Dear Dan,
Please help! I'm 19 and can't get rid of my gut!It's not real big, but I could definitly use some ab's. What kind of exercise can I do to get these ab's. I'm not involved in a gym so it would have to be something I can do at home. Please e-mail me and let me know what I can do.

Thanks so much,
sincerely, Kelly

Hello, Here are some responses I have made to this very good and commonly asked question.

Response 1:
There are three main areas of your abdominal muscles. The "center" muscles or rectus abdominus, commonly called the six pack, your lower abs section, and your obliques (the muscles on the side). Therefore there are three basic abdominal exercises that will work the three areas. The crunch (for upper abs), the reverse crunch (for lower abs), and cross crunches (for obliques). I recommend you take a look at the videos in the exercise library. Of course there are many other ab exercises but those will get you started.

For your workout if you don't want to add much muscle mass the Get Lean programs would be the best way to go. High reps and light weight, combined with a sensible diet and cardio regimen will do wonders for you! If you don't have access to a gym you will simply want to do the "No Equipment" programs. This will definitely help you get in shape!

What are reasonable expectations? When exercising regularly and eating right you should expect to lose about 1% of your body weight per week. So if you weigh 140 then 1-1.5 pounds a week is reasonable.

Let me also suggest taking a look at the nutrition section and the article archives on our site for more helpful hints on diet and other aspects of fitness.

Response 2:
This is a fairly common question that I have been getting for years and years! To answer your question I must first tell you that while you obviously need to train your abs in order to develop the abdominal muscles appropriately you also must begin a fairly strict diet to really bring out your definition.

All of the Fitrex programs including the "No Equipment" programs have abdominal routines built into the exercise prescription on a daily basis. These abdominal workouts are more than enough to get your abs in shape! So, chose a program and get started training today!

Once the training component is addressed your nutritional or food intake should become a primary focus. First of all, you should check out the nutrition section on our web site. This can be found at the Fitness Info button located on the top right hand side of our web page. Or you can click on this URL to go straight to it: http://www.fitrex.com/nutrition.shtml

You mentioned that you wanted to know of any special foods that will help to get your abs to start showing. There really aren’t any special foods that will make will make a significant difference. It is your overall nutrition plan that will make the biggest difference. Please check out our nutrition section for good, basic information.

I hope this helps! Thanks for using Fitrex.com.

Dan