I have read seven books on abs training and muscle improvement in the last 2 years. Most of these books were reciting the same old training tips and workout strategies, a few of them also mentioned some kind of diet as well. They were good books, worth reading each and every one of them. As I might have mentioned earlier, I’m the kind of customer who doesn’t buy anything that costs more than $10 without doing some research and reading reviews on the item. And I’m extremely picky when it comes to books, since reading and understanding a several hundred pages book takes a lot of time, and I hate wasting my time on useless stuff. So I always choose carefully.
Last friday I’ve bought another book on abs training. It’s called The Complete Book of Abs: Revised and Expanded Edition
. Man, this book totally blew my mind! It’s just what the title says: a 100% complete book, that covers all areas and aspects of abdominal training. Let me tell you some details.
About two weeks ago I was chatting on MSN with an online friend of mine, who’s also into fitness and body improvement (I’ll post a link to her blog in the Blogroll once she has it all set up) . We were discussing the material available on the market that we have learned from. Both of us agreed that 90% of the DVD’s and (e)books were… well, let’s say mediocre at best. She mentioned that she had learned most of the abs exercises she teaches today from Kurt Brungardt’s ‘The Complete Book of Abs’ which was released in 1993. I quickly googled for the book – and guess what? There’s a second, revised and expanded edition of this book. As I was desparately looking for a good book that could actually boost my knowledge, I checked out some reviews and customer comments on the book. As all of them were very positive, I decided to order it on Amazon. It arrived on friday, and yesterday I finally had the time to start reading. 288 pages of awesomeness! There are about a hundred abs training exercises with photos, a full description with difficulty rating. It also tells you the risk of lower back stress for each exercise! But there’s more: anatomy and diets are also discussed, and there’s a whole chapter dedicated to The Mind. It tells you about why, and more importantly how you should keep on working out for months, how to fight laziness and finally succeed. Man, I wish I had this book 10 years ago… Actually, it came out it 1998. And before you think that’s a disatvantage, it isn’t. The human body didn’t change much since then, and fortunately this book lacks the popular (but useless) inventions of 21st century fitness gurus.
So if you don’t have the patience to wait for my blog posts, want to get the information from the purest source or just simply like having excellent books on your shelves, get your hands on The Complete Book of Abs! I’ll post a link to the Amazon review page right here: The Complete Book of Abs: Revised and Expanded Edition
In my previous post, I’ve talked about the Best Abs Training Exercises. I intentionally missed one of the most important exercises, which is also pretty unknown despite its effectiveness, importance and the fact that you can do it ANYWHERE at ANY TIME.
The exercise is called ab vacuum. Don’t be afraid, it’s not related to carrying around some kind of vacuum suction device. At first glance, it’s a simple exercise that’s basically contracting cour inner abdominal muscles. It was very well-known and popular among body builders of the 1970’s and 1980’s. However, for a complete abs training, the ab vacuum must be practiced regularly.
What are the benefits of the ab vacuum exercise?
By doing the ab vacuum, you contract the transversus abdominus. By improving this inner abdominal muscle, you will gain additional core strength, and your waistline will get thinner as well. It will also prevent developing a protruding belly, which happens to many practitioners of common abs training exercises. The transversus abdominus is a supporting mucles. It holds your intestines and more generally your stomach ‘in place’ during an intensive workout. Although the transversus is hidden, when it’s contracted your other abdominal muscles will look more defined and toned. Finally, a stronger inner muscle means a much smaller
chance of back pain.
So how do I perform this great exercise?
Stand up, putting your hands on your hips on both sides.
Exhale all the air out of your lungs. This might be harder at first than it sounds, just keep pushing.
Pull your stomach in as much as you can while you exhale, as if you were trying to touch your belly button to your spine.
Hold this position for 20 seconds. Keep breathing into your chest at a normal pace. You shouldn’t hold your breath while doing the exercise.
After 20 seconds, finish the exercise by easing your ab muscles.
That’s it. This is a very easy and very effective exercise. You can do it while standing in a queue, listening to your mom on the phone or waiting for the bus. You won’t break a sweat either, so there’s no excuse for not doing it every day.
How often should I do it?
First two weeks: 3 x 20 seconds every day.
Third to fourth weeks: 3 x 30 seconds every day.
Fifth week and after: 3 x 60 seconds every day.
For the best results, you should do the repetitions consecutively.
Oh, and please tell your friends about the best abs training exercise that nobody knows of!
If you’ve been reading about abs training for a couple of weeks, you must have read about at least 20-30 exercises for the abdominal muscles. You probably can’t even keep in mind that many, not to mention doing them all. So here’s the question: What are the best ab exercises?
I’ve composed a list of them, which I’ll show you now. The exercises are in increasing order of difficulty.
crunches
cross knee crunches
leg raises (lying)
reverse crunches
vertical leg thrusts
knee raises (hanging)
You can start with the easier ones, do just three or four types at one session and switch to harder exercises as you progress. I’ll show you some special exercises in my next post, that are also necessary for successful abs training.
I’ll give you a complete, recommended training program in one of my later posts. But now, let’s see how to do each of these exercises.
Crunches:
The most basic exercise in abs training. Lie on your back. Pull your knees up, so that they are at a 60 degree angle to your torso. You can bend your knees, or just let your feet rest on a chair or something. Your hands should be touching the sides of your head.
Now try to touch your breastbone to your pelvis by slowly raising your shoulders. Breath out as you do it. Your hips shouldn’t move, only your spine bends. Do these slowly, don’t use momentum.
Cross knee crunches:
Same as crunches, but now you try to crunch diagonally. Try to touch your left shoulder to your right knee, then your right shoulder to your left knee. At the top position, one side of your hips should be off the ground.
Leg raises:
The basic and exercise for lower abs training. Lie on your back, with your hands under your buttocks. Raise your legs about 20cm (8″) off the floor and hold them there. Using your lower ab muscles, raise your legs by another 20cm by tilting your pelvis. Your knees should be slightly bent.
Reverse crunches:
For this exercise, you need something behind your head to hold. This can be the legs of a chair, the ankles of a training partner or anything that’s fixed into that position. Lying on your back, holding the thing behind your head, raise your knees above your chest by pulling your pelvis and legs up. Your knees should be bent. Then return to the starting position.
Vertical leg thrusts:
My favorite abs training exercise.
Lie on your back, placing your hands under your buttocks. Knees slightly bent, raise your legs up from the ground by about 20cm (8″). Raise your head and shoulders a bit as well, if you can, to increase the stress on your abs.
This is the initial position. Now the exercise has four steps:
Raise your legs by contracting your abs, until your feet are above your pelvis.
Breathing out, thrust your heels up, towards the ceiling. Your pelvis should raise as well.
Lower your pelvis back from the thrust, setting it between your hands again.
Lower your legs back to the starting position, keeping your knees slightly bent.
Knee raises:
You’re gonna need a branch of a tree, a water pipe or something else that’s strong enough to support your body weight for this exercise. A chin-up bar is the best, if you have access to one. Grabbing the bar with a grip a bit wider than your shoulders, raise your knees up to your chest. Your ankles should be crossed, and you should only use your abs to do the work. Lower your knees slowly, relaxing your ab muscles. Don’t extend your legs, keep those knees bent throughout the whole exercise.
This concludes the six best abs training exercises. They are effective, simple and safe. Just keep in mind that if your lower back hurts while doing any of these exercises, you should bend your knees a little bit more.
In the next post, I’ll show you special abs training exercises that are also required for a complete ab workout.
Until then, you should check out The Winsor Pilates Buzz for the best body improvement and energy-boosting techniques.
basics, facts, reviews 
Comments (0)
