Abs, everyone wants them! We all desire that lean and
muscular belly (yes even you, don’t deny it!) Many guys love to show off their
biceps and chest, but take a glance at their bellies and you see that beer gut
or pot belly well on its way and that look is just not cool.
You might not have the biggest arms or a barrel chest, don’t
worry they come a dime a dozen. If you
build a flat and chiseled core and you will stand out from the crowd because
having a strong core gives you the look that screams, I am fit, healthy and virile.
Unfortunately, many of us in our desire to build that solid core take up the
wrong advice from dubious sources. This ends up hindering our efforts to build
the strong core of our dreams and leads to frustration.
What I want to do today is to highlight the fundamental
errors you are making in your core training that hinders the development your
corefitness (I couldn't resist that!) please read through them I am sure you
will find it helpful and even if you are not training your core today, I hope
this piece inspires you to change your thinking and motivate you to get core
fitness tomorrow.
Do have a wonderful day.
1.
YOU DO ONLY SIT UPS AND CRUNCHES:
Sit ups and crunches are good exercises,
but they soon become ineffective as your body easily adapts to them, as a
result you stop losing fat and stop gaining muscle in your core. To remedy this,
you should engage in more compound exercises like the dead lift and barbell
squat. These exercises engage your abdominal muscles fully and stimulate fat
loss much faster.
 |
| THE DEAD LIFT |
 |
| THE BAR BELL SQUAT |
2.
YOU DO AB EXERCISES FIRST:
Your abs are part of your core area, their
job is to help stabilize the body during exercise. If you start your training
session with ab exercises you will end up fatiguing your core early and this
will hinder your ability to do the compound exercises I mentioned earlier e.g.
the squat. Remember that the core stabilizes the spine so you can squat
properly, so save your abs training till the end of your workout.
3.
YOU THINK MORE IS BETTER:
Core training is good but more is not always
better. The secret to having flat toned abs is to lose body fat and that
implies watching your diet. Some people have the mistaken idea that if I eat
the wrong things it’s ok as long as I train harder, sorry to bust your bubble
but it won’t work! You can do a million
sit ups a day, but if you are not eating right then you are sabotaging your own
efforts.
4.
HAVING A FULL WORKOUT FOR YOUR ABS:
The abs are a small muscle group and do not
need too much exercise. If you are doing your compound exercises, you do not
need more than 15 minutes to train them. I see people doing a dozen different
exercises and hundreds of reps for their abs, that’s just overkill and will end
up weakening your core not strengthening it. I recommend just 2 to 3 sets of 3
three different exercises. That’s enough.
5.
YOU TRAIN YOUR ABS EVERY DAY:
This is a sure fire way to get the opposite
of what you want. The abs is a small muscle group and does not need daily
workouts. Like all muscles they need time to recover. Look at it this way if
you squat seriously on Monday, would you be able to repeat it on Tuesday? If you
can I would really be impressed! Same goes for abs, work them out well and you
will not be able to repeat it the next day! If you can, you are doing it wrong.
2 or 3 sessions a week is adequate.
6.
YOU DON’T WORK YOUR LOWER BACK:
Back? Yes I do mean back; your core is made
up of muscles in your front, side and back. Most of us are guilty of neglecting
our lower back muscles, but to build a strong core you must work the lower back
as you work the abdominal muscles. Dead lifts and hyperextensions are wonderful
exercises for this.
 |
| LOWER BACK HYPEREXTENSIONS |
 |
| Y RAISE |
7.
YOU TRAIN YOUR ABS IN ONE DIMENSION:
Your abdominal muscles are made up of the
front sides and inner muscles, many people make the mistake of training only
the front. To get a strong, firm core you have to train three dimensionally and
you can get this with exercises like the different versions of the plank i.e.
the front and side planks and also the Y raise.
 |
| FRONT PLANK |
 |
| SIDE PLANK |
8.
YOU BELIEVE THE HYPE OF ABS TRAINING DEVICES:
ALL USELESS AND POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS
Like the devil they go by many names; ab
flex, ab circle, ab slide and my all time favourite, the tummy trimmer! Available
in your nearest Lagos traffic jam! Their common denominator? They are basically
useless and potentially dangerous! There are no short cuts to building your core;
it takes time, dedication and discipline. Please do not waste you money on
dubious devices. I can bet you my last Naira that the models on the package
cover or TV advert did not get his/her six pack by using that piece of crap!
Just say no!
Do have a wonderful day!
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