About Six-Pack Abs ...

If you ask 10 people why they work their abs, 9 out of 10 will say, “to have a six-pack.” Not sure how many would say, “strong core … I really don’t care about my fat belly.” You can have both if you’ll have a little patience … and the right plan.

Below is an excerpt from an email I received this morning:

Dear Jeff,

Can you imagine losing up to 12 pounds of fat in just a couple of weeks? Dropping up to 20 pounds in 6 weeks?

I’ve seen it over and over again as editor of ^&%$^ and author of &&^%$%&*.   And what’s better, these guys are not just losing weight; they’re gaining pounds of new muscle and carving out six-pack abs!

As this new edition of my best-selling diet comes off the press, I’ve learned that guys who follow it are getting secret benefits that are so valuable, many men would spend tens of thousands of dollars for them!

If you like meatball hoagies, Tex-Mex, and smoothies, the ___ diet will be a picnic!

The Six-Pack Made Simple!

No calorie counting!
No carb or fat counting!
No “phases” or “points”!
No weird foods or costly supplements!
Low maintenance — perfect for the active, busy guy!

This guy can write; he hooked me and got me to read the whole email. He’ll probably sell 1000s of copies of the new book. But what about the rest of us who kinda believe what we read — how do we decipher fact from fiction?

Much of what’s out there online and in the book stores have some golden nuggets, but do you want to pay $25.00 for a few nuggets?  I don’t.  Bellow is a summary of what you can do right now, or at least a path you can take to educate yourself a little better.

Problem:

Too many (pseudo) experts — and many of which contradict each other.  They’re telling us to do run short distances really hard. Do long distance cardio because you’re in the “fat-burning” zone. Do multiple sets of crunches from multiple angles. Don’t crunch you’ll wear your discs out.  Suck you belly button in when you work your abs.  Don’t suck your belly button in, brace.

Eat this, don’t eat that. Why? Eat a lot of protein (what’s a lot?). Be a vegan, you’ll live longer. Really? Don’t eat past 7:00 p.m. ‘cause your metabolism slows down…slow down after 7:00? Eat a balanced diet … what does balanced mean?

Solution:

Eat clean. Watch this video of Loren Cordain, Ph.D.  I’m not a doc, nor a nutritional biochemist, but many of my friends are which has given me a brilliant sounding board of reason.

Is the Paleo diet the way to eat to ensure a disease free life?  No guarantees, but the science is there. I can tell you that it helped me, and many people I know. My mom is a fan of Dr. McDougall. Do some digging, see what works and please let us know what conclusions you’ve come to.

Training the Core:

1. There is no “magic” bullet.
2. The core is much more than the abdominal wall. The core encompasses the entire torso of the body.
3. The core functions to hold the body upright, balance the body, help correct posture,  helps transfers energy from the lower body to the upper body and vice versa.
4. The core is about transferring energy, not simply generating energy; it’s about maintaining your posture and balance while you’re executing movement
5. Mistakes:

• isolating muscles (crunches), need to train movements (lifts, chops). Push-ups and dead lifts are also great movements for working the core.
• thinking stability and strength…is the same thing.  A Swiss ball crunch is NOT a stability movement, its strength.

It will be rare that we tell you that this is “THE” way  to do something. Instead, we’ll lay out what has worked for us (us being clients of Fit2Play and other sports scientists) and give you enough information or at least a push in the right direction.

What to do Next:

Stability comes first which is the ability to resist motion, where strength is the ability to create motion through tension of force. If you want to improve stability, don’t move (think planks). If you want to improve strength, move (curl-up, sit-ups).

I know you’d like to see a “secret vault” of ab exercises that will shred your mid-section, but it’s not gonna happen. You need to get lean by eating clean and work your core with a mix of stability and strength exercises.

So what about that book in the email?  Might have to get it…its gonna tell me how to burn off fat with a “Metabolic Firestorm.”

Have a Great Week!

JT