By Mike Navin, CSCS
30-minuteworkout.com
Admit it. You look at those abs on that male Adonis or female Goddess on the beach and think "Wow. I really wish I had a set of those." You're not alone. For the most part, people view the elusive six-pack as the gold standard of looking fit.
Want to know one way you're not going to get them? Doing crunches.
First, do you know any movement (well, almost any movement) that you do on a daily basis that looks like a crunch? For the most part, no.
Second, you use your abs in more ways that what you think. Go ahead and squat down. Guess what? You were just using your abs. You'd have to contract your abs when you lower yourself or, you'd fall over and hit your head.
When you do pushups, you have to contract those abs in order to hold your body in a straight line. Stand up from sitting down and again, the abs have to work in order to stabilize your body.
Let's not forget that as much as we want that six-pack for aesthetic reasons, more importantly we should want it to have a healthy midsection and to help support the spine. This is going to go along way in helping prevent other injuries to areas of your upper and lower extremities.
So what are some exercises that you can do for the abs that aren't crunches?
One of the best exercises is called a Plank. Get down into a pushup position but rest yourself on your forearms and your toes instead of your hands and your toes. Keep your body in a straight line. No slouching, and no sticking your butt up in the air. Hold that position for 30-60 seconds.
If you want to make it harder, rest your arms on a stability ball.
A second exercise is a Side Plank. It's the same concept as the Plank, but you're going to turn your body to the side and rest yourself on your forearm (which is facing straight ahead of you) and on the side of your foot, with the other foot resting on top of the foot that is on the ground. Like the Plank, you need to keep your body in a straight line from your foot to your forearm with no slouching.
Lastly, remember, you're not going to see those abs unless you burn that fat that is covering it up. Which means, you need to get your eating in order, do interval training, and follow an overall fat burning workout.
The 30-Minute Workout offers all of that with 90 day workout plans (with no crunches…) that have different versions no matter if you've never trained in your life, have been training a few months, or have been training for 20 years.
Take a read of what others are saying about the workouts:
"I was nervous that I would not be able to do a lot of the exercises due to a particular knee injury (I was wrong!). I could feel myself becoming stronger as the classes continued, being able to hold certain moves longer, being able to push myself further, visible muscle tone in my quads and abs and arms also! Quite pleasantly surprised!! I would recommend it to anyone who is open minded to exercise, someone who wants to do a different type of workout, and is ready for results! I like the fact that Mike shows you different 'levels' of certain exercises you can do, so a lot of different fitness levels can participate."
- Carrie Cox, Southgate, Michigan
Get started now with the 30-Minute Workout:
Mike Navin, CSCS
Author, 30-minuteworkout.com
About the Author.
Get a FREE copy of the Ten Lean Body Training Realities report along with three FREE workouts at www.30-minuteworkout.com. Mike is a Strength and Conditioning Specialist and has been helping people for the last ten years burn body fat, lead healthier lives, and get them the body that they want. His 30 minute workouts are designed to burn calories not only during the workout but more importantly afterwards. To learn more, visit
http://bit.ly/zhnAe9.
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