The Most Important Workout and Diet Tips to Get Abs
Best Tips To Get Abs And Lose Belly Fat
There is so much confusion and conflicting information on the best nutrition and fitness tips to get abs and lose belly fat.
Here are some of the common questions, myths, and answers surrounding proper diet and training techniques to get a six pack.
What Is The Biggest Reason Most Males and Females Can’t Seem To “Get Abs”
One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to get abs and a flat stomach, is focusing WAY too much time directly training their abs.
Advertisement
The majority of people think by constantly targeting an area on their body, that they can directly burn fat in that area (i.e. spot reduction).
Well I’m here to set the record straight.
There is no such thing as spot reduction.
If you have love handles, doing continuous side bends will not burn the fat from this area.
When done with proper form, doing direct ab training can strengthen your core.
However, this type of ab training does not create the necessary metabolic response to burn the layer of belly fat that covers your abs.
The funny thing is we all have abs.
The majority of people just have layers of body fat covering them.
Therefore, one of the best tips to get abs is to reduce overall body fat.
My new book/program, Awaken The Abs Within – 7 Secrets To Lose Belly Fat, outlines the correct steps to get six pack abs.
To get six pack abs it takes a combination of:
- Proper nutrition (abs are made in the kitchen)
- A workout program that induces a fat burning metabolic and hormonal response
- A core strengthening and sculpting abdominal program (once you burn off the belly fat)
Should Men Train Differently Than Females To Get Six Pack Abs?
The best exercises to get six pack abs and reduce body fat are not gender specific.
Compared to males, females typically lift weights less frequently, and with less intensity (very light weights).
I always recommend females use heavier weight if they want to get a flat stomach.
Unfortunately many females are still afraid to lift heavy because they don’t want to grow big muscles.
Well if you’re female, this shouldn’t be a fear due to the fact females don’t produce enough natural testosterone to build large bulky muscles like men.
By lifting heavy, females will develop more toned muscle (not bulk).
And the great thing about muscle is it burns fat.
So guess what ladies, the more muscle you have, the less fat your body will have.
What Form Of Cardio Should I Be Doing To Burn Fat?
Typically people waste way too much time doing slow and steady pace cardio.
They also don’t realize full body resistance training workouts, like those found in my Awaken The Abs Within program, are a great mix of strength training and cardio.
In fact, HIIT cardio, in combination with weight training, is the quickest way to burn fat.
If your goal is to quickly lose fat, stop thinking about your fat burning zones and the amount of calories burned DURING the workout.
Think BIG PICTURE.
The combination of a full body resistance training program and HIIT cardio creates the greatest metabolic response in your body, so you’ll actually be burning more fat after your workout.
Remember “high intensity” is all relative to your specific heart rate levels.
If you’re a beginner, a high intensity interval may be a brisk walk as long as it elevates your HR to the correct zones.
Therefore, HIIT cardio can be completed by people regardless of your fitness level.
Are Sit Ups Bad For You?
Everyone seems to have their own opinion on sit ups.
Some say they aren’t good for the spine, others say they are the best exercise for overall abdominal development.
To be honest, I’m on the fence.
Advertisement
I don’t recommend doing 200 sit ups every day, but I do incorporate them into my programs.
Like other muscle groups, it’s important to train your abs with variety.
Should I Train Abs Everyday?
Even if you’re not “directly” training your abs, the full body workout programs in the Awaken The Abs Within program are still giving your core a good workout.
Compound exercises like barbell back squats and barbell deadlifts require a lot of core stabilization.
If you’re doing these compound exercises, which you should be, you’re strengthening your abs whether you know it or not.
Another thing about your abdominals is they’re made up of muscle fibers that can quickly repair themselves.
Unlike other major muscle groups, like the chest and legs, your abdominal muscles don’t need 24-48 hours of recovery time.
So technically, yes you can train your abs everyday.
Just be aware that by following full body workouts, like those in the Awaken The Abs Within program, you’re already getting a good ab session in without direct abdominal training.
In the beginning, focus first on completing full body resistance training programs.
Then when you have low enough body fat levels, where your abs are becoming visible, you can directly train them for 5-10 minutes (with no breaks) after each workout.
However, remember the most important step is losing body fat first.
Then comes the sculpting!
How Many Reps Should I Do Of Each Ab Exercise?
It depends on the difficulty level of the exercise, but I like to take my abs exercises to failure.
In the Awaken The Abs Within program, you will start off with the beginner program.
Once you can complete these beginner moves (like the crunch), it’s time to move you into the intermediate ab program.
Ab exercises in the intermediate program include more resistance moves that require the activation of more muscle fibers like the hanging leg raise (don’t forget to curl your pelvis during this exercise).
What Is The Most Important Factor In “Awakening Your Abs”?
Without a doubt, it has to do with your diet.
I used to have the following quote printed on the wall in my kitchen: “Abs are made…in the kitchen.”
Abs are 80% diet and 20% training.
The most important thing about your diet is, it has to be sustainable and something you can incorporate as a lifestyle.
Not just some short-term fad diet.
Maintaining abs is not about going super low carb or low calorie, it’s about balance and making smarter food choices.
That is what my Awaken The Abs Within program is all about, and why such a big portion is dedicated to nutrition.
The program includes 7 implementable secrets to eat better, feel better, and ultimately look better.
It also simplifies all the chaos and conflicting information and provides you with easy to implement steps.
Awaken The Abs Within Program
Here’s a small taste of a few quick tips to get abs as found in the Awaken The Abs Within program:
1. Focus your diet on consuming foods that are whole and in their natural state: You’d be amazed at how much better you’ll look and feel just by getting rid of the processed and packaged foods out of your system.
2. Eat more high quality protein: I could go on and on about this but here’s the quick rationale on protein.
a) protein builds muscle, muscle increases your metabolism, and a higher metabolism burns more fat.
b) protein has a much higher thermic effect than carbs and dietary fat, meaning your body uses up a lot of the protein’s calories (up to 30%) just by digesting it.
c) protein keeps you full longer so you’ll eat less.
3. Focus On Consuming Carbs That Are High In Fiber: vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds all are high fiber foods.
The main causes of body fat is refined sugar found in processed and refined foods like white bread.
Choose carbs that have more than 5 grams of fiber and less than 5 grams of sugar.
A little more restrictive approach is to only consume carbs that have 3 grams of fiber per 10 grams of carbs.
Consuming foods high in fiber will also slow the glycemic response of insulin (the fat storing hormone) within your blood stream.
Lots more on insulin in the program.
4. Consume Healthy Fats: as hard as it is to believe, healthy fats are your friend and can help you fight fat!
Healthy fats are key to maintaining hormone levels and can keep you satiated, thus reducing cravings.
Sources Of Healthy Fats Include:
- olive oil
- coconut oil (don’t be concerned with the high amount of saturated fat in coconut oil)
- avocados
- wild salmon and fish oil
- nuts and natural nut butters
- organic whole eggs
- grass fed beef
As mentioned above, stay away from all foods containing trans fats and high fructose corn syrup.
Ingredients to watch out for include:
- hydrogenated oil
- margarine
- shortening
- high fructose corn syrup
- glucose-fructose.
These ingredients are mainly used in packaged and deep fried foods.
A comprehensive list of approved protein, carb, and fat sources are given in the Awaken The Abs Within program.
These 4 nutrition tips to get abs are just a tiny percentage of what’s included in Awaken The Abs Within program.
Hundreds of other easy to implement tips to get abs are found in this program.
Don’t wait.
Make the choice to change your lifestyle and pick up your very own copy of the Awaken The Abs Within program.
Take action now!
BROWSE MORE EXERCISES TO LIVE LEAN!
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.
Howdy, I do believe your website could possibly be having web browser compatibility
problems. Whenn I take a look att your website inn Safari, iit looks fine but whedn opening in IE, itt has some overlapping issues.
I merely wanted to give you a quick heads up!
Besides that, great website!