6 Pack Abs - The Secret to 6 Pack Abs

By: Vince DelMonte Everywhere you turn, someone's promising the next secret to getting 6 pack abs. Some of these so called 'secrets' have some degree of accuracy, while others, not so much. Deciphering which are the best methods to getting 6 pack abs is going to be critical to your having success with this goal. The biggest area you need to focus on when trying to obtain 6 pack abs is going to be on your diet. Like it or not, the old saying that 'abs are made in the kitchen', is probably one of the most truthful statements in the fitness industry. If your diet isn't in line, your stomach is going to show it. So, what should you be doing with your diet? First, ensure you are getting enough protein. Not only is protein going to form the key building blocks you need to build muscle tissue, but it's also going to provide you with a better feeling of fullness than eating just carbohydrates alone would for example. Protein is more "expensive" than any other macronutrient meaning that your body will burn more calories breaking down protein compared to carbs and fats. Next, don't be afraid of dietary fat that comes from primarily monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats such as olive oils, fish oils, a mix of nuts, natural peanut butter and avocado. While it's true that eating fat will increase your calories fast, as long as you keep it between 20-30% it can be one of the best things to get 6 pack abs fast. The important point here is that dietary fat helps keep your insulin level stable, which, when high enough can actually cause fat gain itself. Furthermore, dietary fat will keep you feeling the fullest for the longest duration in time; longer than both protein or carbohydrates would. Interestingly, some diets high in fat can get you 6 pack abs fast because your body learn to metabolize fat for energy. So, while you do need to watch it, be sure you are getting some in your diet. Finally, when it comes to carbohydrate intake and getting 6 pack abs, you want to focus most of your carbohydrate intake around the post workout period. Why? The biggest reason for this is because this is when your body is going to need those carbohydrates the most and will really suck them up into the muscle tissue. When you eat them at this time, it is least likely that they will turn into body fat. Additionally, consuming carbohydrates during this period will also help to aid with muscle recovery and repair, so that means less down time from the gym for you. If getting 6 pack abs fast is your goal than each meal you should consist of 1-2 cups of raw vegetables to control insulin levels, improve absorption of your protein and flood your body with vitamins, minerals, fiber and antioxidants. So, if you are aiming to get 6 pack abs in the coming months, have a good hard look at your diet. That is the big secret that must not be overlooked if you are to succeed.

---------------------------------- About the Author: Vince DelMonte is the author of Your Six Pack Quest found at http://www.YourSixPackQuest.com He specializes in helping chubby guys and gals get six pack abs without gimmicks, supplements or dieting.

Myth Busters: Light Weight/High-Reps to Burn Fat.. or not!

Myth: High-reps and light weight to burn fat and get toned.  Heavy weight and low reps to get "bulky."

At some point during our lives, most of us had heard that very myth.  Even the most novice of trainers knows that burning fat requires the use of high-reps and light weight, you know, to "go for tone, not bulk."

I remember when I first started training.  Everything that I'd read or hear was about doing high-rep work to lose weight and get lean and using heavier weight to build muscle.  I guess I can understand where people are coming.  High-reps put your body under tension for a longer period and they cause a lot of lactic acid accumulation (known to be a potent fat-burner).  

5lbs of muscle vs. 5lbs of fat

But, what if this weren't necessarily true?  

Busted: http://www.ergo-log.com/epocafterheavyweights.html

Check out this study I found on weight-training and post-exercise fat-burning.  While there is still more research that needs to be done, the findings might surprise you!

By the way, I believe that the best way to see if something works is NOT to read about it in some study, but to try it out on yourself in a smart way.  

http://www.ergo-log.com/epocafterheavyweights.html

Thoughts?

Tony

Intermittent Fasting- What have you got to lose?

A quick message from Tony: ****Hey, Meatheads! So not too long ago I did an interview with an Intermittent Fasting expert named Martin Berkhan. It had a ton of awesome information in it regarding the woes of frequent eating and why it's so much more beneficial and conducive to long-term success. His clients have had great success with it. I'm going to post that interview within the next day or so, but as I was doing some more research I came across another article on Intermittent Fasting. I asked Brad, the author, if I could repost it here so you guys could take a look at it.

Leave a comment below with your email address and let me know what you think. Bogus? Intriguing? Let's hear it! I'll also send you a copy of his Ebook The Dirty Dozen: The 12 Most Excessive Compulsive Eating Habits and How to Break Them.****

Intermittent Fasting- What Have You Got To Lose?

By Brad Pilon, MS

www.eatstopeat.com

So just what is intermittent fasting and why should you care? Intermittent fasting has become quietly popular in circles where people are striving to come up with ways to reduce caloric intake without harming their workout goals and still allow them to lose weight while strength training.

Intermittent fasting in a nutshell is the practice of short-term fasts, 24 hours in length, once or twice per week. There are variations on that theme, but in general that is the norm. This is done not so much to “cleanse the system” as many would have you believe, though it will to a degree. It's merely a simple and fast way of decreasing caloric intake so you can achieve your weight loss goals without starvation plans or other fad diets. You don't have to be overly concerned about the types of food you consume while you're not fasting, although it should be noted that fasting once or twice per week won't really help you reach your goals if you spend the other five or six days stuffing yourself with all manner of junk. A little common sense is called for.

By allowing a sensible freedom in your food choices, it relieves a great deal of the anxiety present when it comes to most diets. Many times we feel totally constrained and restricted, while this approach leaves us able to not only choose what we'd like to consume, but brings balance and sanity back into our diets. Intermittent fasting as a lifestyle will bring about changes that will last a lifetime. Start by taking it slow at first, and really learn to listen to what your body is trying to tell you as you go through your first few weeks of this. If you find yourself feeling lethargic or underfed, change it up a bit. Your body will tell you what it needs. (And that usually isn't a monster double cheeseburger!) Many times, especially at first, your body will be going through some withdrawals, and it's important to learn how to differentiate the signals. Also, you need to factor in what effect any workout routines you may be involved in will have on your intermittent fasting plans.

The most important thing to remember about intermittent fasting is that it is not merely a diet plan, but a lifestyle, worthy of consideration along those lines. In order to get the best results possible from this type of plan, you need to befriend it. Your fasting should be something that you look forward to, as you most certainly will after you start reaping some of the benefits of this intermittent fasting lifestyle. Making this type of plan fit into your life is key to making a lifetime of good eating and healthy living possible. There are a lot of inherent freedoms built into a diet plan like this, and while that can backfire on you if you're not careful, it can also enable lasting success. Look into what intermittent fasting can do for you!

****
Brad Pilon is a nutrition professional with over eight years experience working in the nutritional supplement industry specializing in clinical research management and new product development. Brad has completed graduate studies in nutritional sciences specializing in the use of short term fasting for weight loss.

His trademarked book Eat Stop Eat has been featured on national television and helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat without sacrificing the foods they love. For more information on Eat Stop Eat, visit www.eatstopeat.com

Related keywords: Quick weight loss, short term fasts, weight loss, fat loss, burn fat, eating to lose weight

The Top 55 Lean-Body Whole-Foods to Build Muscle and Lose Body Fat (guest post)

Hey, Meatheads! Here's a guest post by Mike Geary, founder of TruthAboutSixPackAbs fitness site. This dude, knows a thing or two about lean eating and getting ripped!
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by Michael Geary - Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

In most of my Lean-Body Secrets Newsletters, I like to provide a healthy snack or meal recipe that not only is delicious and healthy, but also helps to get you closer to that hard-body appearance that everyone is looking for, while also more importantly, improving your health for life. In this article, I'd like to give you healthy food ideas in a different way. This time, I figured I'd just give you some ideas of what I stock my fridge and cabinets with.

Remember, if you don't have junk around the house, you're less likely to eat junk. If all you have is healthy food around the house, you're forced to make smart choices. Basically, it all starts with making smart choices and avoiding temptations when you make your grocery store trip. Now these are just some of my personal preferences, but perhaps they will give you some good ideas that you'll enjoy.

Alright, so let's start with the fridge. Each week, I try to make sure I'm loaded up with lots of varieties of fresh vegetables. During the growing season, I only get local produce, but obviously in winter, I have to resort to the produce at the grocery store. Most of the time, I make sure I have plenty of vegetables like onions, zucchini, spinach, fresh mushrooms, red peppers, broccoli, etc. to use in my morning eggs. I also like to dice up some lean chicken or turkey sausage into the eggs, along with some swiss, jack, or goat cheeses (preferably raw grass-fed cheeses when I can find them).

By the way I'm talking about whole eggs, NOT egg whites. Always remember that the yolk is the most nutritious and nutrient dense part of the egg, so only eating egg whites is like throwing away the best part... and no, it's NOT bad for you because of the cholesterol... eggs actually raise your GOOD cholesterol. Try to get free range organic eggs for the best quality. Here's an entire article I did on the topic of whole eggs vs egg whites.

Coconut milk is another staple in my fridge. I like to use it to mix in with smoothies, oatmeal, or yogurt for a rich, creamy taste. Not only does coconut milk add a rich, creamy taste to lots of dishes, but it's also full of healthy saturated fats. Yeah, you heard me...I said healthy saturated fats! Healthy saturated fats like medium chain triglycerides, specifically an MCT called lauric acid. If the idea of healthy saturated fats is foreign to you, check out my healthy fats article

Back to the fridge, some other staples:

• Chopped walnuts, pecans, almonds - delicious and great sources of healthy fats.
• Cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, and yogurt - I like to mix cottage or ricotta cheese and yogurt together with chopped nuts and berries for a great mid-morning or mid-afternoon meal.
• Whole flax seeds or chia seeds - I grind these in a mini coffee grinder and add to yogurt or salads. Always grind them fresh because the omega-3 polyunsaturated fats are highly unstable and prone to oxidation, creating high levels of free radicals in pre-ground flax.
• Whole eggs - one of natures richest sources of nutrients (and remember, they increase your GOOD cholesterol so stop fearing them).
• Salsa - I try to get creative and try some of the exotic varieties of salsas.
• Avocados - love them...plus a great source of healthy fats, fiber, and other nutrients. Try adding them to wraps, salads, or sandwiches.
• Butter - don't believe the naysayers; butter adds great flavor to anything and can be part of a healthy diet (just keep the quantity small because it is calorie dense...and NEVER use margarine, unless you want to assure yourself a heart attack).
• Nut butters - Plain old peanut butter has gotten a little old for me, so I get creative and mix together almond butter with sesame seed butter, or even cashew butter with macadamia butter...delicious and unbeatable nutrition!
• Leaf lettuce and spinach along with shredded carrots - for salads with dinner.
• Home-made salad dressing - using balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and Udo's Choice oil blend. This is much better than store bought salad dressing which mostly use highly refined soybean oil (full of inflammation-causing free radicals).
• Whole grain wraps and whole grain bread (look for wraps and bread with at least 3-4 grams of fiber per 20 grams of total carbs).
• Rice bran and wheat germ - these may sound way too healthy for some, but they actually add a nice little nutty, crunchy taste to yogurt or smoothies, or can be added when baking muffins or breads to add nutrients and fiber.

Some of the staples in the freezer:

• Frozen berries - during the local growing season, I only get fresh berries, but during the other 10 months of the year, I always keep a supply of frozen blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, cherries, etc. to add to high fiber cereal, oatmeal, cottage cheese, yogurt, or smoothies
• Frozen fish - I like to try a couple different kinds of fish each week. There are so many varieties out there, you never have to get bored.
• Frozen chicken breasts - very convenient for a quick addition to wraps or chicken sandwiches for quick meals.
• Grass-fed steaks, burgers, and ground beef - Grassfed meats have been shown to have as high as, or even higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids than salmon (without the mercury). Also, grass-fed meats have much higher levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) compared to typical grain-fed beef. I recently found an excellent on-line store where I buy all of my grass-fed meats now (they even deliver right to your door in a sealed cooler) - www.healthygrassfed.com
• Frozen buffalo, ostrich, venison, and other "exotic" lean meats - Yeah, I know...I'm weird, but I can tell you that these are some of the healthiest meats around, and if you're serious about a lean healthy body, these types of meats are much better for you than the mass produced, hormone-pumped beef and pork that's sold at most grocery stores.
• Frozen veggies - again, when the growing season is over and I can no longer get local fresh produce, frozen veggies are the best option, since they often have higher nutrient contents compared to the fresh produce that has been shipped thousands of miles, sitting around for weeks before making it to your dinner table.

Alright, now the staples in my cabinets:

• Various antioxidant rich teas - green, oolong, white, rooibos are some of the best.
• Whole wheat or whole grain spelt pasta - much higher fiber than normal pastas
• Oat bran and steel cut oats - higher fiber than those little packs of instant oats.
• Cans of coconut milk - to be transferred to a container in the fridge after opening.
• Brown rice and other higher fiber rice - NEVER white rice
• Tomato sauces - delicious, and as I'm sure you've heard a million times, they are a great source of lycopene. Just watch out for the brands that are loaded with nasty high fructose corn syrup.
• Stevia - a natural non-caloric sweetener, which is an excellent alternative to the nasty chemical-laden artificial sweeteners like aspartame, saccharine, and sucralose.
• Raw honey - better than processed honey... higher quantities of beneficial nutrients and enzymes. Honey has even been proven in studies to improve glucose metabolism (how you process carbs). I use a teaspoon or so every morning in my teas. Yes, it is pure sugar, but at least it has some nutritional benefits... and let's be real, a teaspoon of healthier raw honey is only 5 grams of carbs... certainly nothing to worry about.
• Organic maple syrup - none of that high fructose corn syrup Aunt Jemima crap...only real maple syrup can be considered real food. The only time I really use this (because of the high sugar load) is added to my post-workout smoothies to sweeten things up and also elicit an insulin surge to push nutrients into your muscles.
• Organic unsweetened cocoa powder - I like to mix this into my smoothies for an extra jolt of antioxidants or make my own low-sugar hot cocoa by mixing cocoa powder into hot milk with stevia and a couple melted dark chocolate chunks.
• Cans of black or kidney beans - I like to add a couple scoops to my Mexican wraps for the fiber and high nutrition content. Also, beans are surprisingly one of the best sources of youth promoting antioxidants!
• Dark chocolate (as dark as possible) - This is one of my treats that satisfies my sweet tooth, plus provides loads of antioxidants at the same time. It's still calorie dense, so I keep it to just a couple squares; but that is enough to do the trick, so I don't feel like I need to go out and get cake and ice cream to satisfy my dessert urges.

Lastly, another thing that's hard to go wrong with is a good variety of fresh fruits and berries. The staples such as bananas, apples, oranges, pears, peaches are good, but I like to also be a little more adventurous and include things like yellow (aka - mexican or champagne) mangoes, pomegranates, kumquats, papaya, star fruit, pineapples, and others. Also, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and cherries are some of the most nutrient and antioxidant-dense fruits you can eat.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this special look into my favorite lean body meals and how I stock my cabinets and fridge. Your tastes are probably quite different than mine, but hopefully this gave you some good ideas you can use next time you're at the grocery store looking to stock up a healthy and delicious pile of groceries.

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If you're interested in some more classic info from Mike, go to Mike's Truth about Six Pack Abs site today and discover the exact system that Mike is using to help thousands of his clients from all over the world get leaner than they've ever been before. This system will help you to lose that stubborn stomach fat that has plagued you for years, so you can finally get that sexy six pack that you've always wanted. Here's the site:

Leave a comment below! Share some of YOUR favorite healthy foods and your email and I'll hook you up with Mike's FREE Ebook, Training and Nutrition: Insider Secrets to a Lean Body!

Burn Fat Before Bed! (recipe inside)

Joe Schmoe has had enough. He's finally decided that he wants to lose weight and get in shape. He's gone out and bought a brand new pair of workout shoes, some workout clothes, a membership for a very upscale gym, and is going to start eating healthier.

That's great!

When I ask Joe about his diet he responds with this:

"I want to lose weight so I don't eat after 7pm. If I keep 7pm as my food cut-off then my body won't store the food I eat as bodyfat."

Here is my problem with this- if you go without nutrients, more specifically PROTEIN, for too long then your body enters what is known as a catabolic environment.

What does this mean?

You body will eat away at it's muscle tissue.

BIG PROBLEM.

Muscle is one of the primary "metabolic furnaces" in your body. Without it, you'll suffer from Old-Man Syndrome. This is where you're thin, but are very soft, frail, weak, lethargic, etc.

Bottom line: You need to get some protein into your system about an hour or so before bed. You won't gain fat. It'll actually be the opposite! However, it's very important that you choose the right foods.

A late-night bowl of cereal is NOT the right food. Cookies and milk? Sorry, bub. Ain't gonna happen.

It's got to have a hefty amount of protein, a small amount of fat, and a small amount of calories. You'll retain and even build muscle while you sleep, causing you to actually burn fat while you do absolutely nothing.

Pretty cool, huh?

Here's MY favorite pre-bed meal. It provides you with high-quality protein to help keep your metabolism revving throughout the night and some essential fatty acids (EFA) and fish oil, which are scientifically proven to not only burn fat, but support heart health, balance blood sugar, reduce inflammation, and allow you to properly heal and recover while you sleep:

Metabolic Sleep Food:
1/2c Low Fat Cottage Cheese
1/2 scoop protein (I prefer ProGrade Protein)
2 teaspoons of Almond/Peanut Butter
1 fish oil capsule

Nutrition Information (estimation)
Calories: 250 cal
Fat: 8g
Carbs: 5g
Fiber: 4g
Protein: 27g

Sleep tight, Buff Guy!