Effective workouts for women - WEDNESDAY: Arms and Abs

Biceps workout for women:

Shoulder touch:

Biceps workout can be every arm movement similar to the movement when you touch your shoulder with hand. Try to touch your shoulder – you lift the hand, bend elbow and touch shoulder with fingertips. This is the most effective exercise.
Now you need little dumbbells (or small bottles of mineral water or just take a book in every hand) because you have to give some hardship to your biceps muscles. Now lift the weights to your shoulders. This is basic biceps workout.
Important things for biceps workout:
- You have to move only hands from down to up. Monitor your body and isolate all other muscles.
- At the beginning put back against the wall and lift dumbbells to the shoulders. You have to feel tension only in your front arms.
- When lift dumbbells exhale, when go down inhale. Proper breathing is very important.
- Do as many repetitions as you can (10-20).
- Rest 30 seconds and do another 2 sets of 10-20 reps.

Rest for 2 minutes and after that do 3 sets of 10 reps from the following exercise. Take dumbbells, bend elbows and in this position lift your elbow to the height of shoulder.

Too squise:
Rest for 2 minutes and start with another biceps workout, which is called "too squise" the best for beceps muscles. It is similar to previous exercise. Now make little movements (lifts) to the ceiling. You have to feel tension in biceps only.
Important things for this biceps workout are:
- Move your arm from shoulder, only this movement, isolate all other muscles.
- To be sure that you isolate all other muscles put your back against the wall.
- Breath normally.
- Do 3 sets of how many reps you can (10-20), rest 30 seconds between sets.
Biceps and triceps workout for women

Biceps and triceps workout can give you those good looking arms and you can wear every summer top you like. You have to make special exercises for both muscles but you can't train only the back side of your arm (triceps) or the front side (biceps)

Why you have to do biceps and triceps workout?

Because your overall arm's look depends on these two muscles. If you don't like only your back arm look – again do biceps and triceps workout. If you like your front arm look (biceps) – no matter, you have to workout all arm muscles.

Triceps exercises:

1. You need some weights (dumbbells, small bottles from mineral water or 2 books in every hand). Hands straight, palms facing backward, move your arms backward with hands pointing to the ceiling. Bring the hands down to the sides of your body. Do 10-15 reps and rest for 30 seconds. After that do 2 more sets.

2. The same as above exercise but try to lift your hands as higher as you can, and make small movements from up to down. Do 3 sets, each set of 10-15 reps. Rest 30 seconds between sets.

3. The third triceps exercise is from standing position. Lift your arms up around your head. Bend elbows to the back and lift them. For this exercise is important not to feel tension in your waist. For more stability bend a little your knees and monitor not to feel any discomfort in your waist. Do 3 sets, each from 10 reps. When bending elbows inhale, when lifting them exhale.

Shoulder exercises:

You have to do shoulder muscle exercise because you have to do exercises for all body muscles. Remember that the only way to have perfect butt, abs or arms (or body) is to have versatile body muscles – I mean all body muscles, not only some of them.
There are several shoulder muscles exercises; here I will show you the main 2.

1. Stay upright. Legs are opened on the shoulder width, bend knees very lightly, just to have more stability. Put your hands in front of your belly. Bend elbows. Open arms to the sides and keep elbows bent. When hands are on height of shoulders you have to feel maximum tension in your shoulders. If you feel tension in your arm or back or waist there is something wrong in your position, fix your position until you feel tension only in shoulder muscles. When lifting hands exhale, when going down inhale. Do 3 sets, each 8-12 reps.

2. Overhead tricep extension:
Stay at the same starting position as the above exercise, only hands point to the ceiling on shoulder width. When lifting hands exhale, when going down inhale. Do 3 sets, each 8-12 reps. Watch to feel tension only in shoulder muscles. If you feel tension in back or waist, fix your position.

Stomach fat burning exercises for women:

How to bring out the lower abs?

The most important part of abs training is weight loss. As everyone knows if you have a bit of fat covering your abs you will not be able to see them. Your abs training workouts might be coming along excellently but if you have fat covering them no one will be able to see your good abs muscles.
For this reason it is important that you approach your abs program with your diet and weight loss exercise foremost in your mind. Abs exercises that are aimed at developing midsection muscles should actually come a distant second in importance.
Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym!

Lower ab workouts:

Lower ab workout is to try to split your 3 daily meals to 5-6 small meals. Try to eat every 2 or 3 hours. Take small quantities of food. This will be easy to digest and when the food is digested it takes small place in your stomach.

1. Reverse crunch (Leg raising):
If you want to bring out your lower abs you need to lose some fat and develop them with an abs exercise that uses your legs to target the lower section of your stomach. The lying reverse crunch is the best one for this as it teaches you the technique you will need for more advanced exercises like the hanging leg raise and the hanging knee raise.

Step #1: Lay on the floor with your hand under your hips
Start the reverse crunch by laying on a fitness mat or carpet and placing your hands under your hips so that a cup is formed that will allow you to rock back and forth on it. Extend your legs out so that they are straight but for a slight bend in your knees. This is the starting position.

Step #2: Tense your abs and bring your legs up towards your chest
The next step is the main part of the exercise and where the majority of the work is done. From the starting position above, tense your abs and roll back on your hands and hips so that your knees tuck in and come up towards your chest.

Step #3: Rock back on your hips and tense your abs
When you cannot bring your knees any closer to your chest you should rock back on your hips and bring them off the ground so that you can exert a final "crunch" on the abs. This is the final position of upwards part of the reverse crunch.

Step #4: Slowly lower your legs back down
Once you have done the final crunch lower your legs back down the same way you lifted them up. This decline motion should be much slower and controlled and is the most important part of the movement. Do not forget about your technique and just allow your legs to drop down. Keep it slow and keep your abs tight.

This is one version of the reverse crunch and is somewhat harder than the bent leg version. If this is too difficult try bending the legs at step two so that your heels are on your hamstrings as you do the final hip rock. This is the traditional way to do a reverse crunch.

2. The hanging leg raise:
The hanging leg raise is basically an extension of the movement we covered in the reverse crunch. However, as you are hanging from a bar you have to fight against gravity and lift your whole legs. This makes it a much more intense exercise. Many professional fitness models attribute their firm abs to the hanging leg raise.

How to do the hanging leg raise?
The hanging leg raise really isn't that hard to master in terms of the technique. Doing it, however, is a very different thing. It really takes it out of you.

Step #1: Find a high bar or head over to the chin up bar if you go to the gym. Jump up and hang off it and let your body stretch out and relax. Try to feel the stretch in your abs and learn what it feels like to tense them whilst hanging from a bar.

Step #2: Keeping your ankles and feet together tense your abs and lift your legs up towards your chest. You will reach a point where you cannot raise them any further and when you do your should rock back on your hips and lift the legs up even further. This requires that you use a little bit of motion and momentum but in this case it is ok. Once you get to the top of the raise lower your legs back down super slowly.

Try and keep your legs straight throughout the whole exercise. If you can stick to this exercise for a while you will find faster results than ever before.

Upper Ab workout:

1. The crunch:

The next exercise in my top three is the basic crunch. When done correctly the crunch really is second to none. It targets the abdominal muscles perfectly and doesn't bring any other muscles into play.

How to do the crunch?
Step #1: As before, lay flat on your back with your lower back firmly pressed against the floor. Place your finger on your temples, not behind your head as this may tempt you to tug on your head and hurt your neck. You feet should be about shoulder width apart and flat on the floor. This gives you a good stable position and allows you to pull back with your feet which gives you a tighter crunch at the top of the motion.

Step #2: From this position you should tense your abs and slowly start rolling your body up into the crunch position. Start by bringing your chin towards your chest and then rolling your shoulders down towards your abs. Remember, you are trying to imagine yourself as a giant newspaper being rolled up, not a see-saw going up and down.
Once you get to the top position where your are as crunched as you can get without lifting your lower back off the ground you should tense your abs again and slowly begin the decline movement.

2. Bicycle crunch – Upper and lower ab workout

The bicycle crunch is one of the better abs exercises because it uses both the lower and the upper abs in conjunction with a twist. These are all the elements needed for a complete abs workout so in theory the bicycle crunch can do it all.
It is also an excellent exercise because it gets your heart rate up more than other abs exercises.
Here is how to do a bicycle crunch in order to maximize results in the abs.

PRE CRUNCH
Step #1: Start by laying on a gym mat or carpet and place your hands on the side of your head.

Step #2: Lift your right leg off the ground about three hand lengths.

Step #3: Bend your left leg up and bring it towards your chest like a reverse crunch.

Step #4: Tense your abs and crunch upwards and bring your right elbow up towards your bent left knee.

CRUNCH
Step #1: From the above position, keeping your abs tensed alternate your legs position as if you were riding a bike so that the opposite leg comes up towards your chest.

Step #2: As this is happening, twist your upper body using the tension in your abs so that your left elbow is now heading towards your right knee.

Repeat this process slowly making sure your legs go out nice and far and you get a good stretch in your abs.

Some people like to punch the bike crunch out as fast as they can. This does work the abs but results come much faster when a slow, tight and controlled movement is used.
Do not worry if you cannot touch your elbow to your knee, it is the fluid motion of twisting and crunching that provides the benefit. You should stay in a crunched up position throughout the whole exercise.

Master the correct abs crunching technique
The basic movement for each abs exercise is the same. Whether you are doing a crunch, decline crunch, fitness ball crunch, rope crunch, twisting sit ups, etc. the essential movement is the same. It is vital that you master it.
If you watch a new-comer to abs training do their sets you will see that they tend to go up and down like a see-saw. They also do it at a quick speed trying to get out as many as possible. This is one of the least productive ways to work on your abs.
The correct technique for most abs exercises involves a rolling motion where you curl your torso much like you would if you were rolling up a newspaper. You start with your head, neck and shoulders and curl it towards your legs so that you can give your abdominal muscles the maximum crunch effect.
The reason this movement is so crucial is because of the way the abdominal muscles are formed and the way they work. If you do your crunches and sit-ups in this fashion you hit the muscles much harder and as such make your progress move along much quicker.
The correct technique also involves getting the speed right. The abs are just like any other muscle in that they need to be worked out slowly and with control. One must learn to tense the abs and perform each rep with concentrated contraction of the muscles. Do not try to rush through the set and wear out your abs in a hurry. While this might seem like a good idea at first training the abs quickly often compromises your technique and takes the emphasis off of the abdominal area. And, you don't want to put all that effort into the set only to find out you aren't really targeting the abs. Don't waste your time.

Cardio for the Abs

Weight loss is a vital step in abdominal development. Our abdominal muscles are covered with a layer of fat that prevents the muscles from showing through. If we want to have a good toned midsection then we need to lose a lot of this fat. To do that involves a clean healthy diet, abs exercises and some good fat burning cardio.

Before breakfast only?

The main aim of cardio is to boost one's metabolism so that you become a fat burning machine. When you go for a run after a meal you do not burn only calories and available energy. The body burns a mixture of fat and food. Furthermore, when you run after a meal you are burning energy that would otherwise be converted and stored as fat. You are also boosting your metabolism and heart rate such that once you have finished working out you still continue to burn calories. It is for these reasons that you shouldn't be too caught up with only doing cardio before breakfast.

Getting intense!
If the point of cardio is to increase your metabolism and get your burning calories all day long then the best way to do that is with high intensity cardio.
Sprinting and other similar exercises raise your heart rate much beyond the regular slow jog and causes many chemicals to be released which also assist in burning fat. You can accomplish much more in a short space of time than you can with a regular low intensity workout.

So how should I do cardio for better abs?

Keep your cardio simple. If you are trying to lose weight so that your abs show through you should do three or for session a week of some nice high intensity sprinting. Each session should last for not much longer than 20 minutes and should be followed by a nice warm down.
However, one has to keep in mind that nothing in fitness is a hard and fast rule. Always keep doing something active. Just because high intensity cardio is better for burning fat it does not mean you should stop your daily jog or your weekly sporting match. Everything you do will help.