6 Ways To Get Ripped 6-Pack Abs!
There's no secret to developing your six pack. Check out these 6 nutrition and training tips to find out how you can succeed at your quest for six pack abs!
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 legitimate, 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, the task of translating the nonsense into language you can understand is a daunting one.
Most people don't have the time to sift through all of that junk to pick out a winner.
What Are You Supposed To Do?
Here is the thing that many people, including a lot of trainers, overlook: diet. The single most important tool that you need in order to develop your abs is diet.
Regardless of what you've 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.
6 Ways To Get Ripped 6 Pack Abs
Rule 1 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 why 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, 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 to burn body fat!
Rule 2 Eat Post-Workout Carbs
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 that your body gets the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber it needs to function at its peak and remain healthy.
Rule 3 Eat Healthy Fats
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 reveal six pack abs. I am not saying to go out there and eat an entire bag of Planters Cashews.
I am simply saying that you do not need to be afraid to include healthy fats in your diet. With all of the so called "low fat diet" gurus out there and the huge amount of negative press about fats, it is easy to mistakenly believe that eliminating fats from your diet is good. But it is actually 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 that you will be able to do it without a miracle supplement, ab gadget, and without doing hundreds of crunches.
Rule 4 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 to 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.
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.
Rule 5 Stop Doing Thousands Of Crunches
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 spent 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:
1 Barbell Squat
2 Dumbbell Lunges
3 Barbell Deadlift
4 Seated Barbell Military Press
5
Dips - Chest Version
6
Close-Grip Barbell Bench Press
7
Pullups
8
Barbell Bench Press - Medium Grip
9 Pushups
Rule 6 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.
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 exercise 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, planks, etc
