Ugh this whole week I just haven’t felt like it was the proper day and I’ve really had to think about where I need to be! Doesn’t help when I switch up workouts in the morning either. Double whammy: I’ve had to idea what the “plan” is for the week workout wise and then I’m not doing the usual day’s run so the rest of the day is messed up.  Aaaaaaaaannoying.

For those of you (like myself) who need a reminder: it’s Thursday.  Meaning that with a “long run” on Saturday I shouldn’t be doing speedwork today.  I guess it’s not a rule but a preference.  But I chose to run my runs this way (speed today rather than yesterday) because I knew it was going to be POURING and storming this morning.  IE) gym time for sure.

A bit irksome though because the temperature this morning? 55*.  But pouring and wicked windy (so much so that power was lost — doubly annoying because I was at the gym.  Power outage + crappy school gym =/= fun).  Yesterday was freezing and clear and sunny.  Guess the lesser of two evils was the cold although I do despise that almost as much as rain.

Since I’m one smart cookie and look at the weather in advance I knew this about the weather and planned to do speedwork today.  Wasn’t sure what exactly I wanted to accomplish but I was thinking tempo because I wanted to put some pep in my step and run hard for longer than an interval.

My workout looked like this:

• 1 mile warmup
• 3 miles @ tempo pace
• 1 mile recovery
• 3 miles @ tempo – 20 seconds
• 2 miles warm down

Luckily the power outage happened right as I was going from recovery to tempo-20.  Very convenient in the sense that I didn’t have to worry about really losing any data because it was nice and round numerically.  Although I did *somewhat* angerly think “why can’t the backup generator that’s powering the lights do the tms too?” Haha.  Oh obsession? Hello there!

The tempo pace felt too slow.  Usually for the first mile or so of a tempo I’ll feel exhausted and want to quit but after that first mile there’s usually a “breakthrough”.  But today I only felt tired during the warmup.  Maybe I’m faster than I give myself credit for?

I almost skipped the recovery bit but decided to stick to the plan stan.  The second tempo bit felt more challenging but and felt like what a tempo should feel like.  A hard, I-could-eek-out-one-more feeling (and I almost did!) but glad that it’s not going happen.  So maybe my true tempo pace is about 20 seconds faster than what I’ve been considering.

When I was done with my workout (which also included some ab and BACK work — getting back into my routine for the pain) , on my walk back to my building, the sun was out, there was no wind and it was soooo warm (65*)!! Come on Mother Nature: you couldn’t have had the storm blow through, like, two hours earlier?! And btw: It’s December 3rd (I may not know the day of the week but I sure as hell know the date haha) and we have 65* weather? After a cold spell? And with snow predicted this weekend? Such a tease!

After showering and feeding myself (pb & banana sandwich? yes please!) I headed over the field house where there were FREE MASSAGES.  Granted I did have to donate some non-perishable food for a local shelter and the massage therapists were students at a school but it was awesome.  It was only suppose to be 15 minutes but because I got there right away (@ 0900) and there was no one else there I got to stay for 30 minutes.  Holllleer.

I had the therapist concentrate on my legs because they are sooooo tight and it felt soooo good even though it hurt a bit.  Only downside was that because my legs are so tight I’m going to be sore tomorrow as 30 minutes (while amazing) was no where near enough time to get all the kinks out.  But it was definitely worth it.  I’m going to A) have to be more diligent with stretching — as in start stretching and B) call my massage therapist from home and set up some appts for my when the semester ends.

So far the rest of my day has been kind of boring.  Albeit stressful boring: I need to write my physics paper (on gravity anomalies) and I feel aimless. I just need to sit down and write but I’d rather be on fb, rwol, etc.  Oh priorities.

And to answer a question I’ve been thinking about lately re: Boston.

LARunner and AMarathoner asked about the length of the training program. December 28th marks 16 weeks out. I was actually thinking about that after I posted and I’m thinking of pushing it pack to a 12 week plan as I have a great base already and could use the extra 4 weeks to “relax” and “rest” my body.  And it also lets me have 4 more weeks of procrastinating on picking out a plan!

Also no real Hot-Spanish-TA update. I mean we’ve talked and stuff.  In fact last night me and another friend hung out with him and the other Spanish TA just chatting about random stuff in Spanish.  But nothing Earth shattering.  I actually kind of want to go out tonight just because I think I’d run into him but none of my friends want to go out.  And I should be working on aforementioned paper.

Thanks for sticking with this lengthy post.  It’s weird because when I sat down to type I thought I didn’t have much to say haha.

Ab workouts are a great way to sculpt a six-pack in no time at all. The problem here, however, is that some people go about the whole business without a clue about what they’re doing.

If you are starting out with a set of ab workouts , make sure to keep these tips in mind to prevent yourself from getting injured in the process:

Start without warming up

This is one of the cardinal rules of working out, and is especially important for ab-targeted exercises.

Your abdominal muscles are actually one, big bulk of muscle that supports your entire body as you sit, stand and move about. Get too eager in building up a six-pack, and you may end up bedridden for the better part of a week.

Reach down to your toes, then reach back as far as far as you can for starters. Once you have the basics down, make sure to start your workout sessions slowly – and then build intensity.

Get into awkward angles

One of the easiest ways to injury during a workout is to overreach the boundaries of your muscles.

Twisting to the side, pushing a bend or forcing any other positions that create discomfort will usually end up with some very nasty injuries. If your muscles feel any sort of pain, then stop doing anything that you are doing and find an alternative workout regimen to work with.

Do take note, however, that there is a difference between pain and burn . Burn is something that shows your muscles are getting shaped while pain is something sharper and indicative of possible injury.

Learn to differentiate between the two before pushing yourself into awkward angles.

Focus on repetitions

Hundreds of repetitions do not define good ab workouts – it is the burn that you feel in the muscles.

The burn you feel in your abs is what makes your muscles stronger, and focusing on doing five or ten sets of a particular exercise will not be effective if there is no burn. Learn to make your workout sessions intense, and you will effectively build muscle over time.

Another issue with focusing on repetitions is that you tend to stay contented with ‘finishing’ a set number of repetitions rather than building up the burn. Your abs will require more effort the more developed they are, which is why you need to focus on intensity rather than repetition.

Let your belly get fat

All the muscles in your abs will be for naught if there is a thick enough layer of fat covering them.

This is why it is important to mix bodybuilding workouts with weight-loss regimens. A balanced diet, frequent meals a day and cardiovascular workouts work well with abdominal exercises, so make sure to get rid of that fat if you want your abs to show themselves.

Keep these four no-nos in mind, and your

ab workouts

will be much more effective than you thought possible!

Copyright (c) 2008 Ed Scow

I have logged thousands of personal training sessions over my career and everybody wants to know more about abs workouts and abs exercises.

My clients want to know how to lose stomach fat and get a six-pack, or at the very least they just want to lose stomach fat so they have a firm abs that look good in their clothes (and naked).

I can’t blame them. Who doesn’t want a nice looking midsection? Who doesn’t want to get firm abs or get lean enough they can say they have a six-pack.

The problem is that 99% of them all have the same misconceptions about abs workouts and abs exercises and how to really lose stomach fat and get firm abs.

I’ve narrowed down the mistakes, myths and misconceptions surrounding abs workouts and abs exercises to my top 3.

These 3 abs workout mistakes are made by just about everyone I’ve ever trained, designed a program for, or consulted.

Are you making these same mistakes?

1) Spending too much time doing crunches – I’m just going to come right out and say it…you don’t need to do crunches to get six pack abs and you sure as heck don’t need to do crunches to lose stomach fat or even get a firm abs.

Crunches simply don’t work enough muscle and don’t burn enough fat calories to be thought of as a worthwhile exercise in order to lose stomach fat, let alone get firm abs or a six-pack.

Spending 20 minutes a day doing hundreds (or thousands) of crunches is like electing Big Bird or Elmo president.

Sure they may sound good and have all the answers, but it just doesn’t make much sense electing a puppet to such a high office (sorry, that was my attempt at a joke).

Doing hundreds, or even thousands, of crunches will strengthen your abdomen, that’s for sure, but what does it matter if you still have a layer of flabby goo covering up all the hard work?

Instead you need to focus on full body workouts and full body abs exercises in order to lose stomach fat fast and get the firm, toned stomach or six pack abs you’re after.

Take for instance this abs workout, using only full body abs exercises, I designed for a client. Do this mini-circuit before your regular workout, when you’re still fresh, so you can really hit your abs hard.

1A) Dumbbell Overhead Squat – 10 reps
1B) Mountain Climbers – 30 seconds
1C) Reverse Plank – 30 seconds

Do that in a circuit format, resting 20 seconds after the final exercise before repeating it again 2 or 3 times. Do that for a few week and you’ll definitely see a difference in your abs and you will lose stomach fat.

2) Throwing all your hard work out the door by eating poorly – What good does it do to work so hard in your fat loss workouts only to come home, or leave your home gym, and eat junk?

What sense does it make that after all your hard work, you ruin it with poor eating habits on a daily basis? This is quite possibly one of the dumbest things you could do. I don’t mean to be rude, I’m just trying to put it bluntly.

If you want to lose stomach fat and get firm abs, or even six-pack abs, you need to clean up your diet and stop eating so poorly. You need to quit eating processed junk found in boxes and bags like crackers and chips, stop eating things like bagels and processed breads and start eating more fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, nuts, legumes and healthy fats.

You also need to start eating multiple times throughout the day, and this especially means eating breakfast. It also means cutting out the late night snacking and cutting down on alcohol.

You know what to cut out, so do it.

Remember what your goals are. You want to lose stomach fat and you want to get firm abs. Eat like it!

3) Not actively flexing, or bracing, your abdominals in every exercise – It’s sad that I have to say this, but all too often, people don’t actively flex their abdominals while doing an abs exercise.

I don’t know why. You’d think that because you’re doing an abs exercise that you’d be flexing your abs hard every repetition, but too many people just go through the motions and to way too fast.

You need to slow down and actively flex your abdominals when you’re doing an abs exercise. And for every exercise that’s not an abs exercise, you need to brace them like somebody is about to punch you in the stomach.

Doing so will ensure that you learn to “control” your abs and make sure that when you do lose stomach fat that you’ll have a defined and toned midsection worthy of praise.

I also want you to think of it this way…every exercise should be an abs exercise. If you brace your abs during every single exercise in your fat loss workout, you’ll essentially turn every single exercise into an abs exercise. Doing a chest press, brace your abs. Doing a lunge, brace your abs. Every single exercise you do, whether you’re working your abs specifically or not, should be turned into an abs exercise.

If you stop making these vital abs workout and abs exercise mistakes, and start doing full body workouts with full body abs exercises, I guarantee that you’ll begin to lose stomach fat and get firm abs (and maybe even that sought after six-pack) in no time.