What is a good exercise for:

[SpeedKing9]

What is a good exercise for the love handles and the sides of the abs? Also, is the machine where you pull down the bar until it's behind your neck...does that work upper back and shoulders?

Thanks.

[Rock Ape]

Love Handles; No major muscle near there - best to rely upon overall reduction of fat content in your body. (The closest exercise that may asssist would be the "back extension" exercise though not sure what you may call it in the US. Its the one where you do a "good morning" on a bench type apparatus at about 45 degrees.) . Tip: Just focus on fat reduction and they will go !

Sides of the Abs...nice way of putting it ! Don't even worry about these until you are close to seeing your six pack. The basic ab exercises will work these directly and indirectly. If you are at the stage of worrying about obliques, don't ---work the "six pack" first and then worry about the details later - usually they come based upon the original ab work ! Tip: Just focus on solid ab work and they will come !

In regards to pull downs behind the neck, I haven't done them in years and wouldn't even bother. Want to build a strong and large back ? Do chins ! Wide grip, narrow grip, etc etc........whatever ! Take your pick. When is the last time you saw a gymnast with a back that did not look impressive. Not many guys at the gynm do them. Why ? Not because they aren't good - but because they are f**king hard ! Same reason that at your gym, you don't see many guys doing squats, dips, deadlifts ! NB; The guys who do -- look good -- don't they !?!?

[SpeedKing9]

Rock Ape, how long does it normally take to see the six pack? I'm 5'8, 19 years old, 180 lbs, and I have a size 34 waist that I would like to cut down to 32. My belly sticks out, but not THAT much. I'm running 1 mile everyday (except saturday) and I'm doing a workout that goes every other day switching from abs, chest, lower back, biceps, and , triceps, shoulders, upper back. Also, 3 times a week, I do 4 sets of 25 crunches, and 5 sets of 10 pushups. I'm also eating quite healthy (except on fridays and saturdays...once again, i'm in college so it's just too hard to resist going out to eat on those days!) Do you think I'm off to a pretty good start? how long is this "painful" process? Keep in mind, previous to this, I have never worked out or even done any cardiovascular activity...at least when do I start seeing some results?

[Angel_of_Pain]

Hey I'l give you a tip Speedking,

STOP ASKING SO MUCH QUESTION ON THIS BOARD AND START TRAINING MORE AND YOU'L SEE RESULT!

LOL

[Szczepankiewicz]

AOP, LOL!

[Bau]

yeah dude....quit asking...keep training and you'll see results...
Your routine sounds fine....stick with it...PLUS

wash board abs are made in the kitchen....NOT the gym....

You'll start to lose some body fat with all that running but to really get ripped...ITS ALL ABOUT DIET....

trust me...I've been through it...well....I'm still trying to make my six pack more "visible".....I have what they call "hidden talent" hehe

read about healthy "low fat" eating man...

[Oberleutnant]

Originally posted by SpeedKing9
What is a good exercise for the love handles and the sides of the abs? Also, is the machine where you pull down the bar until it's behind your neck...does that work upper back and shoulders?

Thanks.

The "love handles" are made out of fat, not muscle, so you can't really exercise fat since it is not contractile tissue. If you meant what exercises are good for removing/minimizing "love handles," then any activity with a high caloric cost will be good. As I and others have said before, you cannot spot reduce fat. Exercising a specific area will NOT cause greater fat loss in that area than exercising a different part of the body (assuming caloric costs are equal)

[Oberleutnant]

Originally posted by SpeedKing9
also eating quite healthy (except on fridays and saturdays...once again, i'm in college so it's just too hard to resist going out to eat on those days!)

That's your decision, but it's something that you are fully in control of. Most people all to easily make or allow excuses not to be in shape. Which is more important to you; satisfying your appetite for a few months on weekends, or removing the spare tire around the waist? If you want the most efficient progress, then you can't make excuses like that, and expect it to still come.

[Szczepankiewicz]

In other words...

You cannot "spot train."

[fiz]

do the lat pull downs (pull down bar behind neck and/or to chest) and do back excercises

[likuid]

the two big mistakes most people make about working they abs:

1- assume that one or a secret combination of exercises will do it

2- assume that muscle targeted exercises(i.e. ab crunches, etc.) are more effective than overall aerobic exercise.

there is no secret to getting cut. like someone said earlier it's mostly a matter of fat reduction. that is achieved by watching what you eat and burning more fat when you exercise.

'watching what you eat' is not a matter of eating less in most cases, it's just a matter of eating properly. I lost a lot of weight last year and believe me i ate plenty (about six meals a day). cutting out sugar, as opposed to carbs worked for me. you also need to do more fat burning exercises. Running is a great start. but you need to run more than one mile at a day. It take approximately 10 to 15 minutes to deplete the sugar in your system before you're body will tap into your fat stores for energy. So until you're running for more than 10 or 15 minutes you wont be burning any fat. Try to run for a minimum of 20 minutes. it doesn't have to be everyday, but it should be for at least 20 minutes. (helpful hint: you burn 30 percent more fat when you run first thing in the morning before you eat or drink anything becuase your system is mostly depleted of its sugars).

Hope this helps, it's just a start, i could go on for hours...if your serious and need more help, let me know and i'll recommend some books that helped me.

good luck man

[Szczepankiewicz]

Please post more information about the "burning sugars" comments. I have never heard that before and would like to follow up on it! Thanks!

SZ

[jbkenpo]

[quote]Originally posted by likuid
[b]the two big mistakes most people make about working they abs:
if your serious and need more help, let me know and i'll recommend some books that helped me.

Could you post the books you recommend anyway?

Thanks, jb

[Oberleutnant]

Originally posted by likuid
Running is a great start. but you need to run more than one mile at a day. It take approximately 10 to 15 minutes to deplete the sugar in your system before you're body will tap into your fat stores for energy. So until you're running for more than 10 or 15 minutes you wont be burning any fat.

Do you have a reference to support this statement? As far as I know, even in severely fatigued muscles, glycogen stores are no where close to being depleted, nor are ATP levels. There are far too many protective mechanisms to ensure the muscle will shut down long before that happens. Fat metabolism is not dependent upon glycogen storage levels. Following a period of intense anaerobic exercise, aerobic respiration will occur to replenish spent glycogen...and fat is normally the primary substrate of this aerobic respiration.

[Oberleutnant]

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