| Open just about any magazine even slightly related to | | | | extended periods are actually commanding their bodies |
| health and fitness and you'll find some variant or | | | | to give up muscle more rapidly than fat. The net effect |
| another of 'six weeks to a six-pack' or 'awesome abs' | | | | is that they end up slowing their metabolism way |
| or 'core training secrets of the stars' or the like. | | | | down and creating bodies that are potentially fatter |
| It's amazing! | | | | than before. |
| It's as if the whole world is fixated with the abdominal | | | | Not what most exercisers are after but nevertheless, |
| region and will happily sit through pages and pages of | | | | what YOU'LL get if you insist upon training the way |
| 'samey' information just to get to the one or two | | | | that most gym goers do. |
| 'secrets' that'll miraculously turn us from fat and flabby | | | | No, to get lean you need to work harder for shorter |
| to fit and fabby over night. | | | | duration. Short circuits, intervals, relays that get you |
| Well, as much as you'll hate hearing it, the truth is that | | | | breathing hard then rest. 5 mins at a time are all you'll |
| most 'celebrity sixpacks' have very little to do with the | | | | need if you train this way. |
| special core routine of their favourite personal trainer | | | | Better yet, skip those boring machines anyway and |
| with their multitudes of crunch variations or 'secret' | | | | use strength exercises with bodyweight or |
| exercises. | | | | free-weights in to send your metabolism into warp |
| Likewise any well conditioned track athlete, martial | | | | drive. |
| artist or gymnast. | | | | I call this type of training my 'six hundred rule'. |
| You'll rarely, if ever catch one of these well | | | | In short, you've six-hundred or so muscles in your body. |
| proportioned and highly defined athletes even | | | | Incorporate exercises and movements that challenge |
| entertaining the idea of crunches, let alone doing one, | | | | as many as possible at once. Exercises like pushups, |
| yet they all get to sport year-round leanness and | | | | pull-ups, squats, lunges, jumps forward bends, deadlifts. |
| definition that most people would kill for. | | | | Y'know, those honest to goodness 'old fashioned' |
| Why is that? | | | | exercises that people used to use before gyms got |
| Why when some of us are spending HOURS every | | | | hi-tech. |
| week hitting our waists from every angle are we still | | | | Myth Number 3 - you've got to cut calories to get lean |
| looking soft around the middle when these abdominal | | | | Well, I've got to admit, this is partly true, especially if you |
| training atheists are able to achieve such great results? | | | | overeat often, but much more important than cutting |
| I can tell you up front, you're not going to like the | | | | calories is to cut the rubbish foods out of your diet |
| answer I have for you! | | | | altogether. |
| First though, some basic anatomy. | | | | You see, your body fat is used as a 'toxic dump', a |
| That muscle you think of as 'the six pack', the one that | | | | waste-ground when your system is overburdened by |
| runs from your groin all the way up to your ribs is | | | | foods it can't handle. When too many toxic foods find |
| called the Rectus abdominis and is just one of several | | | | their way into your body, regardless of the calories |
| very important muscle groups that create your waist | | | | you eat, your body will dump these toxins into |
| or 'core' as is now popular. | | | | wherever you hold your fat. Your waist among other |
| Every single movement you make, from standing to | | | | places. |
| sitting, walking to running, bending twisting, pushing and | | | | So if you truly want to get lean, you've gotta get clean! |
| pulling all originate here and so, far from requiring even | | | | That means removing many of the foods that your |
| more training, your core muscles are already there and | | | | body considers toxic like: |
| already looking like that sixpack you've got your heart | | | | Alcohol |
| so set on. | | | | Caffeine |
| Right there, buried under all of that fat you've worked | | | | Processed foods |
| hard all winter (maybe longer) to lay down is a sixpack | | | | Sugar (or substitute) |
| that any bodybuilder or gymnast would die for. The | | | | Anything with a number or unpronounceable word in it |
| only reason you can't see yours is because it's buried! | | | | Most wheat products |
| (I told you it'd be basic) | | | | These foods are KNOWN to create either allergies or |
| The only thing stopping you from 'un-burying' your | | | | intolerances in increasingly larger numbers of people |
| six-pack is the lack of discipline required to control | | | | and should be avoided for good health as well as for |
| what goes into your mouth on a daily basis along with | | | | the aesthetic goal of seeing your abs. |
| the dispelling of a few myths that are conspiring to | | | | Replace these foods with wholesome, nourishing |
| keep you soft around the middle. | | | | foods that offer support to your body and you'll almost |
| Myth Number 1 - You CAN'T Spot reduce | | | | immediately see fat beginning to strip off. Foods like: |
| It's a weird one this, as most of us seem to know this | | | | Fresh meat, fish and poultry (especially organic) |
| already, on a surface level at least, yet still it's common | | | | Fresh fruit and veg (organic where possible) |
| to find six-pack seekers grinding out rep after tedious | | | | Nuts and seeds |
| rep of myriad variations of curls and crunches. | | | | Olives |
| Listen up. The body just doesn't work that way! | | | | Fresh, filtered water |
| If it did, the people who did the most crunches would | | | | These are basic fundamentals of any healthy diet yet |
| have the most visible abs and this is clearly not the | | | | few people come anywhere near these basics within |
| case. In fact, it's probably the other way around! | | | | their own eating and lifestyle plans opting instead for |
| Once and for all let's get this straight. When the body | | | | quick-fix, processed, toxic foods. |
| burns fat it takes it molecule by molecule, gram by | | | | You can cut calories all you want but if you're still |
| gram from the whole body, not just from the area | | | | eating foods from the top list and not enough from the |
| you're exercising. What's more, by performing such | | | | bottom then you'll ALWAYS end up back where you |
| small, isolated exercises you're not burning many | | | | started. |
| calories or much body fat anyway! | | | | See, I told you that you wouldn't like what I had to say! |
| The answer is to get off of your back and carry out | | | | But will you listen? |
| more of your exercises from a standing position and | | | | No, more. Will you actually follow this advice and make |
| using many more of your muscles each time you train. | | | | some of these changes to your diet and lifestyle for |
| That way, without even directly targeting the | | | | the next 30 days? |
| abdominals you'll be burning many, many more calories | | | | If you do, I GUARANTEE you that you'll lose more fat, |
| AND conditioning your core at the same time. | | | | gain more firm, lean, shapely muscles where you want |
| You're far more likely to see your sixpack this way. | | | | them and look and feel better than you have in ages. |
| Myth Number Two - Cardio is king if you want to get | | | | What's more, you'll have put into place a habit that will |
| lean | | | | serve you long after those 30 days are over. |
| Not so. Especially if you do it the way most people do. | | | | And when you walk onto the beach this summer you'll |
| Just look around the gym next time you're there. How | | | | look down to where your new-found waistline is on |
| many of the cardio junkies that are glued to the | | | | proud display for all to see and know that you finally |
| treadmills, rowers and crosstrainers are sporting the | | | | did it. You achieved what only a tiny percentage of |
| look you're after? | | | | people ever do. |
| Not many I'll bet! | | | | You reached your goal. |
| And the reason is, they're doing so much cardio that | | | | 30 days. |
| the hormones that keep them going for those | | | | |