If you want a rock hard 6-pack, banging out a thousand crunches a day is a pretty solid way to get it. But if you want a super tough core that’s going to assist you in just about every other exercise there is, skip the sit ups and work the plank.
Sit ups work by forcing your abdominal muscles to bear and move a load – the rest of your upper body. It’s a great workout, but it incorporates only part of your core’s natural function: to provide stability and support for the rest of your muscles. This is where the plank comes in. It forces you to hold a stationary position that is difficult to maintain, and requires some serious abdominal input, both from your external abdominals (the 6-pack) and your internal abdominals, or “core stabilizers.” It’s a great way to challenge yourself and mix up your workout routine, especially if the thought of 1000 crunches is a little too overbearing.
Executing a proper plank requires real attention to form. Lie down on the floor with your arms bent under you, hands under your shoulders. Now lift yourself up on your toes until you’re basically in a push-up position, but still resting on your forearms. Make sure to keep your back straight the whole time so you engage the most muscles. Tighten your abs and glutes and hold the position as long as possible, keeping in mind that when you first start out, it won’t necessarily be that long. Try to shoot for 45 seconds to a minute, working your way up to a minute and a half.
When you feel like you’re ready for more of a challenge, try some of these variations.
1) One Armed Plank - Spread your feet out to shoulder-width apart, then put one hand behind your back. This will force you to engage your abs even harder to make up for the loss of stability provided by the other arm. Hold this position for 30 seconds, then switch arms. As you get stronger, try to move your feet closer together.
2) Plank Rows - Put a pair of medium weight (15 – 20 lbs) hex-dumbbells on the floor, then hold onto them in a push up position. Spread your feet out to shoulder with apart and slowly lift the dumbbell in one arm up to your chest. Without losing form, lower the dumbbell back to the ground and lift the other one. Raising the weights will have a similar effect of the one armed plank, but will force you to constantly shift tension.
3) Mountain Climbers – Assume push up position. Keeping your hips and back as straight as possible, slowly bring one knee up as close to your chest as possible. Lower it back down, then raise the other one.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
20 Minute Meals: Barbecue Chicken with Beans and Rice
What you’ll need:
3oz chicken breast, skinned and deboned
2 tbsp Barbecue Sauce
Garlic Powder
Chili Powder
Onion Powder
½ cup Rice
½ cup Black Beans
Onion
What to do:
Find an oven (there’s got to be one somewhere) and preheat it to 400¬o. Put the two chicken breasts on a cookie sheet, then squirt some of the barbecue sauce on. Use a spoon to smooth it out until you’ve got even coats, and then shake on the garlic, chili, and onion powder. Pop it in the oven.
Next, boil some water for the rice. Cut a slice off of the onion and chop it up into small cubes. When the rice has been in for about 5 minutes, put the beans in another pan and heat them up. Stir in the chopped onion along with the garlic powder and chili powder. When the rice is done, strain it and put it back in the pot. Add the beans (with the liquid) and stir them in evenly.
For a little added nutrition, find a low-sodium barbecue sauce. It’ll cut the sodium content almost in half, but leave everything else the same.
Calories: 509, Fat: 16g, Carbs: 69g, Sodium: 772mg (low sodium 433mg), Protein: 23g
3oz chicken breast, skinned and deboned
2 tbsp Barbecue Sauce
Garlic Powder
Chili Powder
Onion Powder
½ cup Rice
½ cup Black Beans
Onion
What to do:
Find an oven (there’s got to be one somewhere) and preheat it to 400¬o. Put the two chicken breasts on a cookie sheet, then squirt some of the barbecue sauce on. Use a spoon to smooth it out until you’ve got even coats, and then shake on the garlic, chili, and onion powder. Pop it in the oven.
Next, boil some water for the rice. Cut a slice off of the onion and chop it up into small cubes. When the rice has been in for about 5 minutes, put the beans in another pan and heat them up. Stir in the chopped onion along with the garlic powder and chili powder. When the rice is done, strain it and put it back in the pot. Add the beans (with the liquid) and stir them in evenly.
For a little added nutrition, find a low-sodium barbecue sauce. It’ll cut the sodium content almost in half, but leave everything else the same.
Calories: 509, Fat: 16g, Carbs: 69g, Sodium: 772mg (low sodium 433mg), Protein: 23g
3 Ways to Convert your Dorm Space into a Gym Space
The one thing most college students lack more than anything else is time. With so many classes to take, group meetings to attend, papers to write, and naps to squeeze in, getting a chance to make it to the gym is often impossibility. Luckily, all it takes is a little ingenuity to create everything you’d find in a gym, room right in your dorm room.
Chin up bar under the bed: The chin up one of the 5 best exercises (the others being push-ups, dips, squats, and dead lifts) you can do. They mainly work your lats, which are the big muscles on your sides that run from your deltoids to your glutes, and your biceps, which are the muscles that make girls want to have sex with you. And, since it’s an unsupported body weight exercise, it’s going to work all the little stabilizing muscles in your back and core that help you balance.
There are a couple ways you can get a chin up bar in your dorm room. The first is obvious: go to Wal-Mart and buy an Iron Gym Total Upper Body Workout Bar (~$30) and hang it on your door frame. But if you want to save the $30 for the date your big arms are going to win you, consider making your own. It’s simple – all you need is a lofted bed with some clear space underneath it. Literally, that’s all you need. Depending on how tall you are you might need to bring your knees up to your chest, which will make it harder (read: better for you).
If you can’t loft your bed, that doesn’t mean you can’t do chin ups in your room. Most college dorms have thick heavy doors – throw a towel over yours and do chin ups with that. Having to hold on to the towel will do wonders for your grip strength, and the door should be able to support your weight, provided you’re careful about it.
Dip Station: Dips were the hardest exercise for me for a long time. There are two different ways to do dips, both of which hit different muscles and both of which you can (probably) do in your room. Bench dips primarily work your triceps, and can be done by standing with your back facing your desk chair. Grab the front of the chair with your hands and extend your feet out as far as they can do, until you’re almost in a seated position. Now, lower yourself to the ground and bring yourself back up using just your arms.
Chest dips require a bit more equipment, but aren’t hard to set up. In most college dorms, the desk and the dresser are roughly the same height. Arrange your room so that your bed and dresser are a little wider than shoulder width apart, and there you go. Perfect dips station.
Free(ish) Free Weights: While a set of 25-lb hex-dumbbells is a cheap and probably more useful, you don’t really need it to do most free-weight exercises. Instead, take the $500 worth of text books you just bought, stuff them all in your backpack, and get to work.
There are a ton of different exercises you can do with free weights. Hold your backpack from the little handle on the top and go bicep curls. Hold it to your chest and do squats (or for a serious challenge, hold it over your head and THEN do squats. Put it on the ground, crouch down, and then explode upwards while holding it. Get creative and see what you can do with them.
Chin up bar under the bed: The chin up one of the 5 best exercises (the others being push-ups, dips, squats, and dead lifts) you can do. They mainly work your lats, which are the big muscles on your sides that run from your deltoids to your glutes, and your biceps, which are the muscles that make girls want to have sex with you. And, since it’s an unsupported body weight exercise, it’s going to work all the little stabilizing muscles in your back and core that help you balance.
There are a couple ways you can get a chin up bar in your dorm room. The first is obvious: go to Wal-Mart and buy an Iron Gym Total Upper Body Workout Bar (~$30) and hang it on your door frame. But if you want to save the $30 for the date your big arms are going to win you, consider making your own. It’s simple – all you need is a lofted bed with some clear space underneath it. Literally, that’s all you need. Depending on how tall you are you might need to bring your knees up to your chest, which will make it harder (read: better for you).
If you can’t loft your bed, that doesn’t mean you can’t do chin ups in your room. Most college dorms have thick heavy doors – throw a towel over yours and do chin ups with that. Having to hold on to the towel will do wonders for your grip strength, and the door should be able to support your weight, provided you’re careful about it.
Dip Station: Dips were the hardest exercise for me for a long time. There are two different ways to do dips, both of which hit different muscles and both of which you can (probably) do in your room. Bench dips primarily work your triceps, and can be done by standing with your back facing your desk chair. Grab the front of the chair with your hands and extend your feet out as far as they can do, until you’re almost in a seated position. Now, lower yourself to the ground and bring yourself back up using just your arms.
Chest dips require a bit more equipment, but aren’t hard to set up. In most college dorms, the desk and the dresser are roughly the same height. Arrange your room so that your bed and dresser are a little wider than shoulder width apart, and there you go. Perfect dips station.
Free(ish) Free Weights: While a set of 25-lb hex-dumbbells is a cheap and probably more useful, you don’t really need it to do most free-weight exercises. Instead, take the $500 worth of text books you just bought, stuff them all in your backpack, and get to work.
There are a ton of different exercises you can do with free weights. Hold your backpack from the little handle on the top and go bicep curls. Hold it to your chest and do squats (or for a serious challenge, hold it over your head and THEN do squats. Put it on the ground, crouch down, and then explode upwards while holding it. Get creative and see what you can do with them.
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