Simple Steps To A Six Pack

Here’s a great guest post from a friend of mine Alain Gonzalez of www.MuscleMonsters.com

In my opinion, when it comes to fitness there is not a more sought out goal than achieving a visible six pack. Unfortunately, with all the misinformation hovering the internet, uneducated weight lifters may get frustrated when attempting to meet this goal. You see, getting your abs to show is much more than doing 10,000 crunches a day. In fact, abdominal workouts should be the least of your concerns when training to get ripped. With that being said, I would like to take this time to go over a few more huge misconceptions when it comes to reaching your six pack destination.

Cutting back calories:

Although attaining a six pack is 80 percent diet, it is very important that you understand the importance of keeping your body from storing fat when cutting calories.  Cutting your caloric intake and following a clean diet is ideal when meeting this highly sought out goal, but there is actually a huge benefit to “cheating” on this diet routine every so often. The basic reasoning for this is simple, by tricking the body a little and still mainitaining a low calorie diet, you will avoid allowing your body to go into “survival mode” where it stores fat when calories are cut back. My advice to you is, keep a clean diet and allow yourself to binge a LITTLE every 3-4 days. Not only will this allow you to stay away from that dreaded starvation mode, but it will also aid in following a low calorie diet for a longer period of time.

Cutting fats:

Contrary to popular belief, low fat diets aren’t ideal for burning fat off of your frame. In fact, fats are a crucial part of your diet when it comes to cutting the fat off your midsection. You see, natural healthy fats do exist and not only are some of these foods considered “belly fat killers”, but they will also help you avoid hunger and unwanted binging. What good is a diet if you can’t follow it, right? Some of these natural healthy fats include:

Mixed Nuts

Avocado

Fish

Flaxseed oil

Spot Reduction – Truth or Myth?

Believe it or not, everyone has abdominal muscles. Whether or not they are burried under layers of fat may be a different story. This is why no matter how many crunches you do on a daily basis,  your efforts will continue to go unnoticed until you focus on cutting the belly fat. With that being said, training for spot reduction is complete crap. However, dieting for spot reduction is actually possible. There are actually foods that you can incorporate into your diet that will aid in burning belly fat directly. Some of these foods include:

Avocados – Fiber reduces hunger and monosaturated fats burn bellyfat.

Broccoli, cauliflower, brussle sprouts – These vegetables contain phytonutrients that help fight hormones that increase belly fat.

Salmon – The high quality protein and omega-3 fatty acids make this the top “belly fat killer” in my opition.

Target heart rate:

Here is a misconception that has been around for many  years, the target heart rate theory. This theory suggest that if you can keep your body at a certain heart rate, it will target fat stores directly. Although any calorie cutting activity is beneficial when attacking fat, there are much more beneficial approaches. Forget this “fat burn zone” fitness experts talk so highly about when discussing traditional “target heart rate” cardio. In reality, your only concern should be to burn more calories than you have consumed. If you want to avoid jogging on the treadmill for hours at a time and avoid burning protein and muscle tissue, I suggest you focus more on HIIT and circuit training. These are high intensity cardio activities that will not only boost muscle building and fat burning hormones, but can also be performed effectively in less than half the time of traditional cardio. Here is an example of a bodyweight circuit training routine I put together that can be done from home:

Squats (15 seconds)

Rest (15 Seconds)

High Knees (15 seconds)

Rest (15 seconds)

Jump Squats (15 seconds)

Rest (15 seconds)

Push Ups (15 seconds)

Rest (15 seconds)

Burpees (5-10 reps)

Rest (60 seconds)

Repeat

Conclusion:

Achieving your six pack goal may not be easy, but I guarantee that you will save lots of time with a plan and some structure. Make sure to maintain a clean diet and be sure to trick your body to avoid storing unwanted fat. Replace any fats with natural healthy ones, this will allow you to avoid hunger and be pushed into splurging and ultimately sabotoging your efforts. Forget the crunches and focus more on fat burning activity that will allow you to burn the fat thats covering up your attractive six pack abs. Remember, consistency is the key and without it, your hard work will just go to waste. No one wants to perform a strenuous high inensity workout to burn off calories and fat that is just going to be packed right back on afterwards.

Final Tips:

-keep your metabolism active by breaking your meals up into 6 smaller portions daily.

-Maintain a healthy diet that consists of complex carbohydrates, high quality protein sources, and natural fats.

- Perform fat burning HIIT/ Circuit training 3-4 days a week.

-Drink one gallon of water per day to assure that you are hydrated. This will also help reduce water retention from taking away from muscle definition.

About the Author:

Alain Gonzalez is a fitness enthusiast whose muscle building transformation has inspired hardgainers all over the world. His story has been featured on a number of sites all over the net and his recently released ebook titled “Bony to Brawny” has been a huge success in helping others achieve results similar to his own. He is the founder of http://www.MuscleMonsters.com and uses this website to give out free weight gain tips for hardgainers like himself.