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Brand New? Start Here...
Foundations of Fat Loss: Weight Loss Basics
Weight Training For Fat Loss: The Holy Trinity
How to Turn Your Body Into a Fat Burning Furnace
Down and Dirty High Intensity Cardio Secrets
Carb Manipulation: Your Simple Guide to Looking Good Naked
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Highly recommended! |
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Getting that Elusive "Six- Pack" By Michael Collins ............................................................................................
I'd say that for the entire length of time I've been in this industry, not a 2- 3 day stretch has gone by without someone asking about getting a six pack. This is by far the most coveted "fitness prize", and people will do anything to get there.
Here's a question from a consultation yesterday...
My training partner says we should do abs every day. I'm doing 3 sets of 100 crunches every day, but I still can't see my abs. Should I aim for more reps?
You have a specific result you want. You want to see your abs. The "6- pack" look.
We can break this down to 2 factors.
1) You must have a relatively low amount of fat stored in the abdominal region.
2) You must build the muscle fiber of the abdominal muscles
There have been countless magazine articles on gaining the elusive 6- pack. There have been hundreds of infomercials pimping out products touting the latest gimmick to help you get "abdominized".
Most of them are a bunch of crap.
The only way to achieve this look you're going for is to combine a low abdominal fat percentage and building the muscle fiber of the abdominal wall.
2 steps are all it takes. I'm not saying it's easy. I'm saying that if you follow these 2 steps, you'll have the look you want- and you'll look good with your shirt off, on the beach, or however you like to spend time naked.
Model: Eugene Thong, President of ETF Wellness Check out his Personal Training Blog
Let’s tackle factor 1 in How To Get a Six Pack
First up is lowering the fat stored in the abdominal region. Lets take a step back... all the way back to physiology 101.
Spot reduction is not possible. No matter what these "fitness expert" clowns on TV tell you at 3am. (Black Book of Secrets is a MUCH better resource of fat loss techniques)
Fat loss boils down to calories in vs. calories out. Every day of your life you take in calories through food and drink. Calories come in the form of protein, fat and carbohydrates (and alcohol.. but of course if you’re trying so hard for a 6- pack, you wouldn’t be banging down shots of tequila with your friends.. would you?)
Here’s the break down of calories per gram of each of the macronutrients. Kcal is the term we use for calories.
(1 pound of fat= 3,500 kcal)
There’s more than meets the eye in terms how these macronutrients interact with the body, but to keep this article simple, we’ll use this chart as the basis. (I've covered this and simplified fat loss for you in Black Book of Secrets)
Calories are being burned 24/7. Everything you do burns calories. Blinking burns calories. Chewing gum burns calories. Lifting weights burns calories.
EVERYTHING you do burns calories. You only stop burning calories when you’re dead. I’ll assume if you’re reading this you’re still alive and in the game.
To illustrate, I’m going to bring this out over 1 day and a 1 week time frame.
The name of the game is to burn more calories than you take in during a 24 hour period. Then we’ll take it out over a week to show you how this all comes together.
Lets say your average 24 hour calories burn (through blinking, chewing gum, exercising, and every day life) is 2,700 Kcal.
And your average 24 hour intake (spread over 5 meals) is 2,200 Kcal
2,700- 2,200= 500 calories
That’s a LOSS of 500 calories.
If you were to keep this pace up for a week, that would be 1 pound lost
500 Kcal * 7 days= 3,500 Kcal (1 pound)
Again, there’s a lot more going on in the body than this, but it’s easy to understand and a simplified way to start off. (By the way, we've created a FREE special report "The Dark Side of Dieting". You can download it now when you join our newsletter)
Now that we’re on the way to taking off that coat of blubber, we’ll more on to Factor 2, building the muscle fiber of the abdominal muscles.
Look, everyone has abdominal muscles. If you didn’t you’d fall to the floor like a jelly fish. The abdominals are involved in virtually everything you do each day. There always active. But, every day activity doesn’t make them grow. They’re become used to every day activity and a new stimulus must be applied for the muscle fiber to actually grow.
Now, when I talk about growing the muscle fiber, I don’t mean we’re making it grow huge like Arnold’s biceps. I’m saying we’re adding filaments to a cable. We’re making the abs stronger, tougher, a bit more visible- but not blocky.
This way, when your body fat gets low enough, you’ll start to see the 6-pack. The actual muscle itself.
As with all muscle, you must apply an overload stimulus to make it grow. Overload with greater resistance. The body’s adaptation mechanism will create filament (muscle fibers) to bolster the muscle that is there.
After you stimulate the muscle with overload, you need to rest the muscle (i.e.; not work them hard every day). At most you’ll need to work the abs is 2 x per week if you’re creating enough intensity to overload them properly.
Doing 100 crunches is NOT going to make the body add filament. You will get better at doing more and more crunches, but that’s not the goal here.
Here’s a simple, basic routine you can do for abs
Crunches
3 sets of 10 reps
Lay flat on the floor or a bench. Bend your legs and raise your knees so your legs are perpendicular to the floor. With your hands placed in front of your chin or behind your head, exhale and curl your upper body towards your knees contracting your abs. Hold the contraction for a second then slowly lower your upper body back to its original position.
Make sure to fully contract and stretch the abdominals during crunches. The abdominal muscles are only responsible for about the first 30° of motion so the range of contraction is not that great. Let your abdominals stretch at the bottom of the movement but don't let the tension leave.
You can hold a weight plate in front of you to add resistance to create overload.
Leg Raises: on the floor or on a bench
3 sets of 10 reps
Lie flat
on your back. Place your hands, palms down, under your buttocks. Keep
your lower back rounded and slightly raise your shoulders off of the
floor.
Make sure that you don't arch your back while performing your repetitions. Placing your hands under your buttocks will help keep your lower back rounded and firmly planted on the floor. This will keep the tension on your abs and eliminate action from the psoas muscles.
This is extremely simple and effective way to start seeing results rapidly. Combine these 2 factors and see that elusive 6- pack!
There are tons of places on the web where you can find the real deal on nutrition and fat-burning (like this site you’re currently reading *ahem).
Want an easy, painless, NO-COST method to keep abreast of the latest in fat loss, body sculpting, health, and nutrition? Sign up here for our weekly newsletter (heck, we even GIVE you something to join – our latest Special Report: The Dark Side of Dieting. It details 21 things you probably didn’t even realize were keeping you from losing those inches.)
You'll also receive the Fat Burning Foods Chart with Calorie Count that was designed to use in combination with the Beach Day Program.
And... you'll have have access to us to ask questions regarding fitness!
If you're truly looking to lose weight fast, we have included a few key workouts that you can use to make your cardio more effective in Black Book of Secrets. It also includes 60 other fat loss tips, tricks and techniques.
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The Beach Day Program: Lose 10-20 pounds in 10 weeks
Carb Manipulation: Your Simple Guide to Looking Good Naked
Carb Manipulation: Your Simple Guide to Looking Good Naked (Part 2)
Get Thoroughly Acquainted with Your Food for the Best Weight Loss Results
What do you think of that diet where you eat certain foods based on your blood type?
Do I need supplements to lose weight?
Is it possible to lose weight and gain muscle at the same time?
I’ve got fat located in the area of my body where my arm meets my shoulder, and I can’t get rid of it. Are there any exercises in particular that would help improve that? Or what about any spot reducing supplements?
I know I should be having some protein and carbs after a weights workout, but what about after cardio? I've heard that you should wait 2 hours before eating.
Should I be counting my grams of fat, sugar, and calories?
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