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| Photography: Ron Lai Trunk: Teron Model: Danie Dharma |
Everyone wants to have abs! Besides the fact that the girls just love it, one with abs can happily walk around in beaches without a shirt. As with many other aspects of looking good, a lot of people base their abs training regime on assumptions. "Just do 200 sit ups every day!" they would say. Fact is, it doesn't work that way. Doing sets and reps don't actually reveal your abs, they only strengthen them. Most people can't see their abs cos there is a layer of fat/subcutaneous tissues covering it.
Abs training
Abs are a muscle, just like biceps and chest etc. So I don't see a need to do any special training. Train them once or twice a week with 15 to 6 rep sets. Anything between 6 to 10 sets will do. Although you don't see your abs just by training them, you must train them so they look great once you strip off the fat.
Visibility of abs
You do not burn the fats/sub-q specifically from your abdominal area just by training the muscles there. There is no such thing as spot reduction of bodyfat! Think about it this way, you cant loose fats specifically from your toes, chin, left hand, right calf, or left buttock. Likewise from the belly. So how then? Fat is gained as a whole and lost as a whole. In order to see your abs, you got to work out your diet and spend some time doing cardio.
Cadio
"Run alot" is an advice commonly given to those who want to get lean. Its not just running that helps burn bodyfat. Any cardio exercise when performed for a sufficient period will suffice. The idea is to keep your body mobile until you use up all your blood sugar (immediate source of energy), causing your body to burn bodyfat once blood sugar runs out. Running, cycling, swimming, skipping, stair climbing, rowing and boxercise are some examples of cardio exercises. A typical cardio workout is to go to a gym and run about 30 to 40mins on a treadmill, then immediately get on the stationary bike for another 10 to 20mins. Cardio can also be done after weights training. You will be pretty tired to begin with, but the upside is a lot of blood sugar would already have been burnt during the weight training. Your body will go into fat burning faster! Note that cardio on its own is not the most effective means to lose bodyfat. A diet is the most important aspect of all this. Cardio greatly speeds up the process. If you burn 500 calories for example, but consume 1000 extra calories, you'll still gain bodyfat.
Abs training
Abs are a muscle, just like biceps and chest etc. So I don't see a need to do any special training. Train them once or twice a week with 15 to 6 rep sets. Anything between 6 to 10 sets will do. Although you don't see your abs just by training them, you must train them so they look great once you strip off the fat.
Visibility of abs
You do not burn the fats/sub-q specifically from your abdominal area just by training the muscles there. There is no such thing as spot reduction of bodyfat! Think about it this way, you cant loose fats specifically from your toes, chin, left hand, right calf, or left buttock. Likewise from the belly. So how then? Fat is gained as a whole and lost as a whole. In order to see your abs, you got to work out your diet and spend some time doing cardio.
Cadio
"Run alot" is an advice commonly given to those who want to get lean. Its not just running that helps burn bodyfat. Any cardio exercise when performed for a sufficient period will suffice. The idea is to keep your body mobile until you use up all your blood sugar (immediate source of energy), causing your body to burn bodyfat once blood sugar runs out. Running, cycling, swimming, skipping, stair climbing, rowing and boxercise are some examples of cardio exercises. A typical cardio workout is to go to a gym and run about 30 to 40mins on a treadmill, then immediately get on the stationary bike for another 10 to 20mins. Cardio can also be done after weights training. You will be pretty tired to begin with, but the upside is a lot of blood sugar would already have been burnt during the weight training. Your body will go into fat burning faster! Note that cardio on its own is not the most effective means to lose bodyfat. A diet is the most important aspect of all this. Cardio greatly speeds up the process. If you burn 500 calories for example, but consume 1000 extra calories, you'll still gain bodyfat.
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