How to make my stomach look better.

[Loco]

Im 13 and i just cant seem to make it work, i mean its not ugly but i want it to be better looking. Im skinny and i used to do 100 situps a night, if i continue to do that will it work? Also, how far down should i go for pushups?

[koltz]

Situps and the like do little for the abs..
many beginners use incorect form and do 100s of reps , this isn't so good on thier abs it works the hip flexoers more (Lifting your legs up)
to have abs you need to have a low BF% , skinny people who get to a low bf% don't have anything underneath the flab... so first you need to gain muscle then burn the fat that covers it.

Also as for the abs: press in the middle of your stomach with your fingers and move them up , you should feel a place where the ribs from both sides of your rib cage meet , now go down to your hips , feel the bone there? well this sounds kinda spooky but the abdominal muscle actually is meanty not to go from a lying to a sitting position but decreace the distance between thosoe two points there fore situps are almost useless sicne they don't really work the abs , try doing crunches and you will feel the differance also don't do high reps wth low resistance it's a waste of time imho don't go over 20 reps with maximal resistance if you want muscle development.

you should also do abdominal vaccums (google it up I have written too much here) to train the msucle that holds your abdomen flat you should also work your back muscles wtih supermans and the like

I read experts saying that dead lifts and cardio help the abs the most. You are 13 so dead lifting may not be a great thing for you.
Just enjoy life, worry about the stomach later on.

[koltz]

Deadlifting would be okey even for a 8 year old midget.... it's all about how you do it... if you do it with bad form even if you are 19-20 you will nail your back

[Baofuhaibo]

Koltz is correct on at least one thing. Do every bit of research you can on the deadlift before you start doing it. Muscle burns 50 calories a day just being around, and there's no pure mass building lift greater. There's four lifts you need to concentrate on in your workouts. Pullup(or assisted pullup, or row), Bench Press(or pushup, or pushup on knees) Deadlift, and Squat. These lifts use the most muscle, and thus build the most muscle. You can use supplementary lifts, but never do the squats and deadlifts on the same day. Do 3 full body workouts, with days of rest in between, you can do cardio on those days, but never do more than 20-30 minutes of it, to save muscle.

I'd suggest doing 5 sets to technical failure, with ab and lower back excercises beforehand. There's nothing wrong with situps. Situps work your abs through a full range of motion, and teach your muscles to work together by utilizing your hip flexors as well as your rectus abdominus, do them twisting, to work obliques as well. Technical failure occurs when you have to "cheat" the weight up to complete the rep.

Try HIIT on your off days. Google it, It's called High Intensity Interval Training. You can do it with almost any activity, or buy a game called Dance Dance Revolution. The dancing imitates the HIIT style of training.

Start eating 6 meals a day to boost your metabolism, abs are built in the kitchen. You can always pick up a book called The Abs Diet by David Zinczenko. Just read the Amazon.com reviews and you'll know it's not complete crap.

You are pretty young. I don't know about dead lifts at that age.
I know people will volture me for this, but what about growth? My instructor used to tell us that at that age it's better to work smaller muscles, and use bodyweight. (I am not saying that weight lifting is bad)
For example arms, forearms, calves, that's when weight was concerned, and bodyweight for everything else.

[koltz]

You are pretty young. I don't know about dead lifts at that age.
I know people will volture me for this, but what about growth? My instructor used to tell us that at that age it's better to work smaller muscles, and use bodyweight. (I am not saying that weight lifting is bad)
For example arms, forearms, calves, that's when weight was concerned, and bodyweight for everything else.
most of this stuff Is bS it's bad nutrition that stunts growth , and overtraining not lifting weights. (although if one would compare being tall like 6' and 5'4 I bet most people would want to be shorter for many reasons)

Also there are nothing like "main lifts"
main movements maybe , but then you miss stuff like bent and militery presses and many others .. I bet most of thoose gym rats don't train delts and obliques at all... and a bent press can build more muscle then benching if done right

[Baofuhaibo]

It's true. At your age, it's gonna be hard to learn how to not injure yourself when performing squats and deads. Study up on these lifts and come back when your 15. Try progressing through the levels on this site circuit or tabata style for now, and eat 6 meals a day.

[koltz]

Actually If you start now you will eb better eventually..... You don't have to do 1 rep max squats on your first month but at any age you need to learn the eventually , the differance is one year where you did the big 3 and one year where you were training like this idiot : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl1XrHeG1WI

Actually If you start now you will eb better eventually..... You don't have to do 1 rep max squats on your first month but at any age you need to learn the eventually , the differance is one year where you did the big 3 and one year where you were training like this idiot : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl1XrHeG1WI

What was the point of that way of curling?