Six-Pack Abs: A Quick, Concise Guide To Obtaining And Keeping Toned Abdominal Muscles.

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Stand up straight with your feet shoulder-width apart. Place your hands on your waist, and then slowly bend sideways at your waist, moving your upper body to the right. Return to the original position, and then repeat the movement on the left side. For a more rigorous workout, do this with your hands at your sides and a heavy object such as a jug of water your hand as you bend. Lie on your back with your legs elevated and your knees bent at a 45 degree angle and hip-width apart.

You may find it easiest to rest them on a flat surface such as a bench. Then, place your hands behind your head, and use your core to lift your head and shoulders off the floor, touching your right elbow to your left knee. Return to the original position, and then repeat the movement so that your left elbow touches your right knee. Exhale as you rise up, and inhale as you return to the starting position.

Lie down on the floor, bending your knees and placing your feet under a heavy object. Raise your upper body from the floor. Fully extend your arms, perpendicular to your torso, and twist your torso to one side while exhaling. Return to the starting position while inhaling. Repeat, twisting to the other side.

For a more rigorous workout, do this while holding a heavy object such as a jug of water, a sack of flour, or a large dictionary. Plank exercises are important for any abdominal muscle workout because they work all the ab muscles together, plus many other muscle groups. Keep your body in a straight line, making sure that your hips do not sag. Contract and pull in all the muscles around your middle, and do not let your belly drop. Hold for as long as you can. Keep your head relaxed and looking at the floor.

Keep a food and exercise journal. For any exercise program, a journal is a good way to keep track of your goals and whether or not you are meeting them. An exercise journal can help you see which areas of your diet and exercise regimen need improvement. Measure your waist circumference.

Since muscle weighs more than fat, these measurements will be more important indicators of your progress than pounds on the scale. Weekly measurements of your waist will keep you accountable and highlight the progress you've made. Relax your muscles and don't suck in your gut. Take before and after pictures. Since we look at ourselves in the mirror every day, it can be hard to notice our own overall progress without pictures. Take a photo of yourself every two weeks and compare it to the previous photographs. The changes you see will help keep you motivated. Sit ups and leg raises from a hanging position are highly effective at building the muscle bulges between the tendons of the rectus abdominus, which define an eight pack.

Not Helpful 13 Helpful The amount of time it takes to get muscle definition in the abdominal area depends on your starting body composition. Assuming you have little fat covering your torso, performing ab exercises 3 times a week, will show results in weeks. To see the definition of the tendons between the rectus abdominus muscles, you must have very little fat covering that area. In fact, you may have well defined muscles in the abs but they will not show if there is any fat covering them.

Not Helpful 17 Helpful By child, do you mean below the age of 12? Yes, some children can, in fact, have a six pack. Not Helpful 20 Helpful How much time will it take to get six packs by doing these exercises?

Doing it well with a good diet, rest and consistency can take as little as three months. It may sound long but once you get there, your body will show its progress. Not Helpful 25 Helpful This depends on your metabolism, diet, reps, initial body fat, and genetics. If you are fairly low on body fat and just have to gain muscle, it can take 2 to 3 months of working out a few days a week.

If you have some extra pounds of fat, you should do cardio to lose the fat before you do abs. This is because the muscle gain will not burn the fat, but will create muscle beneath it, thus pushing out the fat and making it appear as though you have only gained more fat. Doing a large number of crunches and sit-ups each day, you'll start to see results in a couple of weeks.

Not Helpful 7 Helpful It can takes months. Just keep going no matter how long it takes. Eventually you will see results and you will be super happy with your body. Not Helpful 14 Helpful Yes, you should feel a burning sensation in your muscles while exercising. If your muscles are sore, give yourself a day or two to rest. Yes, it does in fact. If you jerk off in a uplifted crunch position, it will burn fat 10 times faster than regular crunches.

Not Helpful 40 Helpful To properly do a crunch your legs must be bent at an acute angle as you lie on the floor. When you come up you should roll up and feel like your torso is making a "c" shape, then you roll back down. Not Helpful 18 Helpful Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.

Already answered Not a question Bad question Other. By using this service, some information may be shared with YouTube. Tips Cardiovascular exercises and proper meal quantities can help you get a six pack as well.

Mix up your workouts. This will keep your body guessing, and prevent you from getting bored and giving up. You need to do cardio to lose the layer of fat protecting your 6 or 8 pack, so don't only focus on building your muscle but also on losing more fat. Your obliques are one of the fastest growing muscles and hardest to keep toned so do side planks to keep them toned as well.

If you are trying to lose a significant amount of belly fat, focus your efforts on diet and aerobic exercise first. Once you have lost the weight, begin doing abdominal exercises. This will help prevent the wasted effort of building abdominal muscles underneath a layer of fat. Warnings To avoid hurting your back, perform all abdominal exercises on a mat.

If you do not own a fitness mat, use a blanket or two. Do not overexert yourself. The goal is to feel a burn in your muscles, not pain. When doing lower-abdominal exercises, make sure to keep your lower back on the ground to avoid back injury. Talk to your doctor before beginning a new diet and exercise regimen, particularly if you have a pre-existing medical condition. Article Summary X To get a six pack without any equipment, first do exercises that target your lower abs, like leg lifts and torso twists. Did this summary help you?

Abdominal Exercises In other languages: Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 1,, times. Did this article help you? Cookies make wikiHow better.

By continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy. The results are very impressive! Thanks, the inspiration is on! MS Maninder Shankar Jan 3, Results may vary according to age, gender, body mass index, etc. SB Sammy Brown Apr 26, I admire six packs, so I would love to lose this gut. I've already noticed results. However, make sure that you are eating at least 1, calories if you're a woman, or 1, calories if you're a man. Get plenty of sleep. People who sleep less tend to develop fat in their mid-section. Although there are many possible reasons for this, the easiest way to avoid it is to sleep more.

Go to bed early, and make sure your room is comfortable for sleep. Reduce stress in your life. When you are stressed, your body releases hormones that tell you to store fat in your mid-section. Channeling stress better can help you avoid accumulating extra fat. Color in an adult coloring book. Go for a walk in nature. Play with your pet. Listen to calming music. Take an aromatherapy bath.

I'm recovering from sciatica. How do I improve my lower abdominal muscles? Perform your exercises using a modified range of motion, then identify which exercises you can do without aggravating your sciatica. For example, planks would be a good place to start, as they're less likely to bother your sciatica. Not Helpful 0 Helpful 1.

When I do an ab workout, I only feel pain in my neck.

Transform Your Tummy With These 8 Essential Tips!

Am I not doing enough ab workouts? If you feel pain in your neck, it doesn't necessarily mean you aren't doing enough ab workouts; you just need to find the right workout. You may also be doing something incorrectly, which is causing a stress on your neck. Not Helpful 1 Helpful 8. The only reason I want to do this is so I can wear a two part bathing suit to the pool without embarrassing myself, so can someone help me? Not Helpful 0 Helpful 2. If I get the body I've always wanted after doing workouts daily and I stop working out, will the toned body fade?

Your body watches what you do on a daily basis, throughout the weeks, and adjusts itself to that. Your skin will darken. Are you a diver - your heart and lungs will expand. A doctor exposed to coughs and sneezes all day? Your immune system will ramp up. So if you follow a weekly routine that resulted in the abs you wanted, you'll have to keep it up for as long as you want the abs. It will take several months, if not longer, for you to get a flat stomach.

Persistence is key when it comes to exercise! Not Helpful 1 Helpful 1. Can I only do plank workouts? Will it be effective and give me results? Planks will really help and they'll definitely be effective, but a varied workout is pretty much always the way to go. It just depends on how toned you want to be. Not Helpful 0 Helpful 0. When I do ab workouts, I have this terrible pain in my lower back like I cannot breathe.

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What should I do? First, stretch for minutes prior to beginning any ab workouts. If that doesn't help the problem, then start doing the ab workouts less often. If the issue continues, see a doctor to rule out any medical issues or injuries. Not Helpful 2 Helpful 0. Stand with your feet a hip's width apart. Hold a dumbbell straight out in front of your chest with both hands. Move your torso slightly and slowly begin to rotate your arms to the right as far as you can.

Pause, and then rotate in the opposite direction. Do 10 reps total. Not Helpful 3 Helpful 0. Your goal will provide you a stopping point if you don't want to do the activity any longer. However, it all depends on you. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. Already answered Not a question Bad question Other.

By using this service, some information may be shared with YouTube. You can work them with exercises that engage your pelvic floor muscles. Standing exercises work more muscles than those you do on the ground. They work your entire core, making them the better option for toning your abs.

Go slowly as you do your ab exercises.

Spend about seconds on each move, as this works your muscles more. Breathe properly by inhaling on the easy parts of each exercise and exhaling on the hard parts. Warnings Lead with your abs, not your chin, so that you don't strain your neck. Imagine that you have a small orange underneath your chin at all times so that there's a gap between your chin and chest. Beware that some abdominal exercises, such as those that rotate the spine, can cause strain to the lower back.

Stop the exercise at any sign of lower back pain.

Focus extra hard on keeping your lower back steady. Take Pilates classes to learn better ways to build lower back muscles. Upper Body Strengthening and Toning In other languages: Did this article help you? Cookies make wikiHow better. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy.

Transform Your Tummy With These 8 Essential Tips

A Anonymous Aug 15, I use to be proud of how I felt and looked. Now I'm ashamed and embarrassed. Reading this has given me hope that I can get back the body I had before I let myself go.

SB Steve Barnett May 31, EO Eva Odom Feb 16, This article has actually inspired me to be the best that I can be. AM Ashley Maddock Aug 16, Pictures help a lot. I plan to do these exercises. KW Karen Widiardhani Jan 26, JA Jeff Armitage Sep 25, MS Mainuddin Sharukh Nov 11, More success stories All success stories Hide success stories.

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