How many of you have one? Of those people, how many of you had to work for it and was not born as one of those freaks who had a six pack at 10 years old? I'm 25 and I've never had one. My weight has always fluctuated from slightly overweight to average. I figure now might be my last chance to get one as the difficulty increases with age. I'm six feet tall and I weigh 189. I've dropped 15 pounds in the past 2 months but still have some fat around my belly. Does anyone have any first hand tips? Right now I exercise 3 or 4 times a week, usually light upper body workouts with cardio mixed in. I'm not eating a ton, which isn't condusive to muscle growth, but it is helping me drop weight fast. Should I focus more on increasing muscle mass then cut or continue what I'm doing now? Any tips appreciated! My girlfriend says when I get my six pack I can have unlimited threesome while I maintain it. (note: not devil's threeway). I think now is the time for me to do it since I have nothing to do all day while my gf is at work.
abs are made in the kitchen. i would say 95% of people don't understand this, go to the gym and do hundreds of crunches daily, see no results, get frustrated and give up. the single most crucial component in having visible abdominal muscles is overall body fat percentage. you can't localize fat reduction. the ab exercises are to build the muscle - not to burn the fat. men need to regulate their body fat percentage to 8-9% to have their abs visible. for women, it is about 13%. if you are trying to bulk up, as you said, you won't be able to get a six pack at the same time as bulking requires a caloric surplus. continue doing ab work to keep the muscles strong but don't get frustrated by the lack of results. after you have reached the desired size, you can reduce the calories and increase the cardio and expect to see your results.
I've been doing P90X for about 8 weeks now, and I've seen some pretty decent results around my abs. There isn't much definition since I love pretty much anything with carbs in it, but the muscles are STRONG. I can see how anyone who actually follows the diet plan would definitely get a 6 pack. It also increases your overall definition in your chest, arms, and back. I would highly recommend starting.
Untrue. If you eat clean and lift heavy, you will build muscle without gaining fat. In addition, since your body will have increased muscle, it will continually burn additional calories which will reduce fat and increase definition. If you're reducing calories and increasing cardio, you will burn both fat and muscle.
they were easy to maintain from the time i was about 14 until the time i was about 27...i did nothing, aside from what you do playing sports...but i ate like crap. they were there anyway. at 35, i'm finally starting to get serious about keeping myself in shape. actually putting some effort in it. i've been running regularly for a couple of months now, trying to get in at least 40 minutes at least 3x/week. i'd love to be able to return my six pack for my wife's sake )), but know I have to eat better than i do...and i'm working on that, too. i need to lose about 7 pounds to hit what some website calls my ideal weight. pretty pumped, because i know i can do it.
I've had a six pack since I was like 13, so this might not help you out much. Just eat right, Cabbage is totally correct. If you eat right, run, and do some basic ab exercises you should easily have a six pack. I've been doing P90X as well, and I will admit that my abs look better than they have in years.
<br> Building muscle and bulking are not the same thing. Working out constantly will make you gain muscle, but not necessarily get bigger. I'm basically all muscle, but skinny as a stick. This is because of my diet..
Although I don't have a six pack now, I have had one in the past. Well at least close to one. Six packs are more about fat loss/diet than muscle gain since you muscles around your stomach don't get much bigger with strength. That being said, the fastest way to a six pack is to gain and maintain muscle and cut fat at the same time. Some basic advice Diet - Eat 5 to 6 times a day without going 3 hours without eating Eat small portions with a palm size(3-4 ounces of meat) amount of protein at each meal Cut or reduce the simple carbs like bread and white rice Eat lots of vegetables drink lots of water The key to a healthy diet is that you have reduce your calories with going hungry and losing muscle. If you go hungry, then you are more likely to cheat and binge eat. Excercise- Do more weight with less reps when doing stomach exercises. Reps increase endurance but does not increase muscle size. I find core body exercise with medicine balls very effective.
this depends on how much muscle the OP is looking to add. any adequate protein intake + heavy lifting will build muscle but this will be at a much slower pace than traditional bodybuilding "bulking." you need those carbs for maximum gains. yeah i know, i wasn't necessarily recommending both, that was meant as an "either/or/and, these are your cutting options"
I've got a 6-pack now (have had one for about a year) - but it takes a LOT of work for me to maintain it. I'm naturally a tubby dude. I was overweight from birth to the age of 22. Then I started dieting and exercising... but it wasn't until I started HIT training last year that a 6-pack finally became visible. the moment i get off of HIT training - i'm sure the 6-pack will be covered by a small layer of fat.
i also do a 30 minute ab workout 4 days a week (in addition to about 10 minutes of abs on the other 3 days when i'm lifting). i also watch what i eat religiously. I drink maybe once a month (or every two months) and i limit my heavy carb intake to only before and after my workouts. however I do have a massive sweet tooth and maybe 2-3 times a week I'll eat candy or ice cream or brownies at around 10 or 11pm when I just don't have the will power to fight the cravings any more. I keep wondering how much more I could improve if I could just kick this horrible habit. But to date I have not been able to do so (for example in the 4th quarter of the packer/bears game last night I had a couple of homemade brownies that my mom gave me when I saw her last month. ugh.)
I only singled this out because it sounds like most people (including me at times). This was me last night: "I haven't eaten anything except low-glycemic carbs, protein and good fats for two weeks. Except for Friday when I went to Austin and had wine, pizza and some candy. And then Saturday I couldn't get home so I ate some fast food and on Sunday I was at a birthday party so I only ate cake, ice cream and soda. Other than that my diet has been perfect."
yeah - i know... i felt just pretty stupid when I was typing those posts... luckily i put enough effort into my physical exercise every day that it makes up for the late night poor eating habit.
