As we get more conscious about out health and fitness, more and more people are trying to learn how to build muscle effectively. One of the biggest areas of interest is celebrity workouts and today we are going to delve into the Sylvester Stallone abs workout to explain how "Rocky" achieved his physique.
Make no mistake about it, the sculpted six pack you see in the Rocky movies didn't come cheap. However, if you can combine this style of training with some of the proven muscle building principles towards your diet and rest you will see fantastic results with it.
Don't let this fool you, however. The workout may stick the the old classic movements but it certainly isn't easy. Naturally, given that you want to train like Rocky you probably weren't looking for something simple.
While some of the movements today will seem very familiar there are also a few old classics that most fitness enthusiasts have forgotten about so we'll provide you with a guide to each one.
* Floor Crunch.
* Twisting Crunches
* Upright knee raise.
* Broomstick Twist.
* Abdominal wheel rolls.
The first stop in today's workout is a regular crunch. The trouble with crunches is most people perform them slightly wrong and put unnecessary stress on their neck by pulling from behind the head. For those who feel back discomfort while doing floor crunches, feel free to use an exercise ball instead. Sly himself made this change during the late nineties.
The aim here is to perform three sets of 30 reps. If you can't manage this at first you should start with fifteen and increase the reps as your strength improves. The technique here is very simple. Simply focus your attention on tensing the upper stomach muscles as you reach the peak of each repetition, resulting in a brief pause before returning to the starting position.
Twisting crunches offer a good variation on the standard method and will target the oblique muscles, which run down the side of the six pack. They have the same principles as a regular crunch, but by aiming your elbow at it's opposing knee you will be able to target the small oblique muscles on each side of your stomach.
Upright knee raises are another move which is often performed incorrectly in the gym. Many fitness enthusiasts unknowingly remove the stress from their stomach and place it on the hips by swinging their legs forward. Instead, perform this move with knees bent at 90 degrees and focus on pulling your knees through a contraction of the lower abdominal area, removing momentum from the equation altogether.
Perhaps the most surprising move in today's session is the next exercise, which Sly credits with building his best ever midsection during the mid-to-late 1980's. The torso twist is an often overlooked exercise which targets your obliques. However, by performing this move on a decline bench you will be able to switch the target to your entire core, incorporating every single muscle in your stomach and lower back. This is a great move for building core strength.
Your final exercise is as old as the gym itself. The ab wheel was one of the first pieces of core stability equipment to be developed and it's so effective at it's job that the design hasn't changed very much over the last 50 years.
The trick is all in the technique. Get this wrong and you won't feel it where you are supposed to, or you will end up falling flat onto your face! Slowly roll the wheel away from your knees until you reach a point where you cannot roll any further forward without compromising your balance. As you become stronger and more familiar with the move you'll be able to generate a bigger range of movement.
Despite being over 20 years old, the Sylvester Stallone abs workout remains a great workout session. If you want to know how to build muscle effectively in your midsection, this plan covers all the bases and leaves areas in doubt on your quest to a six pack.
Make no mistake about it, the sculpted six pack you see in the Rocky movies didn't come cheap. However, if you can combine this style of training with some of the proven muscle building principles towards your diet and rest you will see fantastic results with it.
Don't let this fool you, however. The workout may stick the the old classic movements but it certainly isn't easy. Naturally, given that you want to train like Rocky you probably weren't looking for something simple.
While some of the movements today will seem very familiar there are also a few old classics that most fitness enthusiasts have forgotten about so we'll provide you with a guide to each one.
* Floor Crunch.
* Twisting Crunches
* Upright knee raise.
* Broomstick Twist.
* Abdominal wheel rolls.
The first stop in today's workout is a regular crunch. The trouble with crunches is most people perform them slightly wrong and put unnecessary stress on their neck by pulling from behind the head. For those who feel back discomfort while doing floor crunches, feel free to use an exercise ball instead. Sly himself made this change during the late nineties.
The aim here is to perform three sets of 30 reps. If you can't manage this at first you should start with fifteen and increase the reps as your strength improves. The technique here is very simple. Simply focus your attention on tensing the upper stomach muscles as you reach the peak of each repetition, resulting in a brief pause before returning to the starting position.
Twisting crunches offer a good variation on the standard method and will target the oblique muscles, which run down the side of the six pack. They have the same principles as a regular crunch, but by aiming your elbow at it's opposing knee you will be able to target the small oblique muscles on each side of your stomach.
Upright knee raises are another move which is often performed incorrectly in the gym. Many fitness enthusiasts unknowingly remove the stress from their stomach and place it on the hips by swinging their legs forward. Instead, perform this move with knees bent at 90 degrees and focus on pulling your knees through a contraction of the lower abdominal area, removing momentum from the equation altogether.
Perhaps the most surprising move in today's session is the next exercise, which Sly credits with building his best ever midsection during the mid-to-late 1980's. The torso twist is an often overlooked exercise which targets your obliques. However, by performing this move on a decline bench you will be able to switch the target to your entire core, incorporating every single muscle in your stomach and lower back. This is a great move for building core strength.
Your final exercise is as old as the gym itself. The ab wheel was one of the first pieces of core stability equipment to be developed and it's so effective at it's job that the design hasn't changed very much over the last 50 years.
The trick is all in the technique. Get this wrong and you won't feel it where you are supposed to, or you will end up falling flat onto your face! Slowly roll the wheel away from your knees until you reach a point where you cannot roll any further forward without compromising your balance. As you become stronger and more familiar with the move you'll be able to generate a bigger range of movement.
Despite being over 20 years old, the Sylvester Stallone abs workout remains a great workout session. If you want to know how to build muscle effectively in your midsection, this plan covers all the bases and leaves areas in doubt on your quest to a six pack.
About the Author:
About the author: Find out how to build muscle with top gym coach Russ Howe PTI's free guide to the sylvester stallone abs workout today.
0 comments:
Post a Comment