It seems like everywhere you look these days, you find website after website promising to reveal the next secret or long lost truth to getting six pack abs. While some of these sites are legit, most are just trying to scam you out of your hard earned money.
When trying to develop the ever so elusive six pack, it is easy to get caught up in flashy advertisements and marketing promises. The flashy videos, professionally written sales copy, and celebrity testimonials practically make it impossible to figure out what works and what is a scam.
With literally thousands of so called gurus promising you the world, translating the nonsense into language you can understand is a daunting task. Just putting the words six pack abs into google brings up over one million results! Most people don’t have the time to sift through all of that junk to pick out a winner.
So what are you supposed to do?
Here is the thing that many people, including a lot of trainers overlook. The single most important tool that you need to develop your abs is diet. Regardless of what you heard, or what the latest hyped up fat loss pill promised you, abs are made in the kitchen and not in the gym. You could have the best training program of all time, but if your diet sucks, so will your abs.
In fact, diet is responsible for about 90% of your results. The secret to six pack abs is not locked in a supplement pill or found in an ab workout or gadget.
Instead of falling for the empty promises, spend your time focusing on the things that matter, like solid nutrition principles and leave the rest of the stuff alone.
So what should you be eating?
Rule number one is to eat enough protein. Protein will help you build lean muscle as well as burn body fat. Out of all the macronutrients (protein, carbs, and fat) lean protein has the highest thermogenic effect on the body. That makes it the most valuable macronutrient of all because your body burns a ton of calories breaking it down.
This is one of the main reasons that professional athletes and competitive bodybuilders eat a diet that is high in lean protein and also have some of the best physiques on the planet! This goes for women also and not just men. As we are all humans with basically the same dna and tissues, we all need protein in order to survive and also burn fat!
Second, most people have been falsely led to believe that carbohydrates are bad and that they will make you fat. This is definitely a myth that needs to be busted! Of course eating too much of ANYTHING will make you gain weight, but natural grain or starchy carbs such as sweet potatoes, brown rice, and oatmeal are actually quite beneficial in your six pack quest, especially when consumed post-workout. When you eat carbs post-workout, they have the smallest chance of turning into body fat.
Try to eat moderate amounts of carbs and 1-2 cups of vegetables with each meal. This will ensure your body gets the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber it needs to function at its peak and remain healthy.
Finally, make sure you include healthy fats primarily from polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats such as raw nuts, nut butters, fish oils, and olive oils into your diet. Dietary fat from these sources will keep your insulin levels stable, which is very important if your goal is to lose belly fat and get six pack abs.
I am not saying to go out there and eat an entire bag of Planters Cashews, I am simply saying not to be afraid to include healthy fats in your diet. With all of the so called low fat diet gurus out there and negative press about fats it is easy to mistakenly believe that eliminating fats from your diet is good, but it is a dietary disaster. Especially if you want a head turning physique.
By combining lean protein with the correct types and amounts of green leafy vegetables, good carbs, and fats you will begin to super charge your metabolism and turn your body into a 24-7 fat burning machine. The best part about that is, you will be able to do it without a miracle supplement, ab gadget, or doing hundreds of crunches.
So what’s the secret to get six pack abs?
1. Focus on your diet.
In order to burn fat and reveal your washboard six pack abs, it is important to eat a balanced diet that is made up of protein, healthy fats, and some carbohydrates. Protein helps form the building blocks of muscle and is probably the most essential macronutrient of them all, mainly because your body burns a ton of calories digesting protein.
Calculating the right amount of carbohydrates to eat can be tricky, but a good strategy to use is eat most of your carbs post-workout. When you intake carbs post-workout your body quickly absorbs the carbs directly into the muscle tissue, promoting growth. Post-workout carbs also help your muscles recover faster, which will give you better results faster.
Many people believe that eating fat will make you fat, but in reality, healthy polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats such as fish oils, nuts, and olive oil will actually help you burn more fat than a low fat diet will. A mix of 20-30% of dietary fat in your diet will kelp keep insulin levels stable, which will help prevent you from gaining additional body fat.
The last diet tip is to include plenty of fiber and raw vegetables with each meal. Vegetables are jam packed with tons of fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals which are all essential for building a lean body and ripped six pack abs.
2. Stop doing thousands of crunches and sit-ups
Compound, multi-joint, total body movements will promote more total fat loss and promote a much bigger muscle building response than crunches and sit-ups ever will.
Personally, I think that it is completely pointless to waste an hour of your time doing hundreds of useless crunches and sit-ups when that hour could be spend doing exercises that are more productive for fat loss.
Working as a fitness model, I generally work abs for about 20 minutes two or three times per week. There is just no reason to work abs any more than this!
Here is a list of great compound exercises that you should have in your workout program:
Legs: Barbell Squat, Lunges, Deadlifts
Shoulders: Military Press, Hang-Clean and Press
Arms: Dips, Close-Grip Pushups
Back: Deadlifts, Pull-ups
Chest: Bench Press, Push-ups
Once you get more advanced with your training you can incorporate olympic lifts such as cleans and snatches into the mix. These two exercises are very demanding and utilize just about every joint in the body. They can also trigger a huge metabolic response within the body, as well as increase strength and balance.
3. Use smarter "cardio" methods
I’m sure you’ve probably heard that the best way to burn fat is to do long duration cardio at a slow to medium pace. This fat loss method is decent, but there is a much better way. I suggest doing interval workouts combined with abdominal exercises.
Here is an example:
During the active recovery period of your interval workout, perform an ab exercise. For example, if you are doing interval sprints on a stationary bike or treadmill, run for 30 seconds at your maximum speed. Hop off of the machine and immediately perform a set of 20 stability ball crunches. Get back on the machine and crank it back up again.
Repeat 5-8 times.
You can throw in a variety of different ab exercises during this interval session such as reverse crunches, the plank, etc.
In summary, the key to get six pack abs is to be sure to focus on your diet, while incorporating multi-joint, compound exercises and "smart cardio" into your workout routine. That is the long lost secret truth about six pack abs that you must use if you want to succeed in your quest for a six pack.
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