Short cut to get 6 packs ABS

Busted !!!

If you came here looking for a shortcut for getting 6 packs shredded ABS, I will have to break the bad news to you. There is no shortcut ! Except  Photoshop ;) .

Ok. Let's talk serious stuff. By this time you would have accepted the fact that without well-defined abs your physique is incomplete. So I am here to help you take your physique to the next level with the following simple yet effective steps.

I assume that you have a below 15% body fat and you have a decent training history. 

SECRET 1: You should have an ABS day in your working plan.

 Many of my friends have leg day,chest day, arms day...but very few have an abs day. They say "I do my crunches at the end of my workout". Now guys THAT'S NOT ENOUGH. You should have a dedicated abs day. Period.

SECRET 2: Train your abs on empty stomach.

This is something that I felt worked out for me quite well. I was really able to squeeze my abs much better than when my tummy was with food. I prefer to train early in the morning. And I do drink a whey protein shake 30 minutes before of my abs training with minimum amount of water.

SECRET 3: Squeeze and full contraction for every damn repetition.

 
I am a strong believer of squeeze and contraction for all my training and not just for abs training alone. Obviously you won't be able to do high repetitions with this technique. But who wants to know how many reps you are doing. We are not here to do marathon training but to build some blocky ABS.


SECRET 4: Train your ABS.

My abs training won't cross a maximum of 30 minutes even in a busy gym. Trust me the very next day I always got the pleasure of sore abs. Train your abs with equal amount of intensity as you train your favorite body parts.

If you find the above "secrets" does make sense to you...you are welcome to try my "secret" ABS ROUTINE....

• Machine Crunches : 

For each rep at the bottom squeeze your abs with the weight. Hold it for 2 seconds. Repeat it 20 more times. You do have to arch your spine a little.  But remember not to use too much weight or arch your spine too much. It could hurt your lower back. 

•  Seated Twist :

Twist is very important for the development of your mid section. This exercise is to target your obliques. It helps to develop those feathers and helps to reduce those love handles too. This exercise is a great move to increase the blood flow in your mid section. To do the exercise, keep a light barbell at the back of your neck. Keep your back and head straight. Now twist as far as possible. 

• Leg Raise : 

Keep a slight bend in the knee throughout your movement. Do this exercise slowly keeping tension in your core throughout the motion. At the top position (90 degrees) hold and squeeze for 2 seconds. If you can't reach the recommended reps, reduce the weight. If done properly it helps to pop out your lower abs. ;)

• Plank :

When I did plank for the first time my whole body was shivering.This exercise is to strengthen your core. One of the most important exercises but sadly neglected by many. Keep your abs as tight as you can. Take small breaths. Now if you can hold the plank for more than 60 seconds, add some resistance by keeping weight plates on your back (Don't keep it on your lower back, it can hurt you).

Do the above exercises 4 times each with a rest period of 30 seconds after completing each set. You can repeat this every 3rd to 4th day of your training.

Cobra stretching

Once you complete 4 rounds of the above moves you can do cobra stretching. Its helps to relax your lower back along with that you will get a nice stretch for your abdominal muscles.

 Remember this routine is not to crunch away your poor eating habits. But this will definitely build your abdominal muscle and also makes sure that your inner core muscles are strong. Once you shed fat, this routine will help you to pop up those sexy blocks in your mid section. All the best. Happy 6-packs to you guys !  

Commit Fitness

From Fat to Fit

Category B: Thick framed 

I would like to discuss category B with my own experience because I belonged to the very same category. FAT.

Not a pretty picture huh? Love handles, chubby loose stomach..Yea..That was once me.

SELF REALISATION

I realized I was fat. Category B. Even though I don't believe in BMR, I understood my body fat percentage was way more that what I hoped it would be. It was around 16%.

How I reached that fat percentage? 

• I ate only "clean" bodybuilding foods. In fact I ate way too much of it. I never tracked how much I ate.

• I indulged in those occasional cheat meals. Slowly those "cheat meals" became more frequent and generally accompanied by a session of overwhelming guilt.

• I went to gym. Worked hard. But rest of the day I was a total couch potato. I barely moved and sat watching marathon sessions of sitcoms...Game of thrones,Spartacus,Breaking Bad... You Name it,I have watched it.

• Turned a blind eye towards cardio. "CARDIO?? Does that even exist??! "

• I never cooked my food myself. Generally ate from outside.

And as a result I became like this. 


"THE SPARK"

After a few months of gap I visited my hometown again and mom asked if I stopped going to gym.What made mom ask that? Did I actually look fat? Weekend over. Back at Mysore... 

 TRACKING

First thing I decided to do was to track what I was eating. I downloaded myfitnesspal app. I also bought a food weighing scale to get correct measurements.

After tracking for a week I realised :

• I was eating way more carbohydrates than what is required especially late at nights.

• I was taking in hell lot of hidden oil from curries I ate from outside and sugar from teas and other beverages. 

• The veggies I was taking was limited to onions, tomatoes and potatoes. 

 FIXING MY DIET

I calculated the amount of carbs, proteins and fats I needed to improve my physique. Then I implemented that on my diet.

• Eating majority of carbohydrates around my training time (morning) and increasing protein and fat as the day progresses. 

• Including more varieties of veggies into my diet.

• I always kept my meals smaller and increased my meal frequency(breakfast-snack-lunch-snack-dinner-snack).So I never felt full and at the same time was never hungry. (That's my little secret ...Shhh !!! *wink* )

The main challenges I faced?

• At the end of the day I generally craved for something sweet even though I wasn't really hungry. The solution I found was to  eat homemade peanut butter. (Thanks to my mom! I will share her recipe with you guys on another post.)

• On low calorie days I was at the verge of my temper. I was always irritable, it has gotten to the point that I actually started fighting with my girlfriend for no apparent reason. I didn't know what was going on for a while with me. Then I figured I was 'HANGRY' - so hungry that I was angry! I started adding more vegetables into my diet which kept my hunger at bay at the same time it was low on calorie. 

•  I work in an IT firm, where parties and weekend get--togethers are very common. Here is how I managed my diet during such events.

1.  I never went to parties with an empty stomach.
2.  I started socializing rather than concentrating on food.
3.  I chose to eat only oil free food.Mainly veggies, oil less chicken, fish and white rice. 
4. Never took alcohol.

WEIGHT LIFTING

Inarguably my most favorite step. I love this. And I can't make mistake in this. 

Photo courtesy: Happy page,facebook 


I always lifted heavy. I made sure the targeted muscle is stressed enough. And gradually my body weight started to reduce and my body got more defined. 

My abs workout and tips : Click here

Then  came the stagnation period. My body simply  stopped responding and started adapting to what I had implemented. It was hell frustrating, as I didn't see any change for weeks. I couldn't even think of reducing food anymore. 

CARDIO

The last weapon...Cardio...the one I hate the most.  My main confusion was which type of cardio should I include. HIIT or steady state and what time of the day should I do it early morning or evening. 

I decided to go with steady state cardio in the morning 4 times a week. I will wake up 30 minutes earlier than usual, have my protein shake and jump on to a cardio machine.

How did I get through 30-45 minutes of boring cardio?

• My biggest motivation was beautiful girls in my gym. And to my blessings those cardio machines were filled with them. So to impress them I did my best in every cardio session.

• Not every time I am lucky to be near them so I started watching bodybuilding motivational videos as I moved myself on the machine. 

These two worked pretty well for me. I was able to get through those lengthy cardio sessions maintaining a steady heart rate of 60-70% of max. I also increased my cardio by 5 minutes every week. And the result...

That's the beginning of my fat loss experience. Again this might not be the best way to loose fat for everyone. My aim was to lose as much fat as possible without losing muscle. So I chose this slow fat loss program. You have to understand your body. You should always be flexible enough to adjust according your body's requirement.

Things I learned :

• Patience...Patience is the key. It takes time to get results. If you are losing 0.5-1 kilo in a week , you are on the right track.

• Even if you are not losing weight but you see improvements in the mirror then you are on the right track.This is because you may be gaining muscle but lose fat alongside. 

•   Your jeans waist is still tight but your t shirt sleeves and shoulder getting loose. This is not a good sign, time to revisit your plan.

• Vegetables plays a big role in hunger suppression

•  200 calories banana milk shake is far better than zero calorie diet soda.

• And last but not the least... even if you eat a lot it is possible to loose fat. Right food and Right training is all it takes.

So that's my story.

Commit Fitness

Start Your Fitness Journey

If you already have 6+ months of good lifting experience please stop reading right here. This post isn't for you. 

So you are a newbie....Fresh Blood....You think you are either skinny and thin framed for your height or you believe you are fat.

Let's forget ectomorph, endomorph or mesomorph... and other big words. I don't want to confuse the heck out of you.

Let's split ourselves into :

Category A: Thin framed ( People who wanna bulk up)
Category B: Thick framed ( People who want to lose fat)


Category A: Thin framed 


STEP 1:

Take a selfie of your body in proper light.
This picture should be the greatest motivation for you. It will be a reminder needed to keep you motivated for your next workout.

STEP 2:

(The most important step)

You are what you eat.
Even if you spend hours in gym but doesn't follow a proper diet, you are just killing your body and wasting your time and money.

Fix your DIET !

Here are some tips and tricks to fix your diet. 

(a) Eat 1g to 1.5 g of protein per pound of body weight.


Good sources of protein are:

• Chicken Breast
• Egg white
•  Fish
• Kidney Beans (Have with brown rice and you will get the complete amino acid profile!)
• Paneer  (Do not buy from shops. Make it at home)

(b) Eat 1.5g to 2g of carbs per pound of your body weight

Good sources of carbohydrates are:

• Rice
• oats
• Multigrain bread (Do not confuse it with brown bread)
• Apple
• Banana

(c) Eat 0.5 g of fat (healthy fats) per pound of body weight.

Good sources of fats are:

• Coconut oil (Try to get it directly from the farmers for getting unadulterated products)
• Nut butter
• Almonds
• Egg Yolk

Again, this is only a reference. You should be able to manipulate the macros as how your body responds.

Key Points : 

• Try to have carbs around your workouts.
• Have majority of fat with mid and end of the day.
• Reduce carbs on non-training days.
• Measure and record everything. Use myfitnesspal app.
• Include veggies in all your meals. I believe veggies help reduce fat Tyre aka love handles.
• It is best to have steamed veggies.

STEP 3:

Fix your SLEEP.

As the proverb goes, Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man HEALTHY, wealthy and wise. 

Try to get atleast 7 hours of sound sleep. If you are woken up by the alarm, you haven't rested enough.

STEP 4:

Supplements.

You can add supplement if and only if you think you are not getting enough from your FOOD. Because no supplements can beat FOOD.

As a beginner you will need

• Whey protien( coming soon.."How to choose a whey protein supplement??")
• Multivitamin
• Fish oil (If you consume a lot of fish, you needn't take fish oil supplementation)

Never go for a mass gainer. You can make your own mass gainer at home. I will share you my recipe in another post.

Once step 2 and 3 have become an effortless daily routine, it is now time to start playing with weights. 
It is best to start with body weight movements. And it is upto you to do it at a gym or at home. I prefer gym since the atmosphere motivates you a lot.

Below I would suggest 10 body weight moves that will help you strengthen the foundation of your dream body.

• Shoulder width push ups
• Dips in a parallel bar
• Close hand push up
• Wide pull up
• Under hand pull up
• Squat
• Lunges
• Plank
• Leg raise
• Crunches

This is only a foundation program. You can perform the above moves in an alternate days.For example:

Day 1: Exercise

Day 2: Cardio( remember low carb day)

Day 3 : Exercise

Day 4: Cardio...

Follow in the same fashion

Perform 2 sets till failure for each exercises and increase by one set by every week for next 4 weeks. Once you are done for 4 weeks you must be ready for weight training. You will start strong.

Tips:

1)You must be feeling sore after day 1.But that is normal and that is what we are expecting.So don't give up taking that as an excuse.

2)So you must be thinking why a skinny guy need to cardio. Yes I strongly believe every one should do cardio regardless of fat loss or muscle gain. Cardio helps to keep your cardiovascular health at the peak. And cardiovascular health plays a big role in building a good physique. I don't want you to be a person who will loose  breathe just by climbing a couple of stairs.

So let's start!!!! 


Note: Category B case will be discussed in my next post. 

Commit Fitness