My commitment to get fit and get a 6-pack.

[50cent1228]

Originally posted by: Special K
Unfortunately, merely not eating unhealthy foods is not likely to get you a six pack. For maximal results, you need to take a more methodical approach.

Losing fat is ultimately a matter of burning slightly more calories than you consume over an extended period of time.

What you need to do is start tracking exactly what you eat each day. Fitday makes it easy. You will also need a starting point for your BMR - this is the number of calories you would need to eat in a day to exactly maintain your current weight. You can find an estimate here - make sure to click on the link labeled "Daily Calorie Needs" to find an estimate based on activity level.

Now, eat that number of calories each day for a week, and track your weight first thing each morning. If at the end of the week, you have not lost a pound, then cut 300 calories from your daily total and eat that amount for each day of the next week. Continue to track your weight, and keep making reductions until you are losing about 1 lb./week. I recommend getting 1.5 gm of protein/lb of bodyweight, 0.5 gm of healthy fats/lb bodyweight, and the rest carbs. Try spacing your caloric intake evenly among 6 meals throughout the day. Need help on what to eat? Check out this link

If you want to preserve muscle, I would recommend a weightlifting program focused on basic compound movements, low reps, and heavy weight. This will help persuade your body to burn fat instead of muscle while you are in a caloric deficit.

If you want to do some cardio on top of this then go for it, but it is not required for losing fat. If you want to do cardio, I would recommend shorter, high intensity sessions instead of longer, lower intensity.

Finally, you could have just done a search. This question, or something similar to it, gets posted at least once a week.

Also, check out the link in my sig if you really want to get in depth with this. There are lots of knowledgable people on that board who would be more than happy to help beginners.

I swear, I need to make the "ATOT Bodybuilding/Physique Improvement sticky" or something.

great info thnx

 

[Jgtdragon]

I am currently at 11 % body fat and I can barely see my six pack. It has to do mainly with diet. Have to really eat right...

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: gersson

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: gersson
Getting your abs to show is easy. All you have to do is lower your body fat and use weights when you work them out every other day. Your ab muscles need to grow just like your biceps, etc.

Eat lean and stay active=abz.

so you would workout your biceps, etc every other day?

Yes, in my case literally every other day. One day I kick my ass, the next day I get plenty of rest.

Some people work out only 2x a week.

you are not working out properly if you workout the same muscles every other day.

and that includes abs.

 

[crt1530]

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: gersson

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: gersson
Getting your abs to show is easy. All you have to do is lower your body fat and use weights when you work them out every other day. Your ab muscles need to grow just like your biceps, etc.

Eat lean and stay active=abz.

so you would workout your biceps, etc every other day?

Yes, in my case literally every other day. One day I kick my ass, the next day I get plenty of rest.

Some people work out only 2x a week.

you are not working out properly if you workout the same muscles every other day.

and that includes abs.

You should tell Koing he's been doing it all wrong.

 

[amicold]

Originally posted by: TecHNooB
Eat low carb, low fat, high protein. Avoid losing fat too quickly. Do cardio. Maintain your current lifting. Ab workouts.

Your body will utilize protein as fuel given enough of it, this isn't good advice. You may eventually break down dietary protein into glucose, and then skeletal muscle, if carbs or fat are not high enough.

Moderate carbohydrate, high protein, low fat. Ketogenic diets work especially well, look into a CKD. I personally am on the Anabolic Solution, by Mario de Pasquale.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: crt1530

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: gersson

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: gersson
Getting your abs to show is easy. All you have to do is lower your body fat and use weights when you work them out every other day. Your ab muscles need to grow just like your biceps, etc.

Eat lean and stay active=abz.

so you would workout your biceps, etc every other day?

Yes, in my case literally every other day. One day I kick my ass, the next day I get plenty of rest.

Some people work out only 2x a week.

you are not working out properly if you workout the same muscles every other day.

and that includes abs.

You should tell Koing he's been doing it all wrong.

and why is that?

 

[rstrohkirch]

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: crt1530

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: gersson

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: gersson
Getting your abs to show is easy. All you have to do is lower your body fat and use weights when you work them out every other day. Your ab muscles need to grow just like your biceps, etc.

Eat lean and stay active=abz.

so you would workout your biceps, etc every other day?

Yes, in my case literally every other day. One day I kick my ass, the next day I get plenty of rest.

Some people work out only 2x a week.

you are not working out properly if you workout the same muscles every other day.

and that includes abs.

You should tell Koing he's been doing it all wrong.

and why is that?

As long as the muscle is fully recovered, I don't see any reason why a full body workout with 48hours of rest in between would be classified as "not working out properly"

 

[crt1530]

Your blanket statement that "you are not working out properly if you workout the same muscles every other day." is false. There are literally hundreds of training logs online where people are benching, squatting, and doing classic olympic lifts 3+ times per week and having huge success. This includes complete novices and world champion powerlifters and olympic weightlifters.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: gersson

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: gersson
Getting your abs to show is easy. All you have to do is lower your body fat and use weights when you work them out every other day. Your ab muscles need to grow just like your biceps, etc.

Eat lean and stay active=abz.

so you would workout your biceps, etc every other day?

Yes, in my case literally every other day. One day I kick my ass, the next day I get plenty of rest.

Some people work out only 2x a week.

you are not working out properly if you workout the same muscles every other day.

and that includes abs.

You don't know what you're talking about.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: crt1530
Your blanket statement that "you are not working out properly if you workout the same muscles every other day." is false. There are literally hundreds of training logs online where people are benching, squatting, and doing classic olympic lifts 3+ times per week and having huge success. This includes complete novices and world champion powerlifters and olympic weightlifters.

you will benefit from letting your body rest more. i've been there done that.

when i started working out i was going 6 days a week on a 3day rotation, and it was overkill. while i was seeing progress it was very slow and steady. so a trainer friend of mine told me to cut back on my workouts and give myself more rest because it's just as important as working out.

and then i switched it up and spread out my workouts a lot more and from then on i have made a ton more gains than i did for the 3 years i was doing my other routine (mainly while in school and somewhat through the summer).

so sure maybe he'll see gains, but it's overkill and you can get the same results or better ones from getting more rest.

and if you are ready to workout your muscles 2 days after you just worked it out, you probably did not workout your muscles very hard. if you can seriously tell me you are doing squats with proper form and can do them every other day, you are not working your muscles as hard as you should be, unless you are superman or on some good recovery supplements.

but obviously it varies from person to person but from my experience in the past 8 years lifting i made the mistake the first 3 years by over-training and trainning too frequently.

so i guess do what works for you.

but one thing is for certain, there is no more of a benefit from doing 100 crunches every other day than there is training your abs properly once a week.

 

[GhettoBlaster]

The toughest thing for me is not having a workout partner. At my old job I had a coworker and we'd hit the gym across the street every afternoon no matter what. No excuses, unless it was a legit excuse. Now I have moved away, it's a lot tougher when noone is there helping you push along on those days that you don't want to work out.

 

[miniMUNCH]

Originally posted by: Special K
Unfortunately, merely not eating unhealthy foods is not likely to get you a six pack. For maximal results, you need to take a more methodical approach.

Losing fat is ultimately a matter of burning slightly more calories than you consume over an extended period of time.

What you need to do is start tracking exactly what you eat each day. Fitday makes it easy. You will also need a starting point for your BMR - this is the number of calories you would need to eat in a day to exactly maintain your current weight. You can find an estimate here - make sure to click on the link labeled "Daily Calorie Needs" to find an estimate based on activity level.

Now, eat that number of calories each day for a week, and track your weight first thing each morning. If at the end of the week, you have not lost a pound, then cut 300 calories from your daily total and eat that amount for each day of the next week. Continue to track your weight, and keep making reductions until you are losing about 1 lb./week. I recommend getting 1.5 gm of protein/lb of bodyweight, 0.5 gm of healthy fats/lb bodyweight, and the rest carbs. Try spacing your caloric intake evenly among 6 meals throughout the day. Need help on what to eat? Check out this link

If you want to preserve muscle, I would recommend a weightlifting program focused on basic compound movements, low reps, and heavy weight. This will help persuade your body to burn fat instead of muscle while you are in a caloric deficit.

If you want to do some cardio on top of this then go for it, but it is not required for losing fat. If you want to do cardio, I would recommend shorter, high intensity sessions instead of longer, lower intensity.

Finally, you could have just done a search. This question, or something similar to it, gets posted at least once a week.

Also, check out the link in my sig if you really want to get in depth with this. There are lots of knowledgable people on that board who would be more than happy to help beginners.

I swear, I need to make the "ATOT Bodybuilding/Physique Improvement sticky" or something.

One of my friends is a sport medicine doctor, used to work with the Rams and Raiders when they were in LA, and he told me almost the same thing verbatim and I used to do it with great results.

As far as the high intensity cardio, do what you can to start but the ideal is eventually to run for no more than 15 or 20 minutes tops but run hard... hard as you can. I used to run 3 miles in under 20 minutes... for while I was cracking 18 minutes. I'd alternate that with running 1 mile basically racing myself (I could break 5). So one day I'd do the 3 miles and the next I'd do 1 mile and really try to kick hard the last lap... did that 5-6 days a week. Hit the protein shake right after I was done.

20 minutes is not really enough time for your body to go into a catabolic state -- "breaking down muscle to keep blood amino acid levels up"; especially if you are well hydrated, your blood amino acids level is already high when you start (due to getting a lot of protein in your diet), and drink a protein shake shortly after you are done. Also, running hard with a good long stride build strength in your core, hips, and legs. Jogging on the other hand (i.e. slower pace with shorter stride) is bad for joints long-term and does build strength nearly as well. Better yet, just running for 15-20 minutes does not exhaust you for the rest of the day... not even close. I used to run in the morning and lift at night or even in the early afternoon (late lunch). When things get less crazy I'm starting this up again.

right now... I'm just playing basketball for about 2 hours twice a week to keep my weight in check. But I'm losing muscle... playing basketball for two hours full court is not good for muscle mass retention... by the end of the two hours I'm tired and my body is definitely in a catabolic state. But if I don't get some exercise, I'm going to get fat.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: miniMUNCH

Originally posted by: Special K
Unfortunately, merely not eating unhealthy foods is not likely to get you a six pack. For maximal results, you need to take a more methodical approach.

Losing fat is ultimately a matter of burning slightly more calories than you consume over an extended period of time.

What you need to do is start tracking exactly what you eat each day. Fitday makes it easy. You will also need a starting point for your BMR - this is the number of calories you would need to eat in a day to exactly maintain your current weight. You can find an estimate here - make sure to click on the link labeled "Daily Calorie Needs" to find an estimate based on activity level.

Now, eat that number of calories each day for a week, and track your weight first thing each morning. If at the end of the week, you have not lost a pound, then cut 300 calories from your daily total and eat that amount for each day of the next week. Continue to track your weight, and keep making reductions until you are losing about 1 lb./week. I recommend getting 1.5 gm of protein/lb of bodyweight, 0.5 gm of healthy fats/lb bodyweight, and the rest carbs. Try spacing your caloric intake evenly among 6 meals throughout the day. Need help on what to eat? Check out this link

If you want to preserve muscle, I would recommend a weightlifting program focused on basic compound movements, low reps, and heavy weight. This will help persuade your body to burn fat instead of muscle while you are in a caloric deficit.

If you want to do some cardio on top of this then go for it, but it is not required for losing fat. If you want to do cardio, I would recommend shorter, high intensity sessions instead of longer, lower intensity.

Finally, you could have just done a search. This question, or something similar to it, gets posted at least once a week.

Also, check out the link in my sig if you really want to get in depth with this. There are lots of knowledgable people on that board who would be more than happy to help beginners.

I swear, I need to make the "ATOT Bodybuilding/Physique Improvement sticky" or something.

One of my friends is a sport medicine doctor, used to work with the Rams and Raiders when they were in LA, and he told me almost the same thing verbatim and I used to do it with great results.

As far as the high intensity cardio, do what you can to start but the ideal is eventually to run for no more than 15 or 20 minutes tops but run hard... hard as you can. I used to run 3 miles in under 20 minutes... for while I was cracking 18 minutes. I'd alternate that with running 1 mile basically racing myself (I could break 5). So one day I'd do the 3 miles and the next I'd do 1 mile and really try to kick hard the last lap... did that 5-6 days a week. Hit the protein shake right after I was done.

20 minutes is not really enough time for your body to go into a catabolic state -- "breaking down muscle to keep blood amino acid levels up"; especially if you are well hydrated, your blood amino acids level is already high when you start (due to getting a lot of protein in your diet), and drink a protein shake shortly after you are done. Also, running hard with a good long stride build strength in your core, hips, and legs. Jogging on the other hand (i.e. slower pace with shorter stride) is bad for joints long-term and does build strength nearly as well. Better yet, just running for 15-20 minutes does not exhaust you for the rest of the day... not even close. I used to run in the morning and lift at night or even in the early afternoon (late lunch). When things get less crazy I'm starting this up again.

right now... I'm just playing basketball for about 2 hours twice a week to keep my weight in check. But I'm losing muscle... playing basketball for two hours full court is not good for muscle mass retention... by the end of the two hours I'm tired and my body is definitely in a catabolic state. But if I don't get some exercise, I'm going to get fat.

i too used to just jog for like 30 mins (well jog/run moderately) and didn't see much differences in how lean i was.

then when i started reading about the higher intensity stuff for shorter times it all started to make sense and when it really hit me was when i was read the following assessment.

look at sprinters and then look at marathon runners.

i personally go for the sprinter look when i try to cut up, not the marathon runner look.

when i was doing cardio i was doing pretty much all high intensity stuff that would last like 15mins tops (cause thats all I could really make it) and I plan to continue with that pattern when I do it again come spring time.

 

[manowar821]

To stay in shape, I jog, and beat the crap out of a punching bag. I go jogging almost every day for at least 15-20 minutes... It's also relaxing, I love it. I use the bag maybe 2-3 times a week, mostly while sparing with my girlfriend or brother.

What I do is far more recreational than most peoples work out schedules. I've got a VERY low body fat ratio, though, and I've got a solid 4. Partially because my family is made up of skinny Swedes and Russians...

To be short: Jogging is awesome, go jogging.

 

[everman]

You need to lift weights. And I think a 6 pack is an unreasonable goal for someone just starting out. You should first try to develop more muscle mass,then maybe in a couple years you'll have enough developed to where a low BF% will really pay off in the aesthetics dept. But having low BF% with no muscle just makes you look like a walking stick.

 

[GenHoth]

Hmm, I think I'm going to take up high intensity training again after reading all this

 

[LittleNemoNES]

Originally posted by: Chrono
wanna get started and it's difficult. what can i do to help me on my way to achieve that 6-pack? i'm at 18% body fat right now. suggestion for exercise, diet, and ways to deter from eating unhealthy foods during this time of the year (christmas). i think i get heavy cravings at night all the time... how to prevent this? Thanks!

I forgot to mention that I used to be obese. I used to be 5'10 @ 275lbs. Now I'm 170!

At the same time I decided to lose weight, I was going through some hard times but I didn't let them best me.

I lost the 100lbs, btw in ~4 months. the first month I was losing 1 or even 2 pounds daily. How? I was unemployed and stayed active every minute of the day I was awake. I gave my New Balances a life time of wear in just a half a year. I had to buy new ones.

I don't look like super man but I have no shame in running around without a shirt and certainly get the ok from the ladies

Something I'm pretty proud of is my resting heart rate: 42 beats per minute. Funny thing is I have some High Blood pressure left over from my chub dayz. BTW I'm only 24.

 

[hightekkie]

I think a good food for you to eat this time of season would be fruits and veggies and probably a liitle meat. To stay away from your cravings i would suggest that you find something doing worthwhile like exercise. A good substitute for your cravings would be a good exercise.

 

[Oyeve]

The only way to get six-pack abs is the old fashioned way. Situps, situps, situps.


and loads of sex.

 

[theeedude]

Run, bike, eat right and lift weights, do ab exercises. Not much to it. I've done it. Lost like 40lbs, now I got a 6 pack.
Peace out.