How to get a six-pack (abs)?

[JEDI]

I do sit-ups and run on the tread mill (burn 200 calories) 3x/week. I feel my abs being hard, but I dont' see the cubes. there's still a layer of fat in front of them. I weigh 140 pounds.

1) How many calories should i burn on the tread mill to get rid of the fat? (Assume that my intake is 2000 calories/day but i sit in front of the computer (work) all day.)

2) While i'm on it, how many calories is 1 gram of protein (lean beef/chicken/pork)?

THX

 

[Madcowz]

Diet, lots of cardio and weighted crunches. My friend got good results from using the roller-thingy alone.

 

[SmackdownHotel]

I don't know the specifics of your diet, but obviously junk food isn't gonna help. Also, concentrate more on cardio, and lay off the situps for awhile. Swimming is an excellent choice. You need to remove that "layer of fat" before you start doing situps, because doing situps will not only strengthen, but increase the size of your abs, and if you have a layer of fat on top of it, it'll just look like you have a gut. Remove the layer of fat and the muscles will then begin to show their true selves. I've stopped heavy lifting and strength training for about a year or so now, but when I did have a six pack, I started out by working my abs maybe 3 times a week at most. I did a lot of running and swimming to trim the fat before toning the ab muscles.


And make sure to do a variety of different ab exercises and to switch it up every now and then so that you dont get "used to it."

 

[Koing]

Good to hear that your abbs ARE hard. But you need to get rid of that fat. I ran 1hr in the morning at 7;30am for 6 weeks and my abb look REALLY ripped. The 6 weeks of running was usually 7 days a week but dropped to 5 for the last 3 weeks as I didn't want to run so much. You basically have to burn fat.

Eat less. You have to eat less carbohydrates. This won't help in making you bigger or stronger overall, it will have the negative affect but it will help to burn off the fat in your abb area.

Also its not so much the number of sit ups you do. Do sit ups at an incline with weights on yourself. I do them with 10kg on my upper chest so that the 10kg disc is almost touching my chin.

The most important thing is to just eat less carbohydrates and to run and to just burn up the calories and decrease intake.

1g of protein contains about 4 calories I *think*......not sure though it might be even 14 caloires I think. I remember it being 4 or 14 I think.

Also how old are you? Its going to be much harder to train and get ripped abbs if say your 35+ as your past your physical prime and its going to be harder. If your 18 then its going to be easier. if yoru about 25 still good for you. Best time should have been the ages of 18-23 to get ripped.

Also CUT OUT BEER IF YOU CAN. Each pint of bear has about 230 calories. And you will quickly realise if you drink say 10 pints a night out thats 2300calories, and THAT is your WHOLE body's intake in ONE night of drinking.

 

[flyfish]

Just get that thing i see on T.V that shocks your guts. Its guarantied!

 

[HereThereandEverywhere]

Don't eat sugar, that's my advice. Little to no sugar at all, carbs in general actually.
When you eat sugar, if your body already has enough energy, it gets converted by that damn handy dandy liver into fat (good choice eh?) Once your body runs out of useable sugar, if it can't get anymore, it starts de-converting fat back into sugar for use, that is how you burn fat. However, having sugar in your bloodstream will prevent the fat from being metabolized.

This is also the reason why running in the morning is better than running at night. In the morning, the fewest amount of sugars are in your bloodstream, so you burn more fat. Also, it raises your metabolism for almost the entire day. Quite useful stuff.

Naturally, I don't have the willpower to do any of this, but I do know how, and knowing is about 1.2% of the battle.

 

[LordSnailz]

it's funny but that roller thing works really well ...
-ls

 

[damn]

how many sit ups do u do

 

[gopunk]

i don't think it matters how many he does, if he has that layer of fat.

 

[AudiPorsche]

what kind of foods have tons of carbs in them? like bread and stuff??

 

[Vegito]

do in the following order

1. get it suck out..
2. get that thing on tv
3. actually doing some situp and working out
4. never get on anandtech again

hahaha just kidding..

 

[JEDI]

thx..i'm 31. ugg...1 hr, 5days/week running. How many calories is that?

Does running on the street = 0 resistance on a treadmill? if so, what resistance will equal a 1 hr run in 20 min?

no carbs...sigh..i love sugar/soda too much. in fact, i dont think i've gone a day w/o drinking at least 1 can. time to switch to those new diet colas w/lemon. (to me, they're ok.)

the roller thingy does nothing for the fat. it does harden your abs the 1st few times i've tried it. After that, i felt no difference.

Those electo things are a SCAM!!!! it takes 6 months for the FTC to catch up w/these companies so that's why they can get away w/it. watch, 6 months from now, they'll be all gone. Then they come back w/a slightly different product, and the cycle repeats

i use the machine at the gym to do abs. (you sit down and lean forward.) i do 2 sets of 15 @ 120 pounds. no idea how many i can do via regular sit ups. after ~50 crunches, i get bored and stop

 

[Koing]

<< thx..i'm 31. ugg...1 hr, 5days/week running. Does running on the street = 0 resistance on a treadmill? if so, what resistance will equal a 1 hr run in 20 min?

no carbs...sigh..i love sugar/soda too much. in fact, i dont think i've gone a day w/o drinking at least 1 can. time to switch to those new diet colas w/lemon. (to me, they're ok.)

the roller thingy does nothing for the fat. it does harden your abs the 1st few times i've tried it. After that, i felt no difference.

Those electo things are a SCAM!!!! it takes 6 months for the FTC to catch up w/these companies so that's why they can get away w/it. watch, 6 months from now, they'll be all gone. Then they come back w/a slightly different product, and the cycle repeats >>



As I said just run in the mornings if you have the willpower to do so. It DOES WONDERS for your stomach in 6 weeks. Your going to have to bust your ass if you are going to fit 1hr of CROSS COUNTRY running. Thats what I did 1hr through woods and so on in 20 mins on a treadmill. I would adive against a treadmill if you can, as its not so great on your knees if you do a lot of running on the treadmills. I never run on a treadmill. I always go running in woods and places where the ground is softer then plastica and metal. Saves the knees. Also if you want to have your abbs show DO NOT TAKE A PIC STRAIGHT AT YOURSELF. Look in the mirror at an anglel. Its the shadows that make your abbs big. You only get shadows on your abbs by burning off that fat and getting your abbs ripped. Also if you face staright into a mirror you STILL don't look all that ripped. But if your at an agle then you will look more ripped.

You drink fizzy and soda drinks so thats not goingi to help. You can lose about 1lb a week if you cut out sodas. I drink no fizzy or sodas at all. Only water and fruit juices for me.

 

[Koing]

<<
i use the machine at the gym to do abs. (you sit down and lean forward.) i do 2 sets of 15 @ 120 pounds. no idea how many i can do via regular sit ups. after ~50 crunches, i get bored and stop >>



don'[t use the machines. The best ways to work your abbs are to do them at an incline. Once you are over a certain point theres no point crunching further with your abbs as gravity helps to move them over. But if you do them at in incline it helps to make it harder. Then just add weights on to your chest. Use strict form when doing sit ups also. NO head swining or swining with your arms. It makes them much easier to do. If you do them strict its harder and gives better results.

 

[Russ]

Why would you want to go to all that work just to get a six-pack? I do nothing and already have a twelve-pack.

Russ, NCNE

 

[NetCadet]

Alright, listen up....

At 140 lbs, depending on your height, your body fat % should be low enough to start seeing your "abs".

Your abs are based on only a few large sheets of muscle - the "lines" that you see with well-defined abs are actually cords of tissue that hold the entire package together. It is when your abdominal muscles stick out past these "cords" that you start to see the "cubes".

Keep on with the sit-ups and focus on technique. Slowly up; slowly down; controlled movement is key.
I don't really believe in sit-ups however, so I tend to suggest crunches. A crunch is a very similar movement, however the focus is not on simply launching your upper body upward, but actually squeezing or "crunching" your abs together to get that major burn.

Another thing, doing 200 sit-ups each day is simply going to build density in your abs and make the muscle harder. While you do want this, you also want your ab muscles to grow a little bit so that they do stick past the cords of tissue and create that beautiful 6-pack look for you. In order to do this, you have to reduce the number of reps and pump up the intensity of the workout. You want to boost the intensity so much that you can ONLY do 20 at a time, after that point your abs should have built up so much lactic acid that you feel that slight "burning" sensation that bodybuilders love so much.

In order to raise intensity to this level, do as described above and either execute your crunches on an incline, or place weights on your chest. DO NOT add weight or increase the incline at the expense of good technique, however!! If you have 60 lbs on your chest and are working on a mad incline, but your are "swinging" your body up, you aren't working out effectively. SLOWLY up, pause, SLOWLY down - C O N T R O L

 

[Koing]

<< Alright, listen up....

At 140 lbs, depending on your height, your body fat % should be low enough to start seeing your "abs".

Your abs are based on only a few large sheets of muscle - the "lines" that you see with well-defined abs are actually cords of tissue that hold the entire package together. It is when your abdominal muscles stick out past these "cords" that you start to see the "cubes".

Keep on with the sit-ups and focus on technique. Slowly up; slowly down; controlled movement is key.
I don't really believe in sit-ups however, so I tend to suggest crunches. A crunch is a very similar movement, however the focus is not on simply launching your upper body upward, but actually squeezing or "crunching" your abs together to get that major burn.

Another thing, doing 200 sit-ups each day is simply going to build density in your abs and make the muscle harder. While you do want this, you also want your ab muscles to grow a little bit so that they do stick past the cords of tissue and create that beautiful 6-pack look for you. In order to do this, you have to reduce the number of reps and pump up the intensity of the workout. You want to boost the intensity so much that you can ONLY do 20 at a time, after that point your abs should have built up so much lactic acid that you feel that slight "burning" sensation that bodybuilders love so much.

In order to raise intensity to this level, do as described above and either execute your crunches on an incline, or place weights on your chest. DO NOT add weight or increase the incline at the expense of good technique, however!! If you have 60 lbs on your chest and are working on a mad incline, but your are "swinging" your body up, you aren't working out effectively. SLOWLY up, pause, SLOWLY down - C O N T R O L >>



word

 

[NetCadet]

Also, I wouldn't bother with the wheel or the electric-pulse crap - I find standard crunches with a few simple variations (twists, etc. to hit the obliques) to be the best all-round ab workout.

For the question about carbs:
Carbs come in two main forms, simple carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates.

Simple carbohydrates are sugars such as glucose, fructose, etc. - these provide fast energy for your body in the form of calories - you have access to this energy within minutes, however it doesn't last very long.

Complex carbohydrates take longer to break down into energy and provide more lasting energy. Complex carbohydrates are found in just about everything, but mainly grains/pastas/rice and other vegetables.

As with any calories, carbohydrates can be stored in your body AS FAT if you just sit there and do nothing all day.

 

[KDOG]

This is a great topic. Im 29 yrs old, about 135 lbs, and 5'5" and I feel that Im at the point in my life where its now or never as far as getting in shape. I'll admit that I really have no idea how to eat right or workout correctly. Keep the info coming!

 

[abaez]

I used to weigh 250 pounds in high school for football. About two years ago I decided to lose it, I started rollerblading. I'm now at about 162 pounds and I feel great. I don't mind a little gut and I can do alot of situps. But the thing I HATE is the fat on the sides going towards the back of my body on my stomach. A spare tire. Everyone told me to do situps diagnolly and I did tons very slowly but all it did was give a burn in my abs. Does anyone know of any good exercises to just get rid of the fat near your obliques. Its very hard to just use that muscle only to burn the fat there, but I am skinny except there and its pissing me off.

 

[LongCoolMother]

lol, those shockers seriously dont work? i dont know anyone who used them so yea. uh, i can only see them six packs when i look at myself in an angle where the shadows are cast. i have a questions about situps/crunches however. i usually just do them up n down straight. however, i know some people who do variations of a crunch, (side to side, reverse....etc.). is it necesarry to include those? Cuz ive been doing my crunches for a while in one variation, and the only abs that really pop out are the little ones on top, near where your ribs split. i dont have that much fat though...

 

[LakerGod]

I also got those freaking love handles. How would I lose them? (Btw, why the fukc are they called love handles?!)

 

[NewCompGeek]

how about those electronic bealts that you put on they dont work?
the you just push a button and it does the job for you

i was thinking of getting one since its faster than situps

 

[IGBT]

Don't drink 6 packs.

 

[kgraeme]

Following up on the carbs a little more:

Carbs are good for you. I know that will sound wrong based on the advice here, but it's true. Your body really does need carbs. It is also true however, that unburned carbs will turn into fat. The trick is to make sure that you don't take on more carbs than you can burn off, and the carbs do go into the total caloric intake for the day.

As was mentioned, simple carbs are instant energy, but they are also the most common form of instant fat. Drinking soda or beer is a sure-fire way to gain weight. If you didn't have any excess carbs in your system and worked out immediately after drinking a soda you might be fine, but very few of us don't have excess carbs.

Carbs are neccessary because the sugars help our brains work. Our brains prefer to function with decent glucose levels. On low/no-carb diets that stress protien, the body produces ketones which the brain isn't so happy with. And it's really hard on the liver as well.

So what to do about carb intake when you are trying to lose fat? One thing to be aware of is that the body will actually burn fat more or less efficiently at different exercise levels. Paradoxically, at a lower exercise intensity you burn a higher percentage of fat than carbohydrates. At a higher intensity, you burn a higher percentage of carbs, and at even higher you stop burning fat altogether and only burn carbs. So should you exercise at only low levels, say a mild jog? No. Because while you burn a higher percentage of fat, you are still burning a lower total number of calories. At the higher intensity level you will more calories and while the relative percentage of fat burned is lower, the total amount of fat burned is higher.

Read more.. And more.