No matter how much you want to believe it, doing thousands of crunches is NOT going to take off any inches from your waist or fat from your abs. There are times when I've gone to the gym and completed an entire workout in the same amount of time that others spend on sit ups, crunches, and other abdominal exercises. None of these people are getting results. In fact, they'd be better off using total body movements and turning every exercise into an abdominal exercise by using more 'Bang for Buck' exercises. Workout less and get more results with bigger and more metabolically demanding exercises. So here are 3 things you must do if you want ABS. 1) Do Compound Movements Regularly I like my clients to perform heavy squats, deadlift, chin ups, pressing and pulling variations each week. This is one thing we do with my clients at Motiv8 Personal Training . These exercises will work the large muscle groups that have a big effect on metabolic rate. My favourite fat loss session is this: A)1) Squat x 20 reps on a 40X0 tempo A)2) Assisted Chin Ups x 20 reps on a 40X0 tempo A)3) Hex Bar Deadlifts x 20 on a 40X0 tempo A)4) Bench Press x 20 reps on a 40X0 tempo A)5) Box Jumps x 10 reps Rest for 90 seconds after each round and perform 5 sets in total. This workout causes A LOT OF METABOLIC DISTRESS. SO it's not for the faint hearted, but the results of doing this once a week is spectacular. 2) Sprint Don't Jog Would you prefer to look like a marathon runner or a sprinter? Marathon runners look brittle, weak and frail. They hold limited muscle mass and can sometimes look under weight. It's certainly not a look that I'd like for the beach. Sprinters are strong, powerful and athletic. A look I'd love for the beach. Sprinting recruits a huge proportion of muscles and uses them in a dynamic way. If you use it you don't lose it, which is why sprinting is great for providing a cardio workout and maintaining or even increasing lean mass. Cardio unfortunately has the opposite effect. So if getting ultra lean is your goal, ditch the 5 km or 10 km runs and replace it with a sprinting session. Try this workout: 2 x 80 metre sprints with walk back recovery / 3 mins rest 4 x 60 metre sprints with walk back recovery / 3 mins rest 6 x 40 metre sprints with walk back recovery / 3 mins rest 8 x 20 metre sprints with walk back recovery / 3 mins rest 1 x 400 metre run / REST This session will have you aching like crazy another way to show how muscularly fatiguing sprinting actually is :-) 3) Optimize Your Carb Intake Eat according to your current insulin sensitivity... If your 25% body fat or above and still eating porridge for breakfast and thinking your eating well , you need to get a grip Poor insulin sensitivity and a high carb intake (especially in the morning), is going to drastically hinder your progress. Everyone is unique, this is why I hate fitness magazines recommending diets for the masses. Everyone is unique and should be treated individually.
