How To Get Six Pack Abs (Best Ways To Cut Belly Fat)
An Interview Sharing My Secret Ways To Get Six Pack Abs
Back in 2011, I launched my first workout and nutrition program called, Awaken The Abs Within, which shows people how to get six pack abs.
Due to popular demand, in 2012, I also released it as a paperback book, that is still being sold on Amazon.
In fact, Awaken The Abs Within has been sold in countries all across the world.
So first off, if you purchased that program, a huge thanks to you for supporting me during my early entrepreneurial journey.
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Now, during that book launch, I was interviewed by various fitness writers across North America.
They all wanted to know more about the nutrition and fitness philosophies, covered in the book, about losing belly fat and how to get six pack abs.
One of these interviews was with fitness writer, Suzanne from WorkoutNirvana.com.
This interview received a lot of positive feedback, including recognition from The Denver Post.
A Pro Shares His Secrets to get six pack abs
So today, I want to share an audio version of that interview, with Jessica asking me the questions.
Lets get into it.
Suzanne: Tell my readers a little bit about yourself, including your fitness and nutrition background.
Brad: As a kid I was heavily involved in competitive sports.
However, even though I was a decent athlete, I was always self-conscience of my body.
I had one of those weird body types where I was skinny all over, EXCEPT my pudgy belly.
This low self-esteem turned me into the kid who would never be seen with his shirt off.
Fortunately, one of the things I did have going for me was my ambition and drive to continuously improve in all aspects of my life.
And the area that I needed most help with, was my self-esteem.
This began my journey to become properly educated in health, fitness, and nutrition.
I began training over 12 years ago, but like most newbies, I wasn’t training SMART.
I eventually became so confused with all the conflicting information and frustrated with my lack of results, that I almost gave up.
Then I had an epiphany.
Why should I listen to other people’s advice, when I was in better shape than most of them (and that wasn’t saying much)?
I finally realized that I needed ONE, and only one, mentor that was getting the results that I wanted.
My Before and After Transformation
Once I found this mentor my body transformation literally took off.
Then I became a certified personal trainer and a certified nutrition and wellness specialist and started training both in person and online clients.
However, I quickly realized I wanted to share my message and impact more people.
That’s when I started a fitness media company that eventually became branded as Live Lean TV.
The Live Lean Transformation 1,000,000 Mission is about:
- Educating people how to create daily sustainable lifestyle HABITS.
- Motivating people to make the CHOICE & take personal responsibility for their health.
- Inspiring people to focus on daily PROGRESS NOT perfection.
I’ve also been featured in Men’s Health Magazine, Bodybuilding.com, and was listed as 1 of the Top 50 Hottest Trainers in America by Shape Magazine.
In this program, I share the exact blueprint that I used in the beginning of my journey to transform my physique.
Suzanne: It seems like every male wants to get six pack abs and all females want a flat stomach. Since so many people want it, why do so few have it? In other words, why is it so hard for people to get six pack abs and a flat stomach?
Brad: To be honest, it’s really simple to get a flat stomach and get six pack abs.
However, “simple” doesn’t always mean “easy”.
The philosophies and tactics that I share in Awaken The Abs Within are not that hard to do.
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It just takes three things:
- Discipline with your diet, with a focus on eating natural, unprocessed foods.
- Increased intensity with your workouts.
- A real desire to make a positive change in your lifestyle.
You need to believe that you can do it.
There are countless real life situations where people in much worse conditions than you, have overcome all odds to lose fat, get six pack abs, and totally change their lifestyle for good.
And that’s what this is all about.
It’s a lifestyle!
This is not a short-term fad diet/program.
It takes commitment, but everyone has the potential to do it.
Suzanne: In your program you say low calorie diets, excessive cardio, and countless crunches ARE NOT the way to a flat stomach and get six pack abs. Your approach would surprise a lot of people. Can you explain this further?
Brad: In the Awaken The Abs Within program, cardio and abs training ARE a component of the program.
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But cardio and abs are not the main piece of the puzzle that most people should be focusing the majority of their time on.
This is where most people get confused.
To get six pack abs, you first need to lose the excessive belly fat covering them.
Focusing the majority of your time on crunches will not burn enough calories to burn belly fat.
To get the most out of your workouts, people need to be focusing on multi-joint exercises, that recruit more than one muscle.
This will stimulate the greatest fat burning and hormonal response in the body, sparks your metabolism at a higher rate, and thus burns more overall calories.
After you focus the majority of your time on these multi-joint exercises, you can then spend the final 5-10 minutes doing direct training to get six pack abs.
The point is, abdominal training should be a smaller portion of your overall training session.
With regards to cardio, too many people (especially females) are missing out on the golden nugget of adding lean muscle mass.
Lean muscle is the metabolic driver of the body.
This simply means the more muscle you have on your body, the more calories you’ll burn throughout the day.
If you’re a female, you WILL NOT grow He-Man like muscles by lifting weights.
Females just don’t produce enough testosterone to grow large muscle like males.
Excessive cardio can also catabolize and breakdown muscle tissue.
This will slow your metabolism and essentially creates a smaller fat version of your original self.
Finally, one of the most important aspects of the program is diet.
Most people think in order to lose fat and get six pack abs they need to starve themselves.
This couldn’t be further from the truth.
When you starve yourself, you’re actually creating a fat storing environment within your body.
Essentially your body enters starvation mode and holds on to everything.
Your body then attacks your muscle cells, thus reducing lean muscle tissue, which decreases your metabolism and throws your fat burning hormones and enzymes out of whack.
For optimal fat loss, you need to fuel your body with healthy whole foods, not deprive it.
If you’re looking to get six pack abs, focus your time on eating the right types of foods, in the right quantities.
And make sure you spend the majority of your workout time performing the right kind of multi-joint exercises.
Then compliment that with a few minutes of ab work and a few sessions of cardio per week.
I show you all the right types of fat loss foods, full body and abdominal workouts, and cardio programs to burn belly fat and get six pack abs in the program.
Suzanne: Can you really get ’Abs in 6 minutes’ like those infomercial products claim?
Brad: I get so frustrated by these ridiculous claims.
It gives people a false sense of hope that always lets them down.
As a fitness professional, it’s my passion to make people aware that health is all about making the right choices.
These choices create your lifestyle.
I refuse to promise my clients quick fixes.
What I provide my clients with is a plan that will create a healthy lifestyle for them, over the long-term.
One of the most challenging things people need to overcome is the desire for instant gratification.
People need to remember it didn’t just take one week for them to get fat, so it’s not going to just take one week to lose the fat or get six pack abs.
Consistency, discipline, intensity, and a positive attitude are the cornerstones of creating a healthy lifestyle.
This doesn’t just take 6 minutes.
Suzanne: How many times per week do you recommend people train their abs? Should people change their abs routine if they want to get six pack abs?
Brad: It really depends on your current situation and goals.
As mentioned earlier, direct training of your abs is just a small piece of the overall puzzle.
Once you get your body fat levels low enough, you can begin to create more definition by directly training your abs.
I personally, train my abs 4-5 times a week and continuously train them using different variations, reps, sets, etc.
However, for someone that is carrying a lot of body fat over their abs, I recommend they spend more time performing multi-joint exercises to create a higher caloric burn.
Burn off the belly fat first, then you can get six pack abs.
Suzanne: How important is diet to get six pack abs and a lean stomach? Can you provide any diet tips/insights from your book?
Brad: Diet is the area that most people are confused about.
Getting abs is 80% diet and 20% exercise.
This is why I’ve devoted such a large percentage of this book to nutrition.
I’ve always said, “Abs are made in the kitchen, not in the gym”Âť.
I see many of the same people in the gym everyday, but the thing is, their body never changes.
Even though they may be working out hard at the gym, they probably have terrible eating habits.
In Awaken The Abs Within, I’ve created a unique nutrition principle called TQT.
TQT stands for eating the right TYPES of food, in the right QUANTITIES, at the right TIMES.
Most people will be surprised at the quantity of food they should be eating to lose belly fat and get six pack abs.
Trust me, when you follow one of my programs, you will never starve.
Following the TQT principles outlined in this book, will ensure you keep your hormones balanced and create a fat burning environment within your body.
In this program I also provide a full list of the best fat burning foods including their calorie, protein, carbohydrate, and fat breakdown.
I provide a sample meal plan and take you step by step through how to create your very own customized meal plan.
I also show you how to calculate the quantity of food you should be eating at each meal based on your current body characteristics and lifestyle requirements.
Lastly, I discuss when certain foods should be eaten and the types of foods to avoid at other times.
By following the principles outlined in Awaken The Abs Within, it will take all the confusion out of proper nutrition planning.
Most importantly, these strategies are implementable over the long-term and can be apart of your everyday lifestyle.
My main nutrition tip is to eat natural whole foods.
You’d be amazed at the results you can get from adding more lean protein and dropping processed junk food and soda out of your diet.
Suzanne: Do your 7 secrets to lose belly fat apply to both males and females? What about beginners and more advanced fitness enthusiasts?
Yes.
It doesn’t matter if you’re male or female, beginner or advanced.
There is something for everyone in Awaken The Abs Within.
I include over 30 weeks of workouts in this book.
If you’re a beginner, you can start from week one.
In fact, you don’t even need a gym membership to do these workouts.
If you’re more advanced, you can skip right to the intermediate or advanced workouts.
All of these workouts are designed to stimulate the body to burn fat and build lean muscle.
I also provide meal planning examples based on male and female requirements.
Suzanne: What inspired you to write this book?
Brad: Fitness and nutrition is my passion.
I live and breathe this stuff everyday.
More importantly, I understand the confusion and frustration that so many people are going through when it comes to fitness and nutrition.
I experienced it first hand during my journey to a healthier lifestyle.
Based on questions I receive daily from my clients, my social networks, and people at the gym, it’s apparent there is mass confusion surrounding fitness and nutrition.
To help clear up all this confusion, I’ve literally downloaded everything that has worked for me and my clients, into this book.
It’s my hope that other people can take what I’ve learned and apply it to their current situation to create a healthier lifestyle.
Suzanne: What role does water retention play in getting six pack abs? Do you have tips for reducing water retention, which almost everyone seems to have at some point?
Brad: I discuss a term called ’false fat’ in the program.
Many people suffer from this.
This extra water weight (upwards of 10-15 lbs) gets trapped in the body’s tissues and contributes to abdominal bloating, cellulite, and face and eye puffiness.
It can be caused by hormonal imbalances as well as not drinking enough water.
Your body can also produce too much of certain hormones based on the foods you’re eating, including foods that have been injected with hormones.
Eating whole, natural, organic foods, can help reduce this false fat and help properly balance your hormones.
Another reason for this false fat could be you’re not drinking enough water.
When this happens your body can produce a water-storing hormone that holds on to the little amount of water you’re taking in.
Drinking more water can help decrease and release the amount of stored water stuck in your body’s tissues.
Suzanne: You stay leaned out year round. Is that really possible for the average person?
Brad: Absolutely.
There’s nothing special about me.
I wasn’t born with perfect genetics.
I simply have the right information, make the right choices, and make my health a priority.
Once you learn the right information, anyone can implement it into his or her everyday lifestyle.
All it takes is consistency, discipline, intensity, and a positive attitude.
And I truly believe everyone has that potential.
Suzanne: To get six pack abs, should people track macros? Calories? If so, should they track them for a specified period?
Brad: Knowing the nutritional value and makeup of the foods you’re eating, as well as your body’s requirements, is very important in the beginning.
However, over the long-term, I don’t expect my clients to count calories and macros every day.
Currently I don’t track my macros.
However, I have a very good idea of what I take in.
This is just based on knowing a lot about the foods I include in my diet and portion size.
When I first started learning about nutrition, I did track my macros and it was a fantastic learning experience.
I show people how to track their macros in the program and also sell a meal planning software that calculates and tracks all your macros for you.
This is a very valuable source for people to use to get a better understanding of the nutritional value of the foods they are eating.
Once you get a good grasp on the nutritional content and portion sizes, you can ball park most meals.
Suzanne: What would you say is the biggest mental hurdle people run up against when they want to get six pack abs? Will your book include recipes?
Brad: I’ve already discussed the power of belief.
So here’s another one.
People need to realize one slip up doesn’t ruin your whole plan.
The real winners are the people who can rebound from these slip ups and come back stronger than ever.
Besides, a cheat meal here and there can actually be good for your metabolism.
To ensure you don’t continually slip up, it’s very important to be prepared.
Cook in bulk and try to keep your kitchen stocked full of healthy food.
Look at your grocery bill as an investment in your health.
In the long term you’ll be saving lots of money on hospital bills.
I also have various Live Lean cookbooks available here.
Suzanne: There are a lot of fitness and nutrition books/programs on the market. What can people expect from Awaken The Abs Within and what makes it different, and how can they get a copy of the book/program?
Brad: I don’t make any false claims.
I’m very upfront that this program creates a lifestyle that is implementable over the long-term.
I promise, you won’t starve, you won’t be at the gym for 4 hours a day, and you won’t be stuck eating just celery sticks.
You can accomplish incredible things by having a good balance of exercise, a kitchen full of healthy whole foods, and most importantly, a positive can-do attitude.
I teach you how to accomplish all aspects of this in the program.
You can pick up a digital copy of the full Awaken The Abs Within program at AwakenTheAbsWithin.com.
You can also purchase the physical paperback book at Amazon.
Also, for more fitness and nutrition tips, recipes, and videos, follow me on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter.
Suzanne: Finally, what are your top 3 pieces of advice to lose belly fat and get six pack abs that you’d like to leave my readers with?
Brad: Even though this program is packed with tips and strategies to lose belly fat and get six pack abs, here are my 3 top tips:
- Eat whole foods. Get the processed foods out of your kitchen. Don’t even bring them into your house. This especially includes soda.
- Make the most of your time in the gym. Always try to improve on the previous workout by doing one more rep, increasing the weight, or increasing the intensity of your routine. Always be improving!
- Believe you can do it. I know it sounds cheesy but it’s so incredibly important. Find people getting the results you want (I hope I can be that person) and study what they’re doing in their lifestyle.
Get A Paperback Copy of Awaken The Abs Within
Before I wrap this up, I also wanted to respond to one of the comments made by a reader after reading this interview.
In the blog post of this interview, they included pictures of me to show the readers who I was.
Based on my photos, here was one of the readers response.
“Ok, the pictures alone, intimidated the hell out of me.
When I see people who look this amazing, my instinct is to run the other direction, because they are completely out of
my league.
Then I read the interview, and Brad is very accessible and not at all intimidating. I found so much inspiring information, and better than that, some signs of hope.
Great interview.”
So I just wanted to bring that up because, the Awaken The Abs Within book is intended for everybody.
Please don’t look at the cover of our programs and be afraid that they’re going to be too advanced.
Awaken The Abs Within is a book that is 80% nutrition.
There’s something for everybody.
When I first set out to write this book, I wanted it to be 100% about nutrition, because I
truly feel that for people to get the best results in losing belly fat and to get six packs abs, they need to take control of their diet.
Then I did some tests, and many people said it would be nice to also have some workouts as well.
So I did that, but this book is generally about nutrition that everybody can get something out of.
Get Your Copy of Awaken The Abs Within
Order the full digital Awaken The Abs Within digital program here
I just wanted to clear that up.
Don’t get thrown off by looking at me and thinking the program is going to be too advanced for you.
If you’re just a beginner, there are beginner workouts, as well as intermediate and advanced workouts.
But the most important stuff is the nutrition strategies that everybody can implement easily into their lifestyle.
When I say easy, it does take work, but it’s for your health.
Your health is the most important thing at the end of the day.
Hopefully everything that I’ve talked about in this book, can provide you with a framework to live a healthier lifestyle and get six pack abs.
Brad Gouthro is the founder of Live Lean TV, a media company focused on helping men and women “Live Lean” 365 days a year. Brad’s programs and content have helped millions of people all over the world learn how to get in shape, and more importantly, sustain it for life.
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