Today we are featuring a guest post by the delightfully sinful yet health-conscious NPC bikini competitor Robin Romero.
As summer approaches, she recognizes that we want to tighten up dee abs. As such, she shares her tips on how she gets flat abs. For more info, stalk her on her Facebook fan page Facebook.com/robinromerofitness
Abs: You’re Doing it Wrong
You’ve heard these a million times by now:
“Abs are made in the kitchen.”
“You can’t spot reduce fat.”
But do you still find yourself in the gym or at home, crunching away every day in hopes to get those ripped six-pack abs by summertime? I’m going out on a limb and guessing that “yes” is the honest answer for 95% of you. So here’s the real deal.
Your abdominals are just like any other muscle. They need recovery time to repair, grow and tighten. You don’t do bicep curls every day, so why do you train abs every day? Back off and train them twice a week TOPS! Personally, I train abs once per week, if even that. I practice very proper form when I’m lifting which mean my core muscles are engaged in keeping my spine protected during every single lift throughout the week. This helps keep my waistline nice and tight. Training abs separately helps me build definition and fine tune the shape.
Abs are probably one of the most improperly trained muscle groups. I constantly see people in the gym grabbing a heavy dumb bell or plate and working those side bends. You know, to spot reduce those love handles. Oh wait? Didn’t we already establish the fact that you can’t spot reduce fat? We sure did! All those weighted side bends are actually building the obliques and making your waistline BIGGER, not smaller and tighter! Focus on twisting motions like Russian twists, bicycle crunches and cable downward twists (aka “wood chops”) to hit those internal obliques and draw your waistline in.
Another common mistake when training abs is speed! Training abs is not a race. Focus on slow controlled movement! When you’re doing crunches focus on drawing your belly button in towards the ground instead of lifting your shoulders, hold for 3 seconds, and release slowly. I’m sure you’ll find that doing 20 repetitions of slow controlled crunches will make your abs burn much more than trying to do 50 crunches as quickly as you can.
So remember, train abs NO MORE than twice a week. Keep your core tight while training other body parts. And keep that diet nice and clean. The tighter the diet, the tighter the waist line.
Russian twists:
http://videos.bodybuilding.com/watch/40371/exercise-guides-russian-twist-malelong-clip
Bicycle Crunches:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqoD0Bdggto
Cable Downward Twists (aka Wood Chops):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q_GJcs7T6Q
MAY