Ab workout for a tubby fella
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Are you guys doing these crunches consecutively or are you breaking them into sets? I'm confused.... no one should be doing 100 crunches in a row without stopping. It means you're doing it wrong.....
Doing it wrong in what way please? I do 4 x 100 and it doesn't feel wrong to me!
LOL 400 crunches?! A bit excessive, eh? Or are you just bragging? Video or it never happened... :noway:
That's very rude isn't it? I do my 4 x 100 three times a week or substitute 4 x 50 sit ups.
Do you know anything about me? Have you looked at my exercise diary? Profile pictures?
It's no more bragging than people saying they do 300+lb deadlifts or whatever.
Gym ball crunches are much easier than sit ups.
Just because you aren't dedicated to your health please don't accuse other people of being a liar or bragging.0 -
"Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym" The more you lift everywhere the better your metabolism will be and the more the fat will melt away to reveal what you already have. Good luck!0
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Like the others have mentioned..........start with a calorie deficit, and then incorporate some core exercises as part of your routine. Also, be patient and persistent........the results will come.0
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Thanks everybody for all the input. I had never heard that "ab exercises" weren't good for working away ab-fat though? That is confusing to me. I understand that working out the whole body gets rid of fat all over the body, and yes, I understand that diet is HUGE when it comes to all this. However, I guess I just assumed (or maybe have been conditioned to think this way), that targeting muscles in a certain area burns more fat in that area (i.e., crunches while burning fat all over, tend to burn more belly fat because of the location of the muscles you are working, etc.).
Could somebody explain this a bit more to me? Feel like I may learn something here today!!! LOL. I really do appreciate your input folks.
My goal is long-term, so that this time next year I am in good shape and beginning.......at least beginning, anyway.....to show a little bit of a six-pack. I'm a beer drinker, so I'll never be like some of the folks on here, but at least if I don't embarrass the kids when I take my shirt off at the beach, that will be a good thing!
if you continuously work on your abs, they'll get stronger and continue to grow. if you got a beer belly on top of that, without actually dieting to lose it. you're still gonna have that beer belly only with bigger abs underneath, stretching it further. nothing wrong with drinking beer, you can always change other eating habits. or sweat a little more0 -
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Crunches, planks, etc. - whatever exercise you go with make sure to carefully listen to your body and make adjustments. You're the only one that knows which exercises do more harm than good. Back it down when necessary or change the routine.Please keep in mind that I have a bad sacro-iliac joint ...
It's been said a million times before, you can't spot reduce. Of course this doesn't mean you shouldn't do ab exercises. You should do ab exercises to help strengthen your core and reduce the lower back pain. It's fine that you want to look go for your lady, but it's also important that you feel good. Lower back pain doesn't feel good.I'd like to have some suggestions for adding to my abdominal workout days that will help me to build muscle around my core and that will help me burn some of that belly fat away.0 -
i find that the more i work out my legs, the better my stomach looks.
http://www.vicmagary.com/blog/uncategorized/truth-of-six-pack-abs/The much sought after and often media-hyped glorious stupendous supposedly guaranteed to make panties melt… six pack abs.
What a f@cking crock of sh#t.
The truth is that six pack abs will not bring you fame or fortune or anything more than the passing lust-filled glances of buxom beauties. And even more counter-intuitive, they often won’t bring you improved performance in athletic endeavors. Allow me to put on my lawyer hat and submit Exhibit A:
The above picture is of the recently crowned National Hockey League Champions, Los Angeles Kings. Maybe one guy in the bunch is lean enough to sport a six pack. But every single one of those guys are complete bad *kitten*. Imagine speed skating on ice, repetitively slamming into opposing team players at top speed night after night as you strive to show that you are at the top of your game. Those guys are at the proven pinnacle of their professional sport, and very few of them are sporting the coveted six pack abs. Dropping their body fat to a level that flaunts six pack abs simply does not comply with their goals. Does it really comply with yours?
Why do you really want six pack abs?
Is your desire for the coveted abs ego or performance based? I will concede that there are some endeavors where dropping your body fat to the level that displays a six pack is favorable. Notably this includes weight-class athletes such as boxers, wrestlers, MMA fighters, judokas, and other combat sport participants. But for most of us, the beautiful intersection of performance, aesthetics, and health does not necessarily include six pack abs.
So why do it?
There are several cliches about how the journey is more important than the destination. And acquiring six pack abs, for those of us of average genetics, is truly a journey. It involves sacrifice. It involves dedication and discipline and a host of other attributes that can carry over to areas of life that far exceed looking good at the pool in summertime.
But truth be told, I’ve never met anyone who wanted to get six pack abs to develop their character. They simply want to “look good naked”. I suppose there’s nothing wrong with that… but at the same time I personally crave more depth for my ambitions.
All of that being said, I know many people will still want to get their damned “six pack”. And having achieved that goal more than once myself (and having helped others achieve it as well) I understand the quest. If you really want to “get ripped” be prepared for the following:
What you eat is more important than any workout. So many people seek the “killer workout”. And that is such bullsh#t. The killer of body fat resides in your diet. It would be great if 30 minutes of exercise effort could erase 23 and a half hours of nutritional debauchery but it just doesn’t work that way. Six pack abs are built with your fork, not your damned workouts.
Be prepared to get light as hell. Especially if you have never achieved the coveted six pack abs, be prepared to get much lighter than you expect. My personal “walk around” weight is between 160 – 165 lbs. And I need to drop down to the mid 140′s to have a six pack.
Nearly any exercise protocol will work. My personal preference is to focus on strength training, even when trying to get lean. I like to supplement strength training with high intensity interval or circuit training. I rarely do (or recommend) any direct abdominal training. I feel long slow cardio is unnecessary but if you enjoy it, then it can be worked into a successful fat loss program. What I’m saying is that nearly any exercise protocol can work to get you lean as long as your diet is dialed in. Sure some protocols may work better than others, but I’m skeptical as to just how much better one is over the other for the express purpose of getting lean.
So what does it all mean? It means that if you have the itch then scratch it. Just don’t expect that successful scratch to make any monumental difference in your life in and of itself. Six pack abs will not cure what ails you, but acquiring them might provide you with tools that can transfer to other more worthy areas of your life. And I suppose that’s why I can still produce guides and programs that help people achieve their six pack goals with some semblance of peace of mind.0 -
Thanks everybody for all the input. I had never heard that "ab exercises" weren't good for working away ab-fat though? That is confusing to me. I understand that working out the whole body gets rid of fat all over the body, and yes, I understand that diet is HUGE when it comes to all this. However, I guess I just assumed (or maybe have been conditioned to think this way), that targeting muscles in a certain area burns more fat in that area (i.e., crunches while burning fat all over, tend to burn more belly fat because of the location of the muscles you are working, etc.).
Could somebody explain this a bit more to me? Feel like I may learn something here today!!! LOL. I really do appreciate your input folks.
My goal is long-term, so that this time next year I am in good shape and beginning.......at least beginning, anyway.....to show a little bit of a six-pack. I'm a beer drinker, so I'll never be like some of the folks on here, but at least if I don't embarrass the kids when I take my shirt off at the beach, that will be a good thing!
All of the crunches and ab work you do will be for nothing if you don't reduce your overall body fat. Here's another one for you - "you can't out-train a bad diet".
Males start showing abs somewhere around 10% BF or so. If you want a six pack, you've got to start with reducing your body fat through a calorie deficit first.
Good luck!0 -
Your body is one system. One mouth, one stomach, one *kitten*. Obviously it's a bit more complicated than this, buy I find the idea of localised fat burning confusing.
You're going to need to get your bodyfat down low if you want visable abs, through calorie deficit.
There's nothing magical about ab muscles, youre going to have to do several sets of exercises difficult enough that you can only do the normal rep ranges like other body parts, like hanging leg raises or barbell roll outs. These people doing hundreds of reps wouldn't waste their time doing hundreds of other resistance exercises, I'm not sure where the high reps for abs comes from.0 -
Here's another one for you - "you can't out-train a bad diet".
agreed. It's very easy to out-eat a good exercise routine, but it's very hard to out-lazy a good diet.0 -
When you target a specific area, you are working and developing the muscle there, but not reducing the fat there any faster. Body fat is lost all over, and is achieved by a calorie deficit. Where you store most fat, and where it comes from first / last is determined pretty much by genetics.
I'm not saying ab exercises aren't good. They develop your abs so if that's what you want then it's great. Once you lose the fat, you'll have more definition to show off rather than just a flat stomach. Combine these with a good all over exercise routine, and a good diet (small/moderate calorie deficit) and you'll likely get the results you're looking for with time.0 -
Are you guys doing these crunches consecutively or are you breaking them into sets? I'm confused.... no one should be doing 100 crunches in a row without stopping. It means you're doing it wrong.....
Doing it wrong in what way please? I do 4 x 100 and it doesn't feel wrong to me!
LOL 400 crunches?! A bit excessive, eh? Or are you just bragging? Video or it never happened... :noway:
That's very rude isn't it? I do my 4 x 100 three times a week or substitute 4 x 50 sit ups.
Do you know anything about me? Have you looked at my exercise diary? Profile pictures?
It's no more bragging than people saying they do 300+lb deadlifts or whatever.
Gym ball crunches are much easier than sit ups.
Just because you aren't dedicated to your health please don't accuse other people of being a liar or bragging.
Hahaha goodness... I feel so sorry for people that think doing 100 crunches in a row is a good way to workout.
Also, you're kind of the pot calling the kettle black here because you just told them not to accuse you of being a certain way when you just accused them of not being dedicated to their health. This is just stupid.
I don't think you're a liar, and I hope you're not bragging. I just think you're ignorant. It's ignorant to think you have to do all of that to get a 6 pack or abs or health or whatever other excuses you want to give for doing 400 crunches...0 -
However, I guess I just assumed (or maybe have been conditioned to think this way), that targeting muscles in a certain area burns more fat in that area (i.e., crunches while burning fat all over, tend to burn more belly fat because of the location of the muscles you are working, etc.).
Could somebody explain this a bit more to me? Feel like I may learn something here today!!! LOL. I really do appreciate your input folks.
Working certain muscles increases the strength or size (depending on how you're working them) of that muscle, but does not burn the fat off of it. The body tends to get rid of fat that is stored above the waist faster due to the type of fat it is ("yellow fat" instead of "brown fat" google it) but that does not mean that targeting working your upper body will make it go away and faster. It just means that your body will burn off fat at it's own pace wherever the fat is less dense typically... If we could spot reduce I'd be a much happier person lol.
Hope this helps.0 -
Your body is one system. One mouth, one stomach, one *kitten*. Obviously it's a bit more complicated than this, buy I find the idea of localised fat burning confusing.
You're going to need to get your bodyfat down low if you want visable abs, through calorie deficit.
There's nothing magical about ab muscles, youre going to have to do several sets of exercises difficult enough that you can only do the normal rep ranges like other body parts, like hanging leg raises or barbell roll outs. These people doing hundreds of reps wouldn't waste their time doing hundreds of other resistance exercises, I'm not sure where the high reps for abs comes from.
I think it's cause it hurts or is at least uncomfortable. Makes people feel virtuous.0 -
I've been doing Pilates and the way I had it explained to me is that it doesn't burn fat around the midsection, but is tightening and toning the muscle underneath. When the fat does drop away, I'll have a firmer belly to show thanks to those muscles being worked out.
That sounds like a good explanation, at least. I'm not sure if it perfectly applies to getting a six-pack, though, which probably requires definition toning more than simply tightening.0 -
300 twists per day, per side. Help develop the obliques.
It will also pull in the skin around the muscle as the fat disappears.
My workout sessions look like this, as an example:
20 mins cardio
150 twists (1 twist is a turn to the left, then to the right)
Lifting session
150 twists
20 mins cardio
Could you explain the mechanics of a 'twist' for me? Is it simply standing with feet shoulder width apart, hands on your head, then turning left and right to stretch the obliques, or am I being a simpleton??? LOL
Nice and easy.
Feet firmly planted about hip/shoulder width apart (whatever's comfortable).
Twist your body from the waist up, to your left as far as it will go without it causing pain.
Twist back to the right again as far as it will go. Congrats! One twist complete!
That's about it. Personally, I raise my arms to shoulder height and place my palms against my chest. It aids in my own balance and allows me to do the twists at a decent pace.0 -
I've been doing Pilates and the way I had it explained to me is that it doesn't burn fat around the midsection, but is tightening and toning the muscle underneath. When the fat does drop away, I'll have a firmer belly to show thanks to those muscles being worked out.
That sounds like a good explanation, at least. I'm not sure if it perfectly applies to getting a six-pack, though, which probably requires definition toning more than simply tightening.
I like that explanation....it verifies what I was starting to think while reading through the other posts. In essence, the more I work abs, the better those muscles/that area will look when I've finally (through diet and full body workouts), through time cut away alot of the fat I've been "storing" for years! LOL. AND, if I want to show any semblance of a "6-Pack", I'd have to get down to around 10% body fat before they even start to 'show'.
So, I'll just focus on the whole flatter stomach and get rid of the "Dunlop"..... If my fiancee wants me to have a six-pack, she'll have to buy it for me at the liquor store!!!! LOL
Seriously all, thank you so much for the comments and help with this. In just 2 days, my understanding of all of this has increased a LOT.0 -
300 twists per day, per side. Help develop the obliques. It will also pull in the skin around the muscle as the fat disappears.
My workout sessions look like this, as an example:
20 mins cardio
150 twists (1 twist is a turn to the left, then to the right)
Lifting session
150 twists
20 mins cardio
Could you explain the mechanics of a 'twist' for me? Is it simply standing with feet shoulder width apart, hands on your head, then turning left and right to stretch the obliques, or am I being a simpleton??? LOL
Nice and easy.
Feet firmly planted about hip/shoulder width apart (whatever's comfortable).
Twist your body from the waist up, to your left as far as it will go without it causing pain.
Twist back to the right again as far as it will go. Congrats! One twist complete!
That's about it. Personally, I raise my arms to shoulder height and place my palms against my chest. It aids in my own balance and allows me to do the twists at a decent pace.
thank you man, appreciate it. I thought that was what you were talking about. I always thought that those were just stretches, didn't realize that they helped build muscle.0 -
300 twists per day, per side. Help develop the obliques. It will also pull in the skin around the muscle as the fat disappears.
My workout sessions look like this, as an example:
20 mins cardio
150 twists (1 twist is a turn to the left, then to the right)
Lifting session
150 twists
20 mins cardio
Could you explain the mechanics of a 'twist' for me? Is it simply standing with feet shoulder width apart, hands on your head, then turning left and right to stretch the obliques, or am I being a simpleton??? LOL
Nice and easy.
Feet firmly planted about hip/shoulder width apart (whatever's comfortable).
Twist your body from the waist up, to your left as far as it will go without it causing pain.
Twist back to the right again as far as it will go. Congrats! One twist complete!
That's about it. Personally, I raise my arms to shoulder height and place my palms against my chest. It aids in my own balance and allows me to do the twists at a decent pace.
thank you man, appreciate it. I thought that was what you were talking about. I always thought that those were just stretches, didn't realize that they helped build muscle.
They don't, that's just a huge waste of time. By all means, 4-6 reps for spinal mobility during your warm up, but suggesting it's an exercise for muscle development is just nonsense.0 -
300 twists per day, per side. Help develop the obliques. It will also pull in the skin around the muscle as the fat disappears.
My workout sessions look like this, as an example:
20 mins cardio
150 twists (1 twist is a turn to the left, then to the right)
Lifting session
150 twists
20 mins cardio
Could you explain the mechanics of a 'twist' for me? Is it simply standing with feet shoulder width apart, hands on your head, then turning left and right to stretch the obliques, or am I being a simpleton??? LOL
Nice and easy.
Feet firmly planted about hip/shoulder width apart (whatever's comfortable).
Twist your body from the waist up, to your left as far as it will go without it causing pain.
Twist back to the right again as far as it will go. Congrats! One twist complete!
That's about it. Personally, I raise my arms to shoulder height and place my palms against my chest. It aids in my own balance and allows me to do the twists at a decent pace.
thank you man, appreciate it. I thought that was what you were talking about. I always thought that those were just stretches, didn't realize that they helped build muscle.
They don't, that's just a huge waste of time. By all means, 4-6 reps for spinal mobility during your warm up, but suggesting it's an exercise for muscle development is just nonsense.0
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