December 17, 2003

Hi , I wanted to tell you that I'm a big fan and I just love your sex appeal. I was also wondering if you could give me some tips (just love your abs and biceps) on what exercises I could do at home .. like how many pull ups, how many abs, how often and any other exercises because I really want to get a nice six-pack and arms like you have :)
Thank you very much and I'm looking forward to receiving an answer.

Erik


Hi Erik,

Thanks for emailing. I get allot of inquiries and can not answer all of them. But everyone is still important. I will give you some tips for biceps and abs that you can do at home. I will assume you have basic knowledge of the exercises.

Please keep in mind if you have allot of body fat you will not see much in the terms of muscle definition. To see your muscle your body must be reasonably lean. So along with some abs and arm exercises I suggest some type of cardio like walking, jogging or going for a bike ride.

Biceps - 2 exercises
1)
Pull-ups- close grip, palms facing inwards. You can do these in your basement or in the park where ever they is a stable bar that hold your weight and is high enough from the ground. Or you can buy a 'chin up bar' and place it in your house.
4 sets of as many reps as you can.
ex. 1st set - you maybe able to do 12
then rest for a few minutes
2nd set you may only get 10 but that is k. you will get tired and it will get harder.

Try to do at least 4 sets.

2)
Bicep Curls -
If you do not have dumbbells you can use the big jugs of water that can be found at the grocery stores. Find a heavy jug full of water and curl that. You can also empty the jug and fill it up with sand. This is good to control the amount of weight. Fill the jug up with half sand so you have half the weight, as you get stronger fill it up more with sand.

So now you have home made dumb bells.
I would try 4-5 sets of 8-10 reps

Triceps - 2 exercises
1)
dips -
you can do dips with your body weight. 2 sturdy chairs and place them appropriately. These dips will also work your shoulders along with the triceps.
Try to do at least 4 sets of whatever you can - similar to the pull-ups.
2)
Triceps extensions -
Take your jugs that you use for biceps curls (these may work or not depends on the size of the jugs) and use them for seated behind the head triceps extensions.

I would try 4-5 sets of 8-10 reps - similar to the Biceps Jug curls

ABS - 2 exercises
1)
With your chin bar or which ever bar you are using to do your pull ups - you can also use that for hanging leg lifts/crunches. Bend your knees as you are hanging and bring them up towards your stomach and squeeze your abs like you are doing a crunch or sit up on the floor.

As many sets and reps as you can.

2)
Regular sit ups or crunches.
Best thing is to have a mat to protect your spine from hard surfaces. If you do not have a matt you can use a blanket. You can do regular sit ups with legs slightly bent. Straight up and down and then working the sides oblique as you are coming up do a twist.

As many sets and reps as you can.

I suggest doing these exercises 2 times a week and cardio 3 times a week. You should notice a difference within 2 months. If you have not noticed any difference you are not going heavy enough or not enough cardio. Diet will also play a key role in wither you will see your abs or not.

Do not forget about the rest of your body - to work your chest you can do push ups, legs you can do some lunges holding the jugs etc.

Give that a try.

Johanna