Joe Gunter Activates His Abs

Teammates, Joe Gunter needs no introduction! He has been a Perfect Swim Buddy since 2008 -- and his life-changing journey can be summed up in one word: EXCELLENT! Bravo Zulu Joe! Thanks for sharing your story to date with the CHARLIE MIKE Teammates. AMM

The year was 2008 and the person was Alden Mills. I was reading a blog post he wrote, where he made reference to the transversus abdominis – the muscle below your belly button. (It gets hard as a rock when you do a sit-up.) Having recently studied a basic Latin course, and remembering my younger years when I worked as a landscaper and learned Latin botanical names, I had one of those Eureka moments when you don’t necessarily shout “Wow!” but you realize you just learned something very, very important.

I discovered my transversus abdominis. It was a good feeling. You have one too, of course.

From there, I had to face the cold hard fact of the matter: I had neglected my transversus abdominis for my entire adult life. Maybe we did some sit-ups in P.E. class when I was a boy, but that was long ago, and this important abdominal muscle was about as atrophied as atrophy can get.

“The pushup is an active plank.” I can hear Alden Mills’ YouTube-video words as I type. I already knew that the pushup alone was a super exercise, because practically every physical fitness program in every military and law enforcement unit in the world uses it extensively. But Mills perfected it by inventing the rotating handles. Any child can tell this after using the Perfect Pushup for about ten seconds.

Back to the Latin. Incidentally, if you hate Latin, join the club. Almost everyone hates Latin, except teachers. Still, if you want to study botany or anatomy, you are going to learn some by default, because muscles and bones and plants have Latin names, like the one mentioned above.

Look at any picture of the human body where the muscle groups are labeled, as in Gray’s Anatomy. Look at those Latin labels. Look at those muscle groups. Are you using them?

Most people are not using them.

Don’t be like most people.

Be smart. Be strong. Be ready.

Join the Enlightenment.

That’s my story

Joe Gunter

Activate Your Abs

Charlie Mike Teammates -- I'm re-running a blog from last April about Ab Activation. Doctor Scott's blogs emphasized the importance of stabilizing the core and activating your abs -- it's the bedrock of all exercise and rehab programs.

1. Activate your Abs by standing tall and literally pull your navel to your spine - try it five times...then do it again, but now try to pull in your lower abs at the same time (Abs muscle between your bellybutton and pubic bone is the key abs muscle - it's called the Transversus Abdominis, and acts as an "abdominal belt" for your Core - it's THE most important Ab muscle - helps you get into a smaller pair pants, among other useful things).

2. Put Ab activation into everything you do - now that you know what it feels like to activate these abs (when you pull your navel to your spine you're activating all four sets of Abs) - apply it to doing your Perfect Pushups. I'm a BIG fan of multi-tasking your workout - that is working more muscle groups at the same - the benefits are awesome: multi-tasking workouts require more blood (improves cardiovascular system); requires more caloric uptake (burn more fat); and makes you think (stimulates central nervous system - i.e. release of hormones)...there’s absolutely NO REASON why you can't work your Abs while you do Perfect Pushups and for that matter Perfect Pullups!

3. Ab focused workouts - for those who enjoy working your Abs try the following workouts:

a. Mountain Climbers followed by Squat Thrusts - grab your Perfect Pushups, get in Pushup position with feet shoulder width apart, now use your lower abdominals to pull one knee up to your chest, then alternate as if you were in the starting blocks of a sprint race - but you're sprinting in place - up and back twice is one repetition - it's done to a four count cadence. Try for 10 reps - then go to 20 and grow from there...once you've hit 20 reps, to increase the intensity add Squat thrusts to the mix (same exercise as mountain climbers except now it's both legs at the same time) - do 10 reps of Squat thrusts adding by 10 reps of Mountain Climbers (everything is four count)!

b. If you have the Perfect Pullup - GET THE PERFECT PULLUP AB STRAP and follow the enclosed Ab Strap workouts - these are sure to help you build Rock Hard Abs!

CHARLIE MIKE -- ALDEN

Activate Your Abs!

I've received several posts asking about a good Ab workout - the latest coming from Jorge...here's the deal on Abs - first you need to know how to activate your Abs before you even do any Ab exercises - I know this sounds simple, but most folks just drop down and start knocking out sit-ups or crunches which invariably ends up with them working their hip flexors and straining their neck muscles...So here's the deal:

1. Activate your Abs by standing tall and literally pull your navel to your spine - try it five times...then do it again, but now try to pull in your lower abs at the same time (Abs muscle between your bellybutton and pubic bone is the key abs muscle - it's called the Transversus Abdominis, and acts as an "abdominal belt" for your Core - it's THE most important Ab muscle - helps you get into a smaller pair pants, among other useful things).

2. Put Ab activation into everything you do - now that you know what it feels like to activate these abs (when you pull your navel to your spine you're activating all four sets of Abs) - apply it to doing your Perfect Pushups. I'm a BIG fan of multi-tasking your workout - that is working more muscle groups at the same - the benefits are awesome: multi-tasking workouts require more blood (improves cardiovascular system); requires more caloric uptake (burn more fat); and makes you think (stimulates central nervous system - i.e. release of hormones)...there’s absolutely NO REASON why you can't work your Abs while you do Perfect Pushups and for that matter Perfect Pullups!

3. Ab focused workouts - for those who enjoy working your Abs try the following workouts:

a. Mountain Climbers followed by Squat Thrusts - grab your Perfect Pushups, get in Pushup position with feet shoulder width apart, now use your lower abdominals to pull one knee up to your chest, then alternate as if you were in the starting blocks of a sprint race - but you're sprinting in place - up and back twice is one repetition - it's done to a four count cadence. Try for 10 reps - then go to 20 and grow from there...once you've hit 20 reps, to increase the intensity add Squat thrusts to the mix (same exercise as mountain climbers except now it's both legs at the same time) - do 10 reps of Squat thrusts adding by 10 reps of Mountain Climbers (everything is four count)!

b. If you have the Perfect Pullup - GET THE PERFECT PULLUP AB STRAP and follow the enclosed Ab Strap workouts - these are sure to help you build Rock Hard Abs!

Let me know how it goes - CHARLIE MIKE!!

ALDEN