4 Medicine Ball Exercises for Shredded Abs

Hit your abs from all angles with this intense medicine ball workout.

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By Mehmet Edip

To really sculpt your abs and get them rock solid you need to hit it from every single angle. And what better way than to use a medicine ball.

Originating from Persia over 3000 years ago and continued to be used in ancient Greece for injury rehabilitation, medicine ball work is one of the oldest forms of strength and conditioning training.

As well as helping with injuries, the medicine ball can help tone your core muscles, - the body’s center of power. Using a medicine ball to train the core is perfect because you can perform so many functional movements similar to those that you do in everyday life.

Here are my top 4 medicine ball exercises to help you sculpt some killer abs:

Kneeling Partner Twist

• Make sure you're are on your knees and back to back with a partner.
• Keep your abdominals contracted and maintain perfect posture.
• Slowly twist to one side and pass the ball off to your partner.
• Return to the other side to retrieve the ball.
•  Continue for 30–90 seconds, going one way. Repeat, going the other direction.

Tip: This can also be done while standing.

V-Sits and Pass to Partner           

• Sit on the floor about 1–2 feet away from your partner with your knees bent, it may help if you lock your feet together with your partner.
• Sit upright with perfect posture, and with your abdominals contracted tightly throughout the entire exercise.
• Start by holding the medicine ball into your chest.
• Now you and your partner recline back a few inches while maintaining perfect posture.
• Slowly start coming back up and once you’re upright, throw the ball to your partner.
• Your partner will catch it, and you’ll both repeat the exercise. Repeat for 30–90 seconds.

Medicine Ball Chest Pass

• Stand in front of a wall (approx 2-3 feet away) holding a medicine ball in front of your chest.
• Keep your feet at shoulder width apart and maintain a slight bend in your knees.
• Throw the ball with as much power as possible against the wall by pushing it outwards from your chest, then catching the ball as it bounces back, bringing it back to your chest before repeating.

Medicine Ball Stomach Hits (This one takes guts)

• Start with a medicine ball and a training partner standing in front of you.
• Holding the ball with both hands, throw it directly at your partner’s abdomen by pushing forward forcefully.
• As the ball is heading towards their stomach, your partner should NOT catch it or block it before it hits them.
• Your partner should catch the ball on the rebound and only after it has hit them, before repeating the exercise and throwing the ball back at you.

Tip: Be sure to start with a light ball and throw conservatively the first time you try this exercise, then slowly increase the weight of the medicine ball.

Information above is taken from: 
http://www.muscleandfitness.com/training/abs/4-medicine-ball-exercises-shredded-abs

Brazilian Style Chicken Pie

This is one of my favorites recipes and its worth a try, if you like chicken recipes you will LOVE this one!

INGREDIENTS

For the filling:

• 1 lb. skinless chicken breast
• 1/2 liter chicken stock
• 4 Tbsp oil
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 tomatoes, peeled and seeded, minced
• 1 cup of peas, salt and pepper to taste.

For the dough:

• 1 cup milk
• 3/4 cup of oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon baking powder and  1/2 cup grated cheese.

HOW TO PREPARE

Prepare the filling:

1. Cook the chicken breast in broth until tender
2. book 1 xi tea broth from cooking
3. Shred the chicken and remove any cartilage
4. Saute the ingredients
5. finally add the peas to filling. 
6. add the chicken broth and mix and cook until almost dry

Dough:

1. Beat the milk, oil and eggs in blender
2. On low speed, gradually add the flour, salt and finally add the yeast
3. Pour half the batter into a greased ovenproof dish add the filling 
4. Cover with the remaining dough mix and grated cheese on top
5. bake until golden brown

Glycemic Index and Intramuscular Lipids

The storage of glucose as glycogen in muscle is dependent upon the dose and form of carbohydrate, and also the timing of ingestion. Low-glycemic index diets can reduce many risk factors linked to heart disease, diabetes, triglyceride levels and LDL cholesterol.^1,2,3 A combination of carbohydrate (CHO) and protein (PRO) after exercise may enhance the anabolic effect, compared to protein alone.

It has been reported that ingesting CHO and CHO/PRO immediately following exercise promotes a greater increase in insulin concentration compared to consuming PRO only, or compared to control groups. Additionally, subjects ingesting a CHO/PRO supplement following exercise had a greater increase in growth hormone than control subjects and those ingesting PRO alone.⁴ Researchers suggest that this increase in insulin and growth hormone concentration may facilitate a more favorable environment for recovery than CHO alone.

Other research has concluded that ingesting CHO and PRO— 2 hours before exercise and immediately following, during three consecutive days of resistance training— increased blood glucose, insulin, growth hormone, and IGF-1 to a greater degree than a placebo. Consequently, there is considerable evidence to support recommendations that athletes ingest CHO and PRO following exercise to optimize glycogen resynthesis, promote an anabolic hormonal environment, and increase PRO synthesis.⁵ I have spoken to many bodybuilders during their pre-contest prep, and most of them start to eliminate carbohydrates from their post-workout drinks as the contest approaches.

Intramuscular Lipids and Glycemic Diets

Bodybuilders have a difficult decision as to when to spike insulin— that is, if they want to build muscle. Studies that used carbohydrate supplementation during exercise have shown that it inhibits adipose tissue lipolysis and reduces non-essential fatty acid availability. In this month’s American Journal of Physiology— Endocrinology and Metabolism, researchers looked at different glycemic diets (high and low) and their effects on intramuscular lipids.

Unlike adipose tissue stored on your glutes or your stomach, intramuscular lipids (IMCL) are stored between muscle fibers. A high amount of intramuscular lipids are associated with metabolic alterations within muscle, such as changes in the cellular location of fatty acid transporter proteins, decreased mitochondrial enzyme activity, and defects in mitochondrial morphology— which likely contribute to obesity and insulin resistance. These defects are thought to play a role in the reduced skeletal muscle fatty acid oxidation and increased intramuscular lipid accumulation that is apparent with obesity and other insulin-resistant states such as type 2 diabetes. Regardless, high intramuscular lipids are associated with a host of health-related issues.  

High-Glycemic Diets Increase Intramuscular Lipids

Researchers assigned young men to a high- or low-glycemic diet after exercise, and examined the effects on intramuscular lipid storage. Carbohydrates were provided at 8 g/kg body mass, and protein and fat content constituted 11 percent and 17 percent of energy, respectively. Researchers found that consuming a high-glycemic diet after exercise resulted in a trend toward higher-starting intramyocellular lipids (IMCL) in the high-GI trial.

Despite these observations, an increased storage of IMCL in the high-GI trial would seem likely, as previous research has shown that consuming a high-GI meal following 90 minutes of exercise reduces fatty acid availability, compared to consuming a low-GI meal.⁶ The observation of a trend toward a higher pre-exercise IMCL content following a high-GI diet warrants further investigation, using an appropriate study design.

It is possible that the higher insulin levels characterizing the high-GI diet could also affect other sources of lipids (such as liver lipid release), although this also requires further study.

Taken together, these observations suggest that high-GI diets produce sustained effects on nonesterified fatty acid (NEFA) availability and intramuscular lipid oxidation during exercise, although the mechanism by which this happens remains to be studied. So if you are looking to burn more fat, switching to a low-glycemic diet may reduce the accumulation of intramuscular lipids and enhance fat oxidation.⁷

The study provides unique insight into the relationship between carbohydrate quality and lipid deposits during exercise. The data show that the amount of liver glycogen used during exercise is related to both the pre-exercise glycogen content and inversely related to the level of circulating fatty acids during exercise— the higher the starting level of glycogen and the lower the level of circulating fatty acids, the greater glycogen use during exercise.

References:

1. Pereira, MA, Swain, J, Goldfine, AB, Rifai, N, & Ludwig, DS. (2004). Effects of a low-glycemic load diet on resting energy expenditure and heart disease risk factors during weight loss. Journal of the American Medical Association, 24, 2482-2490.

2. Sloth, B, Krog-Mikkelsen, I, Flint, A, Tetens, I, Bjorck, I, Vinoy, S, Elmstahl, H, Astrup, A, Lang, V, & Raben, A. (2004). No difference in body weight decrease between a low-glycemic-index and a high-glycemic-index diet but reduced LDL cholesterol after 10-wk ad libitum intake of the low-glycemic-index diet. American Journal of Clinical Nurition, 80, 337-347.

3. Jimenez-Cruz, A, Bacardi-Gascon, M, Turnbull, WH, Rosales-Garay, P, & Severino-Lugo, I. (2003). A flexible, low-glycemic index mexican-style diet in overweight and obese subjects with type 2 diabetes improves metabolic parameters during a 6-week treatment period. Diabetes Care, 26, 1967-1970.

4. Chandler RM, Byrne HK, Patterson JG, Ivy JL. Dietary supplements affect the anabolic hormones after weight-training exercise. J Appl Physiol, 1994;76:839-845.

5. Conley MS, Stone MH. Carbohydrate ingestion/supplementation or resistance exercise and training. Sports Med, 1996;21:7-17.

6. Trenell MI, Stevenson E, Stockmann K, Brand-Miller J. Effect of high and low glycemic index recovery diets on intramuscular lipid oxidation during aerobic exercise. Br J Nutr, 99: 326-332, 2008.

7. Stevenson EJ, Thelwall PE, Thomas K, Smith F, Brand-Miller J, Trenell MI. Dietary glycemic index influences lipid oxidation but not muscle or liver glycogen oxidation during exercise. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab, 2009.

Sidebar:

Fat Oxidation During Exercise and Satiety During Recovery Are Increased Following A Low-Glycemic Index Breakfast

Consuming low-glycemic index carbohydrates before exercise results in increased fat oxidation during exercise in trained men and women. It is not known if this phenomenon occurs during low-intensity exercise and in untrained participants. Researchers examined the effect of eating breakfasts containing high-GI (HGI) or low-GI (LGI) foods on substrate utilization during rest and walking exercise in sedentary adults. The metabolic and appetite response to a standard lunch consumed after exercise was also investigated.

On each occasion, participants were provided with a HGI or LGI breakfast 3 hours before walking for 60 minutes. After exercise, participants were provided with lunch and remained in the laboratory for an additional 2 hours. Plasma glucose and serum insulin responses were higher following the HGI breakfast, compared to after the LGI breakfast. During the 3-hour postprandial (occurring after a meal) period, fat oxidation was suppressed following both breakfasts, but remained higher in the LGI trial. During exercise, total fat oxidation was also greater in the LGI trial. There were no differences in the metabolic responses to lunch. Participants reported feeling fuller following lunch in the LGI trial.

Consuming a LGI breakfast increases fat oxidation during subsequent exercise and improves satiety during recovery in sedentary adults.

Reference:

Stevenson EJ, Astbury NM, Simpson EJ, Taylor MA, Macdonald IA. Fat oxidation during exercise and satiety during recovery are increased following a low-glycemic index breakfast in sedentary women. J Nutr, 2009 May;139(5):890-7.

Credits: The information above is a word by word excerpt from MUSCULAR DEVELOPMENT.