Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ab Secrets
Ab Secrets
AB SECRETS
Olympic Gymnasts Have Practiced for Years!
Apply These Secrets for a Flatter, Firmer Stomach in Only 14 Days.
Do you want tight, toned, and lean abdominals especially your lower abs? Do you wish that you could finally discover how to get the best results from your eating and exercising?
The following eBook commands your attention, answers your questions, and guides you in a new, realistic direction. And, its FREE.
Discover the Secrets Nadia, Mary Lou, and Shannon Have Known for Years!
Have you ever noticed the firm, flat stomachs that champion gymnasts have? Olga Korbut, with her winning smile and originality, pranced her way to a gold medal at the 1972 Olympics in Munich and Nadia Comaneci followed some four years later in Montreal with her perfect 10s. What slim, strong midsections they had. And who can forget Mary Lou Retton, with her hard body and ripped abs, winning the all-around title in 1984? Then, there was Shannon Miller in Atlanta in 1996 and Carly Patterson in Athens in 2004. Both were well conditioned and concave waisted.
Shannon Miller, Olympic Gold Metalist, still fit and firm at age 35.
Female gymnasts also accelerate both their eating and exercising by superhydrating their systems with cold water. Water in large amounts contributes greatly to both leanness and strength. For decades, Ive observed and studied the practices of these gymnasts, and Ive adapted their guidelines to the training of other athletes. As a result, Ive had much success in helping people of all ages reduce their fat, strengthen their midsections, and flatten their stomachs. But my techniques for shrinking those pooches of fat around the navel are so foreign to most people that they rightly so should be classified as SECRETS. The 3 SECRETS I discuss on the following pages are the product of my decades of researching and working with overfat and out-of-shape people plus, gymnastic insight into what produces the best results in the lower-abdomen region. Each page of this eBook, by careful deduction, is significantly condensed. The real secret, from a scientific perspective, is there are more than three secrets.Youll have to study my previous books, visit my website or consult with me to obtain all the details and learn the unabridged story. For now, these 3 SECRETS, once understood and applied for as little as two weeks will make a recognizable difference in your stomach flatness.
More recently, in Beijing in 2008, the dynamic athleticism of Shawn Johnson impressed us. Plus, the graceful lines of Nastia Liukin, combined with her power and sleekness, left many admirers searching for suitable adjectives. You might think female gymnasts in competition all stay lean by starving themselves. Well, they dont. They know how to PLAN their eating by having small, frequent, carbohydrate-rich meals which keeps their energy levels steady and consistent. Olympic gymnasts almost never practice crunches or situps. How then do they get their incredible abs? They do pikes, leg raises, and v-seats which work their lower abs intensely from the BOTTOM UP.
2010
www.drdarden.com
The first three exercises in each routine are done progressively by doing 8 repetitions, initially, and adding 1 repetition each training day. At your sixth workout, you will be doing 13 repetitions. Try to do each repetition smoothly, taking approximately 5 or 6 seconds per repetition. At the completion of the first three exercises in both workouts, take two minutes to rest then, do the Wall Squat Hold and the Negative Push-Up. Its important that you motivate yourself during each exercise. Understand the movement and push yourself intensely through each group of repetitions, in proper form.Your goal is to reach that burning state and keep going progressively workout-by-workout. For the midsection of a gymnast, you must learn to focus and endure a certain amount of muscular fatigue toward the completion of each exercise. With a positive attitude, you can succeed. Select one of the routines below. Do NOT use both. Repeat the selected routine three times a week, on non-consecutive days.
Professional gymnasts like Shannon Miller exercise their abs from the bottom up.
www.drdarden.com
Lower-Ab Routine
Freehand Exercises
Reverse Trunk Curl (for abdominals): Lie face up on the floor with your hands on both sides of your hips. Bring your knees up toward your chest so your hips and thighs are flexed. Cross your lower legs at your ankles. Curl your hips toward your chest by lifting your buttocks and lower back off the floor. As you lift your buttocks, you must counterbalance your body by pushing down on the floor with your hands and arms. Pause briefly in this top position. Then, lower your hips slowly to the floor. Dont move your thighs and knees excessively. Keep them near your chest. Repeat for 8 repetitions. Move immediately to the Side Bend to the left. Side Bend to Left (for right obliques): Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Extend your arms above your head and interlace your fingers. Stand tall and reach toward the ceiling. When you achieve the maximum height, start bending laterally to the left. Pause briefly in the stretched position and reach again with your arms and hands, this time maximally to the left. Return slowly to the top center position do not let your hands move forward. Keep them extended and directly over the middle of your head. Reach toward the ceiling with both hands and repeat bending to the left side for 8 repetitions. After the final repetition, move immediately to the Side Bend to the right. Side Bend to Right (for left obliques): Assume the same standing position as before. This time, reach toward the ceiling and bend laterally to the right. Stretch, reach to the right, return smoothly to the top center position, and continue for 8 repetitions. Wall Squat Hold (for buttocks and thighs): Stand erect and lean back against a smooth, sturdy wall. Place your heels 3 inches wider apart than your hips and approximately 12 inches away from the wall. Adjust hands on hips. Slide your back down the wall until the tops of your thighs are parallel to the floor. Hold this position for 10 seconds. Push back to the top position. Lower to the parallel position and repeat for 8 sustained-contraction repetitions. Add 1 repetition to each workout. Negative Push-Up (for chest, shoulders, and backs of upper arms): This is the single exercise youll do in a negative or lowering-only manner. Assume a standard push-up position on your toes and hands with your arms straight and your body stiff. Lower your body slowly to the floor by bending your arms slowly in 6 seconds. Do NOT try to push yourself up to the top position. The idea is to focus only on the lowering, which will become very challenging. Use your legs to get up. Place your knees on the floor, raise your chest, straighten your arms, and slide back on your toes into the top position. Repeat for 8 repetitions. Add 1 repetition per workout.
2010
www.drdarden.com
Then, with your elbows supported on padded armrests, you glide the bench forward and up. Such a motion works your abs from the bottom up, much like the Hanging Leg Raise with none of the problems. The Ab Coaster has my vote for working effectively the often-neglected, lower-ab muscles. What about stacking the Ab Coaster exercises? Well, youve really got to experience this below-the-navel, inside-out-burning feeling for yourself. Once you get the hang of the Ab Coaster (it does take some getting-used to), you can progressively add 5, 10, and 15 pounds of resistance plates to the carriage . . . to make each repetition HARDER. Harder is the name of the game, if you want to force your body to build stronger, better-defined, lower abdominal muscles. Theres just never been a PRACTICAL, PROGRESSIVE way for women to target the lower abs until the arrival of the Ab Coaster. For more information about the Ab Coaster, go to www.AbCoasterClub.com.
If you can do 10 consecutive repetitions of the Hanging Leg Raise, you probably have little need for this eBook. In fact, your stomach is probably flat and your lower-abs are well defined. The problem is that the Hanging Leg Raise is extremely difficult for the average woman to perform. Most cannot even raise their feet to waist level, much less to the overhead bar. And, holding onto the horizontal bar for 30 seconds or longer, takes muscular hands and forearms, as well as supportive strength in the shoulders and upper back. The Ab Coaster was designed to remove much of the difficulty of this hanging exercise, while emphasizing the positive effects of raising the lower body. Instead of lifting the entire weight of your legs forward and up, you kneel on a bench that rests on a curved track.
The Ab Coaster works your abs from the bottom up, while limiting stress to your neck, back and shoulders.
2010
www.drdarden.com
Forward Lift
Side Lift
2010
www.drdarden.com
2010
www.drdarden.com
2010
www.drdarden.com
certain types of heart, liver, or kidney disease; diabetics; and those suffering from some types of arthritis and cancer. This should not be taken as an all-inclusive list. Some individuals should follow this plan only with their physicians specific guidance. Consult your health-care professional beforehand and play it safe.
When on a reduced-calorie eating plan, you should take one multiple vitamin with minerals tablet each morning with breakfast. High-potency supplements are not necessary. Your doctor should be aware that you are about to modify your eating and exercising. Make a copy of this eBook and carry it with you for easy referral. Your physician will more than likely recommend a thorough physical examination if you have not had one in the last twelve months. IMPORTANT: There are a few people who should not try this program: children and teenagers; pregnant women; women who are breast-feeding; women with
2010
www.drdarden.com
2010
10
www.drdarden.com
2010
11
www.drdarden.com
BONUS SECRET!
Practice the Stomach Vacuum For a Smaller Waist.
Fat Cells: Losing or Shrinking?
What happens when you lose 10 pounds of body fat? Lose is actually a misnomer. Biologically, the oily liquid inside the fat cells simply metabolizes and the outer walls, the circumferences, shrink. In other words, you never get rid of the fat cell, just the fuel inside of it. Shrink is a much better description than lose. Fat cells shrink in size and they have the potential to inflate and deflate again and again and again which explains why many people go back and forth between fatness and leanness. Generally, if you want a flat stomach or six-pack abs, you have to shed fat from all over your body.Why? Because we evolved as mobile, active creatures, who were adept at using BOTH our lower and upper bodies. Thus, survival was not only based on being able to move our arms and legs vigorously, but also having a long-term energy supply in the form of stored calories, or fat. It made evolutionary sense for mobile people to store fat in thicker layers around the midsection and progressively thinner levels toward the extremities. Today, primarily because of the abundance of high-calorie foods and laborsaving devices, Americans are the fattest people on the planet. By the year 2012, predictions are that 82 percent of Americans, 25 years and older will be overweight. Surveys reveal that the No. 1 body part both men and women want to improve is ABDOMINALS. Both want exercise equipment and expert instruction on how to get flat, hard, muscular stomachs. Now is the time to challenge yourself to decrease some of your body fat and to do so efficiently with proven science.
The stomach vacuum is an old-school bodybuilding trick that involves an unusual contraction of the transverse abdominis muscle, which stretches horizontally across your midsection. I taught this contraction to more than 100 women who went through one of my tummy-tightening courses, and most of them got the hang of it quickly. Heres what it entails: Lie in bed on your back. Place your hands across the bottom of your rib cage and the top of your abdominals. Take a normal breath and forcibly blow out as much air as possible. Suck in your stomach to the maximum degree, but take in no air during the process.You should feel a concave formation under your rib cage. Try the vacuum several more times while lying down. Stand now and get in front of a mirror and try the vacuum. Remove your shirt so you can see whats happening. At first, the vacuum is more difficult to do standing than lying, but with a little more practice, you should be able to master it in a standing position. Practice the stomach vacuum twice before breakfast, lunch, and dinner or six times a day for two weeks and your waist will be stronger and flatter.
2010
12
www.drdarden.com
About Ellington
Ellington Darden graduated from Florida State University in 1972 with a Ph.D. in Exercise Science. While at FSU, he also completed two years of post-doctoral study in Food and Nutrition. Afterward, for 20 years, he was Director of Research for Nautilus Sports/Medical Industries, where he helped to develop and popularize Nautilus strength-training equipment. In July of 1984, the American Booksellers Association ranked The Nautilus Bodybuilding Book by Ellington as the No. 1 sports/ fitness book in the United States. Furthermore, USA Today selected The Nautilus Diet as the most highly acclaimed fatloss book of 1987. Since then, Ellington has authored other bestselling manuals, including The Six-Week Fat-to-Muscle Makeover, Hot Hips and Fabulous Thighs, Living Longer Stronger, The Bowflex Body Plan, and The New High-Intensity Training. His books have been printed in seven languages with worldwide distribution. Ellington resides with his wife, Jeanenne, and son, Tyler, 7, and daughter, Larah, 4, in Orlando, Florida. He manages an interactive web site, www.drdarden.com, and continues to do research, writing, and Intensive Coaching from his private gym.
Ellington Darden
This group of professional water skiers from Sea World in Orlando, with Dr. Dardens Intensive Coaching, shed 120 pounds of body fat in six weeks. To learn more of the details, go to www.drdarden.com and review the article, Florida Dreaming.
2010
Ellington is available for consulting at Email: ell@drdarden.com For more information, see www.drdarden.com.
13
www.drdarden.com