There’s more to great beach worthy abs than crunches!
A recent article in the Washington Post showed that women now weigh what men did in the 1960’s – 166.2 pounds. And men haven’t escaped that gain either – they weigh, on average, nearly 30 lbs more, at 195.5 pounds. And for both sexes, much of that weight shows up on our belly’s. Want your workouts to help you get your tummy back? Want to have abs – not slabs? It takes more than just crunches. Here’s how you can get beach worthy abs ready for the beach this summer!
Eat slow-digesting carbohydrates. Avoid white bread, white potatoes, sodas, sports drinks – anything with fast burning carbs and sugars. Instead, switch to slow-burning carbs and sugars, such as rye or whole wheat breads, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, vegetables, and brown rice. Why? Those fast burning carbs and sugars spike your insulin levels, which kill fat burning and spikes fat storage – especially on top of your abs!
Add Isometrics to your abs workout. For example, when you’re doing a crunch – hold that crunch for 6-10 seconds, rather than just starting the next rep immediately. The nice thing is – you can do this while sitting in your car or at your desk during the day – adding to your overall workouts!
Breathe! When you are working your abs, inhale at the beginning of you rep, exhale at the top, and inhale on the way back down. Doing this helps you contract your abs more – adding to a more effective exercise.
Max out your reps. Unlike other exercises, working your abs means you’re normally working just with your body’s weight for resistance. Since you can’t “change” your weight during your workout, don’t stop at a set number of reps – instead, work each set to failure.
During your workout, work your abs last, not first. You work your core muscles for so many other exercises that if you work your abs first, the rest of your workout may not be as effective. Instead, work your abs last. A more effective overall workout means that not only will your abs and core still be getting a good warm up during your other exercises, growing other muscles helps speed up your metabolism, which increases fat burning around your mid-section as well.
Fitness 4 Home Superstore has abs & core equipment, as well as suspension training equipment, that can help you with your abs workouts. Visit one of our three Valley locations to learn more!
