7-Min Natural Bodybuilding Home Calves Workout Routine

Learn how to train the calves in 7 minutes simply using a raised surface like some stairs in the comfort of your home.

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How many times have you skipped an abs workout because you meant to do them at the end of your weight training session but you were just too tired to do any justice to them.

If you have been in this situation many times, then I have the solution for you. A body-weight ab workout that you can perform in the comfort of your living room, preferably as soon as you wake up or once you get home from work. This workout will target all of your abdominal muscles in a quick and efficient manner. And best of all, you can perform it anytime, anywhere.

However, before I get to the routine, I want to cover a few highly important concepts that a lot of people don’t know about for getting to see your abs.

In order to see your abs, generally speaking, a woman’s percentage of body fat needs to be at approximately 12-13% while a guys’ body fat percentage must be in the 6-8% range. Therefore, visible abdominal muscles come as a result of low body fat levels. So then the next question becomes, how to lose body fat?

You lose body fat and get to see your abs by:

1. Following a Proper Nutrition Program

You can do all of the crunches in the world and you will not be able to see your abs if your abdomen is covered by a thick layer of fat. Following a good nutrition program that consists of 40-45% Carbs, 40-35% Protein, 20% Good Fats will put you on the right path to losing body fat. For a sample diet program please take a look at this one below:

Sample Natural Bodybuilding Fat Loss/Muscle Building Programs

Note: For guys that are at around 12% body fat and women at 15% you can implement a carbohydrate cycling protocol that enables you to go down to the lower body fat levels. For more information on carb cycling, take a look at this article: Get Lean with Carb Cycling.

Note 2: If you are looking for a supplement that helps to control your appetite and increases your energy, you may want to consider trying the Lean Body Fat Burner from www.labrada-nutrition.com.

2. Following a Proper Weight Training Routine

Depending on your experience level and goals, this may mean three full body sessions of dumbbell work at home (for beginner or somebody that just wants to be toned) or five to six training sessions a week like the ones here: natural bodybuilding guide.

“Why weight training?”, some may ask. There are many reasons for this. First of all, why have great abdominal muscles and carry them with a less than shapely and toned frame? It’s like having really expensive and beautiful art works in the living room framed with a torn and old frame.

Regardless of what infomercials claim, the only way to tone and shape your body is through weight training. No aerobic machine is capable of doing that no matter how many muscles it involves.

Also, by allowing you to get extra muscle mass, weight training permanently increases your metabolism. Don’t worry ladies, you will not get like Arnold Schwarzenegger by accident. Women do not have the testosterone levels necessary to be able to attain the degree of muscle mass that men can achieve.

3. Performing Some Cardiovascular Exercise

Cardiovascular exercise performed on an empty stomach first thing in the morning or right after the workout can help you to burn extra calories. This in turn will help you to burn more fat.

There is no need to overdo the cardio. Too much of it will burn down muscle and lower your metabolism which is the exact opposite of what you want. Just 3-5 sessions of 30-45 minutes a week will suffice. In terms of level of effort, use the following formula as a guideline:

Your pulse (heart beats per min) should be between: (220-age) x.75 and (220-age) x.85.

4. Shaping Up Your Abdominal Muscles By Performing The Right Abdominal Exercises

This one goes without saying and that is what this article is all about.

Now that we know what the rules to getting nice abs are, let’s see how you can work yours from the comfort of your home.

Natural Bodybuilding Gymless Routine for Ripped Abs

Exercise #1: Crunches

Lie flat with your back on the floor and your legs in front of you bent at the knees and place your hands crossed in front of your chest. Start by raising your shoulders and torso as far as possible from the ground in a curling movement without raising your back from the floor as you exhale. Retaining tension on the abs, bring your torso to the starting position as you inhale. Maintain full control throughout the movement and avoid the temptation to rock back and forth. Tip: You can perform this movement with a rolled up towel under your spine curvature in order to achieve full stretch of the abdominal wall and thus get full range of motion.

Exercise #2: Bicycle Crunches
Lie flat on the floor with your lower back pressed to the ground. For this exercise, you will need to put your hands beside your head. Be careful however to not strain with the neck as you perform it. Now lift your shoulders into the crunch position and bring your knees up to where they are perpendicular to the floor, with your lower legs parallel to the floor. This will be your starting position. Now simultaneously, slowly go through a cycle pedal motion kicking forward with the right leg and bringing in the knee of the left leg. Bring your right elbow close to your left knee by crunching to the side, as you breathe out. Then go back to the initial position as you breathe in, and start to crunch to the opposite side as you cycle your legs and bring closer your left elbow to your right knee and exhale.

Continue alternating in this manner until all of the recommended repetitions for each side have been completed. Tip: Avoid fast and sloppy motions; instead concentrate on slow and perfect execution.

Exercise #3: Lying Leg Raises
Lie flat with your back on the floor and your legs extended straight in front of you. Place your hands at your sides by the floor for support. Flexing your lower abdominals, raise your legs and exhale until they are perpendicular to the floor. Retaining tension on the abs, lower your legs to the beginning position stopping just an inch off the floor as you inhale. Tip: Avoid the temptation to let your legs drop on the negative portion of the movement.

Exercise #4: Modified V-Ups
Sit on the floor (or on the edge of a chair) with your legs extended in front of you and your hands holding on to the sides for support. Simultaneously bring your legs up as far as possible while at the same time bringing your torso towards them as you inhale. Exhale as you return to the start position and repeat the movement until you have completed your set. Tip: Avoid the temptation to let your legs drop on the negative portion of the movement and maintain full control of the motion.

Exercise #5: Knee-Ins
Sit on the floor (or on the edge of a chair) with your legs extended in front of you and your hands holding on to the sides for support. Keeping your knees together, pull your knees in towards your chest as you exhale until you can go no further. Keeping the tension on your lower ab muscles, return to the start position as you inhale and repeat the movement until you have completed your set. Tip: Avoid fast motions; maintain full control of the movement.

Gymless ‘Ripped Abs’ Natural Bodybuilding Workout Routine

GOAL: BOOST METABOLISM AND SHAPE ABDOMINAL MUSCLES. FOCUS: BODY-WEIGHT BASED ABDOMINAL EXERCISE CIRCUIT.TIME: 3 TIMES A WEEK ON NON-CONSECUTIVE DAYS PREFERABLY FIRST THING IN THE MORNING FOR 6 WEEKS.
EXERCISE SETS REPS TARGET MUSCLES SECONDARY TARGETS
CRUNCHES 3 10 TO 21 UPPER ABS LOWER ABS, OBLIQUES
BICYCLE CRUNCHES 3 10 TO 21 FULL ABDOMINAL WALL N/A
LYING LEG RAISES 3 10 TO 21 LOWER ABS UPPER ABS, OBLIQUES
MODIFIED V-UPS 3 10 TO 21 LOWER, UPPER ABS OBLIQUES
KNEE-INS 3 10 TO 21 LOWER ABS UPPER ABS, OBLIQUES
THE ROUTINE SHOULD BE PERFORMED IN CIRCUIT FASHION. FOR THE FIRST TWO WEEKS REST 30 SECONDS BETWEEN EXERCISES AND 2 MINUTES BEFORE STARTING THE CIRCUIT AGAIN. WEEKS 3-4 DO NOT REST IN BETWEEN EXERCISES AND ONLY REST 60 SECONDS AT THE END OF THE CIRCUIT. WEEKS 5-6 ATTEMPT TO DO ALL 3 SETS OF THE CIRCUIT WITH NO REST AT ALL.

Conclusion

Now that you know the secrets to getting a nice set of abs all you need is the determination to stick to the plan consistently. By the time summer comes around, you won’t have any issues with looking for a bathing suit and displaying your new physique at the beach! Best of luck, take care and train hard!

If you find the information of this website useful, please feel free to check out any of my best selling natural bodybuilding and fitness publications here.

Also, don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube page at:

www.youtube.com/hugoriverafitness

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Natural Bodybuilding Q&A: Squats Don’t Work Your Legs?

Today I got a question from a good friend of mine who stumbled upon a video of a coach talking about how the king of leg exercises in bodybuilding, the squat, is an exercise that only works the back and that it should not be performed as a result. [Read more…]

HalloweenWith Halloween just a day away I figured that many of you would like to make a nice sugary addition to your natural bodybuilding diet in the form of candy. As a result, I decided to share with you my tips on how to cheat on your bodybuilding diet. If you follow these tips you can actually use the extra sugars to your advantage. [Read more…]

Sometimes, the best natural bodybuilding workout is the one that breaks all the rules. As someone who has been practicing the bodybuilding lifestyle now for 20 years, I have learned that it is ok to break the bodybuilding training rules from time to time, and that doing so, will result in a shock to the body that will deliver more gains.
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In this natural bodybuilding video blog you will learn how to do a Home Chest & Back Dumbbell Workout Routine (10 sets of 10 Reps) designed for building as much muscle as possible.

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Since I have been talking lately to a lot of confused teenage bodybuilders who are in the same predicament today that I was back when I started in bodybuilding, I decided to cover the subject of bodybuilding workouts for teens.

I remember back in May 1990 when I picked up my first bodybuilding magazine and saw the pictures of great bodybuilders like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lee Labrada, Shawn Ray and Lee Haney. I was mesmerized by how these guys looked and immediately I wanted to look like them; sooner rather than later. As a matter of fact, I set a goal of achieving that look in 3 years. I also remember saying to myself: “if 3 sets per exercise are good, then 6 sets will be even better and if most bodybuilders train 90 minutes a day, then I will train for three hours.” While that philosophy made perfect sense to me, and the work ethic is certainly commendable, if I would have known what I now know I would have made way more gains than I made back then and would certainly only have spent a fraction of the original time that I spent working out.

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Fat loss is not rocket science. However, various infomercials will have you believe that losing body fat is some sort of occult science composed of many complex secretive principles that only a few enlightened ones have access to. You too, however, may have access to this information but only after you pay the three small installments of $49.95; according to the infomercial anyways.

If you are confused about how to lose body fat, please do not feel bad; many years ago I was in your shoes too. Because of that, I will share with you my 8 Fat Loss Directives. These directives are 8 simple rules that will guarantee that you start losing body fat now. In addition, I have included a Fat Burning Workout as well so that you can print it out and take it to the gym with you.

The 8 Fat Loss Prime Directives

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