Used to do some weights when I was younger as well as a lot of cycling but marriage, kids, work, yadda yadda.....
So now in my mid-30's I have that spare tyre that keeps inflating.
Now I know there is no quick fix and I try to eat healthily but some exercises that would focus on the abdominal muscles would be a help.
I know the obvious but I hate sit-ups!
I have a free weight set and for 2 weeks of the month access to a better free weight set and a multi gym so are there any specific exercises I can add to my routine.
thanks
Mike

 

Im interested in this too.

Other than my chin and belly i genuinely dont think im carrying a great deal of fat elsewhere and wonder why this is?

 

Excess calories get stored...sad I know but that's life.

Unfortunately us males tend to store the fat around our mid section which is the effect of too many calories in.

The ladies tend to store more around the bottom and thighs.

Mike take a look at the "what foods" post should give you a helping hand.

 

I tend to on the whole eat healthily, White meat, bran for breakfast etc.
It's the snacks I need to cut out!
That and being married to a Cook!
Did the calorie calculator so stood on the scales to check my weight! -real tears!
I've got a notebook and I'm going to start writing what I eat and when as well as my training.
I won't say what the scales said but lets just say my calorie count starts with a 2 not a 1!
That said i am 6ft 4in and I'm never going to get much below 15 stone without either killing myself or cutting bodyparts off.
Most recent fat percentage was around 22% bad but not terrible.
Mike

 

Here is my thoughts on ab training and the exercises I can think of, off the top of my head.

Strong abs are essential to a solid and strong body and they play a vital role in supporting the back. However, I personally do not believe in using weights on them. From a purely bodybuilding perspective, the goal is to make the shoulders look really wide with a nice taper to a narrow waist. Doing anything to make the waist thicker, even by building big and strong abs is a going to detract from the required goal of a narrow waist. They also can be treated like any other bodypar and trained only once a week, although I fall into the traditional trap of doing them more than once - I think because I don't use weights on them so I only exercise to keep them toned. If you are gaining size anyway, your natural increase in bodyweight will make you abs work harder. Bodybulding is about creating an illusion. If you add an inch to your shoulder width, it will also make your waist look smaller so don't forget the dumbell raises to the side to work the outer shoulder muscle

Localisation. I.e. will working one specific area result in fat loss in that area, e.g. by doing loads of abs will it burn more fat in that area. Personally I don't believe it does. If you do no other exercise and do 50 reps on abs then they will become toned, but you probably won't burn fat becase you have not got into a sweat. If you do 1000 reps on abs then you will probably be working alot harder and thus burn fat. However, I believe you will burn fat from all over your body not just you midrift.

In a nutshell, to loose the beer belly you need to reduce your fat levels overall. Its very true that people hold more fat in different areas of the body, I am the same. I hold far more fat in my torso than I do in my arms. But I know to loose the fat around the waist my whole bodyfat levels have to come down.

Ab exercises

Situps - the traditional ones where you hook you feet under something and pull yourself upright. These have been replaced with the crunches and these can be done in a manner of ways

CRUNCHES

a) put you feet up on the bed so you upper and lower legs are at 90degrees to each other and your thighs are perpendicular to the floor. Place your hands at the side of your head and roll your head and shoulders off the floor until your elbows touch your knees. You abs should be contracting tightly.

b)Don't rest your feet on anything. Just hold them in the position above in the air and crunch upwards.

c) as with conventional situps you can twist so your left elbow goes to the right knee and vice versa

d)keep your feet flat on the floor, your legs are at 90degrees still but your thighs are 45 degrees to the floor.

e) using a bench in the gym you can set the angle you lie. The steep the angle the harder it is.

LEG RAISES

a)Lying on your back (maybe holding something behind your head or placing you hands under your bum) raise your feet off the ground. Don't go past 60-70 degrees as this will take the tension off the abs.

b) hanging from a bar/garage rafters, raise you legs until they are parallel wit the floor. Depending on ow string your abs are bend your knees as this makes it easier.

c) When bending your knees on the way up you can twist side to side to train the muscles down the side of your abs.

TWISTS

I don't personally rate this but some people spend hours with a broom handle across their shoulders and twisting the torso from side to side, The hips and lower body stay stationary. This doesn't actually strengthen anything IMO and I believe people think it helps burn the fat locally(see above).

SIDE BENDS

Holding a Dumbell in each hand (or not) bend sideways as if you are trying to touch the outside of the knee. Pointless IMO.

USING A MACHINE

Kneely down facing away from a pulldown machine, reach above and grab the handle. Hold it behind your head and then crunch forward towards the floor. Vary the weight accordingly.

MY AB WORKOUT

If I have a good week I'll do this at the end of each workout. I do this non stop so I effectively do 50 reps. If I'm feeling particularly fruity I might repeat it

Crunches with feet in the air X 10
Crunches with feet in the air and a twist to the right X 10
Crunches with feet in the air and a twist to the left X 10
Crunches with feet on the floor X 10
Leg raises X 10

 

Mike, if you weigh 15 stone then you actually need 3360 cals to maintain weight. Are you eating the right stuff and keeping your metabolism high? By eating less and starving yourself you can actually suppress your metabolism so that when you do eat, your body stores it as fat because it doesn't know when you might eat again. Small and regular is the key. Just knock off 500 cals from the above figure and then split it into 5-6 meals over the day.

Paul.

 

Paul
That's brilliant mate.
Tried those sit ups this morning and they're much better.
Used to feel my lower back straining with the old "hook your feet under something" type.
Thought that calorie count seemed a bit low.
Wish I was 15 stone! More like 18!
Diet is now Bran flakes and some fruit juice/coffee in the morning.
Couple of bananas or apples mid-morning.
Lunch chicken or turkey sandwich.
Evening meal is usually a normal family meal but low fat, white meat and lots of veg like broccoli and cauliflower to fill me up.
Then because I don't like milk on it's own either a low fat yoghurt or low sugar Angel Delight with fruit to up my milk intake as a mid/late-evening treat.
Not expecting overnight results as I am not religous with it but hopefully over the coming months I can get the weight down a bit.

 

never been an ab's man so a few quick qu's i've never understood.

1. when doing crunches with a twist which side are you working when eg. taking left elbow to right knee? im paranoid the left side is bigger than the right so i'd like to even them up - even tho they are covered in fat at the mo!

2. how can i target the lower two of my supposed 6 pack? it seems like they dont ache after a set of sit ups and im just working the top few.

3. you dont think twists are worthwhile - what if you have some weights on your shoulders not just a broom handle? i've never thought about it but find myself doing twists when trying to catch my breath in between doing squats!

thanks, Matt

 

Spot on, i feel the key to loosing body fat is cardio vascular exercise, i stick to as closely as i can, 3x 40 minute steady state runs a week

 

hi can you tell me what calories i need ,per day and protein for my traing , i weight excatly 13 stone .cheers lads.

 

Read my post in "What Foods" thread, all the info in there mate but 13 stone as follows.

13x14=182x10=1820cals per day.... so to loose fat as follows,

Protein 50%=910/4= 227g per day
Carbs 35%=637/4= 159g per day
Fat 15%=273/9= 30g per day

Split the above into 6 small meals.


To gain muscle start with x15 & increase to x17 to check you are not gaining to much fat.
13x14=182x15=2730cals

Protein 30%
Carbs 50%
Fat 20%

 

Thanks guys.

 

Excellent advice in here. Thank you.

 

Well that's the first stone gone and I'm up one notch on my belt.
Was real good after 2 weeks at work, not standing on a scale and not wearing a belt to put on my "going home" clothes and have to do the belt up that one extra notch.
Then when i got home I went on the scales and have lost one pound over a stone since I left.
Well that's one down 2 to go.
Mike

 

Excellent, congratulations pal

 

Matt,

1. Whilst laying on your back, when touching your right elbo to your left leg you are working the right hand side more.

2. Crunches and sit ups etc DO target the higher abs more. You need to concentrate on the leg raises! Either from laying on the floor or if you go to a gym hang from a bar or there could be a cradle that you can hold your bodyweight on your elbows? Ask an instructor.

3. I'm not a huge fan of twists either but some people say these work the obliques (bits at the side that look like ribs). Try doing them seated and lean back a little into it. That way your abs are constantly tensed trying to hold you up.

 

i'm 20 and a half stone or thereabouts, and have a 58" chest, and into powerlifting for a few months. only 5 ft 5 though so have a big belly on me. anyone recommend ways to lose the gut but keep the chest ?

 

cheers kieron - top advice!

 

For the lower belly... gut area the best exercise is the legs in the air straight up and push up to the ceiling...it is a killer

pilates is a good one with the core muscle training once you get it, it is surprising how strong you are .... also if you apply this to every exercise you do the results are amazing... not many fellas fancy pilates though

karen

 

65" beer belly, wanting to gain upper body bulk (58" chest) but try to reduce the belly mass !