Posted on October 18, 2013 by Jenny Cromack

 

It will take dedication, time and commitment to get a six-pack. Essentially you need to reduce your body fat to around the 10% marker and build muscle. You can do every exercise under the sun to hit the stomach muscles, however if you’re covering them under a layer of fat they will never show!            You need to lose body fat, notice I didn’t say reduce your weight…..it’s important you understand the difference. You can lose 7lbs in a week easy but only 2-3lbs of that would likely be fat. The rest would come from lean muscle, glycogen and water in the body.  If you want a six pack you’re going to need tohold on to as much of that muscle as you reduce your body fat.

Below are the steps to achieving the perfect six pack.

STEP 1- TRAIN YOUR ENTRIRE BODY

Guess what abdominal exercises are only the cherry on top of the cake! The real core growth for abdominal development comes from moving heavy weights. Include lifts such as the dead-lift, back squat and overhead press in your weekly programs sets of 3-5 and reps of 6-8 will be very effective. Research has shown that lifting at this intensity increases your sleeping metabolism by around 8%. Make sure you keep progressing the weights as adaptation only comes from overloading the body.

STEP 2- REDUCE INSULIN RAISING FOODS

Any food that releases carbohydrates quickly should be avoided like the plague! Insulin is one of the main contributing factors to fat storage around the side of the hips and lower stomach. Stick to complex carbohydrate sources such as vegetables, sweet potatoes and pulses. Ideally you should reduce your carbohydrates to below 15% of your daily calorie intake as this will not only reduce your body fat but will help spare your muscle. Furthermore this will improve several health markers such as blood pressure and cholesterol.

STEP 3- EAT BREAKFAST

For everyone that knows me I often have a rant about breakfast, it is no different to any other meal in the day. Skipping breakfast is going to drastically reduce your metabolism through the day. You will only achieve a six pack if everything in your lifestyle is perfect so don’t make the simple mistake of cutting out breakfast. Eat a good quality breakfast packed with protein, good fats and lots of vitamins.

STEP 4- STRESS MANAGEMENT

I don’t mean start doing yoga five times a day or listening to waterfalls on the way to work. I’m talking about getting a good night sleep; there is a correlation between reducing your sleep and increasing your stress. Ideally everyone would get around 8 hours sleep a night, this is an optimal amount of sleep to really reduce all of the stress hormones, unfortunately stress hormones such as cortisol are weight gaining not weight losing hormones.

STEP 5- GET INTENSE

You must complete 2-3 high intensity interval sessions per week. I’m talking about giving each interval 100% you shouldn’t be able to stand up after the work period. Work maximally for 30s then rest for 3 minutes and repeat 5-8 times. This has been shown to spike growth hormone and testosterone levels, giving you a head start in sculpting a perfect six-pack

STEP 6- GET OILED UP

Now I don’t mean start putting oil on your abs! I’m talking about fish oil supplements, a recent study showed that consuming 1600mg per day of EPA increased lean mass and reduced fat mass compared to those not taking it. Just make sure you get good quality fish oil as poor quality fish oil supplements when oxidised can do more harm than good.

STEP 7- FOLLOW THE PROGRAM

If you follow the above steps the program below will really help pull those abdominals out, make sure you don’t do this on consecutive days and limit the programme to 3 times per week. Complete 3 sets of the program with 60s rest in between sets

Exercise	Reps	Notes
Hanging Knee raise	12-15	If available, secure your arms in arm harnesses attached to the chin up bar, or if you have no arm harnesses, then grasp the chin up bar using an over-hand grip. Allow your body to hang straight down keeping your feet together. Next, curl your knees up towards your chest while keeping your legs together. Once your curled your knees up as high as you can, pause for a couple seconds while squeezing your lower abdominals then slowly lower your feet back towards the floor as your legs straighten out again, bringing you back to the starting position.
V-Ins Or Seated Leg Tucks	12-15	Sit crosswise on a bench holding on to the sides for support. Slightly raise your legs and bend your knees and lean backward at about a 45 degree angle. Using a scissor like movement, curl your upper body toward your pelvis, while rounding your back and simultaneously lift your knees up towards your head, making your body look like a V shape (hence the name V-ins.)Feel your upper and lower abdominals crunch together as your pelvis and rib cage squeeze together. From this position, lower your knees and torso back to the starting position.
Roll in with Swiss ball	12-15	Begin by lying on top of a stability ball with your belly facing down and using your hands, walk your body over the top of the stability ball while keeping your body straight until just the tops of your feet are facing down on the very top of the stability ball.At this point you will be in push up position with your arms straight and your abdominals pulled in. Next, using your abdominal muscles, tuck your knees up towards your chest as the ball rolls in the same direction with the tops of your feet planted on top of the ball. Once you’ve brought your knees and the ball as far up towards your chest as you can, pause for 1 second and then slowly straighten your legs back out and return the ball to the starting position.
Plank	30s	Ensure you keep a good ridgit posture and that all joints form a horizontal line