Get Those Abs On Track

Achieving the desired "six pack" is actually alot of work. But when you do achieve it, it becomes very valuable to you, something like a "work of art".

There are three important components to achieving a "six pack" and they are:

1. Eating Behavior
2. Resistance Training
3. Cardio Training

Eating Behavior

Keep Metabolism Steady

Eating one small meal (potato, salad, etc...) every three hours that you are awake will not speed up your metabolism, it will keep it going. Your metabolism goes and slows with your food intake and eating something small every three hours will keep that metabolism burning calories and will help you lose weight.

Eat Breakfast

Skipping breakfast messes up your concentration and other mental functions. The harm of skipping breakfast from a weight loss perspective is it makes you eat a huge lunch since your body hasn't had anything in the past 12 or more hours. When you eat a huge lunch you get that after meal drowsiness so now you're both unproductive and inactive. Try cereals and if you are pressed for time, try breakfast bars.


Eat Smaller Dinners

Cut down on the size of your dinner. If you're hungry, snack on fruits or other healthy, low calorie snacks. Large dinners tend to hurt a fat loss process because most people aren't very active after dinner. Try eating a larger lunch or snacking healthily before dinner. Again, fresh fruits or vegatables are excellent choices for curbing appetite not to mention other benefits; A handful of nuts might do the same. Drink a large glass of water before sitting at the table.


Eat More Fiber

Fiber foods include whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and nuts and seeds. Other options are fiber supplements.

Drink More Water Everyday

Get at least 8 cups of water a day. If you consistently feel hungry after meals, don't immediately think that you need to eat more, you may simply be thirsty.

Resistance Training

Just like any other muscle, your abdominals need to be stressed in order for them to build. Muscle is a hungry machine. As you build muscle, your body will require more and more calories to maintain itself. This is true even when you aren't working out. Once you reach a certain level of muscle mass, your metabolism will naturally burn more calories than you normally consume. This effect will continue to trim the fat on your body and help get you closer and closer to achieving that "six pack". The only way your abs will be visible as a "six pack" is if your body is lean enough to allow the muscle definition to be seen. The best way to get lean is to speed up your metabolism. In order to do so, you must build muscle. That is the only way to increase the speed of your metabolism on a long term basis. The best way to do this is weight training for all the major muscle groups. The most effective muscle groups to work for fat loss are the chest, the back, the thighs and hamstrings.

Cardio

Jogging is a great way to burn fat. Other cardio activities with fat burning capabilities include biking, swimming, jumping rope, playing volleyball, etc...as long as it gets you moving and keeps you moving. A cardio workout should be performed for at least 20 minutes to burn fat. Prior to this your body will simply run on its stored energy, which results in minimal fat loss. An important concept to remember, and one that I will try, is that cardio training should always be done after your weight lifting workout. While lifting weights you use stored, carbohydrate energy, so by performing cardio after weight training your body will have less stored energy to use and go straight into the fat storage for its energy use. The overall best way to shed fat fast is to do cardio (30 minute minimum) right when you wake up. Your body will search for energy to use, and when it finds nothing in your stomach, it will go directly to your fat reserves for energy.