Stew Smith
is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy,
a former Navy SEAL, and author of several
fitness and self defense books such as The
Complete Guide to Navy SEAL Fitness,
and Maximum Fitness. As a military
fitness trainer, Stew has trained hundreds
of students for Navy SEAL, Special Forces,
Air Force PJ, Ranger Training, and other
physical law enforcement professions. His
eBooks at Military.com can help you achieve
your fitness goals, whether you're a beginner
or an expert.
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This week I received an email from a Military.com vistor who asked, "What is better -- more abdominal exercises faster, or fewer stomach exercises slower?"
My answer to this question is both -- BUT it depends who you are and what your goals are. If you are simply trying to lose weight and inches, doing fewer stomach exercises slower and more deliberately is very effective and safe. In fact, you can drop the number of reps you need to do by a factor of ten, if you hold each crunch for ten seconds. For this type of exercise you want to exert yourself on the UP and DOWN portion of the exercise, meaning you stay flexed and control the ascent and descent of your body. Just doing ten crunches and holding them for ten seconds each is safer and more effective than doing 100 crunches fast. Do this 2-3 times in a workout and you have a great abdominal routine.
However, if you are in the military or law enforcement and need to score higher on your physical fitness tests in situps or curl-ups, then you need to practice doing the exercises faster, but to a pace. A pace that produces a good score is 20 situps in 30 seconds. This would give you 80 situps in a two minutes time period. By increasing the pace to 25 in 30 seconds, you can get 100 in 2:00. So, it makes sense to practice more abs exercises at a faster pace with the exertion only occurring during the UP portion of the exercise. Relax and let gravity take you back to the starting position (floor) thus saving the abdominal energy for the ascent and a better score.
Here is a quick little workout I developed the other day with a client who thought he could not do 1000 abs in one session with me. We also got in 400 pushups. This one is for 250-400 pushups below. We could have done 1500 probably. It's not really as hard as it looks, but you will get a great pump and feel it in your belly tomorrow. No rest on this one...
Set #1 100 crunches your choice
25-40 pushups (regular)
Set #2 50 regular crunches
50 reverse crunches
25-40 pushups
Set #3 50 Left crunches
50 Right crunches
25-40 pushups
Set #4 100 L/R Crunches with bicycle of legs
25-40 pushups
Set #5 50 Double Crunches (Reg/Reverse mixed) at same time
25-40 pushups
Set #6 100 Flutterkicks (or regular crunches for those with back problems)
25-40 pushups
Set #7 100 Leg levers (or 50 left crunches / 50 right crunches - back problems)
25-40 pushups
Set #8 100 scissors (or 50 reg / 50 rev at same time)
25-40 pushups
Set #9 100 situps in 2-3 minutes (or 50 left / 50 right crunches with bicycle of legs)
25-40 pushups
Set #10 100 abs of your choice
25-40 pushups
That will equal 1000 abs exercise and 250-400 pushups. Drop the pushups to 10 each set and still get 100 pushups in a workout. Give this one a try. It is fun and very quick.
Get creative with your fitness program! That is what it takes when you are traveling on business or on vacation. Recently, my family and I took a trip back home to Florida to see my parents and we decided to drive from Maryland. After driving about eight hours the first day, we stopped at a hotel that did not have a fitness room and the pool was closed for the season. I was tired but knew I would feel better if I did a few exercises. The benefits of exercising and stretching after sitting idle for hours are numerous, and include the following:
This is the program I did for only twenty minutes right in the privacy
of my very own hotel room. No equipment necessary! The super set
is a series of exercises to be repeated with no rest. For the upper
body superset, simply do five to ten pushups then roll over and
rest your pushup muscles by doing ten crunches and continue on with
the two different versions of pushups and crunches.
Superset: Repeat 5-10 times
Pushups - 5-10 reps
Crunches - 5-10 super slow 10-second reps
Wide pushups - 5-10
Reverse crunches - 5-10 reps
Close / triceps pushups - 5-10 reps
Double crunches - 5-10 slow 10-second reps
*Try the pushups slow too at 5 seconds up/5 seconds down
As you can see, there is really no excuse why you cannot exercise any day of the week whether you are traveling, working long hours, or staying at home with the kids. With minimal equipment and time sacrifice, we can all fit exercise in our lives and stay healthy for many years to come. Good luck. Make fitness as much a part of your day as taking a shower and brushing your teeth.
If you are interested in more of these types of workouts, and a running, swimming and weight training routine, check out the military.com eBook
Fitness Store. Feel free to email the author of the eBooks sold here at stew@stewsmith.com.
