Men's Workout World » men’s workout

Lose Belly Fat with New Abdominal Exercises

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 04:36:05 +0000

BY Craig Ballantyne ON Dec 16, 2009

I’ve been filming a lot of workouts and abdominal exercises recently, and have modified a few classic movements.

As a result, I have a few *new* ab exercise photos and descriptions to share with you today for your ab workouts.

1) Kneeling Ball Plank

The regular Stability Ball Plank (aka “Plank on Stability Ball”) is a tough exercise for your abs. In fact, one study quoted by Men’s Health magazine said the Ball Plank is 30% harder on your rectus abdominis than a regular plank.

But for some folks, it is so hard they can’t do the Ball Plank. Fortunately, we can modify it and allow them to do a kneeling version.

Here’s the exercise description and photo:
• Kneel on a mat and place your arms on the ball. Extend your body in a straight line.
• With your back flat, your body should form a straight line from your shoulders to your knees. Hold the plank position for the designated time.

2) Stability Ball Mini-Rollout

Here’s another great ab exercise that we modified for people who find the original version to be too hard.

•    Kneel on a mat and place your clasped hands on the top of a medium sized ball.
•    Brace your abs and slowly lean forward and roll your hands over the ball while the ball moves away from your body.
•    Keep your body in a straight line and rollout 6-12 inches.
•    Keep your abs braced as they get a stretch on the way out.
•    Then contract your abs and reverse the motion to return to the upright position.

3) Kneeling Renegade Row

The regular renegade row can be murder on your obliques in the lower ab area. But again, this exercise is often too advanced for most folks, so we cut back to a kneeling version.

NOTE: It is a little awkward, but if you play around with your body position, you should be able to do it and get the benefits. It is a lot harder than it looks.

•   Start in the kneeling pushup position.
•   Wrap your hands around two light dumbbells – NOTE: They must be flat edged dumbbells – not round. You can also use kettlebells.
•   Keep your abs braced and row one dumbbell up to your ribcage.
•   Slowly lower under control and alternate sides.
•   This is a very tough exercise on your lower abs and obliques.
•   Keep your abs braced strong at all times.

4) Chin-up with Knee-up

And now for an advanced, unique ab exercise. The extra eccentric stress in this exercise can put a hurting on your abs – even your “lower ab” area – the next day.

•    Take underhand grip on the bar with the palms facing you.
•    Pull your body up until the chest reaches bar level.
•    At the same time, pull your knees up to your chest.
•    Slowly lower yourself but do not let your body swing and do not use momentum.
•    Let your knees drop slowly from your chest to their original position.

5) Barbell Rollout

And lastly, a tougher version of the Stability Ball Rollout

•    Add 25 or 45 pound plates to a barbell. Kneel on a mat and place your hands on the barbell slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. .
•    Brace your abs and slowly lean forward and roll out while the bar moves away from your body. Keep your body tight and go slow.
•    Keep your body in a straight line and go as far as you can with perfect form.
•    Contract your abs and reverse the motion to return to the upright position.

So hope you get some benefit out of those…if you can do those easily, make sure you are putting the advanced versions of these abdominal exercises into your fat burning workout.

And by the way, most people are surprised by this, but I believe that almost every exercise is an ab exercise. You can even modify arm exercises to work your abs hard.

Some of my favorite traditional lifting exercises for abs are:

A) High repetition dumbbell rows (murder on your obliques)

Lying dumbbell triceps extensions with an extra stretch at bottom

C) 1-arm staggered stance heavy dumbbell curls

So brace your abs, contract them tight, and work them on every rep you can…and just say NO to crunches.

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training for Abs

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Bodyweight Circuit 12 Minute Fat Loss Workout 9

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 06:42:58 +0000

This is the last workout of the 12 minute workout program.

We’re going to do a bodyweight circuit as many times as we can in 12 minutes.

Start with a decline pushup and move immediately into stick-ups. With your feet about 6 inches away, tuck your elbows into your sides and raise your arms up and down all the while keeping your butt, shoulders, shoulder blades, elbows, wrists and head against the wall.

Next, move into a back extension on a ball. Lean on the ball with your feet against something solid to keep you in place. If you are doing this on a slippery surface, make sure you put a mat down to so the ball doesnt slip away from you. Lean forward and back up using your back extensors and also you glutes and hamstrings.

Move immediately into stability ball jackknifes. Place your feet on the ball and your elbows on a bench and tuck your knees into your chest. Make sure you keep your abs braced.

Finish with regular jumping jacks. Keep your arms up over your head as much as you can to work your shoulder blades and upper back. Do 60 reps.

Rest 1 minute and repeat this circuit 2 more times, trying to finish in 12 minutes.

Visit Turbulence Training to get your FREE sample fat burning workout.
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Lose Belly Fat: 3 Basic Ab Exercises

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 06:27:50 +0000

3 Basic Ab Exercises To Avoid Low Back Injuries

BY Craig Ballantyne ON Dec 02, 2009

People are becoming increasingly aware that crunches and sit-ups are no longer considered the best ways to get 6-pack abs. What a lot of folks don’t realize, however, is that these 2 popular abdominal exercises may actually end up sending you to the doctor.

So, if you’re after a flat stomach, then read on to discover the 3 best exercises to help abdominal endurance and low back health.

Now, I want to be honest and say that these three ab exercises are not the most exciting to do. They won’t give you that classic burning sensation in your abs that leaves you feeling like you’ve really worked them hard.

However, the plank, side plank, and bird dog exercise will build your abdominal endurance and strengthen your torso region. These exercises are also the safest and probably the most important to do when first starting to work out to prevent you from low back injury.

Dr. Stuart McGill, a researcher in Canada, has done extensive research on low back pain and has concluded that individuals who have a lot of endurance in their abdominals tend to have less chance of sustaining an injury to the low back.

The great thing about each of these three exercises is because no equipment is required you can do them in your own HOME. Also, because these are endurance exercises, you can do them EVERY DAY.

1. The first exercise is the Plank.

To do this, rest your elbows on a mat, and place your body in a straight line. Brace your abs and try to work up to where you can hold that position for 2-3 minutes straight.
If right now, you can only do the plank for 20 seconds, then each day try to add a couple seconds. Alternatively, you can hold for 10 seconds, rest for 1 second and do that 6-7 times.

2. The next exercise is the Side Plank.

This time, position your body on its side, resting on one elbow. You want to ensure that you keep your body in a straight line by keeping those hips raised. Also, if you want to make it harder, then place your free arm straight up in the air. You should be able to work your way up to 45 seconds per side.

In both plank exercises, if holding in the described positions is too difficult, then start out with your knees on the ground and work your way up.

3. The last exercise is the Bird Dog.

I have to admit, it looks a little silly, and you may wonder what body part this exercise is working, but you’re really just working the small muscles in your low back.

So, get down on all fours like a dog and keep your back flat. Next, take your opposite arm and opposite leg and extend them out in front and behind from your body. The key is to limit the rotation from your hips and to keep your abs braced at all times. Hold the top position for 5 seconds. Do 5-6 repetitions per side, and then take a rest. This exercise will also help with your mobility in your upper back.

As I mentioned, you can do these exercises everyday or every other day to build your abdominal endurance.

So if you’re just starting out and would like to strengthen your torso muscles, then make sure to add these three exercises to your program.

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Men’s Workout: Diet vs. Exercise Royal Rumble

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 03:37:19 +0000

What happens when you put 3 fitness experts in a room with a pizza, two cheeseburgers, two servings of edible cancer sticks (aka “french fries”), 2 sodas, 2 donuts, 2 giant chocolate chip muffins, 1 huge frappacino, 2 espresso brownies, 1 protein bar, a treadmill, a stairclimber, and a kettlebell?

Well, you have the Ultimate Fat Loss Royal Rumble, of course. The battle of “Diet vs. Exercise”. And while we have it ALL on video, I want to tell you about in gory bite-by-bite “how to ruin your fat loss diet” detail. Click Here to Watch the Entire Video

It all starts with this strange idea I had while walking Bally the Dog. I thought, “Hey, I really need to show folks just how futile cardio is in the fight against a bad diet. But how can I do this…”

Then it hit me. We could show folks just how fast they could consume enormous amounts of calories that ruin fat loss programs. We’ll do a skit called 1000 calories in 1000 seconds. That’ll be perfect. But then I did the math. That’s 1000 calories in almost 17 minutes. Anyone can do that…and no one’s watching a 17 minute video of me eating.

So then I had a better idea. Why not compare how much “diet damage” can be done in a short amount of time PLUS just how FEW calories you can actually burn in hard exercise?”

I was willing to be the exercise subject, and sacrifice some hard work in order to get the message across…but I needed some Guinea Pigs to consume a ridiculous amount of food in a short amount of time. My first thought was Bally the Dog, he likes to eat, but then I’d probably have PETA after me…

So I thought, why not get nutrition expert Brad Pilon? PETA doesn’t care about him, and I know he can eat! Turns out Brad was down with the idea, so we got everything together and met in the gym late at night to film 5 episodes of Diet vs Exercise and test the limits of human (eating) performance!

Diet vs Exercise – Episode 1: Treadmill vs. Pizza & Soda

It doesn’t take a professional gambler to realize this was a mismatch from the start. First of all, it was two foods against one machine! You’ll love the video, but just to give you a quick rundown of the results, Diet scored a whopping 1100 calories to 43 calories victory over the Treadmill in just 3 minutes.

That’s right, Brad was able to consume over 1100 calories in pizza and soda in just 3 minutes, while I was only able to burn 43 calories while running at 10.5 mph for 3 minutes. It was no contest and we proved the point that “you can’t out-cardio a bad diet”.

Diet vs Exercise – Episode 2: The Stairmaster vs “Burger & Fries plus a Soda”

In this battle, we had men’s exercise expert John Barban wolf down as many calories from a beefy burger, fries, and soda meal as possible in just 3 minutes, while I got relegated to 3 minutes on an old-school stairmaster.

Couple of things to point out here…First, according to the stairmaster, climbing a flight of stairs only burns 3 calories! So the next time you read a politically correct article from some lame fitness expert telling you to “take the stairs instead of the elevator”, just realize that doesn’t even cover one french fry’s worth of calories! What a joke.

Second, I found the stairmaster exercise to be easier than running on the treadmill, yet in the same amount of time the stairmaster reported I burned 59 calories (that was 16 calories MORE than running at a harder pace – in my opinion). That just goes to show you that you CAN NOT trust the calorie counters.

So the winner again was DIET, by a score of about 1100 calories to 59 calories – again, delivering the knock out blow in just 3 minutes.

We actually filmed 3 more episodes, but I’ll wait for those to hit video. You should get a good laugh out of fitness and nutrition experts stuffing their faces while I suffer through sprints, kettlebell exercises, and the indignity of using a stairmaster. How embarrassing.

But the point of course is not just to entertain, but to get across this extremely important message and the BOTTOM LINE: You can’t out-train a bad fat loss diet.

Your fat loss diet is the key to burning fat and losing inches,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Turbulence Training

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Men’s Workout: Diet vs Exercise

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 01:29:53 +0000

Find out how much of a joke cardio is and how dramatic your calorie intake can be without you even knowing it. The fact is, that you can’t out train a bad diet. Craig Ballantyne’s Turbulence Training

Try one of the most popular Turbulence Training Workouts Here

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Men’s Workout: The Evolution of Abs Exercises and Core Workouts

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 00:43:29 +0000

If you can’t do crunches or sit-ups (because they will probably hurt
your back), then what should you be doing?

Watch my latest free video to find out…

It’s called, the “Evolution of Abs”. (But there’s no dancing, sorry!)

Do the right abs exercises to get rid of low back pain,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS

“With Craig Ballantyne’s Revolutionary Turbulence Training For Abs Program, You Can Now Burn Stubborn Belly Fat, Boost Your Metabolism, & Tone Your Muscles With Just 3 Short Workouts A Week”
Click Here to Get it Now!

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Men’s Workout: 5 Reasons Cardio is Lame

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 06:28:58 +0000

On the weekend I was a bad boy…I stirred up trouble by telling
someone that cardio “is lame”.

They didn’t like this article too much.

But if you know the TRUTH about cardio, and I know you do, then
you’ll find these 5 reasons why cardio is lame to be right on the
money.
“Cardio” is the “Economic Stimulus Bill” of the fitness world. You can put your hopes in it, but generally it isn’t going to do anything for you, and it will just waste your time and resources.

Most people don’t realize that there was “life before cardio”. People used to exercise outdoors. They participated in sports. They played games – outside! – with their family and friends. They used their feet or bicycles for transportation (rather than driving 15 minutes to the gym to go do “cardio”).

So here are the top 5 reasons why I think the term “cardio” is lame.

1) People hate doing cardio.

Have you ever met a person who smiled when they said, “Oh, I have to go do cardio now.” (That’s not the same as the excitement an endurance athlete gets when they go “training”. That’s different from “cardio”. Endurance athletes don’t call their workouts, “cardio”.)

NOTE:
So if you are a runner, and you love to run, and you tell me (with a smile), “I’m going out for a run”, then that’s cool by me. Nothing wrong with that. But if don’t like to run, and you tell me (with a pout), “I’m going out for a run because I have to get my cardio”, then I say, “Boooooo to that”. Life’s to short to hate your workouts!

2) People mistakingly believe that 30 minutes of half-assed cardio (which is what most people do) will help them lose weight.

But it won’t. It just wastes their time. People are obsessed with the calorie counters on machines. I truly believe this is how folks get hooked and obsessive compulsive with cardio…because all they can think about is how many calories they have burned, and how much food that means they can eat.

“Cardio” does not promote healthy relationships with food.

3) People think you have to “cardio” (i.e. go to a gym and exercise on a machine that doesn’t go anywhere) for 30 minutes in order to be healthy.

You don’t have to do “cardio” to be healthy. There is so much more to health than 30 minutes of “cardio”. Your diet is more important for your cardiovascular health than your exercise regime. Plus, as long as you’re active each day (doing manual labor, “cardio”, playing sports, or lifting weights), you’re doing enough to meet the minimum required amount of exercise for cardiovascular health.

4) People think “cardio” will help them with sports performance or their short, burst fitness (like climbing stairs).

It rarely does.

In fact, the guy who does “cardio” in preparation for his basketball, soccer, hockey, or Ultimate Frisbee league is going to be sorely disappointed by how slow he is – and by how he lacks sports-specific fitness as much as all the guys who just lifted weights all off-season. Plus, doing traditional “machine cardio” does not prepare you for sports-specific movements or speed of movement, so you’re just as likely – if not more likely – to get injured during the early season.

5) It signifys a waste of time, inefficiency, and a sheep-like mentality towards doing something just because everyone else is doing it.

Seriously, if you were from another planet and you came down to earth and went into a big commercial gym and look at the “cardio” section, pardon me, the “cardio theater” section, you’d smile to yourself and say, “wow, this planet is going to e easy picken’s”.

“Cardio” is also lame because people use cardio as a time to catch up on their magazine reading and TV watching (and now Internet and email time). That about says it all. Workout time is not multi-task time.

So what should you be doing instead if you want to sculpt your body, burn fat, lose your belly, and get lean before summer?

You should skip the “cardio” (let’s not ever use that phrase again) and focus on total-body, multi-muscle resistance training and interval training exercises to help you build “everyday” strength and fitness (like the ability to carry groceries or children, or climb 3 flights of stairs as fast as possible).

Plus, with these total body workouts, you’ll save time and get more health benefits than you will with straight “cardio”. (Sorry to use that term again.)

Helping you get more results while saving time and money,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training

PS – If you want the best, fastest, and most effective fat burning workouts that you can do at home…

…(without the indignity of driving to a gym to use a sweaty, disgusting “cardio” machine), then grab your copy of Turbulence Training for Fat Loss.

Click here for a $4.95 Trial Offer of Turbulence Training for Fat Loss

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