Do It Anywhere!

Fitness Friday

I have spent the entire day, beginning at 4am sitting in a large SUV traversing the Pacific Northwest to get to the gateway to Yellowstone National Park for some Spring Break fun with the family. So how can I promote fitness today if I was sitting on my ass all day? How can I get a workout in?

You would be surprised!

We travel, a lot. And there are entire days, if not more that are devoted to flying, or driving, or sitting on a train getting to where we need/want to be, but I still need to get some sort of workout in. Airplanes and trains are easy, but sitting in a car is much more difficult, but it can be done. You just need to choose the right area to focus on, and those are ABS. Yes, abs. And you can get a tougher workout for your abs sitting on your ass any day over killing yourself with endless crunches or sit-ups.

Abs muscles are a curious beast. They respond much differently than other muscle groups to effort. The endless litany of repetitive motion such as crunches are actually not effective. Your abdominal muscles strengthen more effectively through long durations of contraction, so if you want those six-pack abs, or even better, that ‘V’ you need to do two things:

1)   Loose the fat layer

2)   Strengthen your core through long contraction workouts

So how do I do it?

It’s just like Kegels, but with your abs (do your Kegels too, girls and boys!). Lean forward slightly, contract your abs and hold your core tight with perfect posture, now count to 10. Relax for 30 seconds. Do it again, but this time count to 15. Relax. Do it again, but count to 20… See the pattern? Try to get to 60. If you get to 60, do it again, but start at 60 and work backwards. This hurts, and you’ll feel it tomorrow. And you can do it anywhere. Even at work.

Give it a try this week, at least twice. It works. And once you jump on the Paleo/Primal band wagon, you’ll start loosing that fat too.

Here comes the six-pack!