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Best Workouts?
Im just wondering.. what are the best work outs for abs/lower body? i'm already pretty fit and im a soccer player. i play competively and im just wondering what the best work outs are for abs and legs?
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hi, loosing belly fat and making good abs can be a difficult job at times. Follow a few tips to start losing belly fat but it would not be a faster phenomenon. Major factors contributing to belly fat are overeating, no exercise, lack of balanced diet. Serving sizes bigger than required/ eating without being hungry/ snacking while watching movies, TV. You have two each small sized servings more frequently a day as compared to large servings few times a day. Include fruits, vegetables, and grains (multiple servings), meat/dairy products (once or twice). Avoid saturated fats and replace them with polyunsaturated ones. Keep doing cardiovascular exercise like walking, jogging, aerobics, cycling etc along with few abdominal exercises as well. It increases metabolism and burn calories. Calculated weight training will also help. Good luck.
The myth: It’s the safest way to work your quadriceps, or thigh muscles.
The truth: Physiologists at the Mayo Clinic determined that leg extensions place significantly more stress on your knees than squats. Why? Because the resistance is placed near your ankles, which leads to high amounts of torque being applied to your knee joint every time you lower the weight. What’s more, Auburn University scientists found that people who squat long-term have tighter, stronger knee ligaments than those who don’t squat at all.
The alternatives: Free weight squats, split squats, and lunges—performed with perfect form—are all better choices for working your quads and protecting your knees.
The Seated Rotation Machine
The myth: Twisting on this machine helps melt your love handles.
The truth: It works the muscles under your love handles, but will do little to reduce the fat that covers them. What’s more, because your pelvis doesn't move as you rotate your upper body, this exercise can put excessive twisting forces on the spine.
The alternative: As long as you don’t expect to shrink your love handles, you can use rotational exercises to work your obliques. But here’s the secret to safety: Before you do any rotational exercises, brace your abs forcefully—as if you’re about to be punched in the gut—and hold them that way as you do the movement. This limits your range of motion and helps to keep you from rotating excessively at your lower spine.
Abs: Mountain Climber with Hands on Swiss Ball
The benefit: It’s one of the simplest yet most effective ways to tighten your tummy. In fact, you’ll barely have to move a muscle.
How to do it: Assume a pushup position with your arms completely straight, but place your hands on a Swiss ball instead of the floor. Your body should form a straight line from your head to your ankles. Tighten your core and hold it that way for the duration of the exercise [A]. Lift one foot off the floor and slowly raise your knee as close to your chest as you can without changing your lower-back posture. Then repeat with your other leg. Alternate back and forth for 30 seconds. If that’s too hard, place your hands on the floor or a bench.
The truth: Physiologists at the Mayo Clinic determined that leg extensions place significantly more stress on your knees than squats. Why? Because the resistance is placed near your ankles, which leads to high amounts of torque being applied to your knee joint every time you lower the weight. What’s more, Auburn University scientists found that people who squat long-term have tighter, stronger knee ligaments than those who don’t squat at all.
The alternatives: Free weight squats, split squats, and lunges—performed with perfect form—are all better choices for working your quads and protecting your knees.
The Seated Rotation Machine
The myth: Twisting on this machine helps melt your love handles.
The truth: It works the muscles under your love handles, but will do little to reduce the fat that covers them. What’s more, because your pelvis doesn't move as you rotate your upper body, this exercise can put excessive twisting forces on the spine.
The alternative: As long as you don’t expect to shrink your love handles, you can use rotational exercises to work your obliques. But here’s the secret to safety: Before you do any rotational exercises, brace your abs forcefully—as if you’re about to be punched in the gut—and hold them that way as you do the movement. This limits your range of motion and helps to keep you from rotating excessively at your lower spine.
Abs: Mountain Climber with Hands on Swiss Ball
The benefit: It’s one of the simplest yet most effective ways to tighten your tummy. In fact, you’ll barely have to move a muscle.
How to do it: Assume a pushup position with your arms completely straight, but place your hands on a Swiss ball instead of the floor. Your body should form a straight line from your head to your ankles. Tighten your core and hold it that way for the duration of the exercise [A]. Lift one foot off the floor and slowly raise your knee as close to your chest as you can without changing your lower-back posture. Then repeat with your other leg. Alternate back and forth for 30 seconds. If that’s too hard, place your hands on the floor or a bench.
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