of time. Everything from high reps, low reps, weighted work, bodyweight work, stability ball exercises, and BOSU ball exercises – it all works until your body adapts and says, “This is easy, I’m not going to change unless you give me a new reason to adapt.”

Your ab training should be progressed from stable floor work with your body weight to a unstable surface with weighted work. Progressing to movements that will reduce your base of support as much as possible are the best ab workouts because they will call into play all the muscles within the core, especially those really deep that stable floor work can not target.

Such examples of floor ab exercises that would do this would be crunches, sit ups and leg raises. Eventually you want to do these same exercises against gravity, then a load and then on unstable surface like a stability ball. Body weight exercises like “front planks” and “side planks” should be the foundation of a core program and progressed to one arm planks in the frontal and side planes and then eventually on a stability ball or BOSU ball for further recruitment.

The best ab workouts to make your abs “pop” would be a variety of weighted movements. I’m sure you’ve skinny guys with a flat stomach but no “eye popping” abs, which is because they have not developed the actual abdominal muscle, just like every other body part. Part of getting nicely chiseled abs is going to be developing the muscles underneath the fat, and weighted ab crunches with cables or on a stability ball with a heavy dumbbell will do this best.

During all your ab workouts be sure to get a full stretch during the eccentric phase of your ab exercises. Going through an entire range of motion on the way up (if doing a crunch on the floor or ball) is not necessary, however, you should be “crunching” your upper abs onto your lower abs during each rep to maximize the burn, recruitment and full development.

The one weighted exercise you will not find in my programs is weighted side bends, as this could make you look wider in the waste, distracting from creating a lean image.

One concerning question most people have is regarding lower ab workouts, typically the most troubling spot. Yes, hip flexion (emphasis more so on lower abs) is important to perform and should be done first in the workout but the reality of the matter is that you cannot specifically separate your abs into upper and lower components. Whenever you perform any type of ab movement you should automatically be focusing on working both the upper and lower portion at the same time.

Good exercise to definitely direct a little more force into the lower area would be the progression of lying leg raises, lying leg raises on a incline and eventually hanging leg raises fully vertical. Lying leg raises on a stability pull is also an extremely challenging and advanced exercise to create razor sharp abdominals.

Finally, the last thing to consider is when you are going to perform your ab workout is training frequency. Again, generally speaking, the more the better assuming your abdominals have recovered. Whether you want to perform it at the end of your workout, before your workout, during your workout or on a day of it’s own is up to you.

My ab workouts incorporate all methods depending on if you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced. Some theories of that warn you not to start with abs is because abs work as a synergistic muscle for so many of the other exercises you’ll do, if you pre-fatigue them before the start of the workout, you may not progress as much during the rest of your workout. I don’t agree with this and if you’re abs are your weakest link then they should be given first priority when you are the most fresh, the start of your workout.

Incorporating a specific ab workout is only a small part of the battle – diet, lifestyle and overall caloric expenditure through weight training and cardio are the true building blocks to creating a sexy and desired mid section.

———————————-

A little about Vince DelMonte:

Vince is the author of http://www.YourSixPackQuest.com and his top selling fitness program No Nonsense Muscle Building.

He provides chubby guys and gals with the best ab workouts to get a six pack without gimmicks, supplements or dieting.

Try him, you’ll like him – and so will your body!

Technorati Tags: Abs Exercises, Six Pack Abs, Vince DelMonte

Okay. Recently I have posted a couple of articles on Hardgainer Project X. If the hardgainers are still reading, this may make you cry a bit ’cause this guy is not a hardgainer at all.

In The Great Abs Mistake, Tom Venuto makes the following comment:

After 18 years in the fitness business, “How do I get great abs” is still BY FAR the most frequently asked question I receive out of the over 30,000 emails that come into my office every month. No doubt it’s because abs are the one body part that most people are the most frustrated with.

Although their questions are often phrased differently and each person’s situation seems unique, my answer to “How do I get great abs” is almost always the same… and you’re about to hear it…

1,000 Sit-ups and Crunches a Day, and Still No Abs!

One question I received recently REALLY got my attention because a young guy told me he was doing 1,000 crunches and sit-ups a day and said he still couldn’t see his abdominals. He wrote:

Tom: I have been working out for around a year now and I cannot get my lower abs into any type of shape. I’m starting to see my upper abs a little bit, which is great, but despite doing 900 various crunches, ab roller, and 100 situps four days a week, along with my regular workout on the weights, I still have a tire around my waist. What else can I do?

What did I tell him? Well, I gave him the same answer I’ve given thousands of people over the years, which is the only true “secret” to great abs…

It takes training to increase strength, build endurance and DEVELOP the abdominals, but to SEE the definition in your abdominals—or any other muscle group for that matter—is almost entirely the result of low body fat levels.

You can discover just how Tom solves this problem in his report The Great Abs Mistake. Just right click the link and “save as” or simply click on the link to let it open in your browser.

Read the report, put Tom’s advice into practice and let the world see your great abs!

The Great Abs Mistake

Technorati Tags: abs, Abs Exercises, Six Pack Abs, Tom Venuto

The secret to great abs, oddly enough, isn’t in doing the latest ab exercises.

It’s not in the latest ab machine, contraption or gimmick, either.

Nor is it found in a fad diet, starving yourself, or taking magic pills.

The secret to rock hard sexy abs is found in a complete, total body workout that works MANY of your muscles at the same time, not just your abs.

The secret is also found in losing fat from ALL OVER your body, not just in your stomach area.

In fact, while you’re getting sexy rock hard abs, you’re also improving every other part of your body at the same time, both inside and outside.

The “Truth About Six Pack Abs” is a scientifically PROVEN program that will get you in shape from head to toe, REGARDLESS of what kind of shape you’re in right now.

Here’s a sample of the tips, tricks, and secrets found in “Six Pack Abs…”

–15 little-known secrets for revving up your metabolism and burning body fat 24/7…

–How to modify your exercise routines to make them twice as effective for stripping away body fat and building muscle…

–6 Secret-Weapon exercises that build a rock-hard core and stimulate fat loss like nothing else in existence…(and almost NO one knows these!)

–13 nutritional secrets that will have you burning far more calories without ever feeling deprived or hungry…

–5 so-called “healthy” foods that are actually ADDING fat to your body every time you eat them…

–Why some of the most common exercises are also a complete waste of your time…

–and much, much more.

Are you ready to look and feel better than you EVER have before?

Then check it out. Mike even provides separate programs for men and women. That’s right, gals. You don’t have to adapt some male guru’s program to your feminine body – it’s designed for you!

Truth About Abs

To feeling Great again!

Technorati Tags: Abs Exercises, belly fat, Six Pack Abs

This really cool chart just came across my desk (my screen?) and I couldn’t wait to share it with you.

Many times we read about how to do an exercise and might even be shown a picture or to to demonstrate it. And then we try to do it and it simply does not seem right. So we read the explanation again and hopefully it makes sense so we can start to benefit from it.

Well, if you have had that problem with abs routines, your worries are over.

On the chart you can see the standard pictures of the proper positions – but it doesn’t stop there. The figures are animated and show you exactly how to do the exercise. I don’t know how they do this. It is beyond my capabilities.

You will also notice spaces for you to track your performance. Download it, use it and get those abs a little tighter. You no longer have any excuse to put it off.

Keep in mind that six pack abs also need the correct diet. They simply will not show up if they are buried in a roll of belly fat.

I have added this neat item as a bonus for anyone that signs up for my free newsletter and Bonehead Bodybuilding Blunders course. To get yours, just sign up and then download your personal copy 26 Killer Core/Abs Exercises.

As I said, I think this is pretty cool, but let me know what you think!

P.S. I am also adding Training & Nutrition Insider Secrets for a Lean-Body. You no longer have any excuse not to have a great bod!

Technorati Tags: Abs Exercises, lose belly fat