Surprise abs training mistakes to avoid
If you’re interested in discovering some areas
where you may be going wrong in your abs training and your attempts at
losing stomach fat, I have an interview for you below that you’ll want
to read.
In it, Men’s Health Magazine writer Craig
Ballantyne, grills Abs-Expert Mike Geary, author of the internationally
popular book, The Truth about Six Pack Abs, on the topic of abs
training and the biggest myths and mistakes he sees in this field.
Also, be sure to check out Mike’s site at:
Here’s a copy of the first half of the interview
below. In this part of the interview today, we’ll just deal with
training aspects.
In a couple days, I’ll send out the rest of the
interview, which Craig and Mike covered the nutrition aspects we need
to consider to lose stomach fat and get those hidden abs to show. Enjoy!
CB: Okay Mike, so where does the average man or woman go wrong when it comes to training abs?
MG: Most people are probably going to be
surprised with this answer. In their quest for ‘six pack abs’, the
biggest mistake I see people making is wasting WAY too much of their
time training their abs directly… pumping away with all kinds of
different abs-specific exercises.
I’m sure you know what I’m referring to. The
person is trying so hard to get those abs to show, that they’re
spending almost all of their time in the gym with hundreds of reps of
various crunches, leg raises, twisting exercises, etc. Meanwhile, all
of that wasted time directly training the abs could have been better
spent on a properly designed full body workout program that would
elicit a much better metabolic response and increase the fat-burning
hormone levels in their body as well.
After all, losing the stomach fat that is
covering the abs is the MOST important aspect for most people to
finally be able to make their abs visible. Unfortunately, pumping away
with hundreds of crunches and leg raises does NOT cause much of a
metabolic or fat burning hormonal response.
This is the main focus of my Truth about Six Pack
Abs book… full body training programs and proper nutrition to strip
off that stubborn belly fat and reveal the six pack that’s hiding
underneath!
Of course it wouldn’t be an abs book if I didn’t
focus on ab development too, but I make sure firstly that the most
important concepts for lasting body fat reduction are understood.
CB: Do you see any gender differences in mistakes they make? And more
importantly, do you see any gender differences in the response to
various types of ab training?
MG: To be honest, I don’t really see any need for
men or women to train differently. Bottom line… the best exercises
are the best exercises regardless of gender.
However, in regards to mistakes I see between
genders… Yes, I tend to see women more often are deathly afraid to
use weight training with anything but really light weights. That is a
shame, because THE most effective way to gain control over your body
fat for life, is to maximize your lean muscle that your body carries,
as well as working that muscle hard through intense resistance exercise
regularly.
It’s important for women to realize that regular
strength training using heavier resistance will NOT "bulk them up" (as
long as caloric intake is controlled), but rather is one of the key
secrets for losing body fat and staying lean year-round. As a matter of
fact, some of the leanest females that I’ve trained over the years are
the ones that aren’t afraid to work hard with the weights.
I also notice that most women (and a lot of guys
too) spend way too much time with slow cardio exercise. This is simply
not necessary, and the way I combine high intensity resistance training
into full body routines provides enough of a "cardio" workout in itself
usually. We’ll get back to this in a minute though.
CB: What about ol’ school sit-ups? Do you use these? Are they good, bad, or does it "depend"?
MG: Sit-ups are a controversial topic. I don’t
think they’re good or bad per se, but rather "in between". I didn’t
include them in my program. I simply don’t feel they are necessary, and
I think there are much more effective abs exercises to focus on.
Personally, I almost never do sit-ups except occasionally for a little
variety every now and then.
CB: Give us a weekly sample ab training program. How many days per
week? What are a couple of the best exercises you’d pick? How many
sets? Reps? Rest?
MG: Well, first I’d like to point out that the
full body movements that make up the majority of my programs indirectly
work the abs and the entire "core" area to a fairly decent extent.
However, I do include abs-specific exercises into the routines
generally about twice per week. The "abs-specific" portion of the
workouts generally only take about 5 minutes at most with very little
rest between exercises.
Once people are past the beginning phase of
gaining some initial ab strength, I try to get them away from the
exercises that are too easy, where someone can do 50 or 100 reps, as is
frequently common with standard crunches. Instead, I like to focus on
higher resistance exercises that actually stimulate the muscle fibers
to a much greater degree.
One example of a higher resistance abs exercise
is hanging leg raises with a proper "pelvic curl up". It’s funny but
usually someone that has been wasting so much time with hundreds of
reps of crunches can usually only do a few solid reps when they first
attempt some of these higher resistance exercises.
We also make sure not to neglect some rotational
movements, as well as some work for the deeper muscles like the
transversus abdominis.
CB: What do you use for burning fat, intervals or slow cardio? Or both?
Any gender differences here? Or differences between fitness levels
(beginner vs. advanced)?
MG: In most cases, my answer is definitely
intervals… or as I like to call it "variable intensity training". In
general, I think slow steady pace cardio is a waste of time, especially
if the goal is lasting fat loss.
I think people need to get away from this
thinking about "fat burning zones" and calories burned during the
actual workout, and look at the bigger picture of what you’re doing in
your workout to stimulate the greatest metabolic response in your
body… and the best metabolic and hormonal response is achieved
through variable intensity training and strength training, not slow
steady-pace cardio.
Now I will say that if someone is really
deconditioned and can’t handle higher intensity exercise routines just
yet, this still doesn’t mean that they can’t simply use lower intensity
routines, but still use it in a "variable intensity" fashion, by
alternating between higher and lower exertion levels throughout the
workout.
That wraps up our training portion of the
interview. For more info about whether the Truth about Six Pack Abs
Program is right for you, be sure to check out the following site:
