Strengthen your abdominal core muscles and lose your body
fat. The concept may sound simple, but putting it into action can be quite
challenging. It will take dedication, time and patience to get a six pack; but
in the end, the effort is well worth it. To get six pack abs you need to do two
things: lose
fat and build
muscle . You get this by dieting and exercising daily. You can have the
most toned and muscular abs, but it will not show if there is a layer of fat
over them. This article will discuss ways in which you can accomplish both of
these goals
. Steps
Lose Fat
.1
Do cardio workouts. Important step to get
six pack abs: There is no way to target fat loss in any area of your
body. You need to lose some of that extra fat over your abs. Even if you work
out and get gigantic ab muscles, if there is still a layer of fat over them no one will ever get to see
them. Cardio workouts are workouts that raise your heart rate for a given set
of time. Some examples would be running,
jogging,
bike
riding, dancing and rowing.
·
2
Eat smaller dinners. Large dinners tend to
hurt a fat loss process because most people aren't very active after dinner. This is the basis for
advice along the lines of "don't eat anything within a certain number of
hours before going to bed". The claim that your entire dinner is stored as
fat isn't entirely true. The process is more complicated than that, but the fact
you don't move after dinner is enough to hurt your cause. You can offset this
by eating a larger lunch or snacking healthily before dinner. Fresh
fruits or vegetables are excellent choices for curbing appetite not to mention
other health benefits. A handful of nuts might do the same. Drink a large glass
of water
before sitting at the table.
·
3
Eat breakfast. Many people skip
breakfast because they don't have time for it. The harm of skipping breakfast
from a weight loss perspective is it makes you eat a huge lunch since your body
hasn't had anything in the past 12 (or more) hours. When you eat a huge lunch
you get that after meal drowsiness so now you're both unproductive and
inactive. Cereals
don't take much time to prepare and consume, and most of them are very healthy
nowadays. If you are extremely pressed for time, consider grabbing a box of
breakfast bars or a smoothie and throwing one in your bag when you
leave for work or school. Some breakfast bars out there are also
excellent sources of fiber. Even an apple or a yogurt is better than
nothing. Ideally, your breakfast should be the biggest meal of the day, lunch
the second, and dinner the smallest.
·
4
Lift weights. The more muscle your
body has, the more calories your body burns, even at rest. Plus, resistance
training is important to limit the amount of muscle mass lost whilst reducing
your calorie intake. If you only do cardiovascular exercises (running,
playing basketball, football) without weight training then you may lose the
muscle mass, including the muscle in your abs.
·
5
Keep metabolism steady. Eating one small
meal every three hours that you are awake will not speed up your metabolism,
rather, it will keep it going. Your metabolism goes and slows with your food
intake and eating something small every three hours will keep that metabolism
burning calories and will help you lose weight. Every meal should include lean protein, so
that your body won't need to break down your muscles for fuel, which would
shrink your abs as well as slow down your metabolism.
·
6
Drink more water every day. To
find out how much water you need to drink as a minimum per day, halve your
weight (in pounds) and that is how many ounces of water you need to drink. So a
150lb person would need to drink a minimum of 2.2 liters a day. It sounds like
an absurd amount of water, but you get water from the food you eat, and you can
drink teas and pure fruit juices to make up some of the quota.
- Drinking too much water (several liters, especially while sweating) can dangerously dilute certain salts and minerals. If you are exercising heavily and sweating a lot, you will need to replace your salts as well as fluids. Supplement your water drinking with a sports drink or potassium rich fruits such as bananas and apples.
· 7
Switch out refined grains for whole grains. In a
scientific study, people who eat all whole grains (in addition to five servings
of fruits and vegetables, three servings of low-fat dairy, and two servings of
lean meat, fish, or poultry) lost more belly fat than another group that ate
the same diet, but with all refined grains. A diet rich in whole grains changes
the glucose and insulin response in your body, which hastens the melting of
fat, and visceral fat, that deep layer of fat, is easier for your body to burn
than the subcutaneous fat under your skin (the fat that you can see and grab).[1]
BUILD MUSCLE
·
1
Do crunches. Lie on the floor (with or without a
mat) with your arms in front of your chest or with your hands lightly touching
your temples (never behind your head). Bend your knees. Raise your shoulders
(upper torso) towards your knees, using strictly your abdominal muscles. It is
very important to not lift your entire back off the floor, as this can
cause back strain, and the extended movement does not help you develop six pack
abs any faster. The most important part of the crunch is the initial flexing of
your abs as you lift your shoulders off the floor. As soon as you begin lifting
off the floor exhale through your mouth, ending with a gasp once your shoulders
are off the floor. Then pause for a second once you are at the top of the
crunch and exhale the last bit of air from your diaphragm while flexing your
abs. Now lower back down slowly and controlled while inhaling through your
nose, just until your shoulder blades touch the ground. Do not let your head
touch the ground.
·
2
Do sit ups.
Lie on the floor, feet on the floor, knees up and hands crossed on your chest.
Have someone hold your feet down, or wedge them underneath something heavy. Sit
all the way up, lifting your lower back off the floor along with your shoulder
blades. Keep your back straight (no hunching). Lower yourself down. Repeat.
Once this becomes relatively easy for you (i.e. you can do a quite a bit with
ease) start adding more challenges. Find an incline bench. Do weighted sit ups.
Hold a weight on your chest while you do these. As these become easier, hold
heavier and heavier weights.
·
3
Train your entire core. To build really great abs
it's important to first understand what abs do. Their full name is 'rectus
abdominis'. The 'rectus' bit, is Latin for 'straight, proper, upright'.
Contrary to popular opinion, the abs' primary job is not to curl you up into a
ball, but they work together with the back muscles to maintain correct posture
and stabilize the spine. These muscles are not just for show! So the best
exercises for abs are ones that force your entire core to go into overdrive to
support your spine. Some exercises that do this are squats and deadlifts.
These exercises will train your entire core to work together to do what it is
designed to do. At the same time they will also train a lot of other muscles
(e.g. glutes and quads).
·
4
Do leg lifts.
Lie on the floor, legs straight out, hands at your sides. Lift your legs
straight up (not bending your knees at all) until they're at a 90 degree angle
(or close). Lower your legs and repeat without letting your legs touch the
floor. For more challenge there is equipment at most gyms that will allow you
to raise yourself up using your arms as support and dangle your legs. If you're
using this piece of equipment, you can make it easier by just raising your
knees to your chest. It's more difficult to raise your legs to a horizontal
position with your legs straight. This helps firm up the lower abdomen. If
you're truly a monster, try doing leg lifts with a medicine ball hanging from
your feet. Or, hang from a pull up bar and raise your legs in front of you all
the way up to the bar.
·
5
Do jackknife sit ups. Lie down flat on the
floor. Place your hands on the ground to your sides for balance; you can pick
them up as you get used to the movement. Simultaneously raise your knees and
torso so that your knees and face meet on an imaginary line extending from your
pelvis to the ceiling. You should be able to kiss your knees at the top of the
motion. Your legs will naturally fold bringing your feet towards your hips,
much like a jackknife. Lie back down (i.e. "spread out") and repeat.
Don't let momentum bring you down, slowly put your hands and feet back on the
ground. Place a weight between your feet when you think you can handle it.
·
6
Do static holds. Put
your body into the push-up position but with your elbows on the floor, and your
whole body flat. This position is known as the static hold position, or the
plank, and it trains your core (including your abs) to hold the body in place
which is the real purpose of your abs. Hold this position for as long as
possible. Beginners should be aiming to start off with at least 45 seconds,
while seasoned ab workers are known to achieve over 5 minute static holds. To
perform the side static hold, roll onto one side of your body and lift into the
same position as before, but this time only one arm will be on the ground with
the other arm pointed straight up the air and your non weight bearing leg
resting on your bottom leg. Once again, hold this for as long as possible.
·
7
Train your oblique muscles. It's not as important to
work on your oblique muscles at first, but eventually you'll want to start
working these too. These are the muscles to either side of your stomach. There
are multiple ways to do this and anything that includes twisting your torso
against a resistance counts. There are twisting machines at gyms, you can twist
while you do sit-ups,
you can do side bends, you can twist side to side with a medicine ball in hand,
etc. Be aware though, that many beginners tend to have weak obliques compared
to their abs (it simply isn't used as much in daily life) so go easy on the
sides at first.
- Do bicycle crunches. Lift your feet off the ground while doing the crunches by alternating each leg in the air. Bring your left knee up toward your right shoulder and then your right knee toward your left shoulder.
· 8
Find new ways to crunch,
bend and twist in your daily life. Some possibilities include:
- Use a stability ball. Do your crunches on the ball to introduce instability to your workout, which will improve your balance too. There are also lots of core exercises that Cathe way. Do this as often as you are comfortable or at times when it won't look weird. You can bend forward from the hips or, if you're really into it, bend at the knees too and really "sink" out of the way.
- Add complex core-movements to your workout. That will boost your overall body constitution tremendously. For example, combine push-ups with rows. Go into a push-up position on two dumbbells. Now don't do a push-up, but instead start to row alternating dumbbells. See how much power you need only to hold balance? Combine exercises! Be creative. Tension is your friend.
TIPS
- Be sure to exercise your back muscles just as much as your abdominal muscles or you might develop poor posture.
- Supplements can be useful, but they are just what they advertise themselves to be; supplements. There is no magic pill to make you lose weight with no work. There are some supplements out there that can help you lose weight by increasing your metabolism or by helping you curb your appetite, but you still have to work. Most tend to be "snake oil" and will not really give you any results while costing you great deals of money. And remember, even if they DO help, all supplements still require the consumer to watch their diet and increase their exercise. A simple multivitamin or mineral pill is likely all that most people will need.
- Opinions on weight loss and muscle training routines are like noses - everyone has one but they're all different. In the end, you should find something you enjoy and that you will stick for life. Over time, you can modify it until you get the results that are right for you.
- Make sure you give yourself adequate amount of rest (8 hrs for adults, and 8-10 hrs for kids and teenagers). When exercising you actually break down the muscle and if you give then the proper time to heal (and eat the proper foods) they will grow back stronger than before.
- It's a genetic fact that for some people there will always be just a little more fat over the muscle layers than we'd like. That's the way nature is and forcing your body to lose more than that can be a very dangerous effort.
- Many people's abdominal muscles are off-set, which can give the illusion of a 5 pack, 4 pack, or even 3 pack depending upon your genetics, the thickness of your abs, and your present level of body fat.
- It may help to use a record-keeper or plan book for your exercise program. Exercise journals are fantastic for this purpose because as you enter daily information in the journal, you're putting together a complete record that can be referred back to in the future.
- If you feel you need to, ease into the changes in your lifestyle. Start eating breakfast. If you have difficulty with this, start with a couple glasses of water or a large cup of coffee right when you wake up. It'll go down easy and prepare your stomach to get back to work. Cut the amount of dinners little by little. For the exercises, start slow and increase pace and/or repetitions as you are comfortable. Attempting lifestyle changes in a drastic, sudden manner can backfire. Do what you can but don't sell yourself short.
- Make a photo diary of your body but don't take pictures too often (once a month is fine). Don't study your pictures intensely since you might not get motivated if you don't see a difference. If you are consistent in your diet and exercise, you should see changes monthly. Keep in mind that you won't see changes in the mirror everyday since they will be very small improvements.
- Unless you are watching your weight for another reason, ignore the reading on the scale. You may be decreasing your body fat but your weight may stay the same (or even increase) as you build muscle. Muscle tissue is denser than fat so it will be heavier than the same volume of fat. Water weight can also vary your readings by a surprisingly large amount.
- Keep hydrated. Drink lots of water, and eat healthy. Don't deprive yourself from food, it will only make you sick.
- Try swimming. It is one of the most effective ways of exercising your whole body, especially your abs.
- Everyone has abs you just have fat covering them, you have to lose the fat then strengthen your abs.
- Make sure to stretch before all exercises. If not you could injure yourself
- Avoid drinking excessive alcohol as it can slow your metabolism.
WARNINGS
- Do not fall for "miracle diets", even ones that sound healthy. Some diets may help you lose weight or gain muscle fast, though specialized diets (focusing on a certain food group or product) are often unpleasant to follow and rarely provide enough nutrients. You can still eat lots of food and lose weight, you just need to avoid exceeding the recommended amount of fat intake per day, as well as get as many nutrients as possible.
- Many people do not really know what a complete diet is. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of nutrients that you need, even if you're not following an exercise regimen. Your diet should contain a wealth of leafy greens (i.e Spinach), lean meat (fish, lean beef/pork), fruits (as a source of carbohydrates and sugars), fiber (i.e oat-based cereal), various other vegetables (such as red/green/orange peppers, mushrooms, garlic, onion, etc, etc), tubers such as potatoes (preferable sweet potatoes, since they contain a larger wealth of nutrients), etc, etc. Your diet should be diverse, not focused on only fruit shakes, or fish, etc. Don't hesitate to get a regular flow of sugar from fruits/vegetables, you should only slightly reduce your intake when trying to lose fat, or else you'll find yourself constantly feeling tired, possibly depressed, etc. The key to dieting is to slightly reduce your intake of calories/carbohydrates/sugars, they are all still essential, if you deprive yourself of them, the diet will feel like hell, and you may develop health issues.
- As with any exercise program, consult your doctor before making major changes in your workout routine, especially if you have medical problems. Increase loads slowly. Being eager is great but setting unrealistic goals isn't going to help you in the long run.
- Most, if not all of these exercises are not recommended for people with lower back problems. There are many other ways to properly develop six pack abs without putting so much strain on your back. If in doubt or experiencing lower back pain, talk to a physical therapist for proper ways of performing the routines.
- Don't neglect warm-ups or you may find yourself pulling muscles!
- For people who have a few extra pounds around the belly and start this from scratch, building ab muscles may make you look larger in the belly for a period of time since you are putting on muscle beneath your fat at first. You may want to begin for a significant period of time by doing more cardiovascular exercises to lose fat all over the body. Doing specific muscle exercises, unfortunately, does not remove fat from that specific area of the body. Additionally, focusing solely on the abs can produce an imbalance in the body and may cause back problems where there were none before or exacerbate any existing problems.
- Try to keep a steady eating routine. It will throw your body off if you skip a meal and starve yourself only to stuff your face later. Avoid such situations as much as possible. If you go hungry for an extended period of time your metabolism will slow down. The body, thinking that no food is available tries to make the best of what it has and goes into power-saving mode. Whilst on 'power-saving' mode, the body will supplement its carbohydrates (being burnt for energy) with the proteins in your muscles. What this means is that you are in fact eating back into that six pack just to try and make it show through.
- Fiber also acts like a mild laxative. Be careful if you eat a lot of fiber. It can also cause some gas if you're not used to taking in so much fiber. If you increase your fiber dosage by a lot, increase your water intake too. Excessive fiber with little water can result in digestive problems.
- Be wary of ab machines shown on TV. Many of these are in fact rip offs and you are more likely to stay motivated if you incorporate an abs workout into a regular gym session. You are less likely to get sick of it!
- Know your limits.
- Don't over work yourself. This will hurt you more than it helps.
