Improving your overall fitness can take months, even years, depending on your level of fitness when you start. Attempting to improve your abs in two weeks' time is a daunting task for even the most expert trainer. However, certain methods can be used. Knowing what to do, how to do it and why are important in achieving this goal.
Caloric Intake
According to Stanford professor John Hussman, the primary reason for a lack of abdominal tone, or firmness, is what's called subcutaneous fat, which forms as a layer over your abs and under your skin. This is the most common type of fat in people. The reason for this fat isn't to protect you against the cold, but because your body chooses to store extra calories that you haven't used as fat for use at a later time. You can help your body eliminate this fat by reducing your caloric intake.
Cardiovascular Exercise
The fastest way to burn calories is to do cardiovascular activity. Whether it be running, swimming, biking or walking is up to you. According to a 2009 study at the University of St. Thomas, keeping your heart rate between 60 and 80 percent of its maximum will burn fat at the most efficient speed. You can't, however, tell your body to burn only fat from your abs. Just like your body picks and chooses where to store fat, it will also pick and choose where to burn fat.
Muscle Growth
You can help create an image of having better abs by doing more than just burning fat. Increasing your abdominal muscle size will create more of those individual "bumps" of abs that push up against your skin. Even if you have a thin layer of subcutaneous fat on top of your abs, larger ab muscles will make your abs more pronounced. A study published in 2001 and led by Dr. Kevin Tipton, professor of sport, health and exercise sciences at the University of Stirling, says resistance exercise can increase muscle protein balance, but the proper amount of nutrients must be eaten afterward. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, adults who lift weights with the goal of increasing muscle size need to eat as much as 0.8 g of protein for every pound of body weight each day.
Exercises
One effective exercise is the standard crunch, which can isolate your front abdominal muscles. This exercise is done by lying flat on the ground, bending your knees at a 90-degree angle, resting your feet flat on the floor, placing your hands on your chest and bringing your upper body up off the ground slowly using only your abdominal muscles. Repeat this movement for three sets of however many repetitions it takes for you to completely exhaust your muscles.
Warnings
Excessive abdominal workouts can not only leave your abs sore, but can also hurt your back. If you already have back pain, or a history of back problems, doing specific abdominal exercises carries added risks. Consult your primary care physician as to which exercises are safe for you to do, and stretch your muscles out, both your abs and your back, after every workout. Don't stretch your muscles before exercising, as "cold" muscles are much more likely to be pulled or strained while stretching than muscles that have already been exercised, or "warmed up."
References
- Hussman Fitness: You Really Do Change from the Inside Out
- "Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research"; "Quantifying Differences"; D.G. Carey: October 2009
- Arthritis Foundation: Cool and Stretch
- UCLA Dining: Be a Protein Pro
- "International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism"; "Exercise, Protein Metabolism, and Muscle Growth"; K.D. Tipton et al; March 2001
- University of Stirling: Professor Kevin Tipton
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