Get Six Pack Abs Without Lower Back Pain

Lots of fitness enthusiasts swear by ab exercises such as crunches, ab machines, and sit ups. Little do they know how much damage these types of exercises do to your lower spine. Even ab exercises that you think are effective may not be as effective as you thought.

For example I thought that doing crunches on an exercise ball would prevent lower back pain since your body has more range of motion than doing them on the floor. But even crunches on an exercise ball will stretch your back out of shape over time.

Then there are lower ab exercises such as reverse crunches that seem like a good idea since you are moving your lower body rather than your upper body. These are no good for your lower spine either. Just about any ab exercise that involves contracting your spine is not good for your back.

Think about it. The more you bend your back and stretch it the more pain you will develop over time. This is why everyone always says to have good posture like a soldier even if you have a desk job.

Exercises that isolate the abs will make matters worse. The truth about six pack abs is that you don't need to do a single ab exercise although they can certainly help. But before I get into the few effective ab exercises I recommend I want to explain something.

You can get six pack abs with just diet, compound exercises, and cardio. There is no need for so-called effective ab exercises. The most important aspect here is diet. You cannot expect to eat a lot of junk food and have ripped abs. You have to eat clean almost all of the time. Abs are built in the kitchen.

The key to six pack abs is lowering your body fat while preserving the muscle mass. This is done by eating healthy natural foods like lean meats, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and beans. You can allow yourself some cheat meals each week but it should only be done in moderation.

You want to get plenty of protein, healthy fats, and carbs in your diet to fuel your body for your workouts. Sure you may have to sacrifice taste to look good in a bathing suit but it will be well worth it once you start to see the results in the mirror. Nothing tastes as good as looking sexy.

Now that you understand diet is the most important part of building a six pack let's talk about proper exercise. The main exercises you should be performing are compound exercises such as squats, dead lifts, lunges, chin ups rows, chest presses, and shoulder presses. Performing such exercises is known as resistance training.

Resistance training is important because you want to keep your hard earned muscle while losing the belly fat. Cardio is what will really help you burn the fat. So with these two types of exercise in mind I will now explain the two strategies in which to perform your workouts.

You can either perform resistance training and cardio separately. Or you can combine the two into what is known as circuit training which I highly recommend for people who have little time to work out.

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Get a Great Body at Home Without Weights - Home Workout for Men

Most people think you need to go to the gym to get a fit athletic body, but that is not true. I do not know why people tell themselves such things, is it just another excuse because you actually do not seriously want to get in shape? Let me tell you something if you want a great beach ready in shape body and you want to feel good and look good then that is possible but it's all up to you. Are you willing to put in the work and effort to get in great shape? Yes, then read on. This information is not for people who want to look like fitness model, bodybuilders or get buffed up, for that you need weights.

I am going to share with you a whole bunch of exercises you can do at home that will target your whole body and help you shed fat, gain some muscle, get some definition, get stronger and healthier.
So first up for your chest, arms as well as strength you are going to do push-ups. Yes, this is an ancient exercise but it still works and at first you will suck at them but with time and practice you will get better at doing then and get stronger.

At the beginning you will do the normal shoulder width push-ups, as you become stronger and get better at them to target growth on your chest you will do decline push-ups and later incline/stability push-ups on a medicine ball. You could have a day of push-ups or mix them with other exercise if you are into whole body exercises. You can also try placing your hands closer to get when doing the push-ups to make them more difficult.

Pull-ups are the other very effective exercise for your body, they target your back muscles but also workout your arms and give you strength over time as lifting your own bodyweight is no easy task for most people. At first you can try pull-ups shoulder width apart on a bar that is a little taller then you or on a tree brunch you can grip or you can always buy yourself and pull-up bar to attach to your door. You can try the pull-ups with your palms facing you first because those are the easy ones that tend to use some bicep, you can try the other version with your palms facing away from you as you get stronger.

Also when you can do about 20-25 reps for 3-4 sets then you can try experimenting with the widths to create different levels of difficulty, for example wide grip pull-ups and close grip pull-ups. If you get used to your own bodyweight and you want to take things up a notch carry a heavy bag on your back and do weighted pull-ups that should be really effective.

For your legs you can do lunges lots of them since you are not carrying weights or you could do jumping squats, also a lot of them so you feel the effect. Also you could carry your kid/sibling/gym partner on your shoulders behind you head as you would a weight and do squats using them as a weight. This should help you get defined legs, if you want defined calves you could go up and down using your toes to raise you, carrying a manageable weight like the example of squats.

If you are looking to burn fat you can do some interval sprinting, which is a great leg exercise and gives you explosive power. You can also run around dragging a tire attached to your waist that is a great way to develop powerful legs.

For abs there are multiple abs exercises you can do, most abs exercises are done without weights or machines anyways. Sit-ups, planks, side planks, crunches, bicycles, the jack-knife exercise, v-ups, hanging leg raises just to name a few.

You have seven days a week if you really do not have time you can do one of these exercise per day but if you do have time consider combining a few and train every other day. Doing these exercises should get you into great shape.

If you want to learn more about working out checkout Zulu Muscle Express

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Home Workout Without Weights

The idea of getting an effective may be challenged by media and other emphasis on special gadgets for exercise...

This era that we are living in could be summed up in fitness terms as the infomercial era. While many of the products can be very beneficial, most require equipment.

A is not only possible, but convenient and safe. A home workout can be tailored for as short or as long a time as you desire. At home or in a hotel room, the options of what you do are simply endless.

Some major fitness points to follow when constructing your include:
• A warm up to elevate body temperature and prevent injury
• Flexibility exercises both dynamic (controlled movement) and static (passive) with very limited motion. Beware of ballistic (bouncy or jerky) movements.
• Cardio exercise (running in place, jumping jacks)
• Strength exercises (push- ups, crunches, chair dips)
• Cool down (slow walking in place and light stretching)

Your should be constructed in accordance with the FITT principle:

Frequency: How much time and how fast or slow you can do your workout

Intensity: How many repetitions and how fast or slow you can do your workout. This will vary depending upon the fitness level that a person is at who is doing the exercise routine

Time: How much time you have or how long you are able to do your workout. As you progress with your routine your stamina and ability to perform the exercises for longer periods will also increase

Type: What is the emphasis of any particular exercise program.

Example for one week:

Frequency - I have 20 minutes free time on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Intensity - Monday - low key. Wednesday - As many reps as fast as you can. Friday - Low key.

Time - 20 min. Five minutes moving from one exercise to another with little or no rest. Five minutes explosive cardio. Five minutes calisthenics'. Five minutes deep slow breathing.

Type - Alternate between lower and upper body emphasis. For example; lower body would be squats and lunges. Upper body would be push-ups and various calisthenics.

A popular consists of: 5 minutes cardio and stretch followed by 45 eight count body builders and 5 minutes cool down, abdominals and stretch. Simple and Comprehensive.

A can be performed just about anywhere. Consistency is the key.

Fred Nicklaus is a National Champion martial artist and fitness trainer who has owned and operated martial arts and fitness programs for over 30 years. He teaches strength and fitness classes for young athletes, men, and women in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Visit http://www.combatendurancetraining.com to find out more about his 9 Minute core home workout and also to claim your FREE fitness video Visit his other websites at http://www.fitness-at-40.com

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Six Pack Workout: How to Kick Your Own Butt Without a Trainer

One of the worst things about trying to do a six pack workout in the Spring for me is the intensity of allergy season. Where I currently live, it's pretty much an all year occurrence, however it is especially brutal at this time of year (April) with all of the pollen in the air. I tend to get rather lazy and procrastinate when it comes to working out, as the allergy medicine I take makes me very sleepy. This six pack workout drill can be done inside or out which if you suffer allergies can take away an excuse not to exercise! In addition if you have children or neighborhood kids, invite them to do this exercise too, it really gets you moving.

In fact, this is an awesome way to introduce and encourage healthy habits. They will probably (children) be tired after this exercise as I normally am and I am a fit personal trainer. That is where you can mention how the fun they just had along with eating healthy can help them be healthy for life if they keep it up!

Six Pack Workout School Yard Run

For this six pack workout, you will need a fair amount of space, a large yard (we use an old school's play area) or a gym will work fine. Prior to starting, mark off 20 foot intervals with chalk or something that signifies a "stopping" point in a straight line. To start this six pack workout, do 10 push-ups and then sprint to your first line. At the first line, drop and do 20 crunches, then stand up and sprint to the second line. At this line you will do 50 flutter kicks, keeping your legs straight and no more than six inches off of the ground. Stand up again and sprint to the third line. Get on the ground and do 20 bicycle crunches, then stand and run to your 'finish' line, where you will do this plank move: from a plank position drop one elbow to the ground, then the other; raise back up to a plank push up position one arm at a time- do ten, then stand. You should now be at the finish line of the run area, but you aren't done yet! Sprint back to the start line and repeat this set of exercises three more times.

3 Variations To Switch Things Up

1) Instead of sprinting, use the crab crawl
2) Do jumping jacks instead of running
3) Jog backwards to each line

Something else you should consider doing is adding equipment or "props" to your stations. A couple of examples of these could be to use a balance ball at the crunches station or you can add a set of weights to the flutter kicks or bicycle crunches

Six Pack Workout Competition

If you have several people (or a lot of people/kids) divide into groups-fastest group done "wins".

If you decide to do this outside, check your workout area for any debris that people could get hurt on prior to starting.

This six pack workout is fun and it also gives you a good cardio workout for fat burning! I use this personally to not only bond with my children and let them have fun with their friends, however to promote exercise and show them it can be fun!

Childhood obesity is something that can easily be stopped by implementing fun ways to exercise with your children. This is especially true if you are a new mother trying to figure out how to lose baby weight before you pull your hair out! Your baby and children will love watching you exercise, and if they are old enough being included in these

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Get a Calorie Blasting Workout at Home Without Expensive Exercise Equipment

I love circuit workouts as a solution for people who haven't got much time to train. You move quickly from one exercise to another, each working different muscle groups, so one area of your body gets to rest while another area is doing its thing.

You can create your own circuit workout at home with little or no equipment. You get to choose the exercises, the music, when, where and how you do it. They can be designed for cardio/aerobic fitness or resistance training and can be very specific to your fitness goals. In short, circuits rock!

Think about what you'd like to get from your workout. To sweat it out and go for the burn you'll need to include lots of aerobic moves, or to build strength you'll need to think of exercises that work against resistance. Weights would be helpful for this, but not essential as there are lots of exercises that use lifting your own body weight against gravity to build strength.
Dust off that exercise bike, pump up that sagging Swiss ball, and roll out those old dumbbells. Assemble all the exercise equipment you've gathered over the years, or at least make a list of it.
Now list all the exercises you know how to do, both with any equipment you have or without. But only pick exercises you feel confident you'll be able to perform safely. Once you have your list, split it into four columns - arms and shoulders, legs and butt, chest and back, and stomach/core.
I'm going to recommend you do each of the exercises for two minutes, but you can, of course, increase or reduce this depending on your goals and the time you have available. I'm also going to suggest you repeat your entire circuit of exercises three times. Now you need to divide up your available time. If you're sticking with the three laps of the circuit and two minutes at each exercise station, divide the duration of time you'd like your circuit to last by three to find the amount of time you have available for each "lap" of your circuit. Then divide that number by two to determine how many exercises to include in the circuit. So, if you'd like to create a 30 minute circuit session you'll have time for three 10 minute repetitions of your circuit, so you can include five exercises (two minutes for each). Again, this is just a suggestion, you should tailor your circuit to whatever meets your needs.
Once you know how many exercises you need to include you can go about creating your exercise stations. This may mean putting a piece of equipment in each corner of a room, in a row down the hall way, or even dashing from one room to another if you're really short of space. An exercise station could be just a mat on the floor where you'll do ab crunches or even just bits of paper placed on the floor naming the exercise you'll do in that location. If you're aiming for a full body workout choose at least one exercise from each of the columns on your list. Otherwise tailor your exercise to whatever your aims are.
Place a clock where you can clearly see it, or better still set a timer to beep at two-minute intervals, so you know when to change stations. And go!

Tips:
As with any exercise session, always begin with a gentle warm up and end by gradually cooling down. You may want to devise a flexibility circuit to follow where you visit each of your exercise stations and stretch the muscles you worked there.
Safety first. Your exercise goals could come to naught if you get injured, so make sure all your exercises, equipment and locations are safe and suitable.
Exercises should be performed one after another with no breaks, so avoid working the same muscle in two consecutive exercises to allow it to rest.
Keep changing your circuit routine so it's stays challenging, in line with your goals, and fun.
If you know a lot of exercises you could devise several circuits to use on different days.
Don't be disheartened if it takes a little time to prepare your first circuit or it doesn't quite work as you'd hoped! Once you get good at this, you'll be able to quickly put together combinations of moves and really feel in control of your workouts.

Julia Buckley is one of Britain's top fitness writers. She is also a qualified fitness trainer and marathon runners. She publishes lots of beginner-friendly articles on exercise and fitness at her website, Fitness Rocks. On the site you will find a friendly fitness forum where Julia or one of her team of exercise professionals will answer your fitness questions and give advice on all things fitness.

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