Get Perfect Abs for Summer with These Diet and Exercise Tips

Everyone constantly wants to know what the secret is to getting washboard abdominals. Well, the secret is of course a solid diet and good consistent workouts. With these two things in mind, there is plenty of time to get your body and your abdominals in washboard condition just in time for summer. There are always the “what ifs” when training and I try to personally avoid those by taking any new exercise and slowly working my way up to the fitness level I would prefer to be at. Nothing, especially building a hard core will occur overnight. Building your core is going to take time and lots of hard work and sweat. So here are my tips for getting washboard abs!

You have to remember that in order to get washboard abs, you have to lower your body fat percentage. We all have abdominals, it is just a matter of eating correctly and letting the fat leave our stomach area. A good diet will help you lower your body fat percentage and will help you achieve the ability to see your abdominals.

In order to really see your abdominals, I prefer doing different types of ab workouts that include hanging leg raises, lying leg raises, and hanging knee ups. This will require that you have access to the gym or to gym equipment. Nothing else in my opinion will help you create those abdominals like doing leg raises. Crunches work but they will not cut it completely. Leg raises are an important part to creating your abdominals because they require hard work and effort and leg raises will produce high quality results. Results you are looking for. Remember in order to get abdominals, you must be contracting your stomach muscles and doing leg raises is an effective way of making your abdominals contract.

How to do hanging leg raises, lying leg raises, and hanging knee ups:

• Hanging Leg Raises: Holding onto an overhead bar with your hands and keeping your legs straight or the knees only slightly bent, raise your legs into a 90 degree angle with your body. The main thing with these exercises is to always maintain a slow, controlled movement. Mastering the first exercise of lifting your legs when they are bent to almost 90 degrees can help you with the other exercises. As you hold your legs straighter, this will become more difficult. Do sets of 10 reps three times or work your way up to doing 3 sets of 10 reps.
• Lying Leg Raises: Laying on a padded mat, lift your legs so your feet are aligned over your hips. Slowly and intentionally lower your legs until the feet are almost touching the ground. Raise your legs slowly back up and continue to repeat. Continue this until you can do 3 sets of 10 reps. If you find that you are unable to do this at first, you can start out by altering the exercise slightly. Keep your legs bent at a 90 degree angle to begin with and then move up to doing them with straight legs.
• Hanging Knee Ups: Holding an overhead bar with your hands, slowly raise your knees until you achieve an 90 degree angle with your upper legs. Lower your knees back down doing this for 3 sets of 10 reps. Your hip flexors are where you will really feel this exercise. Your grip might be weak, so wrist wraps can be used to help strengthen your grip. While doing this exercise, you will also be strengthening your forearms as well.

Following these tips will help you become the master of leg raises for having those hardcore 6 pack abdominals. Remember, that along with working your abdominals you will need to do about 30-60 minutes of cardio to help burn the fat that is around your stomach muscles. One thing that many people forget is that genetics plays a vital role in how we look. If you give it your all, you will get the best results your body can perform. If you have any further questions don’t hesitate to contact me via e-mail and I will help coach you along the way!