Wouldn’t it be great if we could all get rid of ab flab and sport a muscly six pack for the world to see? Or at least for your girl to bumpily run her fingers over? A six pack in six months? Oh, sweet joy. However, it’s easier said than done and ab crunches and exercises can get very boring, repetitive, tough and annoyingly slow to visibly shift any fat.
Help is now at hand … You no longer need torture yourself with thoughts of how hard it is and give up! MSP’s health guru has compiled the best possible info for you to: a) gain your six pack more effectively and, b) eat better to maintain your new hot physique (or at least the one you’re dreaming of).
A. The not-so-revolutionary method of staggered sets!!
Staggered sets are a method of exercising a stubborn body part or fitting in one because of time constraints. It’s been a time tested fitness strategy for decades and may end your ab-training quandary.
The idea is simple; in between a set of an exercise perform a set of an abdominal exercise. For example perform a set of bench presses followed by a set of crunches. After a brief rest perform another set of benches followed by another set of crunches. Keep this format up until you have completed all of you sets of presses and move to your next exercise. If your next exercise is pull-ups for example follow each set of pull-ups with leg raises until you have performed the required number of sets of pull-ups.
This type of workout keeps your heart rate elevated and by performing more work in the same amount of time you normally exercise, burns more calories.
You can incorporate a variety of abdominal exercise in your training and switch with each exercise. Crunches, leg raises, Russian twists and abdominal machines can all be incorporated in this program.
For the most part, you will not deplete your strength for other body parts by using this method, just remember to focus on the exercise at hand and not rush through your workout. In other words don’t look past one exercise to another.
Staggered sets can also be used for other body parts. If you have a problem developing your calves, you can perform a calf raise in between a set of curls or rows. The concept of staggered sets is to provide extra attention to a neglected or slow growing body part without staying in the gym longer than necessary. Here is a sample workout you can use as an example for an upper body workout:
Set 1:
Bench Press 12 reps
Crunches 25 reps
Bench Press 12 reps
Crunches 25 reps
Bench Press 12 reps
Crunches 25 reps
Set 2:
Pulldowns 10 reps
Leg Raises 20 reps
Pulldowns 10 reps
Leg Raises 20 reps
Pulldowns 10 reps
Leg Raises 20 reps
Set 3:
Shoulder Press 10 Reps
Twisting Crunches 20 reps
Shoulder Press 10 reps
Twisting Crunches 20 reps
Shoulder Press 10 reps
Twisting Crunches 20 reps
Set 4:
Curls 15 reps
Machine Crunches 15 reps
Curls 15 reps
Machine Crunches 15 reps
Curls 15 reps
Machine Crunches 15 reps
Set 5:
Dips 12 reps
Seated Knee Raises 25 reps
Dips 12 reps
Seated Knee Raises 25 reps
Dips 12 reps
Seated Knee Raises 25 reps
After this staggered set workout, you will stagger out of the gym one-step closer to that ripped midsection!
Go for 4-5 meals a day. This will help tame the problem of overeating. If you starve yourself at breakfast, you’re going to hog out on lunches. So better you fill up the tank in small quantities as and when your body requires it. You don’t have to starve, but you have to optimize eating. The breakfast should be the biggest meal of the day. Reason: Your daily activities will take care of the calories consumed at the breakfast. So your body will be fueled for your daily routine. Remember, it is not worth starving yourself and falling ill. The key is to eat right. And dinners should be kept a bit on the lighter side, as there is no activity for the body after dinner (except for a few insomniacs). If the calories consumed during dinner are not burnt (and they won’t be) they will be absorbed as fat. So remember, heavy breakfast, light lunch and lighter dinner. And throw in some snacks in between, from those given later in the article.
First let’s be very clear on what’s good and what’s bad for the six pack diet plan. For one, excess is certainly not good. Excess eating or excessive under-eating for that matter is going to work against you. One can’t go off fat. Unfortunately, fats are required for daily bodily processes and body needs to be supplied with those. Same goes for carbs. Overdoing the protein isn’t good thing either as protein isn’t very easy to digest.
Now that we’re clear on that, let’s define how much of what is required. Fats should be kept to their minimum requirement. On the other hand, you have to substitute carbs with protein and fiber. Yes. A good high fiber diet will help the metabolism and will help you feel full without adding any unnecessary calories.
And what foods are recommended in the six pack diet plan? Well, anything that comes in a pack or a can is better kept away. Processed foods generally have a lot more sugar than is required in a six pack diet plan. Also if you’re looking at cooking, stick to boiled and roasted foods, rather than fried foods. Fish and egg whites are the best thing for six pack diets. So pack your meals with tuna, salmon and even chicken. Sushi is supposed to be one of the best diet foods. Also you can add all those leafy vegetables and fruits which happen to be a good source of fiber and daily vitamins. A high fiber diet will also go a long way. But remember, not all fruits may be good for the diet. Among the tried and tested ones, raw apples are really good. You can also substitute the white bread with brown and white flour with whole grain flour. Other foods include oatmeal, whole grains and sprouts. I know it looks like a pretty raw deal, but with a bit of creativity and inventiveness, you can make the best of a bad deal. Club the spinach with roast chicken and brown bread to make a diet sandwich. To spruce up your oatmeal you can add prunes and raisins. Sugar free ice-cream once in a while is not bad either. Nuts and almonds make a pretty good mid-meal snack option. And yes, drink a lot of water.
Some things that are best avoided are packaged foods, soda, alcohol and sodium-rich foods. Red meat isn’t a good idea either. Watch the cheese and mayonnaise intake as well.
Typical Six Pack Abs Diet Plan – To get you started, here’s a sample meal plan you could follow:
8 am: Breakfast
- Egg white omelet, 2 pieces of whole wheat toast
11 am: Snack
- Turkey sandwich with whole wheat bread (NO cheese or mayo!!).
2 pm: Lunch -
8 ounces of top round steak, 2 boiled red potatoes, 1 cup of cottage cheese (make it non-fat)
5 pm: Snack
- 1 chicken breast, 1 cup of steamed brown rice, 1 small salad.
8 pm: Dinner
- 8 ounces of fish (salmon/tuna), 2 cups of whole wheat pasta, 1 small salad.
So go ahead, WORK THAT BODY! And write to us when and if you get any results! If it doesn’t work, you just ain’t crunchin’ as hard as you need to!
The Stylemeister. (excerpted from ‘Less Fat in Less Time – Rich Fitter – www.exercisegroup.com)
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