Health & Fitness

ABS DAY: PART 1

6 November, 2016

What exercises have you been performing for a flat stomach & strong abs?

So many of you have asked me about crunches; how many crunches do I do a day, how many crunches should you do a day, if you did (x number of times) how long until you see results.. Please stop, just stop. LOL

Doing 100 crunches a day is not the answer.

Most of us think getting straight into performing crunches will get us a flat stomach & strong abs, but how are your abs going to be visible if you have an existing amount of belly fat covering it? Crunches are a great form of exercises for the abdominal, but doing countless crunches a day is probably not going to get you the results you hope for which means wasted time. I certainly had this mindset once up until I realised that it wasn’t working & learnt that it wasn’t going to work. A huge lesson that I’ve learnt through my fitness journey is that you must first eliminate any excess fat that could hinder the visual results of your abdominal strength. This means to combine multiple aerobic/cardiovascular exercises with an abdominal exercise so that you can get the most out of your workout. Aerobic exercises are quick to exhaust you as they push the limits of your body & thus increase your cardiovascular endurance. This is great news for everyone that has a fitness routine, not so much for those who just starting out. It may seem horrible at first, but take my word for it that it definitely works. If you find yourself trying to catch a breath, sweating, about to die maybe.. then you’re on the right track LOL Once you get the hang of it you probably won’t want to go back so the more aerobic exercises you perform the better. Who said anything about it being easy & the person who does is probably cheating their way through it. Great progress takes a lot of commitment & dedication, you need to work work!

The circuit below is one of my many current routines on how I tone my stomach. Whether it being abs day or not I always warm up with an exercise that is guaranteed to speed up my heart rate. This is basically to get me ready & pumped up; physically & mentally for my session which is important because you need your body & mind to be awake so that way you’ll feel more motivated to power through your workout. Following from this I would complete a cycle x3 of 3-4 exercises before finishing off with a slow pace exercise. Don’t forget to stretch before & after exercising to allow your body to become more pliable & thus less prone to injury.

Warm Up
Jogging moving into Sprint/Treadmill

5 minutes