In this article I’m giving you six tips on how to see your first six-pack abs and smart tips that you can include into your routine.
1. Cheating your Way
Cheat meals, believe it or not, will help you lose more fat and make your six-pack become more visible. Cheat meals help raise an importance hormone called leptin that helps induce weight loss. Higher leptin levels equal more fat loss. I will show you a way to incorporate a cheat meal during your dieting week and help you raise your leptin levels once again. Choose a day of the week and designate a specific meal of that day to be your cheat meal. You can even choose a whole day of the week, making it your cheat “day”. This cheat “day” approach will require more a drastic plan. But for the sake of conciseness, we will talk about cheat “meals” instead. After splurging in whatever your heart desires in one meal, for the rest of the day you should resume to the diet/meal plan prior to having your cheat meal. There’s more to it after the day ends and you start the next day. For the next day, you will have to modify your meal/nutrition plan to accommodate for the surplus of calories you ingested in the previous day in the form of a cheat meal. We will do that by cutting the amount of calories you initially calculated up for that specific day. Using that number, we will subtract at least 1,000 calories from it. This will create a deep reduction in calories for the following day in order to use up the calories the body is temporarily storing from the major cheat meal. You will want to follow this approach for the next two days. For the second day, I would lower the amount of calories to 500 calories instead of 1,000.
2. Cardio on a Fasted Stomach
Cardio on a fasted stomach is probably the most effective way on burning the most fat off of your abs and body. It is done on a fasted stomach because you are forcing the body to burn stored fat for energy and fuel. You don’t have any food/nutrients in your stomach and this is why your body won’t be able to use energy from that. Cardio on a fasted stomach is performed in the morning. The morning is the ideal time of the day to do this type of cardio since you’re already coming off a fast which is the hours you spent sleeping last night. Before you jump on the treadmill or perform a circuit of exercises as cardio, you will need to ingest an amino acid supplement or any type of whey protein as a shake. This ensures that you are not burning muscle for fuel during the cardio workout. After you have taken the necessary supplements, get on a machine such as a treadmill, bicycle, elliptical, or any cardio machine. You may do a HIIT workout as well. Whatever you choose, stick to this plan for a few months and you will start seeing the fat burn off of your body.
3. More Abdominal Exercises doesn’t mean Abs
More abdominal exercises inserted into your workout don’t mean you will be seeing them any faster. Just because you add a stronger engine to your car doesn’t make your car “look” faster. If you want to make your six-pack visible or more defined, you will need to have a closer look at your meal/nutrition plan and the amount of cardio you do. Remember the saying “Abs are made in the kitchen”. You will need to stick to cleaner foods and count the necessary amount of calories during your day. Instead of doing more abdominal exercises that you “think” are going to make your abs visible, you are going to put more focus on the nutrition plan and requirements. In order to burn the fat off of your stomach and abs, you’re going to create a caloric reduction. What that means is you’re going to calculate your Base Metabolic Rate (BMR) using a helpful calculator. After finding your calories for your BMR, you are going to subtract at least 500 calories from that number that the calculator came up for you. You just created a caloric reduction in your BMR. Follow this amount of calories each day, for at least three weeks. After three weeks, you’re going to put the necessary inputs of your information into the calculator again and come up with an updated number.
4. Eating 6 Meals a Day won’t make your Abs Appear Faster
If you think that you have to eat six or more meals spaced out two or three hours a day in order to lose fat above your abdominals, you’re partially wrong. Let me briefly explain. Our bodies respond and recuperate the greatest from healthy pressure and stress. Answer this question: When do you think our body needs the most calories and food? If you said after doing an intense workout or working hard on job, you’re correct. After working hard, do you feel really hungry? I’m sure you do. This is a healthy signal that the body desperately needs calories from the food you’re about to eat. Think about your nutrition schedule and plan. Are you consuming most of your calories of the day right after your workout? Are you eating fewer calories when you’re sitting at a desk or not moving much at all? These times your body isn’t as active and you’re not consuming many calories. It would be counterproductive to eat a major chunk of your daily calories when you’re sitting around. During these times, your body isn’t burning that many calories and your body will most likely turn some of the calories into the form of stored glycogen and fat.
5. Build an Overall, Aesthetic Body
It’s one thing to work very hard to finally see your abs, but it’s another thing to have a well-balanced look. Do you only want an average looking car such as a corolla with just a powerful engine? Or do you want a car that has a powerful engine and looks like it goes fast? The answer is the second one. When you’re working really hard on achieving to see your very first six-pack abs, you might also consider complementing your abs with an overall, balanced look. Why not take the opportunity of building the other muscle groups and creating your best look ever. I would give you my best advice for this section and say that you should heavily consider working on the other muscle groups. This ensures that you don’t leave any of them lagging behind in development. Create the “aesthetic” look.
6. More Muscle, More Fat Burn, More Visible Abs
Create a lifestyle geared towards the building of more muscle. More muscle equals better calorie management as well as an efficient metabolism. An efficient metabolism will burn more calories when digesting a set number of calories from a meal. An efficient metabolism will allocate better places for the calories to be burned. One way to ensure that you burn more calories and fat in a day is to build more muscle. Muscle requires a large number of calories to function. The more muscle you have the more amount of calories will be transported to the muscle and burned there for energy. Surpluses of calories will be handled better by an efficient metabolism and more built muscle. Create a week-long gym routine, focused around working out with weights in a gym. Barbells, dumbbells, body-weight exercises, exercise machines, etc… all these included into your workout routine will help you build more muscle. Again, building more muscle overall will help you attain your goal in seeing your abs as well as building an overall, aesthetitic look. Featured photo credit: Sara K Byrne via flickr.com
