Guest Blog from Craig Ballantyne
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Yesterday was the 35th anniversary of Bruce Lee's mysterious death. Lee, whose abdominals may be the most famous of all six-packs, even moreso than Brad Pitt's in Snatch, also left us with the great quotes:
“Absorb what is useful, Discard what is not, Add what is uniquely your own.”
~Bruce Lee
“It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.”
~Bruce Lee
And when it comes to abdominal workouts, I urge you to discard crunches, and hack them from your program because they are unessential. Frankly, if you want to have a flat stomach or 6-pack abs, you never have to do another crunch or sit-up ever again.
In fact, the truth about abdominal crunches is that they are useless, ineffective, and even damaging to your spine.
The latter fact is covered in great detail by Dr. Stuart McGill in his book, "Ultimate Low Back Fitness & Performance". His research will shock you (and the scare the bejesus out of you) if you are one of those gym-rats who spends 30 minutes on abdominal crunching type movements.
I found out crunches are useless the hard way, spending ten minutes per day doing crunches to no avail while in my 3rd year of University. They didn't do anything for my abs that my regular workouts of squatting, deadlifting, hockey, and soccer couldn't do.
Later in that same school year I first stumbled across the effectiveness of interval training for fat loss, in addition to several of the total body abdominal exercises I now use in place of the useless crunch.
In fact, it was this new training information that helped me change my torso from one of a regular fit college-aged male into one that was cover-model six-pack abs worthy.
Since everyone's talking about interval training for fat loss these days, I won't waste your time with that, but I want to share with you some of the total body abdominal exercises you can use to help you sculpt leaner abs - and improve your client's workouts as well - all without doing so at the expense of your low back health.
For beginners, the 3 exercises you must master are called, "The Plank", "The Side Plank", and "The Bird Dog". Now I'll be honest, these aren't the most exciting moves in the world, but they will put you on the track to flatter abs and a healthier low back.
For intermediate clients, I start using total body ab exercises such as Mountain Climbers, Stability Ball Rollouts, Spiderman Climbs, Plank with your Forearms on the Ball, and Stability Ball Jackknives. There are also at least a half-dozen advanced pushup exercises that will work your abs as well as crunches ever could!
Finally, if you are advanced, some of my favorite abdominal exercises include, X-Body Mountain Climbers (including variations with the hands or feet on the ball), classic Hanging Leg Raises or Hanging Knee Raises, Chin-ups and Pull-ups with Knee-Ups, and Spiderman Pullups.
Click here to experience the new era of CRUNCH-FREE abdominal workouts.
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AC
www.alwyncosgrove.com
--
Yesterday was the 35th anniversary of Bruce Lee's mysterious death. Lee, whose abdominals may be the most famous of all six-packs, even moreso than Brad Pitt's in Snatch, also left us with the great quotes:“Absorb what is useful, Discard what is not, Add what is uniquely your own.”
~Bruce Lee
“It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.”
~Bruce Lee
And when it comes to abdominal workouts, I urge you to discard crunches, and hack them from your program because they are unessential. Frankly, if you want to have a flat stomach or 6-pack abs, you never have to do another crunch or sit-up ever again.
In fact, the truth about abdominal crunches is that they are useless, ineffective, and even damaging to your spine.
The latter fact is covered in great detail by Dr. Stuart McGill in his book, "Ultimate Low Back Fitness & Performance". His research will shock you (and the scare the bejesus out of you) if you are one of those gym-rats who spends 30 minutes on abdominal crunching type movements.
I found out crunches are useless the hard way, spending ten minutes per day doing crunches to no avail while in my 3rd year of University. They didn't do anything for my abs that my regular workouts of squatting, deadlifting, hockey, and soccer couldn't do.
Later in that same school year I first stumbled across the effectiveness of interval training for fat loss, in addition to several of the total body abdominal exercises I now use in place of the useless crunch.
In fact, it was this new training information that helped me change my torso from one of a regular fit college-aged male into one that was cover-model six-pack abs worthy.
Since everyone's talking about interval training for fat loss these days, I won't waste your time with that, but I want to share with you some of the total body abdominal exercises you can use to help you sculpt leaner abs - and improve your client's workouts as well - all without doing so at the expense of your low back health.
For beginners, the 3 exercises you must master are called, "The Plank", "The Side Plank", and "The Bird Dog". Now I'll be honest, these aren't the most exciting moves in the world, but they will put you on the track to flatter abs and a healthier low back.
For intermediate clients, I start using total body ab exercises such as Mountain Climbers, Stability Ball Rollouts, Spiderman Climbs, Plank with your Forearms on the Ball, and Stability Ball Jackknives. There are also at least a half-dozen advanced pushup exercises that will work your abs as well as crunches ever could!
Finally, if you are advanced, some of my favorite abdominal exercises include, X-Body Mountain Climbers (including variations with the hands or feet on the ball), classic Hanging Leg Raises or Hanging Knee Raises, Chin-ups and Pull-ups with Knee-Ups, and Spiderman Pullups.
Click here to experience the new era of CRUNCH-FREE abdominal workouts.
--
AC
www.alwyncosgrove.com
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