Best Bodybuilder

Beach Body Abs

Beach Body Abs

With the return of warm weather in the spring, thoughts can never be too far behind of the approaching summer and the many wonderful outdoor activities that we'll often associate with it and among our top favorite summertime activities will always be the trip to the beach. Warm blue skies, refreshing ocean breezes, hot sand, cool waves and the many attempts at constructing the perfect sand castle; you can swear you're almost there just thinking of it. But that mental image just wouldn't be complete without also including images of hard, bronze bodies in attractive swimsuits soaking up the sun. Let's face it, attractive physiques will always be a top draw at the beach and the abs, or midsection, is the first thing that everyone notices.

But showing off beach body caliber abs certainly don't come easy. Successful ab training is a combination of a healthy, lean diet, consistent cardio work, and a comprehensive abdominal training plan. While all of that may sound daunting, it is certainly within your ability to attain a chiseled midsection that other beach goers will positively ogle at, and you certainly still have enough time to do so. This article will provide you with the steps you'll need to take to help you look your beach-body best.

Diet

The first thing you're going to have to change will be your diet. It goes without saying that even if you had the best abs in the world, it will still look pretty ordinary if a layer of bodyfat covers it. Diet plays a crucial role in defining your midsection so some modifications will be required in order for your body to look it's best. To begin with, get into the habit of using a diet log to keep track of your meals. Everyone is less likely to cheat when they know they have to write down everything they've eaten each day. An elaborate journal isn't necessary either; a simple notepad can work just fine. Also, begin switching to six small meals a day now instead of three larger ones to help rev up your metabolism as well as prevent the stretching of the stomach and the abdominal walls which occurs when one gorges themselves in food.

Next, you'll want to start creating a slight caloric deficit each day to help burn away the bodyfat. It is recommended that you work on losing only a pound or two, a week, of bodyfat. The weekly loss of any more weight than this, for the typical person, probably includes substantial amounts of water weight and muscle tissue and can wreck havoc on your metabolism. Remember, it's the bodyfat that's covering your abs that you'll want to lose so a good rule of thumb is to cut back your daily energy requirements by only around 500 calories a day.

Now if you're not sure what your daily energy requirements are for your current bodyweight (or the amount of calories you will have to consume each day to stay at your current weight), you can use this easy-to-remember formula as a guide. To estimate your daily total caloric needs, multiply 24 times 1.0 (if you're a man) or 0.9 (if you're a woman) by each kilogram of bodyweight you weigh. Then multiply that result by 1.7 (for a moderately active man) or 1.6 (for a moderately active woman).

(Men) 1.7 x 24 x 1.0 x bodyweight (in kg)

(Women) 1.6 x 24 x 0.9 x bodyweight (in kg)

To determine how many kilograms you weigh, divide your bodyweight in pounds by 2.2. Remember though that this formula is only a guide. It is highly recommended that you use the formula as a starting point, and then pay close attention to your body in order to fine-tune your calories according to how your body responds to your efforts. Look at your body in a mirror, if it doesn't appear (or feel) as if your body is losing any weight after a week or two, then reduce the amount of calories you ingest even more.

Cardio

You'll next want to start including cardio (aerobic exercises) into your weekly routine. There are few short-term options that can burn calories and strip away the bodyfat better than sessions of aerobic activities. It is no coincidence that even top-level bodybuilders will steadily increase their cardio workouts as a contest approaches to help really bring out their muscle definition. Begin by working out 3-4 times per week for 20 to 30 minutes at a time on a treadmill or a stationary exercise bike. Then work your way up to more intense sessions of at least moderate intensity for 45 minutes or longer by weeks 3 and 4. The last few weeks before you hit the beach, you'll want to include interval training into your routine to really help blast away the last few pounds of bodyfat.

Exercise

Spot-reducing your way to abdominal definition is a myth. It is impossible to localize fat loss over any one specific area of your body and is the reason why it is important for you to also watch your diet and include aerobic training if you truly wish to showcase some beach-body abs. But the inclusion of some solid abdominal training is still important for great abs. Strengthening the abdominal wall will tone and help reduce, if not prevent, any unnecessary sagging of the belly. Also, abdominal workouts will certainly develop the muscles of the ab (particularly the rectus abdominus and the external obliques) and enable them to easily become more visible, sharper and tight.

While there are literally hundreds of abdominal exercises to choose from, it is important that several considerations are first kept in mind before performing any of them. First, it is strongly recommended that you learn how to focus on feeling the contraction of your abs when exercising and really squeeze the muscle at the top of any rep. There are many individuals out there who lay claim to performing several hundred sit-ups per day, but it is the quality that counts here and not necessarily the quantity. Become more efficient when performing your abdominal exercises and allow the muscle do the work and do not use the mechanical involvement of other bodyparts or even momentum to help swing the body in order to complete any reps. Additionally, make sure that you maintain continuous tension while performing your reps and never allow your body to rest at the bottom of a movement. Finally, be sure to breathe in during the relaxation phase of your movements and exhale during the contraction phase of the reps.

Having now prepared yourself, choose three exercises to perform for your abs and complete 2 sets, of 15 - 20 reps on each exercise, three times a week. Once again, focus on squeezing the muscle at the top of the movement and go in a slow, deliberate manner during each repetition. Recommended abdominal exercises for beginners during their first week would be crunches (with legs supported on a bench), seated twists, and knee-ups or lying leg raises. As the next few weeks progresses and your conditioning improves, you will need to increase the intensity factor for the abs to really shine. Begin by increasing the number of sets of each exercise from two to three and then add additional, more advanced, movements to allow for up to five exercises for your abs. Recommended abdominal exercises during this stage could include reverse crunches, crunches on an incline board, vertical leg raises, medicine-ball twists and decline-bench twisting crunches. You literally have from hundreds of movements to choose from. During the last two weeks before you hit the beach, begin cutting back on the rest time between your sets and also start to include supersets of your exercises in which you complete one set of each exercise without stop.

While there are still other factors that could be included for consideration of your ab training, consistently eating a lean diet, performing cardio work and exercising your abs with sufficient intensity will always remain at its core. Put in the work on those three tenets of abdominal development and you'll be sure to possess a beach-body that will look great in a bathing suit and absolutely turn heads this summer!

Nathan Boyd is author of the highly rated ebook, "The Fitness Lifestyle" and the current Director of Pro Fitness of Texas. Nathan encourages everyone in their pursuit of becoming physically fit and maintaining it for a lifetime. All questions and comments are always welcomed!

Ways To Finally Get That Six Pack Of Your Dreams!

If you want to know ways to finally get that six pack of your dreams then you have come to the right place. In this article you are going to learn three really important things to get six pack abs. If you follow the advice in this article for just thirty days you will notice a huge improvement to the way your abs look. You will first notice your belly fat starting to go away and then you will start to see some ab muscles replacing the belly fat that was once there. Try to commit to at least thirty days of following the advice below!

1-Lower Your Body Fat Percentage

I know some of you might be thinking this is obvious, but most people actually spend the majority of their time focusing on training their abs instead of focusing on lowering their body fat percentage.

If you can get your body fat into the single digits your abs will begin to show naturally without you having to do any exercises. Obviously you still want to exercise but if you had to choose between having a healthy diet or working out, then choosing to have a healthy diet would be much more important. There are many ways you can lower your body fat percentage. The other two tips in this article will greatly help.

2-Control Your Ab Exercises

This is one of the biggest mistakes I see people in the gym make. They think if they want to get the most out of their workouts they should do as many reps as they possibly can. They sacrifice the quality of the exercise just to get a few more reps in.

When you perform exercises like crunches and sit ups it is not about how many reps you can do, the most important thing is to focus on the quality of those reps. If you go three seconds up and three seconds down you will get a much better workout in.

3-Make Sure You Do Cardio

Cardio is one of the best ways to get your body in shape and lower your body fat percentage. A lot of people don't do it because they feel like it takes too long but if you do it properly i doesn't have to take any longer than twenty minutes. If you feel like you don't have time just try waking up 20 minutes earlier to hop on the treadmill. You don't even have to jog, doing a fast paced walk will work perfectly fine!

I know putting together a healthy diet and exercise program can be tough, especially if you have no idea what you are doing. If you feel like you don't know how to properly design a diet and workout program I have already designed one for you!

Just click http://howtobuildabs.org and read the article on the homepage. You will have to "unlock" the content to get it but all you have to do is click any of the share buttons.

Good luck guys, I know you will enjoy it!

What Every Beginner Should Know About Body Building

When you first begin to bodybuild, don't become overwhelmed. You should definitely have an exercise plan before you hit the weights. Plan ahead to ensure you get the desired results. In fitness magazines, websites and books that can guide a beginner like you to make your own exercise routine plan, there are lots of information found. Consider what will help while at the gym.

A beginning bodybuilder should not attempt exercises that a professional bodybuilder engages in. Beware, some of the routines can leave you wiped out from overworking your core muscle groups. Instead of doing anything so complicated, try doing simple exercises, appropriate to your condition. with dumbbells and a bench. It is a wise idea to do a full body workout three times a week and then rest for 24 hours after that; as opposed to exercising 5 days a week.

The dumbbell bench press, dumbbell curls, dumbbell squats, leg extensions, and lying leg curls might be available in the whole body workout. You can get started in bodybuilding by using light weight and only doing about 10 reps per set. Beginners shouldn't overdo; stick to two sets per exercise until you understand your body better. That is the time you can increase the load, if you feel your body is now comfortable with the routines. Increasing your weight in increments is vital as to not shock your body with sudden increase.

Here are some additional tips when beginning bodybulding. In addition to exercising, it's required to improve your lifestyle and get enough sleep to have the desired results. Before starting a bodybuilding program, smokers should quit smoking in order to get the full benefits of the new exercise program. Another factor in muscle building is a good eight hours of sleep.

If you are after getting that perfect looking body then you cannot ignore nutrition. A true commitment to this includes monitoring your diet, and in particular your daily protein intake. You will need to eat one gram of protein per the desired weight you wish to achieve. Expect an intake of one gram of protein per pound of muscle you wish to achieve. Except from that you also need a schuduled meal time. Your muscles will be aided in eating a food rich in proteins one hour after each workout. Moreover, eating a snack for a bit before starting a routine will give your muscles the specific energy needed for performing your exercise.

These are just a few of the ways that you can start bodybuilding today. As you won't have much experience, the first thing to learn is the basics, so that you don't shock your body. If you fill out some kind of planner you will be able to stay on track with your workouts and in other areas of your life as well. Your dream body can only be achieved by eating and sleeping right.