Again, you'll see a lot of guys doing 100's of crunches and situps every day. For one, this is ineffective, and two, it's overtraining. It is very easy to overtrain your abs since many don't think of ab training like they do training their chest. Next, you don't want big abs that stick out like a pot belly. You want flat abs with deep lines in between them.



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You shape up your abdominals by doing abdominal exercises such as crunches (for the upper abdomen) and leg raises (for the lower abdomen).

Now that we know what the rules to getting nice abs are, lets see how to put all of the information above together in a plan that would suit well for a beginner and a person whose goal is to be toned and in shape.

[The Workout]



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You lose body fat by:

Nutrition
Following a good nutrition program that consists of 40-45% Carbs, 40-35% Protein, 20% Good Fats. (Visit this site http://www.physique-engineering.com/ and click on the nutrition link at the navigation bar in order to get information on nutrition basics).

You can do all of the sit-ups in the world and you will not be able to get nice abs if your abdomen is covered by a thick layer of fat. (Note: The percentages I gave above are the ones that I have found that work best for people that tend to be overweight. These may not be the best percentages for people that tend to be skinny but then again this article is not about bulking up).

Weight Training
Depending on your experience level and goals, this may mean three full body sessions of dumbbell work at home (for beginner or somebody that just wants to be toned) or six training sessions of heavy bodybuilding training with supersets and the whole nine yards (for an advanced bodybuilder).

"Why weight training?", some may ask. There are many reasons for this. First of all, why have great abdominal muscles and carry them with a less than shapely and toned frame? It's like having really expensive and beautiful art works in the leaving room framed with a torn and old frame.

Regardless of what infomercials claim, the only way to tone and shape your body is weight training. No aerobic machine is capable of doing that no matter how many muscles it involves and exercises.

Also, by allowing you to get extra muscle mass, weight training permanently increases your metabolism. (Don't worry ladies, you will not get like Dave Draper or Arnold Schwarzenegger if you don't want to by accident. It takes a lot of food and HEAVY training to get that to happen. Besides, women do not have the testosterone levels necessary to be able to attain such a high degree of muscle mass e.g. 20 inch arms).

Cardiovascular Exercise
In addition, cardiovascular exercise on an empty stomach first thing in the morning performed in your fat burning zone also aids in the battle against fat. The fat burning zone is the zone at which you are doing enough work to burn fat.

Why exercise first thing in the morning? You burn 300% more body fat if you exercise (this applies to both cardio and weight training) first thing in the morning than opposed to exercising at any other time.

Drink only water before, during and after the training sessions. If you want to burn more fat, do not eat anything until an hour after the training session has ended.



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Frequently we sometimes get asked the question "How can I get a nice set of abs?" also "I do a thousand sit-ups a day but I still cannot see my abs. What's wrong with me?"

Before we go to the answer of the two questions above, lets examine the conditions that enable us to see our abdominal muscles.

• In girls a percentage of body fat of 12-13% and in guys a percentage in the 6-8% range enables the visibility of such muscles. Therefore, visible abdominal muscles come as a result of low body fat levels.

• Shapely abdominal muscles come as a result of abdominal exercises.

How do we get to attain the two conditions above in order to be able to show off our abs? By ensuring that please read the following posts of rules.



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