No Gym Abs | Fitness | Nutrition | Cirencester Personal Trainer
Watch your diet:
You’ve probably heard the expression ‘abs are made in the kitchen, and this is actually one of the few fitness quotes that is true.
Having visible abs is almost solely down to your overall level of body fat, and the biggest influence on this is your diet. To lose fat and get lean, you need to be eating fewer calories than you are burning each day, forcing your body to burn stored body fat for energy.
Aim to eat 300-400 calories less – on average – that you are using each day as a starting point.
Don't overdo cardio:
High intensity interval training, better known as HIIT cardio, has become very fashionable in the past few years, with some coaches advocating you do this or another form of cardio every day of the week.
If you want to lose weight and keep it off, this isn’t the way to go about doing so. It is unrealistic to train every day and can quickly lead to burn out or injury.
Instead, start with 2-3 cardio sessions each week and, when your rate of fat loss slows, you can start introducing further sessions to your schedule.
Invest in some weights:
We’ve all got a friend who doesn’t work out and still has abs, but compare their abs to an athlete like Michael Phelps or Cristiano Ronaldo. An athlete has deeper, more defined abs because they have built muscle around their abs and core, as well as having a low overall body fat.
So to build muscle, you need to put the body under enough stress to make it adapt and, after 4-6 weeks of resistance training, bodyweight alone is usually not enough.
At this point, invest in a set of adjustable dumbbells that go up to around 20kg each. Of course, if you want a top notch home gym, also invest in an Olympic bar, squat rack and adjustable bench – with this set up you can effectively hit every muscle group!
Ditch the crunch:
Doing endless crunches will only lead to a strained neck – not a chiselled midriff.
Compound or multi-joint exercise such as squats, deadlifts and even bench presses will engage your core and build more muscle here than unweighted ab exercises.
Try doing two weighted full body workouts each week and include one weighted ab exercise such as weighted crunches – try three sets of 12 reps – and one unweighted ab exercise such as bicycle crunches – try three sets of 20 reps – in both workouts, you will soon start to create deep, defined abs.
Try Tabata:
Tabata is a quick and effective form of cardio when you are pressed for time. Only taking four minutes per round, it is a killer workout and burns a high amount of calories both during and after the workout.
It works equally well for cardio such as running or cycling as it does for bodyweight exercises such as burpees or mountain climbers – so give it a go next time you think you don’t have time to work out and this will get you on the way to creating a solid six pack.
For all personal training enquires email: info@apexathletic.co.uk
Apex Athletic - Cirencester Personal Trainer
Unit 7 - Esland Place
Love Lane
Cirencester
GL7 1YG
Comments