Tom Venuto’s Championship-Winning Ab Workout Routine

Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) and a certified personal trainer (CPT). Tom is the author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using methods of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn abdominal fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.BurnTheFat.com

Tom Venuto’s Championship-Winning Ab Workout Routine

In the first part of this series, we talked about the science behind revealing your abs and how it depends more on bodyfat levels than it does on abdominal training, per se. Now, let’s get into the real “meat” of getting great abs, training!

Personally, I only do about 15 minutes of ab work two times per week, with anywhere from two to four exercises for about 10-25 reps per exercise. Forget about thousands of reps of sit ups — it’s a waste of time. The reason my abs look the way they do is not from endless repetitions, but because I get my body fat down into the single digits with a highly specialized fat-burning diet program.

Here’s a recent ab routine that I’ve used (for bodybuilding/ ab-development purposes). I do this routine only twice a week and I change the exercises approximately every month so my body doesn’t adapt. I prefer slightly higher rep range than other muscle groups, but as you can see, it is far from doing a thousand reps a day.

A1. Hanging leg raises  – 3 sets, 15-20 reps

Superset to:

A2. Hanging knee ups (bent-knee leg raises)  -3 sets, 15-20 reps
(no rest between supersetted exercises A1 & A2, 60 sec. between supersets)

B1. Weighted swiss ball crunches (or weighted cable crunches)  – 3 sets, 15-20 reps

Superset to:

B2. Incline bench reverse crunches – 3 sets, 15-20 reps
(no rest between supersetted exercises B1 & B2, 60 sec. between supersets)

How To Use Cardio For MAXIMUM Fat-Burning

Times have changed since the Aerobics revolution of the 1970’s and 1980’s. For years, aerobics was the darling of the fitness world. Then scientists began to acknowledge the benefits of weight training – for everyone, not just for bodybuilders.

Recently, the pendulum has swung the other direction and we’ve actually started hearing fitness “experts” suggesting that cardio should be kept to a minimum or even avoided completely. That’s the way things tend to go in the fitness world – they swing back and forth in trends, from one extreme to another. Lots of cardio or no cardio.

I suggest you avoid trend-hopping and pay close attention to what actually works, by people who know what they are talking about (such as bodybuilders, who are the leanest muscular athletes in the world). Doing nothing but cardio is a mistake. But cutting our cardio completely is also a mistake. The truth lies in the middle. Maximum fat burning occurs when you combine cardio training and weight training together.

Those who are genetically gifted with above average metabolisms will find that a slight drop in food intake and just a few days a week of cardio will usually do the trick. However, most people who are struggling with fat loss (sometimes referred to as “endomorph” body type) are simply NOT burning enough calories to get the results they want. The answer for them is more activity to burn more calories.

For health and weight maintenance, I would suggest 3 short cardio workouts per week, about 20-30 minutes per session. But for maximum fat loss, I recommend 4-7 days per week of cardio or other physical activity for 30-45 minutes (based on results), at a moderate pace. You can mix up the type of cardio you do, or choose the type you enjoy the most – stationary cycling, stairclimbing, elliptical machines, aerobic classes and other continuous activities are all excellent fat burners (it doesn’t have to be indoors or on a cardio machine).

If time efficiency is a concern for you, you could do 2-3 of those cardio workouts as high intensity interval training and you’ll achieve very good results even with briefer workouts. Even as little as 20-25 minutes per session can get great results IF your intensity level is high enough. Remember, seeing your abs is about low body fat. Low body fat is about burning calories and creating a calorie deficit. The calorie deficit is created by increasing the number of calories you burn and or decreasing the amount of calories you take in from food. Increasing intensity is one way to burn more calories in less time.

Let me reiterate what I said in the introduction. The reason my abs look the way they do is not solely from my training program, but because I get my body fat down into the single digits with a highly specialized fat-burning diet program.
Proper nutrition strategies are essential for revealing your abs, which is why the final installment of this series will be solely about nutrition.

If you would like to finally see your abs by burning body fat using Tom Venuto’s best-selling fat loss program, check out: www.BurnTheFat.com

Burn The Fat – Feed The Muscle is a downloadable e-book (340 pages) that will teach you how to burn fat, get leaner, and stay that way for life. It is one of the most thorough educational resources for this purpose.

– by Mark – Over a year ago I purchased Burn The Fat – Feed the Muscle. This program has had greater effect for me than any other program I’ve purchased. Fat loss is simple, but not easy and the guy offering this program is both honest and up-front about this fact and his product.

– by Bonnie – I am a 40 year old mom from South Africa. I have 3 children, aged 11, 6 and 4. My weight before was 85kg’s my body fat was 36.5%, size 40. I was fat and miserable, and my family life and my relationship were suffering. I was not able to do anything with my kids, and I was tired and constantly irritated.

I’ve always counted calories, but this just wasn’t working for me anymore. Someone my husband knows had done the Burn The Fat programme and it had changed his life, so I decided to do it too. I lost 15kg’s within 8 months and kept it off.

by Susie – Following the Burn The Fat guidelines I have lost over thirty pounds so far. I used to be a size 18 and now I’m a loose 12. I once weighed 202 pounds and now I’m only 165. Not only do I feel great on this program, but I also don’t feel deprived. My lifestyle has changed and I love the results I’m seeing at every level. Now I believe I can do more than what I previously thought I could so I’m re-evaluating my goals.

by Susie – In the one month using this product I’ve lost eight pounds, four inches from my waist and two percent of body fat. While I still have a ways to go I can’t believe how fast my stomach is shrinking. It is easy to see that I work out now. This program is the best.

Some more  Burn The Fat Customer reviews, testimonials and results achieved with the  program, found on the web

Tom Venuto’s Burn The Fat – Feed The Muscle book was the first ebook that I’ve ever purchased. I was skeptical after reading the website, but all of that was erased in an instant after reading the first chapter.

I spent 4 years in University studying the human body. I wish that BFFM was part of our curriculum because so many text books out there try to be politically correct and base their work on the Canada/American food guide.

For the past 5 years I have been calling BFFM my fat loss bible. I have referred to it countless times. Yes I have read and followed a few other diet programs in the past 18 months, but I find most of them just put some sort of twist on what Tom teaches.

Other books try to make dieting sound easy and effortless. I love Tom’s no BS approach. Tell me the truth. Tell me exactly what it’s going to take. Don’t sugar coat it. And give me the tools to help me stick to the program. That’s exactly what Burn The Fat – Feed The Muscle provides you with.

Tom’s genuine and sincere character shines in this book. He truly cares about us and wants us to succeed. No gimmicks, no quick fixes… it’s the down right honest truth.

Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle is a must read!

I can now fit into a pair of jeans which I haven’t fit in for years (38 European which is size 8 U.S. – I was a size 15 U.S.). The Salvation Army must love me these days, all the big clothes are placed in their recouperation dumpsters, bag upon bag of clothes. I’ve liberated 12 clothes hangers and two shelves full of oversized clothing since New Years!