Hi guys, Kris from Custom Fitness here, your Amarillo personal trainer. Today we’re going to be talking about how to get sexy abs for Valentine’s Day! This is going to be the first part in a two part series, so be one the lookout for part two coming tomorrow! If you have any questions about today’s blog then please give us a call at (806)-322-3188
Today I have three great exercises for you and you have three different options on each. You have the novice version, the intermediate version, and the pro version.
The novice version would be going for thirty seconds through each exercise twice through. So you do exercise a, b, c, and then you do a, b, c again.
The intermediate version would be to go for forty-five seconds for three sets through. The pro version would be to either go for a minute for each for three sets, or to start it out in a ladder version.
Ladder builds strength through muscular fatigue. So you build the muscular endurance, but you’re fatiguing the muscles over time. And that’s where you might do ten reps of one exercise, ten reps of the second and ten reps of the third. And then you would go back and do nine of each the second time around, and so forth. By the time you get to one rep, you’re feeling pretty fatigued.
And you want to remember that with any good core work, you want to make sure that your foundations are secure, you have your core engaged, your abdominal muscles are engaged, you’re pulling the belly button in towards the spine, and you’re engaging like you’re coughing or sneezing rather than sucking it in. Remember that when you’re sucking in all that you are doing is misplacing organs, rather than activating muscle. If you want those sexy abs to come through, you have to actually activate muscle. So you have to engage that core, and really tighten those muscles and use them right. There is a plank that you’re going to be doing. So you want to make sure that your back isn’t sagging down and that you maintain good form.
So how often should you do ab work?
Well, you could do it everyday, but same thing as with everything else, if you don’t give yourself a break, then that can cause you to overtrain and end up working backwards. As a personal trainer in Amarillo I know you’ll end up seeing less tone and more sag in the muscle. So what I rather see you do is an every other day approach, or take three days on and then take a day off. This way you would be getting multiple avenues in what you’re doing. You definitely want to make sure that you cross train with that. You want to make sure that you’re working the abdominal muscles, but that you’re also getting a full body workout.
Now when it comes down to it, where are the abs made? It’s in the kitchen.
The workouts are awesome, they feel great, and they’re definitely going to build muscle tone. But if you’re not eating right, you’ll never show off what’s under the flab. So you have to get rid of the extra fat, and make sure to build that muscle tone so that you can really enjoy what your abs look like.
So without further ado, I have three exercises that I want to show you today.
We’re going to start you out with a side teaser. To set this up, you’re going to start laying on the floor on your side. What you really want to be thinking about is a straight line. If you see me on a mat, you would see my body lined up; shoulder, hip, and foot. Now instead of that, you want to pull the feet forward out of that straight line and towards the front of where the mat would be. So your hips would be at the back of the mat, and your toes at the front. And that’s going to create what’s called a pike position; where you bend at the hip point. You’ll take the arm that is on the mat and take it straight out in front of you on the floor. Your other arm is going to go overhead.
So i’m going to show you a modification first. With that arm overhead, you’ll start to reach up and as you do you’ll start to roll to the backside. So you’re rolling behind and pulling those hips back. Then you will raise the leg on the same side as that reaching arm and touch your ankle. So you’ll still have the hand on the mat touching the mat, and you’ll have that one leg down on the mat. So that is a half teaser modify here. Both hand and leg are reaching with this, so you’ll really feel it in that midsection on the side.
So to intensify this, you’re going to want to do what you did with the modified version, but this time you bring both legs up. Now if you’re reaching and you’re curved in that spine, then you’re going to end up not engaging the abs fully. So really tighten that stomach when you’re reaching and pulling in. Pull it in, have a long, flat back, and that hand on the floor will help you out.
Now when it come to doing ab work, the slower and more controlled that you can move, the better engagement you’re going to get. So if you hold that stomach in tight and move with control through that movement, rather than trying to get thirty in in thirty seconds, then you can more excellent ones in during that amount of time. So really push that form. Work for quality form so that you get every bit of good out of that exercise as possible.
So I hope you enjoyed part one on how to get sexy abs for Valentine’s Day! I’m going to end part one here, but you’ll be able to read about the other two exercises in part two.
If can’t wait for part two, or you want to know more about Custom Fitness and what we do here, then please give us a call. If you’re wanting the accountability and help with creating an action plan to see results, or are wanting to someone to help create a workout plan to push you to your greatest potential, then that’s what we’re here for. We have an entire team of dedicated professionals to help you with your health and fitness goals. To get your consultation set up, give us a call at 806-322-3188 or email us at info@customfitness.biz And you can now read part two here: https://customfitness.biz/2018/02/10/want-sexy-abs-valentines-day-part-2-custom-fitness-amarillo-personal-trainers/
At Custom Fitness, we are YOUR personal trainers in Amarillo, Texas. Have a great day.