Eddie Baran's Body Sculpting Blog

The abdominals are one of the most often mistrained muscle
group. There is so much confusion out there on how to get lean,
strong, and toned abs. I'll cover only a few Do's and Don't's for
training your abs.

DON'T waste your time doing crunches. Although they're better than
nothing, you might as well spend your time and effort doing exercises
that actually do something for you. If you're a complete beginner or
do not yet have the strength to do other abdominal exercises, then
crunches are fine to start with. However, if you are strong enough to
do better exercises, then that's what you should be doing. Once in a
while you can throw them into your regimen, but they should never be
the staple of your abdominal workouts.

DO spend your time doing high quality ab exercises like those found
in my Body Scultping course -
http://www.eddiebaran.com/body_sculpting_women.html
and my Gymnastic Abs course - http://www.eddiebaran.com/gymnastic_abs.html .
You need to stress the entire region with full-range movements and isometrics.

DON'T waste your time or money on those silly exercise gadgets you
see on TV. Those were created for lazy people who aren't serious
about fitness. They eventually collect dust and are thrown in the
garage with all the other junk bought on late night infomercials like from
Ronco or QVC.

DO spend your time and money on useful equipment that do build
strong abs. The person who's dedicated to improving their conditioning
can build very strong abs with these products. I go over these products
in my program in detail.

DON'T only do very high reps when you exercise your abs. Doing this is
fine some of the time, but it shouldn't constitute your entire
abdominal routine. There is a myth out there that you have do
to 80,000 reps for your abs to get results. Not true.

DO vary the reps - do sets of high, medium and low reps. Choose
abdominal exercises where you can only do 1-3 reps. Then sometimes
do 10-15reps, and other times do over 20 reps. Variety is key.

There is much, much more to sculpting fine abs, too much for this email.

For all the goods of chiseling your tummy, check out
http://www.eddiebaran.com

Wishing you the best,

Eddie Baran

P.S. For those of you who don't yet have this course and are not happy
with your abdominals, then you better go get in now
at http://www.eddiebaran.com

http://www.gymnasticabs.com
http://www.eddiebaran.com
http://www.baranboost.com
http://www.ejerciciosbaran.com

Posted by Eddie Baran at 08:36 AM | Permalink

A couple months ago I introduced you to Ron Watson. If you recall, Ron
has 60 years of age and has battled a litany of health problems: he's
on oxygen, has a pacemaker, has diabetes, had triple bypass, etc, etc.
I can go on but I won't. It would be an understatement to say he wasn't
exactly in the the best of health. He started my Gymnastic Abs program
a while back and immediately reported great results.

He sent in this letter to me the other day to share more great news:

.__. . ._ _._. .

Eddie,
It was a blessing to meet you this year. Your Gymnastic Abs course have
done wonders for my health and waist. I wait in great anticipation of
any coming new course.

My 9 week results:

I have not changed my diet. I do your Gymnastic Abs course ten minutes
a day. I have lost almost all of my overhang gut. I have lost 7 lbs.
and 2 or 3 inches also.

After the surgery that cut my lower stomach all the way through, my
abdominal muscles were left weak, flabby and nothing I did made an
improvement. I always hated ab exercises. I never seemed to do enough to see
results. If I did 50 crunches, I had to do another 50 and maybe that
would get me great abs. Never enough.

However, with your course, as I get stronger, I increase the intensity
by making the exercise harder. That keeps my time commitment to about
ten a day. Anyone can find ten minutes a day to do something they
really want to do and enjoy.

Thanks again,
Ron Watson

---

Ron,
That's great news. You've just proven what I've always been preaching:
anyone, no matter what age, size or shape can get fit; and if you do
something that works, just a little bit each day and keep at it, you can
achieve amazing things.

I can't wait to hear of your 12 week results. By summer you are going
to be looking phenomenal. You are awesome. Keep up the sterling work.

.__. . ._ _._. .

So you see, it doesn't take much to get strong and lean. Just do the
right thing in the right way. Only 10 minutes a day to banish the belly.
And if Ron changed his eating it would be banished even faster. But
that's fine because he's still getting great results. The key thing is
that he is doing what's comfortable for him within the right context. Do
what works for you and what you will actually do and you can get supreme
fitness.

Wishing you the best,

Eddie Baran

http://www.eddiebaran.com
http://www.baranboost.com
http://www.gymnasticabs.com
http://www.ejerciciosbaran.com

Posted by Eddie Baran at 08:24 AM | Permalink

Years ago I was addicted to donuts. Every night after work I'd inhale
three or four of them. Part of this was to try to fill up some of the
emptiness I was feeling, and I'm not talking about my stomach; and part
of it was because donuts just taste good - sugar, fat and dough. It
don't get no better than that.

Well, a good two months of this and I had packed on a sizable amount of
fat and dough myself. So I cut them out of my life. Of course this was
pure misery. It felt like the ultimate sacrifice. This lasted for a
while but it was a huge struggle and I was even unhappier this way.
Eventually I came back to the donuts and the dough and fat came back to me.

But why did I go back to donuts when I was focused on not going back?
All of my energy was against it yet I still returned.

The reason was because that's the way it works.

Focus on something, whether you want it or not, and that's what you'll
get. If you focus on giving up donuts it won't happen, at least not
without a lot of discomfort and a fight.

But if you focus on eating a lot of fruits and vegetables, and fill
yourself up with those, then eventually the donuts will fall away. Even if
you give yourself permission to eat donuts.

That's what I did. I continued to eat donuts without the guilt and at
the same time
I started eating lots of fruits and vegetables. I figured if I was
going to eat garbage, I might as well wash it down with a ton of good food
and hopefully it'll drown it out.

Eventually, I started enjoying the good food so much that I lost
interest in the bad food. And I wasn't really trying to. It just happened
naturally. What happens is that your values will shift when you aim for
the positive and don't try to forcefully change the negative.

So here's the deal:

Dont focus on emptiness, lack, or loss but on fulfillment.
Focus not on what you're leaving behind but on what you're gaining.
Dont' focus on guilt but on the peace you're after.
Don't focus on how horrible you are (besides, you ain't as bad as you
seem to think) but focus on how good you're going to be.

Focus on fitness not fatness.

Sure, you don't want to be feeding off of donuts all the time. These
things will fall away naturally when you're in a better place. Why?
Because you've aimed for the good instead of away from the bad. You really
won't be interested in them as your values will have shifted. It will
seem natural and effortless with no feeling of sacrifice or pain.

To this day I still eat donuts once in a while. It's nothing at this
point so I can do it. I'm focused on the being in the good instead of
being out of the bad.

Wishing you the best,

Eddie Baran

http://www.eddiebaran.com
http://www.baranboost.com
http://www.gymnasticabs.com
http://www.ejerciciosbaran.com

Posted by Eddie Baran at 08:18 AM | Permalink

During the 1990's, every January 1st I'd make my New Year's
resolutions. They might have had to do with fitness or career or anything else.
And almost like clockwork, come January 15th or so, I'd have already
given them up.

I couldn't keep them for even two weeks. And so I figured the entire
year was shot and I'd have to wait another 50 weeks before I could try
again. So the rest of the year I spent wallowing and thinking I had blown
it for the year.

This is the problem with New Year's resolutions. They seem so written
in stone and shackled with time. And if you slip up you feel like you're
condemned to failure.

And another thing. With resolutions it's like you don't even expect to
follow them. You don't take them seriously. I don't know a single
successful person who does them. In fact, I don't know a single person who's
kept to one.

That's why I like the word "Evolution." It connotes something big but
not so strict, or serious. You are going to evolve into something.
Evolution is a series of zigging and zagging to the goal. Ups and downs,
good and bad. It's all part of the process.

Let's say you have a goal of losing some serious poundage. You're going
along okay with your feedings and exercising but then you slip up: you
go on a three-day bender of donuts and TV . Under the rules of New
Year's resolutions you've blown it and the year is a wash. You then beat
yourself up and can't recover.

But if you realize this little episode is all part of your evolution,
then it's no big deal. It's just a natural part of your growth. As long
as these binges don't occur too often or too long, then you'll be fine.
You evolve into the new you.

So what, you've fallen off the wagon and now you will get back up on it
and you'll be back on track to success. This is the year of your
Evolution (and Revolution). It's going to be big. Big changes are in store
for you, but realize that evolution is a process and is always moving in
the right direction.

Wishing you the best,

Eddie Baran

http://www.eddiebaran.com
http://www.gymnasticabs.com
http://www.baranboost.com
http://www.ejerciciosbaran.com

Posted by Eddie Baran at 09:18 AM | Permalink

When I was in China earlier in the month, we took a trip to Tiantan Park. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. When we went it was near freezing and early in the morning. Yet there were plenty of people exercising in the park.

And they were doing all sorts of different activities: tai chi, ballroom dancing, modern dance, martial arts, yoga, games, you name it and there was usually a large group of people doing this.

Funny thing, though, was that the vast majority of the people doing this were over 60 years old. These folks were in excellent shape. Just how good? Well, check out this guy below:

We asked him his age and he told us he was 83. Most 23 year olds can't do this and this fella is at an age when most Westerners are either dead or can barely move. This man is truly an inspiration. This is amazing flexibility for anyone let alone someone 83.

Interesting thing was, though, that I didn't see any young people in the park exercising. It might have been that they were all at work and I was seeing retired people. That might be the case but I have the feeling that this is also a generational issue. That most young people in China, like in the States, don't exercise. They haven't built the habit and might never. Youngsters think they are going to be fit and flexible forever and have no idea that they're headed for stiffness and weakness unless they start exercising.

Thing is, though, that it doesn't matter when you start, be in 8 years old or 80. You can too. But you've got to start, no matter where it is.

Wishing you the best,

Eddie Baran

P.S. Can you get flexibility and strong abs in one exercise? You bet. Gymnasts do and so can you. Go here NOW to see why.

Posted by Eddie Baran at 07:01 AM | Permalink

Last week when I was in China, I noticed that there's a big split
between the old and the new. On the one hand there was the healthy old
China. Lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. I saw vendors on the street
selling fruit on a stick.

As an American this concept seemed so foreign to me that is was almost
cutting-edge. We eat everything else on a stick - namely junk food - so
why not fruit?

Then we have the newer China where you have the influx of American fast
food. McDonald's and KFC on every corner. But I couldn't resist. Just
how does KFC in China compare to that in the States.

Well, I had to find out. I hadn't had KFC in almost 10 years since it's
some of the most disgusting food out there. And I'm just talking about
the taste, not its nutritional value. Nothing wrong with having some
junk food every once in a while, but I could never stomach the Colonel.

So Matthew Furey, Doug Doebler and I ventured into a Shanghai KFC to
experiment. Doug watched while Matthew and I polished off almost an
entire bird. Yes, it was actually pretty good and didn't resemble what we
have here in America. I still would classify it as junk food but it's not
as fatty, greasy, grisly or disgusting as the American version.

But you can tell the new generation is loving this food a little too
much because they have flabby bodies. Although they're not big people,
many are mostly fat and have little muscle. Is the new Chinese food
American fast food? I don't know, but it looks like a lot of Chinese people
have been eating too much of it.

It's okay to partake in junk food once in a while; you don't have to be
100 percent pure all of the time. But you do need to get plenty of
fruits and vegetables. The more fruits and vegetables you eat the less
harm an occasional trip to KFC will do. It'll just be a small blip on the
radar. And the wilted slice of iceberg lettuce in your Big Mac doesn't
count as a serving of vegetable. You need a lot better than that.

And the beauty of fruits and vegetables is that you can eat as much as
your heart desires and you'll always be healthy. The more you eat, the
better you'll be.

Wishing you the best,

Eddie Baran

P.S.
To make sure you get your extra servings of fruits and vegetables, try
whole food concentrates by going here now
http://www.baranboost.com

These are not meant to be a substitute to eating produce but rather a
supplement to them. They're real food concentrated into an easily
digestible form.

Posted by Eddie Baran at 06:39 AM | Permalink

I just returned from a 10-day trip to China with friends and colleagues
- coach Matthew Furey, real estate wizard Doug Doebler and media mogul
Jim Whelan. Turns out China is my kind of town. Instead of Red China,
it's more like Ed China.

China was nothing like how we read in books. In the west we're told
it's a backward repressed country, something straight out of Mao's
Cultural Revolution. But it sure seemed different than that to me.

It was pretty progressive with a nice free market economy, where
capitalism is the name of the game not communism. Chairman Mao's probably
spinning in his grave like a centrifuge. Good. Whirl away.

Anyway, when it came to health and fitness I discovered a lot of things
about the Chinese - how some of them ate, exercised and took care of
their health. More on this later, so keep tuned for some cool things.

Wishing you the best,

Eddie Baran

P.S. Read up on what some are calling the greatest exercise routine
ever by going here now http://www.eddiebaran.com/gymnastic_abs.html

Posted by Eddie Baran at 09:05 AM | Permalink