Daily tip #19| Abs

Let me ask you something.. Do you hate sit ups? I hate sit ups. And there is a very solid reason for it..


Before that, how many times have you seen the commercial where ripped models are using the product X and 'working out on it'? Many, I bet. Maybe you've bought one of those things too, and now it's just collecting dust. Never fall for those commercials, NONE of the things there work. Some of the commercials claim the product will get you abs only with 7 minutes of exercise per day!


... Now that is just outrageous. You can't get abs with a cheap plastic toy which bends and does nothing else, you get abs with 101% dedication, 90% work 120% rest and 200% nutrition. That's how you get abs, and that is how you get ripped, don't spend your money thinking 'maybe this one will work'. It will not, it never will. You can go to the gym, destroy yourself in there for two hours a day, three days a week and you're not going to achieve ANYTHING if you come home and eat pizza.


If you are buying these products, and believe me, A LOT of people are falling for these, you probably don't know how to work out your abs. The only exercise you might think of to get abs is sit ups, right? Well..



Sit ups.. They don't work. Sit ups are useless, and they can mess up your back. Do NOT do them. Ever. They're a complete waste of time. Your abs are not going to get the workout they need, it might seem like it's helping in the beginning, but you could've actually gone way further if you were doing something else, and you're probably going to start having problems with your back soon.

There is something, far greater than sit ups..


 And that something is crunches. Crunches are just plain wonderful. You lay down flat on your back, legs bent, hands behind your head lightly supporting your neck, looking up to the ceiling, you move your face towards the ceiling together with your shoulders. Do not begin doing a sit up, this is not a sit up, this is a crunch, concentrate on contracting your abs and as far as possible, as soon as you're at the most you can move your shoulders forward, HOLD. Hold that position for atleast two seconds, then slowly lower your shoulders down. Repeat. So what if you can do 20 sit ups, try 20 of properly done these, you'll see the HUGE difference. So, you work your way up to 20 of properly done these, now, take a big book, or a brick, or just something heavy you can fit, and hold it under your head while doing the crunches. This'll be like exercising with crunches all over again.


Form is KEY in this exercise. Do not concentrate on how many you do, concentrate on your abs, and the perfect form. If you don't, you'll end up working out your neck, or your hips. If you want to do that though, feel free, but it's not going to make your abs stronger.  Remember to move your shoulders straight up, no arms flailing around, no moving your head around. Try to lessen the tension in your neck, you have to learn to support it right, try different ways, just do not hurt yourself.



Why you would want to do this? This will strenghten your abs, and strong abs stabilize your lower back and protect you. They also look great!



Do not forget, nutrition is key to achieving abs. You can have rock hard abs, but nobody will be able to see them! Make sure to not make common mistakes, and sleep right!


Cheating a day is better than quitting.

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Daily tip #8| Water

Water. Have you ever thought about how useful water is? Probably not, since you use and drink it every day, it seems to be taken for granted.

I can't strees enough how important water really is to you. Your water needs depend on many things, your health, how active you are, and how much and what you eat.

No single formula truly fits everyone. Though, knowing more about your body's need for fluids will help give you an idea of how much water you need to drink daily.

Okay, before jumping into your daily water intake, lets start with 'why?' to intake it. Water makes up about 60 percent of your body weight. That's more than half of you! Every single system in your body depends on water. Water is great. It helps remove toxins out of your organs, it regulates your body temperature, it carries nutrients to your cells and it moists up your ear, nose and throat tissues.Water also protects your joints and organs. . Blood is mostly water, and your muscles, lungs, and brain all contain a lot of water.

Water water water. It's more than a half of you, and there's still such a thing as dehydration? Sounds a bit silly, doesn't it?

You lose water through urination, respiration, you lose close to an additional liter of water a day through breathing, and if you are very active, sweating.. Caffeine pills and alcohol, result in the need to drink more water because this makes you lose a lot of fluids. Symptoms dehydration ( mild)  include pains in joints and muscles (after a good work out this doesn't apply), lower back pain, headaches and constipation. A strong odor to your urine ( yep, stronger than normal ), along with a yellow or amber-like color, means that you might not be getting enough water. Note that riboflavin, a B vitamin, will make your urine bright yellow. Some medications can alter the colour too.

Now, how much water do you need? About twenty percent of the water you need comes from the food you eat. The rest will come from drinks. Water is probably the best choice, obviously, because sodas have sugar and calories, which if you were to drink the daily norm of water with soda, you're way better off eating two or three chicken breasts and actually gaining high quality protein, rather than empty 'soda' calories.

A little over two liters of of water a day ,together with water from your normal diet, will typically replace your lost water. The Institute of Medicine advises that men consume about 3 liters (13 cups) of total beverages a day and women consume 2.2 liters (about 9 cups) of total drinks a day.

You should make sure to have a bottle of water with you no matter where you are, at work, camping, driving a car, exercising. Water does sound a bit unexciting, and I bet you'll get bored soon. To fix that, you can add a little flavour to it, some lemon maybe. You can experiment, but make sure to watch for calories, you don't want to drink a lot of them, start gaining weight and not realise why you're gaining weight if your diet is the same.

In the end, the biggest indicator of the need for water is thirst. It's there for a reason afterall, isn't it?

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