1. #1

    How to achieve the burn in abs area?

    Here's the rundown of my body:

    I'm age 37. I'm currently 240 pounds.

    My goal: work on my mid-section, my abs area.

    Growing up, I've always been in good shape. I didn't have killer abs or six-pack, but i was in good shape. I played soccer, football, and ran track growing up.

    now i'm a family man, with two kids aged 1 and 4. I gained weight, obviously.

    I'm looking to work on my mid-section, cuz that's where my weight gain is most apparent. I got that beer belly, ice cream tummy, chocolate belly, whatever you call it.

    The thing is, since i'm a family guy, time is not a luxury for me. I'm looking for some quick workouts i could do at home, where I can feel the "burn".

    For example, i have at home, hand weights, that I pump to feel the burn on my arms, and I squat to feel the burn in my legs, and so forth. But the other day, when i did 100 sit-ups, i felt very tired, but i didn't feel the "burn" that i wanted.


    I'm looking for the followings in my workouts:
    1- I can do at home with basic tools
    2- Feel the burn in short amount of time
    3- targets the mid-section

    Any suggestions?

    Thanks!

  2. #2
    Why do you want to feel a burn? Feeling a burn is meaningless except for psychological reasons. Only muscles I have ever felt a burn in ever were my arms when I isolated them. I no longer isolate my arms.

    Best exercise to "target" the mid section are planks. Crunches workout the rectus abdominus, an almost meaningless muscle. The 6 pack is made of the rectus abdominus, true, but a 6 pack should be meaningless to anyone over 25. People by that age should realize that health and function are more important than looks.

    However, when I say target, I mean strengthen for athletic purposes.

    Best exercise to "target" the mid section for weight loss is self control in the kitchen. You WILL NOT lose weight doing any ab exercises nor will you spot reduce body fat without surgery.
    Last edited by jbhasban; 2013-03-07 at 04:09 PM.

  3. #3
    ummm, focusing on your mid section doesnt do you any good, besides build up muscles...the body burns the fat from wherever it wants to burn it from

  4. #4
    The Patient Monarken's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jbhasban View Post
    Why do you want to feel a burn? Feeling a burn is meaningless except for psychological reasons. Only muscles I have ever felt a burn in ever were my arms when I isolated them. I no longer isolate my arms.

    Best exercise to "target" the mid section are planks. Crunches workout the rectus abdominus, an almost meaningless muscle. The 6 pack is made of the rectus abdominus, true, but a 6 pack should be meaningless to anyone over 25. People by that age should realize that health and function are more important than looks.

    However, when I say target, I mean strengthen for athletic purposes.

    Best exercise to "target" the mid section for weight loss is self control in the kitchen. You WILL NOT lose weight doing any ab exercises nor will you spot reduce body fat without surgery.
    ¨
    r u mad cuz 30+ and no abs?...

    A lot of people work them abs for the looks, unless they want functionality or a stronker core when powerlifting. Id love to have thick abs (not really a PACK, but still) by the age of 40.
    AkA Companiet !
    #Wildstar2013

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Companiet View Post
    ¨
    r u mad cuz 30+ and no abs?...

    A lot of people work them abs for the looks, unless they want functionality or a stronker core when powerlifting. Id love to have thick abs (not really a PACK, but still) by the age of 40.
    I am 28 and use to have abs. I got rid of them because I feel healthier with more body fat. I could get them back fairly easily (dieting isn't hard). I just think people should not care about them. I have no belly to speak of still. But I am one of those people who need to be around 8% body fat to see my 4 pack (I cannot get a defined 6 pack, my rectus isn't structured as such). I feel much healthier around 12% body fat. Anyways, wrestling is my sport. I care more about being good at wrestling than I do about looking good to women. (And truth be told, most women care more about your confidence than they do about defined abs. I feel more confident with a higher body fat percentage).
    Last edited by jbhasban; 2013-03-08 at 01:18 PM.

  6. #6
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    If the man wants the burn then give him the burn. OP, try crunches and some core exercises like planks or cups. Look on youtube for some good demos, there are heaps of them and they will show you how to do them without hurting your back. Hold the contraction for 2 seconds or so. Enjoy your new burning sensation

  7. #7
    Crunches are BAD! Don't do them! Do not listen to anyone who is saying that Crunches are good because of the pain in abdomen! It's not natural exercise and it can cause many problem with your spine!

    I'm not a professional Weight-lifter but I'm experienced in this(trust me or not, but I think my answer can help you).
    First:
    If you want to have "Nice looking ABS" you have to change your DIET! You have already abdominal muscles, but they're under your FAT!
    Some people have BIG and STRONG Abdominal Muscles but their "ABS" looks bad, because they're training BUT it's under a layer of fat! Training doesn't mean you are always losing fat. You can get muscle mass or lose your fat, there aren't exercises where you can do both!
    If you need GOOD exercises for your "ABS" I can tell you that these are GOOD(crunches = BAD!):

    Russian Twist(for the sides muscles, I don't know English name of those).

    Rising your legs while hanging(it's very good for siding abdominal muscles and "ABS").

    Rising your legs while laying(it's exercise which straight train your "ABS").

    Do these exercises( ONE OF THEM PER DAY! every second day 3-5 series, about 10-12 reps with a minute-minute and half break between series).
    Last edited by Eazy; 2013-03-08 at 05:45 PM.

  8. #8
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    If you're not going to spend a lot of time on it then I would recommend that you do full body exercises or at least start with the general ones, like sit ups, push ups, that back exercise, stuff like that. You probably should not introduce equipment to begin with other than a mat. Feeling a burning sensation in your muscles is just them working out or something or something with the lactic acid. If you feel your mucsles going into a pain sensation, you should probably stop. The more you feel your muscles burn at high stress, the more you risk injury from overtraining. Go look at basic army exercises that don't include using equipment and start there.

    Even if you could train your abs specifically by using equipment or doing sit ups while holding weights in your hands and strecthing them, they probably won't be noticeable if you got a layer of fat there, bluntly. If you only want to train abs, then you could use equipment or do sit ups with weight in arms and the one where you pull your legs up while resting on arms while also training sides in the exercises. Honestly, you would probably see a more synergic and healthier effect from just doing sit ups, push ups and general back exercises. In my opinion, specific equipment exercises are for body builders and people who want to specifically train individual muscle groups for some higher purpose. Most people are benefitted more from whole body exercises or general exercises without equipment that do not target specifical, individual muscles that have little practicality or benefit.

  9. #9
    I don't see anyone having said it explicitly, but working on your core isn't going to do shit to shed fat around your midsection. It's a good idea for general fitness, health, sports, and muscle tone appearance, but if you want to shed that fat, you need to be thinking about diet.

    Personally, I enjoy core exercises with an exercise ball, as it feels like it engages a lot more muscles than anything that just targets a specific muscle.

  10. #10
    Just cause you don't have a six-pack doesn't mean you don't have abs for 2 reasons you possibly have a higher % body fat since abs start to show around 10% body fat, IF you work your core to burn it all the time your just going to build a strong core which is not a bad thing BUT it will bulge out making you look fat when not.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Spectral View Post
    I don't see anyone having said it explicitly, but working on your core isn't going to do shit to shed fat around your midsection. It's a good idea for general fitness, health, sports, and muscle tone appearance, but if you want to shed that fat, you need to be thinking about diet.

    Personally, I enjoy core exercises with an exercise ball, as it feels like it engages a lot more muscles than anything that just targets a specific muscle.
    I remember reading that the fat around the abdomen is the last to go. And to get visible abs you need a fat% of 5-10.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Cattaclysmic View Post
    I remember reading that the fat around the abdomen is the last to go. And to get visible abs you need a fat% of 5-10.
    Depends on genetics. The last fat to go on me is my butt and lower back.

  13. #13
    sorry to say this but you cant spot reduce fat to get your abs showing
    so no amount of sit up, crunches, captains chairs, stomach twist will get you a sick pack if you dont diet to lower your body fat %

    imagine an hourglass thats encased by a balloon filled with water, hourglass being muscle, water being fat, balloon being skin
    as you lower your fat you are getting rid of water, the balloon is gonna shrink, but it wont be able to get it from specific sections, eventually the water is gonna get low enough that you can start seeing your muscles, the middle area is what i would call the lower stomach/love handles area and that is the first and last place where fat is stored and lost
    this is a simplistic idea, but you get the general idea, there is more to this, but would take a lot longer to type

    dieting will take time, just as the same as gaining your weight, im sure that 240lb didnt just appear overnight
    fix your diet up, good balance of prot/carbs/fat, try to get rid of processed foods if possible
    exercise to build muscles as muscles burn more calories than fat, add some cardio and be patient
    start slow, maybe aim for 1-2 lb a week

    just keep in mind, if you commit to this you will lose a lot of weight at the start, most will be water weight, so dont be disheartened when ur weight loss slows down
    just keep it up

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