The Ultimate Beach Body! Part 1: Abs



Posted: Tuesday, July 03, 2007

by Nathan P. Boyd
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1412004004/102-8356040-5778566

Question: What's the number one body part that people will associate with you possessing an ultimate beach body? If you guessed your glutes, arms or legs then guess again. It's your midsection and there is absolutely nothing else that will project the image of a lean, firm and sexy physique than a hard set of abs. Your abs, after all, highlight the visual center point for the body and whether we realize it or not, this is where our sight is inevitably drawn towards. And since the abdominal area is an area that will naturally store a large amount of bodyfat, particularly the lower abs area, a well-defined midsection becomes a defining signature of being in top condition.

To develop your abs, however, you will need to accomplish two separate tasks: strengthen the abdominal muscles themselves AND lose the bodyfat that surrounds them. Granted, losing the bodyfat in itself is the holy grail for most people who enter a gym and can be relegated to an inordinate number of books and articles of it's very own. But it has to be noted that losing bodyfat alone will not guarantee a chiseled, attractive midsection just as having the strongest abs in the world will not guarantee a defined six-pack as well. You're going to need both. This article will be focused solely on methods for developing sexy abdominal muscles that will attract the envy and attention of the other beach goers.

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 essential 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 to do the work and do not use the mechanical involvement of other body parts 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 to 20 reps, of each exercise, three times a week. The number one Beach Body Ab exercise I would recommend to begin with is Crunches. Granted, crunches may not be the most glamorous exercise available but make no mistake that they work beautifully in hardening that six-pack! Lying on the floor with your legs raised over a bench or Swiss Ball, curl your upper body up toward your knees so that your abs pulls your torso upwards. Squeeze your abs at the top and then slowly return to the bottom position but stop before your body is lying back down on the floor. From this new beginning position (an inch or two from the floor), you will be able to maintain that continuous tension on your abs and then proceed on to your next repetition.

Other recommended abdominal exercises for beginners during their initial weeks would also be side bends, knee-ups, or lying leg raises. As those first few weeks' progresses and your conditioning improve, you will find the 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.

Place this level of commitment into your abdominal training and you'll be sure to possess beach-body abs that will be tight, sharp and absolutely look stunning in a bathing suit this summer!

Nathan Boyd is the author of "Motivational Strategies Towards A Sensible Fitness Lifestyle!: There Are No Bad Chocolate-Chip Cookies"

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