Contrary to popular belief, crunching out hundreds of crunches every day will not cause six pack abs to magically appear. Getting a firm, sculpted belly isn’t always an easy process. It takes dedication to abdominal specific exercises, as well as a healthy diet and an exercise routine that includes cardio and strength training.
So, if you want to find your hidden six pack, try some of these tips that the boot camp in Santa Barbara recommend you do to get started:
Abracadabra Diet
If you’ve been crunching away every day, you likely have great looking ab muscles, but they’re hiding under excess fat around your middle. One way to decrease this body fat is to eat a healthy diet that supports weight loss. Throw out the junk food, processed foods, and simple carbs and replace them with fruits, vegetables, lean protein, whole grains, and healthy fats. Limit snacking and drink water rather than sugary beverages.
Fat-Burning Cardio
Burn those extra calories, tone your muscles, and protect your heart with regular cardio exercise that gets your heart rate elevated. Interval training by alternating high intensity and moderate intensity exercise will burn more calories in a shorter amount of time than other alternatives. Slowly increase the intensity of your exercise over time to avoid injury and sore muscles.
You can easily get your share of cardio in with boot camp exercises like burpees, squat jumps ,and shuttle runs. Go for at least three days and you’ll see your abs peek out in no time.
Strength Training
A well-balanced exercise routine should include both cardio and strength training, like the workouts you’ll find at a fitness boot camp. Build strong and define muscles (including those abs), burn calories, and boost your metabolism by using some sort of resistance to make your muscles work harder. Boot camps do this by incorporating weights and kettlebells, battling ropes, and performing bodyweight exercises. Slowly increase the amount of weight, the number of repetitions, and vary the speed of repetitions to increase muscle mass and strength.
Target Abs
As your belly fat shrinks and increasingly reveals the hidden muscles underneath, it’s time to perform exercises that target your core and abs. Include the following boot camp exercises in your routine and your dream six pack may become reality.
A challenging exercise to strengthen your core muscles is the plank. Get on the floor on all fours. Then support your body by resting your elbows on the floor, extend your legs behind and lift up on your toes. Don’t arch your back or stick your bottom in the air. Keep your head in line with your feet. While only your toes and forearms are touching the floor hold your body up for 10 seconds. Relax and repeat. Each time you do a plank, try to hold it for a longer time.
Forget the standard crunch when building strong abs and go for the Swiss ball rollout. This exercise requires an exercise ball, works more muscles than a crunch, and may be safer for your back. Kneel on the floor and place your forearms on an exercise ball in front of you. Your back will be slightly arched. Tighten your core and squeeze your glutes during the entire exercise. Roll the ball away from your body as far as you can without your back falling toward the floor. Then use your ab muscles to pull the ball back toward your body so you’re on your knees again. Repeat.
The Santa Barbara boot camp wants you to keep in mind that carving the perfect 6 pack takes time and dedication, but by incorporating these exercises and diet tips you will start to see a change in your belly faster and easier than performing a thousand crunches and sit ups a day.
