Archive for the ‘Abs’ Category

Finally The Secret Project is Complete!!!!!!

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

Hi everyone,

You’ve probably noticed that I have been very quiet on the posting front, for which I do apologise. The silence was for a good reason though…

You may have read my previous posts, telling you that I was working on this “secret” project, well i’m extremely excited to tell you that I have finally finished!

If you are curious to find out what this secret project is then click here. Let me give you a clue though and say that if you are trying to build muscle, lose weight or both then you won’t want to miss it!

I hope that you will be excited when you find out what I’ve been up to!

My fat loss and muscle building blog posts will be back to normal now, so keep your eyes peeled for some great advice!

 Wishing you the best success,

Jon.

Top Fat Loss Tip of the Day…Eat Naturally!

Wednesday, July 9th, 2008

Top Fat Loss Tip of the Day…Eat Naturally!

If you are trying to lose weight, one of the first things that you should always look at is your diet. It is important to your success that you start to cut out some of the masty things you you may put into your body. A good way to start yourself off is to make an effort to start eating naturally produced foods.

By naturally produced foods I mean foods that have been processed as little as possible by man. Foods such as ready meals, white bread, cakes, etc should be on your list of foods to avoid. They are high in refined sugars and hydrogenated fats, which your body can’t digest efficiently and will pile on the body fat very easily.

You should aiming to eat lean meats and poultry, vegetables (especially the green ones!),and fruit (even though fruit contains natural sugars). With bread, pasta and rice, you should be eating the wholegrain or brown versions rather than the white more processed options.

If you make an effort to eat more natural unprocessed foods, you will notice the difference even before you start to reduce you calories. You weight will start to drop, and your overall health will improve.

Start eating natural today and reap the benefits!

Top Fat Loss Tip of the Day…Beating a Plateau with Carbs

Monday, July 7th, 2008

If you have been following a fat loss diet and seem to have hit a plateau, carbohydrates could be your problem. Some people are more sensitve to carbohydrates than others, this may depend on your body type and the way you react to carbs. 

If you are following for example a 50-30-20 ratio diet, (That being 50% of your total daily calories from carbs, 30% protein, 20% fat), and your fat loss has slowed or even stopped it is worth trying to reduce your carbs. Try changing to a 40-40-20 ratio diet, 40% of your calories from carbs, 40% from protein and 20% from fat. This reduction in carbohydrates may be what you need to get your fat loss back on track.

The theory behind this is that your body will be slightly short on the amount of carbohydrates that it can use for energy, and hopefully your body will start to burn up your body fat instead. You do need to monitor your results closely, as if you drop you carb intake too low there is also a possibility that your body may turn to your muscles as an energy source, and you don’t want this too happen. If you are starting to lose muscle then just up your carbohydrate intake slightly.

This technique of reducing your carbohydrate intake can be a powerful tool when it comes to fat loss. If you are struggling to get results, or have hit a plateau, it is definately worth a try!

Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle – Another Waste of Money?!

Monday, June 30th, 2008

Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle is a fat loss ebook written by fitness author Tom Venuto, has been around on the internet for several years now. It has been a best seller and used by thousands of people around the world. The question is, is it actually any good or just another well marketed ebook?

The author of Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle (BFFM) is Tom Venuto, a life long natural bodybuilder, personal trainer, success coach, nutrition consultant, health club manager and freelance writer. In BFFM Tom explains the science and theory of burning away body fat, this comes from a bodybuilder but applies to any normal person at all. Tom takes this book beyond being just a simple fat lose program, which are available in there thousands, and actually takes you into such detail that you will understand how fat loss actually occurs. There are detailed scientific explainations to every aspect of fat burning, including highly detail sections on nutrition, diet and even mind training.

The diet sections explains how many calories you need for fat loss, how to workout your nutrition ratios (i.e. how much protein, carb’s and fat you should eat). It also tell’s you what to avoid and more importantly why.

The training section focuses and cardio and weight training. Weight training being just as important as the cardio for fat loss, detailed explanations as to why included. He also gives you a number of workout plans, which are two, three four and five days a week depending on your experience and level, and it also gives you the flexibility to make your own.

The fact that this book has been written by a bodybuilder shouldn’t put you off, the information in this book is for everyone and anyone. Some of the advice and techniques revealed in the book, that are used by bodybuilders to achieve extremely low body fat levels, are priceless and rarely seen outside of the bodybuilding world.

Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle is one of the few ebooks available on the internet that I would highly recommend if you are looking to lose fat. It retails at  $39.95 and is definately a worthy addition to your library.

Most important thing to remember for fat loss…

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

The most important thing that you can ever learn to achieve successful fat loss is no matter what you MUST have a calorie deficit.

Having a calorie deficit basically means that you are using up more calories than you are taking in, without this you will not be effectively burning away your body fat. The amount of calories (energy) that you body is taking in and using up will decide how much fat your body will need. If you are eating too many or you aren’t burning enough calories you will not lose fat efficiently.

To create a calorie deficit you need to combine a calorie controlled diet, with a solid cardio and weight training program. This combination of diet and exercise is important for permanent results, and also to prevent muscle loss during the fat loss stage.

All I want you to take away with you today is this CALORIES DO MATTER when it comes to fat loss! Any diet that claims you do not need to worry about calories is wrong, it is the calorie deficit which will begin your fat burning process.

Six Pack Abs…

Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

Thought I’d share with you a conversation I heard in the gym today, which once again confirmed that there are still people out there who don’t understand how to get a six pack. I can’t remember it word for word but it went some thing like this…

1st man:  “I can’t believe I haven’t got a six pack yet, I doing hundreds of crunches every day!”

2nd man: “That’s no good, if you want your six pack to appear you need to be using a heavy weight or cable, that way the muscle will build up and start to show.”

 It went on further from this, I won’t go on though. Getting six pack abs isn’t an easy task, but it is however alot easier if you actually know how you should be going about trying to get them.

The best way to look at it is that you abs need to be revealed rather than built out. To reveal your abs you must remove the layer of fat that is covering them. No matter how many ab exercises you use, this will not get rid of that layer off at that covers them. This can only be done using a combination of cardio and dieting. Everyone has a six pack under there belly fat, the six pack is actually formed naturally by the abdominal muscles that everyone has. Exercising them with crunches or a similar exercise a couple of times a week will make them firmer and can even build them up a bit, but that is all, they will not strip away the fat that covers them!

I may offer the guys I mentioned above a bit of friendly advice if I see them in the gym again, help them along with there quest for a six pack.

P.S. Don’t forget If you have any questions you want answered don’t forget about my Fat loss and muscle building Q & A follow the link for details.

Fat Loss and Muscle Building Q & A

Wednesday, June 11th, 2008

I try and vary my blogs and cover as much information as I can on fat loss, muscle building and exercise and fitness in general. I have decided to add a chance for you to get some Q & A on my blog from now on. Hopefully this will allow me to help individuals with any questions or problems they may have with fat loss, muscle building and any exercise and fitness related questions. Anything from diet and supplementation to training advice, just send me your questions and I will try and get as many answered as possible. I post the replies on my blog pages so keep watching!

Send your questions to me at jallmark@fatlossandmusclebuilding.com I’ll do my best to answer as many questions as possible.

All the best,

Jon Allmark.

The Key to Getting into Great Shape…

Wednesday, April 9th, 2008

So What is the key to getting into great shape? It’s simple really… DON’T MISS YOU WORKOUTS!

 It may seem obvious, but we all know how easy it is to get into the habit of skipping workouts because we are tired, or we have something ‘better’ we want to do instead. The key getting into great shape is to train consistantly, get yourself to every single workout that you have planned in. 

 Combine your consistant training with good nutrition, keep it up for the long term, and you won’t be far from reaching the body you dream of.

Russian Twist – a bad exercise to have in your ab workout?

Monday, March 3rd, 2008

There are alot of ab workouts out there, involving numerous exercises, some alot better than others.

The Russian twist is designed to put emphasis on the obliques, which is the muscle that runs down the side of the stomach. The exercise involves holding your body up off the floor whilst in the situp position arms out in front of you, then alternately twisting your body from side to side.

Although this exercise does work the obliques very well, it also put’s alot of stress on the back. As someone who has suffered from back injuries in the past, I am very conscious of anything that can put unneccessary stress on the spine area. So my personal recommendation is to avoid this exercise.

The obliques do still get worked in most ab exercises such as crunches and swiss ball situps. If you do want to target them separately though I would recommend performing the side bridge

Will doing sit ups give me six pack abs?

Monday, February 18th, 2008

There is a myth out there that doing lots of sit ups everyday will give you those sort after six pack abs. While it is true that the traditional sit up does work the abdominal muscles, just doing sit ups alone will NOT strip the fat off your mid section leaving you with a perfect six pack, spot reduction of fat is not possible. 

The six pack look is created by the rectus abdominus muscle commonly known as the ’abs’. This muscle, who’s function is to the support the trunk, has bulges or ridges along it which form the six pack look. Everybody has this muscle, and although it is true that you can tone and build this muscle to make it look more impressive, if you have a low enough body-fat (this is usually around 12% or less in most men) you will see your six pack. On the other hand you could have the best looking abs in the world, but if you have too much fat over them, they will not be visible.

In my opinion the best way to train to achieve those six pack abs you desire, is a combination of proper diet, two to three low intensity 30-45 minute cardio sessions a week to lower your body-fat. Along with two or three resistance training sessions. These sessions should  incorporate two or three seperate  exercises, performing three sets of each. My favorite exercises for working my abs include the standard crunch, which can be made more difficult by holding a weight, and also leg raises.

Keep this type of training up regularly and you should be well on your way to achieving those six pack abs.