Ripfast

Exercise No. 5: Straight Abdominal Crunches

2007-07-27T11:21:00Z

Exercise No. 5: Straight Abdominal Crunches

Lie back in a bent knee sit-up position with hands behind your head or touching your temples. In a controlled way, slowly lift your head and shoulders 30º off the ground. Hold the position for a second (tensing the abs. hard). Release and go back to the starting position. Don't "pull" your head up with your hands. Each repetition done properly, will take at least two seconds.

Exercise No. 4: Horizontal Leg Raises

2007-07-27T11:09:00Z

Exercise No. 4: Horizontal Leg Raises

Lie flat on the floor on your back. Place hands, palms down below your pelvic area. Hold your head and shoulders slightly above the floor. This intensifies the pressure on the abs and gives better results.
Now with a controlled, smooth movement (not "swinging"), lift up your legs and pelvis until your feet point straight up.
At this point you can add a "thrusting" movement by thrusting your feet upward this adds further tension to the abs. When bringing legs down, perform the exercise above in reverse.

This excercise programe is sponsored by ripfast

Exercise No. 3: Hanging knee raises

2007-07-26T09:55:00Z

Exercise No. 3: Hanging knee raises
This exercise is the same as the last one except here, you must bend your knees fully and try to lift your legs up as far as possible(preferably to the chest).

Absolute definition, sponsored by ripfast

Exercise No. 2: Hanging leg raises

2007-07-26T09:48:00Z

Exercise No. 2: Hanging leg raises

Performing this movement requires the use of a horizontal bar from which to hang, e.g. a doorway chinning bar. Your grip should be slightly wider than shoulder width.
Bend you knees and try to raise your legs as high as possible (you should aim to touch your chest). Do not keep your pelvis completely straight for this exercise, for then other muscle groups apart from the abs come into play.
Keep your pelvis area curled slightly upwards during the whole movement (see diagram) this ensures pressure on the abs. Hold the raised position for a couple of seconds (keeping abdominals "tight") and then lower your legs.
To ensure correct and most effective form, make sure that you don't "swing" your legs up. Keep the movement slow and controlled let your work.

Absolute definition, sponsored by ripfast

THE AB-SOLUTE DEFINITION PROGRAMME:

2007-07-25T12:53:00Z

Exercise No. 1: The Abdominal body Stretch
Begin and end all of your routines (at whatever level) with this exercise, as it is more of a stretching exercise. It is essential to stretch before any exercise session (to warm up) and afterwards (to cool down) this greatly reduces the chances of any injuries. Lie down on your front, with your arms next to your head and stretch out as far as you can. Also stretch your legs, feet and toes as far as you can in the opposite direction. At the point of maximum tension, hold the position for 15 seconds, then release.
Perform five repetitions (reps).

AB-TRAINING Donts

2007-07-25T12:49:00Z

There follow some tips over what to avoid when training abdominal muscles:
1.Sit-ups: Don't do them! Although traditional "wisdom" has long stated that the sit-up is a good ab. exercise, this is not the case.

Sit-ups and other similar movements (which involve arching the back) involve the psoas muscles (which run from the front of the Legs, through the pelvic area, to the lower back), and these exercises are useless for abdominal development work.

2. 0ver-speedy expectation of results.
3. Lack of discipline: giving up too early.

Points 2 & 3 are also important as they play a vital part in ensuring exercise programme fail!
All too often, people start a diet and fitness programme and expect to be in shape within a week. When this fails to happen (as, of course, it will), their dedication decreases and inevitably the programme fails.

To avoid this scenario, keep your discipline. Work out realistically-targeted goals and work at them. Try not to miss even one session (the routines take more than 10 minutes to perform), because missing one session will make it easier to miss the next, and so on.

Remember Edison's words: "Genius is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration." get ready to perspire!

AB-SOLUTE DEFINITION

2007-07-25T12:44:00Z

The Ab-solute Definition programme is designed to isolate and work specific parts of the abdominal muscle group. The routines are put together in a specific order, which when adhered to will give fantastic results. There follows a description and "How To" section on all the exercises. Number of repetitions, durations etc. are listed in the relevant table afterwards.

WHEN TO TRAIN
Do your exercises on alternate days, and rest at weekends. IDEALLY, EXERCISE ON MONDAY/WEDNESDAY/FRIDAY = WEEKEND RELAX.
Remember, even on higher levels your complete workout will only take between 5¬-10 minutes!

AB-SOLUTE DEFINITION -1

2007-07-12T11:14:00Z

THERE'S MORE? SURE THERE IS!
On average the super effective routines that you will find in Ab-solute Definition will only take five minutes of your time and as long as you don't have too much fat around your waistline you'll start seeing results in a couple of weeks.
Abs are probably the most responsive muscle group in the human body. Three sessions of the abdominal definition routine a week are enough to put you on the road to great results.

Furthermore, after the routines section, we have included extra ab exercises which you can later incorporate into your routine at will, keeping future ab workouts- fresh and shockingly effective.

AEROBICS
Aerobics are generally considered bad for people wishing to put on serious muscle mass, but this is really not the case, aerobics should be an intrinsic part of your training regime.

ANAEROBIC EXERCISE
Weight training for bodybuilding is classified as anaerobic exercise. This means "without oxygen". The reason for this is that the exercise is so intense that the body cannot supply enough oxygen to the working muscles during the activity. This explains why, after an intense set you are Left out of breath.

Your body now has a negative oxygen supply, which is "refilled" during the rest between sets as you regain your breath.
The energy for anaerobic exercise is obtained by the body by burning glycogen, the body sugar found in the muscles, liver and bloodstream.

Due to the short duration and explosive nature of anaerobic exercise, the body is prohibited from tapping into its stores of fat for energy.

AEROBIC EXERCISE
Aerobic means "with oxygen" and refers to exercise done with a low to moderate intensity during which the body is still able to supply enough oxygen to the system while the activity is taking place.

Aerobic activities can therefore be sustained for a longer period of time. During aerobic exercise, the initial source of energy for the body is the glycogen stores, as these stores are depleted, the body begins to utilise body fat for its energy requirements.

AB-SOLUTE DEFINITION

2007-07-12T10:56:00Z

Welcome to the Ab-solute Definition programme. A Super-effective programme of proven exercises for the abdominal muscles. The programme, if adhered to, will give you the results you desire in shaping your waistline, as well as blasting some of the old misconceptions about abdominal training.

The Ab-solute Definition programme is probably the best abs programme you'll ever do.

Before we go any further, let’s just take a look at the role abs play on the overall "physique map" what having a rock hard, chiselled six packs of abs could mean for you.

There is an argument that argues that the abdominal muscles are the most important muscles in the human body!

Let's take a look at that. The abs are used in every aspect of life. Standing, walking, working, as well as working out. Above all, it is this set of muscles that protects your inner digestive organs, the very organs responsible for nutrient absorption and distribution, the ones that make "the system" work. But let's just look at the abs aesthetically. Imagine a bodybuilder whose arms, chest and shoulders are okay. You can tell that he works out, and yes he's got pretty good muscular definition. Now add a set of ripped abs to the scenario. See what we mean? For some reason having a ripped set of abs puts all of your other body parts into a much more favourable light. A good set of abs will make even a fairly average body look great.

Check out the classical sculptures by great artists of the past, such as Michaelangelo. Even check out the "body design" of famous superheroes (e.g. Spiderman, Superman). They all have fantastic abs.

Due to common stereotypes, one tends to assume that someone with a large fat protruding belly is probably a slob, not in control of his eating habits or his life (we're not saying that this is the case, we're saying that this is the stereotype).

On the other hand, a lean, defined midsection gives the aura of power and heroism.

So awesome abs are a big plus point to have on your personal physique map.

We're not saying this so that you have an excuse to skimp on the rest of your body workout intensity. Far from it, we're saying that by realizing the importance and benefits of this fantastic muscle group, you will give yourself the edge over other people who don't have good abs, or want them and are going about it the wrong way.