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Bodybuilding
Program Basics
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Isolated Muscle Training
Beach
Body Abs by
Nathan Boyd
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!
About the Author
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!
http://www.weightloss-cookies.com
weightloss@weightloss-cookies.com
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