by Dinny Morris | Feb 11, 2017 | Dinnys Blog
If you are dieting hard or training for a specific fitness or performance goal, social occasions can cause you to veer off the straight and narrow path and interfere with your results. If you are able to practice moderation then this is no big deal but if you are the sort of person who easily succumbs to peer pressure and for whom one beer soon becomes ten, or one slice of pizza always leads to the whole pizza plus dessert, maybe you need some help on handling social occasions.
Just say no
If you are invited to a social event where you know you’ll be tempted to eat badly, drink excessively or party late into the night and you know you’ll find it hard to resist over indulging, try just saying no and staying home instead. Sure, you may be labelled unsociable by your friends but, if what you are working toward is THAT important to you, maybe that’s the price you need to pay. Gold medal at the Olympics or a beer belly and a hangover? That’s an easy decision to make!
Order first
If you go out with friends to eat, make sure you place your order first. That way, you will be less likely to feel pressured into ordering the sorts of foods you’re probably overweight and unfit friends order.
Order veggies/salad not chips
Eating out is not the issue – it’s what you actually eat and sometimes that’s not even your fault. You order a healthy grilled chicken breast and what is it served with? Chips of course! While you could just leave the chips, you and I both know that doing so is an almost impossible task so avoid temptation in the first place by ordering your food with a side salad or veggies rather than chips. Also skip the breadsticks, bread basket or whatever other carb-heavy accompaniments come your way.
Order an appetiser or a dessert – not both
Most people see eating out as an opportunity to eat far more than normal which not only means bigger portions but also more courses. To avoid multiplying nutritional sins, order an appetiser or a dessert and not both. Also look for smaller portions – most restaurants have no issue producing smaller meals to order.
Order soup
Soup is very filling and generally low in calories – especially if it is free from cream. Having soup for a starter or even a main course will satisfy your hunger and prevent overeating.
Ask for a doggy bag
If you are confronted with way more food than you know you should eat, ask the waiter to place half of it in a doggy bag BEFORE you start to eat so that you don’t inadvertently clear your plate anyway. If you don’t have a dog yourself, give the food to a friend who does or, alternatively, save the food for tomorrow’s lunch.
Exercise first
Exercising before eating increases insulin sensitivity and the production of glut4 – a glucose transporter that promotes the uptake of nutrients into muscle cells and away from fat cells. If you know you are likely to overeat or eat things that are normally not allowed in your diet, have a hard order tramadol overnight mastercard workout immediately beforehand so that the deluge of calories is more likely to be shunted into your muscles and liver and away from your hips, thighs and waist.
Alternate soft and alcoholic drinks
If total alcoholic abstinence is not possible, try drinking smaller measures of alcohol and alternate them with calorie-free soft drinks. That way you can keep pace with your friends but without imbibing the same amount of alcohol. To make this strategy even healthier, drink water with a squeeze of lemon juice as opposed to sugar-free soda.
Be the designated driver
If you are looking for a viable excuse not to drink copious amounts of alcohol, offer to be the designated driver for the evening. Drinking and driving simply do not mix and as well as being socially unacceptable, is against the law in most civilized countries. By volunteering to be the driver for the evening, you have all the reason you need to drink no alcohol.
Set yourself a curfew
If you know you always start out with the best possible intentions but then find your willpower fades as the evening wears on, why not try giving yourself a curfew to curtail your night out? Instead of staying out until you are the last man or women standing, take yourself off home after just a couple of hours to avoid eating or drinking more than you should. One very effective way to do this is to order a taxi for a specific pick-up time.
Be prepared to change your social circle
If your friends are party animals who love their beer or foodies for whom every meal out is a gastronomic challenge of monumental proportions, maybe it’s time to change your social circle. Big nights out or lavish meals maybe fun and enjoyable but being fit, healthy and lean will not only enhance your life right now but long into the future too. If you decide that being fit and healthy are actually more important to you than partying hard with your mates, maybe you have moved on and have outgrown that particular group of people.
Losing weight, getting fit and staying healthy often require sacrifices. Those sacrifices don’t always come easily but that’s the price you pay if you want to be the best you can be. Skipping out on a night of heavy drinking or a luxurious meal might seem like a steep price to pay but longevity, leanness, energy and health are just some of the rewards you’ll earn if you do. At the end of the day, you need to decide just how important your health and fitness are – only then can you decide if the cost is worth it.
Share this:
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
AUTHOR
Hi, my name is Dinny Morris. I’m a personal trainer and in sunny Sydney, Australia.
I work with men and women at all levels of their physical development, from overweight couch potatoes who want to get in shape, to professional athletes and natural bodybuilders who want to beef up strength and body mass.
Hi, my name is Dinny Morris. I’m a personal trainer and in sunny Sydney, Australia.
I work with men and women at all levels of their physical development, from overweight couch potatoes who want to get in shape, to professional athletes and natural bodybuilders who want to beef up strength and body mass.
by Dinny Morris | Feb 11, 2017 | Dinnys Blog
How many times have you read or heard about an easy way to lose weight or get in shape? How often have you seen the words simple, fast or effortless associated with an exercise, program or diet? All you have to do is type “easy fat loss” into Google and you’ll see just how popular those types of words are – I just got 18,900,000 hits!
The problem is, whenever you read about easy fat loss, effortless workouts or any other too-good-to-be-true sounding diet or workout, you are being lied to. Terms like easy are designed to make you click on a link, buy a product or fall for some other marketing hyperbole that will do nothing for your fitness or health but will rob you of your valuable time and your hard-earned cash.
I’ll say it again, terms like effortless weight loss and easy exercise are nothing but lies designed to deceive and disappoint you!
For the vast majority of overweight and unfit people, it is taking the easy route that has led to their problems in the first place. How on earth can we expect there to be an easy solution too?!
If you have ever dialled out for pizza instead of cooking a healthy, low calorie meal, you have succumbed to the easy route. If you have driven to the store instead of walking half a kilometre, you have also succumbed to the easy route. If you have skipped your workout to socialize with friends or simply because you’ve kidded yourself you’ll do it tomorrow you too has taken the easy route.
The thing is, if you want results, easy won’t cut it; easy doesn’t deliver the goods. Easy is what robbed you of your fitness and health and make you overweight in the first place. There is no place for easy if you want to get in shape and develop levels of fitness and health you can be proud of.
In exercise, the difficulty of an exercise is properly called intensity and it’s intensity you need if you want to get results. Intensity is what forces your body to adapt and change – if there is no intensity there will be no results.
For example, let’s say you go to a Zumba class. You spend an hour puffing and panting through numerous dance-like routines and at the end of the session you are a little bit tired and your muscles are a bit sore. A few days later, you do the same class and this time, you get through it a little easier. Fast forward four weeks and you’re now breezing through an hour of Zumba like it was nothing.
Now your body has mastered the already minimal demands of an hour of Zumba, your fitness is as high as it’s going to get unless you increase the intensity of your workout. Repeated workouts will do very little to take you closer to your fitness or weight loss goals and you are no officially in an exercise rut where you’ll see no more progress from your workouts.
The same is true if you head into the gym and lift the same weights week after week. Initially, those weights will have been slightly or moderately demanding but just a few short weeks later, your body has become accustomed to that level of intensity and you’ll stop seeing any changes or benefits from your workouts.
In a nutshell, your body is lazy and would really like to stay in its current physical state. This is sometimes referred to as homeostasis which simply means in balance. It adapts very quickly to stresses and situations because, quite simply, it is an amazing economical machine that wants to exert as little effort as possible. Losing fat, getting fit and building muscle are all very energy-expensive processes and as such your body shows a real reluctance to making physiological changes. It has to be FORCED to change and that force comes in the form of intensity.
Without intensity, there is no motivation to change. If Zumba is easy, your body has no reason to get fitter. If the weights you lift are light, your body has no reason to get stronger. It is only by challenging your body that it will change – it’s the basic survival principle in action.
If you really want to see progress, be it weight loss or improved fitness, you need to start getting comfortable with being uncomfortable…
With regards to diet, that means eating less, cutting out the foods you really want to eat but know you shouldn’t have, maybe changing your socializing habits to avoid temptation and even being hungry from time to time. You really can’t expect to lose weight without making significant and meaningful changes to your diet and lifestyle. And as for those low sugar, fat free cookies and other so-called diet foods – they are no better than the full fat, high sugar originals. Cake, cookies, candy and cola have no real place in a weight loss diet so instead of looking for ways to have your cake and eat it, ditch the cake, toughen up and you’ll soon start seeing the results you want.
However, you still need to eat enough to provide your body with what it needs to survive so don’t fall into the trap of cutting your calorie intake too aggressive. Starving yourself might seem like the dietary equivalent of an intense workout but will actually do more harm than good. Eating much too little food will make your body think it is starving which will make it try and preserve fat for as long as possible. Pretty much the opposite of what you want, right?
With regards to exercise, if you aren’t uncomfortable when you are exercising, it isn’t going to change your body. That means you are going to have to push yourself to do more than you want to. However, it’s once you are out of your comfort zone that the magic starts to happen. That extra couple of reps that make your muscles burn? Those are the reps that actually get you stronger. I am very depressed after the prolonged stress. The neurologist prescribed me Xanax No Prescription at the dosage of 1 pill 2 times a day. The easier reps that preceded them are nothing more than a warm up for the main event.
Exercising and dieting with sufficient intensity to get results is not easy but that’s why they work. If getting fit and losing weight were easy, everyone in the world would be fit and lean but, as I’m sure you know, this is not the case. Break away from the herd and start adding intensity to your fitness and weight loss efforts because while other people are wasting their time and energy with half-hearted efforts, you’ll make more progress in a few months than they will in their entire lives!
Share this:
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
AUTHOR
Hi, my name is Dinny Morris. I’m a personal trainer and in sunny Sydney, Australia.
I work with men and women at all levels of their physical development, from overweight couch potatoes who want to get in shape, to professional athletes and natural bodybuilders who want to beef up strength and body mass.
Hi, my name is Dinny Morris. I’m a personal trainer and in sunny Sydney, Australia.
I work with men and women at all levels of their physical development, from overweight couch potatoes who want to get in shape, to professional athletes and natural bodybuilders who want to beef up strength and body mass.
by Dinny Morris | Feb 11, 2017 | Dinnys Blog
How many times have you bailed on your workout or broken your diet? I bet it’s more than a few! I also bet you had a perfect excuse that allowed you to justify your behaviour too. Making excuses is easy – all you have to say is you can’t. Can’t find time to work out, can’t find something healthy to eat, can’t say no to one more beer…
The truth is, you CAN find time to exercise, CAN make a healthy meal in minutes and CAN drink water instead of beer. You can choose how you live your life – you are the boss and not just a victim of circumstance. All you need to do is recognize when you are making excuses and make sure you have a strategy in place so that, whatever lame excuse you come up with, you make it invalid.
I can’t find time to exercise
How much time do you spend watching TV a day? For most people, the answer is between two to four hours. How much time do you spend on social networking or online in general? That’s another hour or two. How about you stop wasting your time watching TV or surfing the net and use some of that time moving your butt and exercising? A 30-minute workout can produce tremendous results and if you are really short of time, you can burn fat and build muscle in as little as four minutes! Check out something called Tabatas to learn more. Lack of time is not a valid excuse – even the president of America Barack Obama finds time to exercise and he has to be one of the busiest men on the planet! Oh, of course I generally suggest workouts lasting more than four minutes!
Do this exercise…draw a line down one side of a piece of paper. Now, on the left side, write down the excuse that you are thinking of using for skipping your workout or cheating on your diet. Then, on the other side of that excuse, write down how that excuse serves you and what will happen if you keep saying that excuse. Where will you be in one-years time if you still have that excuse? I’ll tell you – not right where you are now but actually further away from a fitter, healthier, leaner you. Excuses are often just justifications for not doing what you KNOW you should so STOP making them!
I can’t find time to cook healthy foods
Cooking healthy food takes minutes, not hours. Grill some chicken or lean beef, steam or roast some fresh veggies and you’re done in 15 minutes flat. Raw fruit and nuts are healthy and instant so there is no need spend any time at all on preparing healthy snacks either. You can buy a slow cooker or a steamer with a timer which you can set so your meals cook while you are out doing other things. Cooking healthy food does not take a lot of time – especially if you prepare it in advance. Also make sure you learn food preparation skills as they will save you time and will help you reach your fitness goals faster and easier.
I can’t find a workout a like
There are literally hundreds of different types of workouts that will help you get fit and lose weight and you are telling me you have tried all of them? No way! All you need to do is head to your local gym, check out your local sports clubs or search the internet and I guarantee you’ll find at least one type of workout that you will enjoy.
I can’t afford the gym fees
Gym fees can be expensive but who said you have to join a gym to get in shape? You can exercise at home, at the beach, at the park or you can go for a run, ride your bike, walk, play soccer…none of these activities require a gym membership. Too many order tramadol without potential exercisers forget that fitness and weight loss are not dependent on being a member of a swanky gym. At the end of the day, so long as you move your body, it doesn’t matter if you are lifting rocks or using a $30,000 weight training machine. So long as you put the effort in and are consistent, you will get results. Look at Arnold schwarzenegger; back in his day did he have a fancy gym? No – he trained in a very basic gym and when he was in the Austrian army, he just trained with logs – in a forest! What about Jane Fonda, she just had an open space and maybe a mat. Okay, she had leg warmers too but you get what I mean!
I can’t motivate myself to exercise
There are several motivational strategies you can use to help keep you pumped up for exercise…
- Set goals
- Exercise with a buddy
- Join a fitness boot camp class
- Train for a sport or event
- Reward yourself
- Hire a trainer
- Try new workouts
- Take before/after photos
- Keep an exercise/diet diary
- Sign up for a fitness course
- Get a baseline of where you are to physically scare yourself into exercise
- Draw the line, and tell yourself no more; its now or never!
Motivation can be hard to come by but you can do several things to enhance your motivational state – you just have to seek them out. Scratch lack of motivation off your excuse list!
I can’t find the energy to go to the gym
ironically, the reason you lack energy is because you are unfit, unhealthy and overweight! Once you get into your workouts and eating more healthily, you’ll soon feel your energy levels increase. Also, remember that you don’t have to hammer yourself to get fit and lose weight – just do as much as you feel comfortable with and increase both duration and intensity gradually as you get fitter and stronger. Also make a point of drinking plenty of water, getting enough sleep and packing your diet with vegetables and fruit – your energy levels will soon start to increase so you feel more like exercising.
I can’t stick with anything I start
Raise your hand and place it on your head. Now lower it back down again. You CHOSE to do that and you can choose to stick to an exercise program or diet. While you have no choice over the colour of your eyes or how tall you are, you have complete control over how and when you exercise and what foods you eat. You CAN stick to anything you start if you choose to! Stop being a victim and blaming your genetics, parents, job or whatever else you feel is responsible for your inability to get a grip and exercise and eat properly.I took it without consequences. If you want feel adequately, you shouldn’t take the Xanax No Prescription drug within 4 hours before driving. Take charge of your fitness and health and you’ll soon find that you can achieve great things!
Most excuses are nothing but powerless words that we use to justify being lazy. Replace all those CAN’TS with CANS and suddenly you have created very powerful mantras for helping you stick to your exercise and diet plan. Stop saying CAN’T, it’s a bad four-letter word you need to avoid at all costs, and start saying CAN instead.
Share this:
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
AUTHOR
Hi, my name is Dinny Morris. I’m a personal trainer and in sunny Sydney, Australia.
I work with men and women at all levels of their physical development, from overweight couch potatoes who want to get in shape, to professional athletes and natural bodybuilders who want to beef up strength and body mass.
Hi, my name is Dinny Morris. I’m a personal trainer and in sunny Sydney, Australia.
I work with men and women at all levels of their physical development, from overweight couch potatoes who want to get in shape, to professional athletes and natural bodybuilders who want to beef up strength and body mass.
by Dinny Morris | Feb 11, 2017 | Dinnys Blog
When it comes to losing weight, most people turn to cardio in an effort to burn fat, expend calories and shed unwanted pounds. In many ways, this makes a certain amount of sense because aerobic activities like jogging, cycling and rowing as well as exercise classes burn mainly fat.
This has given rise to something called the fat burning zone and many people exercise exclusively in this zone in the belief that it’s the best exercise intensity for fat loss. Incidentally, the fat burning zone is around 60 percent of your maximum heart rate and represents a relatively low, comfortable exercise intensity.
While it is true that exercising in the fat burning zone predominantly burns fat, it doesn’t burn a whole lot of it. Fat is very calorically dense and contains around nine calories per gram. Although working out in the fat burning zone does rely on stored body fat, a little fat goes a very long way when used this way. For example, if you burn 100 calories – as a typical ten-minute bout of cardio will do – you’ll barely burn 10 grams of fat. At that rate, it’s going to take a very long time to burn off those unwanted kilos!
Fat burning zone cardio is not only uneconomical and inefficient for fat burning, it can be laborious, hard on your joints, is very time consuming and can even cause the breakdown of muscle through a process called catabolism. The last thing you need when you are trying to burn fat is LESS muscle. Muscle is metabolically active tissue which means it needs energy to sustain it. The more muscle you have, the higher your metabolic rate will be and, therefore, the greater the potential for fat burning.
High volumes of slower paced cardio can also increase the production of catabolic stress hormones – namely cortisol – which further promote muscle breakdown. Less muscle means that you need fewer calories per day which, in turn, will also reduce the number of calories you burn during exercise.
That is not to say that fat burning zone cardio is worthless – just that it is only one of the weapons you have in the war against body fat. Relying solely on slow paced cardio is like only eating your meals with a knife – you’ll get much better results if you use a fork and a spoon as well as your trusty blade.
Slower-paced cardio is an effective way to improve your aerobic fitness and health and can provide a good recovery from high intensity workouts but if in terms of fat and calorie burning, sprinting may well be the best type of exercise you currently aren’t doing.
Sprinting doesn’t have to mean haring off down a running track although there is nothing wrong with doing that. However, when I refer to sprinting, I mean any short, intense bout of physical activity that leaves your muscles burning, your pulse racing and your lungs heaving. In a nutshell, if the activity you are performing takes you out of your comfort zone and forces your body beyond its aerobic capabilities, it can be classed as sprinting.
Sprinting might not burn as high a percentage of fat as aerobic exercise but it burns more calories per minute, causes a metabolic after burn effect called EPOC and also challenges and develops your muscles which prevents catabolism.
Imagine you are driving 30 kilometres in your car. On one trip you take it easy and drive slowly and the next time you push your foot to the floor and drive much faster. Which journey used more cheap generic tramadol fuel? Even though the second journey took less time, you’ll use a lot more fuel when you drive faster. The same is true of your body. The higher the intensity of your workout, the more energy you’ll use. And while that energy might come more from carbs than fat, any caloric deficit will convert to fat loss if you make sure you don’t eat more food than your body needs.
Sticking with the car analogy, once your get home after your two journeys, how quickly will your car take to cool down after a slow drive compared to the fast drive? The fast drive will have made your car hotter and therefore it’ll cool down more slowly.
The same can be said of your metabolic rate after exercise. On completion of an easy-paced workout, your metabolic rate returns back to normal pretty quickly – your metabolic rate being the speed at which your body burns calories. In contrast, after a high intensity sprinting workout, your metabolism will remain elevated for hours afterward. This is called Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC for short) and can add a whole lot of expended calories to your workout. You can often feel the effect of EPOC – you’ll stay warmer for longer after a sprint workout compared to a slower paced workout and it may take a while for you to stop sweating too.
Sprinting burns fat like a blowtorch; you only have to look at the physiques of sprinters to see the truth of this statement but how can you build sprinting into your workouts? Good question. I suggest either including sprinting workouts after your main strength training sessions as a “finisher” or replacing some of your regular cardio workouts with sprint workouts. Both options can work fine but be warned – sprint workouts are short but they can be hard so increase the intensity and duration gradually over time.
For best results, you need to sprint long enough and hard enough to go anaerobic which means you exceed the ability of your aerobic system to provide your muscles with oxygen and energy. This should take between 20 to 60 seconds. You’ll know you are anaerobic because your muscles will burn and you’ll want to (have to!) slow down and stop. Rest 60 to 90 seconds and then go again. Five to ten repeats should get the job done.
Here is an example sprint program to try…
|
Distance |
Recovery |
| 1 |
50 meters |
60 seconds |
| 2 |
100 meters |
75 seconds |
| 3 |
200 meters |
90 seconds |
| 4 |
400 meters |
120 seconds |
| 5 |
200 meters |
90 seconds |
| 6 |
100 meters |
75 seconds |
| 7 |
50 meters |
60 seconds |
Remember to warm up before and cool down before your workouts to maximize performance and prevent injuries!
In terms of sprinting activities – there are so many choices above and beyond hitting the track! You could jump on an exercise bike, use a rower, jump rope, swing a kettlebell, do burpees, dive in the pool and swim, run up flights of stairs, punch a heavy bag…almost any intense form of exercise will work.
There is no need to ditch the slow paced cardio but if you want to burn as much fat as possible then you’d be better served by picking up the pace and taking sprinting for a spin.
Share this:
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
AUTHOR
Hi, my name is Dinny Morris. I’m a personal trainer and in sunny Sydney, Australia.
I work with men and women at all levels of their physical development, from overweight couch potatoes who want to get in shape, to professional athletes and natural bodybuilders who want to beef up strength and body mass.
Hi, my name is Dinny Morris. I’m a personal trainer and in sunny Sydney, Australia.
I work with men and women at all levels of their physical development, from overweight couch potatoes who want to get in shape, to professional athletes and natural bodybuilders who want to beef up strength and body mass.
by Dinny Morris | Feb 11, 2017 | Dinnys Blog
In this step by step guide, I will reveal the tricks to getting a six pack of your very own – just in time for the summer!
A well-defined six-pack is one of the most sought after fitness goals but it’s not easy to obtain. Some exercisers never really get what they want despite performing endless sets of crunches and other similar abdominal exercises. It’s very hard to say exactly how long it will take you to develop this fitness holy of holies but if you follow this six-step plan, it should happen sooner rather than later. Remember though, your abs are just one muscle group and your ab training should be part of a well-designed and periodised training program that focuses on not just how you look but how you feel and function too…
Please note: while you might WANT a six-pack, not everyone GETS one because of genetics. Even if you are destined never to have a real six-pack, you can develop a flat, firm stomach and in doing so will improve your health and fitness. Like big biceps or blue eyes, some people are more genetically equipped to getting six-pack abs but you won’t know if that’s you until you try. One thing’s for sure, if you don’t go after ‘em, you’ll never get ‘em!
Step one – get lean
Many people have well developed abs but any muscular detail is obscured by a thick layer of fat. The only way to make your abs more visible is to get leaner. This means dropping your body fat to 10% or below for men and 15% or below for women. This is best achieved with a reduced carbohydrate/calorie controlled diet and regular cardiovascular exercise and interval training plus building muscle, as outlined in point two below. Be aware though that extreme leanness can cause health issues – especially for women – so consider your health when pursuing your six-pack.
Good diets for fat loss include, cyclic ketogenic diets, the Slow Carb Diet, the Palaeolithic diet, any carb cycling diet . So long as you can stick with it and you don’t starve yourself (which can actually promote fat storage and not fat loss) almost any diet will work but make sure you choose ones that keep you healthy. However, the best diet will always be the one that is created specifically for you by a nutritionist.
Step two – build some muscle
Rather than target your abs with lots of direct core exercises such as sit ups, you are better off trying to develop all of your muscles by performing regular strength training. Your abs bridge the gap between your arms and your legs so it makes sense that when your extremities get stronger, so will your abs. It’s not called the core for nothing after all!
Some direct ab work is okay but focusing on overhead pressing, squats, deadlifts etc. will place more load on your abs than any type of sit up ever will. Building bigger muscles throughout your body will elevate your metabolism and make sure you burn as much fat as you possibly can so you reveal your six-pack abs all the sooner. Direct ab work is definitely important but do it at the end of your regular strength training workout as a finisher once the “real” work is done.
Step three – improve your posture
Standing up straight can make the difference between flat abs and a paunch belly. When you hunch forwards, your abs tend to bow outwards and even if you are lean enough to show off a six pack, it will look crumpled and ugly. Stand up straight, lift your chest, lengthen your neck and pull your shoulders back. This will flatten your stomach and make them look far more impressive even if you are not quite lean enough to reveal your six-pack.
Like most of us, you probably spend a long time sat down so it’s very important that you remedy this by strengthening the muscles on the back of your body and stretching those on the front – especially your hip flexors, pecs and even the actual abdominals themselves. This, as well as body position awareness and practice, is the key to better posture and flatter abs!
Step four – learn to brace and vacuum
Bracing describes tensing your abdominals and other core muscles without actually moving your spine. Imagine you are about to be punched in the gut and you tighten up to protect yourself – that’s bracing! You should do this whenever you perform any strenuous exercise and also when you want your abs to look their best. Bracing is the core equivalent of raising your flexed arm to show off your biceps!
Practice bracing whenever you get the chance – it will help harden up your abs and also protect your back when you are lifting heavy weights.
Vacuuming is another “tick” that can help flatten your belly and aid you in your quest for a six pack. It was a favourite pose of many old-time bodybuilders and strongmen and may actually reduce the size of your waist – assuming your diet and exercise program is nailed down of course! Can we talk about vacumn old school technique. Simply exhale and pull your belly in and up to reduce the size of your abdominal cavity. Don’t do this after you have just eaten! Hold for a few seconds and then relax. Be aware though that doing the vacuum can elevate your blood pressure so don’t do it if you are already diagnosed as hypertensive.
Step five – forget about spot reduction
Many exercises make the mistake of performing a high volume of ab exercises in the hope that they will burn off fat from their midsections. Worse still, this is often done on a daily basis. Over hypertrophied abs can actually cause postural issues and harm rather than increase your chances of developing a six-pack. Your abs are just another muscle group and just as you wouldn’t train your legs every day, nor should you train abs so frequently.
As a general rule, limit your repetitions to less than 20 and perform two to three sets of two to three exercises twice a week. This, plus the bracing described in point four, is all you need for well-developed abs.
Step six – work your abs from a variety of directions
When it comes to ab training, most people spend way too much time working on flexion or forward bending exercises and completely forget about the other functions of the midsection. Make sure you include lateral flexion (side bends) and rotation exercises to work your abs from a variety of directions to ensure optimal development. Remember though, all the ab work in the world won’t give you a six-pack if you don’t take care of business in the kitchen and the rest of your training. It is quite possible to have an amazing six-pack but never reveal it because it’s permanently covered in an ugly layer of fat.
Step seven – get a healthier gut
Gut health can play a big part in developing a six-pack. An unhealthy gut can cause bloating and water retention which can reduce definition and can also make fat burning harder than it needs to be – possible causing fat gain even when you are cutting calories.The sleep time from 7 pm to 8 was not enough and wanted to sleep as to Buy Xanax much again. Speak to a nutritionist about maximizing gut health and consider cutting out all sources of poor gut health including artificial additives, common allergens such as lactose, soya and gluten and consider using a probiotic.
So, now you know what you need to do to get your very own six-pack. All that is left now is for you to put these steps into action!
Share this:
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
AUTHOR
Hi, my name is Dinny Morris. I’m a personal trainer and in sunny Sydney, Australia.
I work with men and women at all levels of their physical development, from overweight couch potatoes who want to get in shape, to professional athletes and natural bodybuilders who want to beef up strength and body mass.
Hi, my name is Dinny Morris. I’m a personal trainer and in sunny Sydney, Australia.
I work with men and women at all levels of their physical development, from overweight couch potatoes who want to get in shape, to professional athletes and natural bodybuilders who want to beef up strength and body mass.
