Every four years I can't wait to watch the competitions of the summer Olympics. The performance of each athlete is amazing in itself but another thing I am in awe of is the physique of these athletes-especially in the gymnast's and their abdominal development.
Although many gymnast are blessed with great genes I highly doubt they were born with amazing six pack abs. A chizzled mid-section takes a lot of work, even for an Olympic athelete.
Since these athletes have developed that sought after cut look, why then does no one seem to turn to them when they want to learn how to get ripped abs? This is clearly an oversight in the training and fitness community.
All you have to do is start your workout with three back flips everyday--okay, just making sure you're paying attention. Although we don't need to do everything a gymnast would do in their daily routine we should examine some of the workout regimine to see what we could bring into our own routines.
First, they dont perform traditional ab workouts. I have spent a great deal of time at several Olympic training centers, and I can tell you that I only saw them perform two direct ab exercises on a regular basis. These two exercises were:
1. The Hanging Leg Raise- Grasp a chin up bar with an overhand grip. Initiating movement with abs, raise your legs up until your shins are almost touching the chin up bar. Return in a controlled fashion until waist, hips, and knees are extended. Repeat for the prescribed number of reps.
2. The V-Sit Up- Lie down on the floor or mat with arms extended overhead. Raise torso and legs at the same time while reaching hands towards feet. Return body to starting position and repeat.
Olympic gymnasts work their abs directly and indirectly. The workouts listed above are direct workouts but they also work their abs indirectly with total body movements.
The take home lesson here is simple: we must perform full body movements that require our abs to stabilize our torso. These exercises never involve using a fancy seat, bench or back/chest support. Let me give you 3 examples of exercises that incorporate full body movements, so you can get started right away.
1. Forget the bench press for suspended push ups. When lying on your back on a bench, you are basically putting your abs to sleep. When you perform suspended push ups though the opposite is true. These are great because not only do they work your shoulders, triceps and chest, they also give you a great ab workout.
2. Lose the pulldown for chin ups. When you're sitting on the pulldown seat your abs aren't working at all but when you are actually doing a chin up your abs on fire!
3. Lose the leg press for tuck jumps. Tuck jumps on their own give you an amazing leg AND ab workout. When you use the leg press it's much like lying on a bench or sitting at the pulldown seat: your abs are not working. As if that's not bad enough no support is needed from your abs since the sled is on guiding rods that only allow linear movement.
In addition to working your abs better than most traditional ab exercises, these movements are much more time efficient because you basically kill two birds with one stone. Make the changes that I suggested today and learn how to get ripped abs faster than you thought was possible!
Although many gymnast are blessed with great genes I highly doubt they were born with amazing six pack abs. A chizzled mid-section takes a lot of work, even for an Olympic athelete.
Since these athletes have developed that sought after cut look, why then does no one seem to turn to them when they want to learn how to get ripped abs? This is clearly an oversight in the training and fitness community.
All you have to do is start your workout with three back flips everyday--okay, just making sure you're paying attention. Although we don't need to do everything a gymnast would do in their daily routine we should examine some of the workout regimine to see what we could bring into our own routines.
First, they dont perform traditional ab workouts. I have spent a great deal of time at several Olympic training centers, and I can tell you that I only saw them perform two direct ab exercises on a regular basis. These two exercises were:
1. The Hanging Leg Raise- Grasp a chin up bar with an overhand grip. Initiating movement with abs, raise your legs up until your shins are almost touching the chin up bar. Return in a controlled fashion until waist, hips, and knees are extended. Repeat for the prescribed number of reps.
2. The V-Sit Up- Lie down on the floor or mat with arms extended overhead. Raise torso and legs at the same time while reaching hands towards feet. Return body to starting position and repeat.
Olympic gymnasts work their abs directly and indirectly. The workouts listed above are direct workouts but they also work their abs indirectly with total body movements.
The take home lesson here is simple: we must perform full body movements that require our abs to stabilize our torso. These exercises never involve using a fancy seat, bench or back/chest support. Let me give you 3 examples of exercises that incorporate full body movements, so you can get started right away.
1. Forget the bench press for suspended push ups. When lying on your back on a bench, you are basically putting your abs to sleep. When you perform suspended push ups though the opposite is true. These are great because not only do they work your shoulders, triceps and chest, they also give you a great ab workout.
2. Lose the pulldown for chin ups. When you're sitting on the pulldown seat your abs aren't working at all but when you are actually doing a chin up your abs on fire!
3. Lose the leg press for tuck jumps. Tuck jumps on their own give you an amazing leg AND ab workout. When you use the leg press it's much like lying on a bench or sitting at the pulldown seat: your abs are not working. As if that's not bad enough no support is needed from your abs since the sled is on guiding rods that only allow linear movement.
In addition to working your abs better than most traditional ab exercises, these movements are much more time efficient because you basically kill two birds with one stone. Make the changes that I suggested today and learn how to get ripped abs faster than you thought was possible!
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