I have been working my abs a lot since February and they just don’t seem to be getting much better. I see a little bit of a difference but not as much as I think I should for as long as I have been working them. Any advice for me? I am desperate now that summer is about here.
Dear Ab Worker,
If you are doing ab work and are not seeing any results, it’s your nutrition. You could stop doing sit ups or crunches and clean up your eating and your results will come faster. The trick to a beautiful six pack is good, solid and consistent nutrition!
Pause, back up and read that again. When you do your ab work you are working the midsection but you are not burning the fat in that specific area. A good six pack comes from the absence of body fat, not from the constant work of the area.
There is NO SUCH THING AS SPOT REDUCTION! You cannot make your body burn fat in one area just by working it. Your body burns fat all over and there is no way to control where you burn it from.
There is no machine or specific routine that is going to give you a six pack. If you do it for just five minutes a day for five weeks. You can forget about the magic pill everyone tries to sell you so that you can have that six- pack. Or even all the Instagram, Tic Tok, Facebook posts telling you to do “these” ab exercises for your six pack.
It infuriates me that these so-called professionals don’t touch on nutrition at all and claim that these exercises will get you ready for summer in six weeks.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some supplements that do help you to burn body fat but it’s just an extra push not a solution to the fat storage problem. You need to be more conscious about what you are eating so that your body burns fat and not gains it.
You want to feed the muscle and starve the fat throughout your day. This comes from a higher protein, lower carb, no sugar eating plan and a good muscle stimulation calorie burning regimen.
Notice I said lower carb not NO carb. A lot of people eat the wrong proteins when trying to eat like this. You want to consume lean cuts of meat such as; chicken breast, turkey breast, sirloins, tops, rounds (beef-<10% fats) and protein drinks.
Make protein 50-60 percent of your meals, all five of them. You do not need more than 25 gm of active carbohydrates per meal, unless you have a physically demanding job.. Water is also a key factor in burning fat. It helps with protein synthesis, hydrates the cells so they function properly, helps with the skin, raises your metabolism and helps to burn and flush fat.
I suggest you add sprints to your workouts. They are an excellent way to burn body fat and give you great muscle tone at the same time. You don’t have to run far, just do 30 yards to start out with the go up to 40 then 50 yards. Do five to 10 sprints after you weight train to help you burn more calories and harden up. Sprints work your legs, butt, abs and lower back.
Remember to be as conscious of your eating as you are of your training. Good luck and great health to you all.
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UNLEASH YOUR HERO
Ryan Rollison
Dream Bodies
419-944-4200