Question for fitness gurus
 

I'll admit, I've slacked a good deal when it comes to working out. But now I'm looking into it and wanting a routing for when I wake up in the afternoon (I dont go to work until 4pm monday through friday, so I wake up around 10 or 11am).

I used to do situps, but when doing those I'd always notice a pain in my lower back. It's no mystery to me though, because I do have back problems. I want nice abs though, or at least a flatter stomach. Any advice would be VERY well appreciated on how I can lose this beer gut as quickly as possible. :)

I don't know how well this works, but you could try lying with your back on a bench - raise your arms over your head and hold onto the bench. Now with your ankles held together, raise them from the floor, bending your knees up to above your chest, hold, and then lower them back down again - repeat as necessary.. It should work out the lower abdomen and some muscles around the buttocks. I'd like to hear other's views on this one, but it's something I try to do every few days.

righty oh.. so I put an apostrophe in the wrong place.. sorry :(

Thanks for the input though on the workout. I'll give that a shot and see how that feels.

Sorry akito, I hate to be a pedant - I wouldn't worry about it, I know for one that I get these things wrong all the time. Don't be :(
;)

that's quite alright zen_tom.. no harm done in the slightest. I think we're all guilty of apostrophe misplacement every now and then. :)

Any other fitness advice? Chime in folks. I dont know if it helps or not, but i am a current smoker, and if working out can help me quit, then I'm all for it. :)

Throw in a few sessions of cardio each week (e.g. cycling, swimming, tennis, longish walks) to get rid of the beer gut, along with reducing your calories. I'm sure there are dozens of other threads with specifics on how to do this.

Sit-ups don't work the abs as much as people think, they work the hip flexors more. The pain in the lower back is usually caused by the spine curving and putting uneven pressure on the discs seperating the vertabrae. Try crunches instead.

Working out can help you quit smoking, i've known a few people give up because they hated coughing up so much stuff after a workout. You may also find that working out gives you energy (wouldn't think it, but it does) that you normally get from smoking.

Interesting.. Thanks for the response stevie.. that helps me out a lot. When summer comes around I intend to do a lot of swimming, so hopefully that'll help out with the gut I got going on.

So if sit-ups dont work the abs as much as people think, what, then, is a great method of getting a better looking stomach then? :)

Losing fat :) Swimming is a very good way to do cardio (if you push yourself).

To lose the gut the only way is to reduce your % body fat through diet and cardio. You can't spot reduce, exercising your abs will only strengthen those muscles, not reduce the fat in the area.