Prince Williams is justifiably proud of his abs – he works very hard to maintain them.
“Working out is addictive, especially when you start to see results and people compliment you,” said Williams, a senior in marketing and a former member of the men’s track and field team.
To get abs like Williams, a combination of exercise and dieting is needed, according to experts.
Coordinator of personal trainers at the Recreation and Physical Activity Center, John Katsares, said the key to great abs is an intense workout every 48 hours.
Exercising every day is not advised because the body needs time to recover, and recovery days are when muscles grow and develop. Contrary to popular belief, performing excessive amounts of sit-ups or crunches does not increase chances of building muscles.
“The most important variable of every workout is in the intensity in which you train, not the repetitions or the time spent,” Katsares said. “If you train with the adequate amount of intensity I can stretch your muscles in eight to 10 minutes.”
Abdominal curl-ups are a popular exercise trainers teach. They are performed by lying on a mat, bending the knees and curling the spine in an upward position.
Katsares said curling the spine is a main element to a great abdominal workout. Other exercises he suggests are side-back abdominal crunches and side-back torso crunches.
Williams follows a strict plan to get his abs in shape.
He exercises every other day, doing heavy lifting and always keeping his core tight. He does somewhere around 100 sit-ups and 500 crunches.
“While you watch TV, during every commercial break just get down and do crunches until the show comes back on,” Williams said.
Cardiovascular exercise is very important because in order to build muscle, fat must be burned. Williams swims, runs and plays basketball to fulfill his cardio workout.
“A lot of people don’t know, but when you run your abs are a very important part of running and your form, so you want to mentally focus on keeping your abs tight,” Williams said.
Healthy food choices are also essential to toning muscles. PowerBars, shakes, grilled chicken and rice are among some of the foods in Williams’ diet.
Janele Bayless, a registered dietitian and wellness coordinator at the Student Wellness Center, recommends following a lifestyle diet. This simply means following the food guide pyramid.
Because the average person does not have the time or money to eat healthy, mypyramid.gov is a helpful Web site that can give insight on what to eat and how much to eat based on gender, physical activity and age. It does not take weight, height or genetics into account, as a dietitian would.
For information about personal trainers and dietitians, visit rpac.osu.edu.
Danielle Bell can be reached at [email protected].
