Ultimate Abs Online CE Exam With Print Book

This package includes the following:

• Ultimate Abs book
• Online continuing education exam

Ultimate Abs offers a science-based approach to abdominal training designed to help you guide clients to achieving the elusive six-pack. Featuring 130 of the best abdominal exercises, certified strength and conditioning specialist and fitness expert Gareth Sapstead provides progressions and regressions of each exercise to accommodate the specific fitness level of any client. Whether your clients are training in a fully equipped gym or in their home, you’ll find programming that will help your clients achieve results based on the equipment they have available.

Sapstead’s distinctive approach to delivering effective and innovative fitness content has made him one of the most followed fitness experts on social media and earned him the moniker “the Fitness Maverick.” In Ultimate Abs, he addresses the principles that underpin effective ab training and addresses the misconceptions surrounding abdominal training to cut a direct path to the most effective way to develop a six-pack.

Most resources focus on the concept of core strength training, but Ultimate Abs offers an unapologetic guide to developing chiseled six-pack abs. Although stabilization exercises are included within the book, looks are the priority, providing you with the tools to help your clients reach their aesthetic goals faster. Filled with expert coaching cues and an abdominal exercise library like none other, Ultimate Abs is a must-have guide for developing a killer midsection.

After reading the book, certified professionals can take the companion CE exam to earn continuing education credits.

Learning Objectives

• Explain abdominal anatomy and the principles of injury prevention.
• Apply simple concepts to assess your client’s progress.
• Distinguish between abdominal training and core training.
• Describe spinal flexion as well as spinal rotation.
• Identify the five variables that influence exercise progression.
• Tailor abdominal training exercises to best suit each client’s needs.
• Help your clients to properly align their limbs and joints to best target the desired muscle areas.
• Work around clients’ injuries to avoid pain.
• Design workout programs that help your clients build ultimate abs.

Audience

Strength and conditioning professionals, personal trainers, and other certified fitness professionals.

Part I. The Scientific Approach to Ab Training

Chapter 1. Ab-Building Principles
Chapter 2. Abdominal and Spinal Anatomy
Chapter 3. Ab Versus Core Training
Chapter 4. Using Cardio as a Tool
Chapter 5. Four Ways to Track Your Six-Pack Progress

Part II. The Exercises

Chapter 6. Selecting the Best Exercises
Chapter 7. Captain Crunch: Targeting Your Spine
Chapter 8. Targeting Your Lower Abs
Chapter 9. Targeting Your Obliques
Chapter 10. Planks and Other “Anti” Movements
Chapter 11. Exercises to Complement Your Six-Pack Workout

Part III. The Programs

Chapter 12. Body-Weight Ab Workout Programs
Chapter 13. Home Gym Ab Workout Programs
Chapter 14. Gym-Based Ab Workout Programs
Chapter 15. Customizing Your Own Program

Gareth Sapstead has a master’s degree in strength and conditioning science and a bachelor’s degree in sports and exercise science, and he holds the NSCA CSCS (Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist) certification. In the fitness industry since 2005, he has worked with elite soccer players, professional rugby union athletes, and teams across the United Kingdom and Europe as a strength and conditioning specialist. He has also trained Fortune 500 global executives as well as various high-profile clients, physique competitors, and plenty of ordinary people with “dad bods.”

Sapstead’s name and articles have appeared on some of the world’s leading fitness and bodybuilding websites, including T-Nation, Muscle & Strength, Muscle & Fitness, and Livestrong, among others. He has self-published three books and coauthored The Complete Running and Marathon Book (published by Dorling Kindersley). He’s a published researcher in the field of exercise performance and has presented at numerous academic conferences. Sapstead also maintains a popular fitness blog at www.thefitnessmaverick.com.