The truth about abs is that we’ve all got them. Most of us can’t see them but we’ve all got them. When most are talking about a six pack, they’re talking about the Rectus Abdominis. There are several other muscles involved, but they are not in the scope of this article. Many feel that doing enough crunches and crunching exercises will make their abs magically pop out. While crunch-type exercises will help develop your abs, they are not all you need. I recommend a combination of three elements to achieving a visible six pack: Diet, HIIT, and a workout routine designed around fat burning exercises.

The Six Pack Diet: The first truth about abs is that seeing them requires you to eat a healthy diet. If you can’t see your abs, they are likely covered with body fat. We store body fat when we eat more calories than we burn. It’s really that simple. Most of us eat more than we need. How much you need is not as simple as you might think. I recommend a simple formula:

LM / 2.2 * 22 – 500 = starting daily calories for weight loss (2 lbs per week).

That means: Lean Mass divided by 2.2 multiplied times 22 minus 500.

Do you still want to se your six pack? Diet is your first priority. Use the above mentioned formula and divide those calories between 6 meals. The Six Pack Diet is the title for another article.

Fat Burning Exercises: The second truth about abs is that seeing them requires you to burn more calories than you eat. Do that and your body will burn fat! Exercise of enough intensity will keep your heart rate elevated for up to 48 hours. HIIT is the king of the fat burning genre. It takes only 20 minutes and will help your body burn more calories for the next two days than anything else I have found. You should do HIIT three times per week. You should also schedule three days per week of high intensity weight training. You should design your program around the three best fat burning exercises: Squats, Dead-Lifts, and Bench Press. These three power-lifting exercises blended into your three weight training workouts will help burn more calories, build more lean mass, and make you look GREAT!

Eat fewer calories while burning more calories and you’ll get leaner. Once you’re lean enough, you know the truth about abs!

High Intensity Interval Training
The Secret Weapon for Ripped Abs

There are literally millions of Internet searches per day related to ripped abs. Marketing gurus have assaulted us with ad after ad showing people with a perfectly sculpted mid-section enjoying unbelievably successful lives. Promises of visible “abs” with only ten minutes per day of exercise fill the informercial space. People, somehow though, are still struggling to see the ends of their toes when they look down. There is a way of getting ripped to the bone. It doesn’t require ANY special equipment, although a stop watch is nice. It doesn’t require you to attach electrical devices to your abdominal area.. It doesn’t even require you to step into a gym, although, you will look better, and do this faster if you do. Most of all, it doesn’t require you to buy anything from me! I’m just going to share this with you. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is the most effective weapon available for your fat burning arsenal. When done correctly, HIIT will trim your mid section and rip your abs faster than any abdominal machine on the market today, any diet pill, or any other dietary supplement. What do I mean by “done correctly?” There are four elements to the proper execution of an HIIT workout:

• What HIIT is
• Intensity Rating
• Duration
• Frequency

To many, Six Pack Abs are the ultimate symbol of fitness. Your abs start to show when you’ve lost enough body fat for the separations to show through. For a man, that’s about 10% body fat, for a female, it’s about 15%. At these percentages, you should be able to see your FLEXED abs under the fat. Everyone’s different, so if you’re at 10% and they’re not showing, don’t worry. Abdominal exercises, such as crunches, don’t burn a lot of calories, so they’re not much help in getting rid of the fat that’s hiding those illusive muscles of the mid section. Enter our secret weapon.

HIIT is a very simple exercise routine to follow. You jog at a very slow and comfortable pace for an interval, then run all out, as hard as you can possibly push for an interval. Use the following example:

0:00-2:00 minutes: Easy jog
2:00-2:30 RUN HARD!
2:30-4:30inutes: Easy jog
4:30-5:00 RUN HARD!
5:00-7:00 minutes: Easy jog
7:00-7:30 RUN HARD!
7:30-8:00 minutes: Easy jog
8:00-8:30 RUN HARD!
8:30-9:00 minutes: Easy jog
9:00-9:30 RUN HARD!
You continue the above pattern for 20 minutes.

I mentioned earlier that this workout is simple. That doesn’t mean it’s easy. In fact, if you find it easy, you’re not doing it correctly. The high intensity portions of my HIIT sessions are intense enough o give me a metallic taste of ketones in my mouth. I don’t recommend you use this as your measurement of intensity, but it shows how intense this can be. Your low intensity intervals will be easy enough to carry on a “breathy” conversation. The high intensity portion are as high as you can possibly push, then add a notch! You need to push as hard as you would if you were running for your life. In fact, if you do this workout with enough intensity, you will be completely wiped out after 20 minutes.

Your intensity will determine the duration of HIIT. The maximum time you should spend is 20 minutes. You should not be able to do any more than that. If you can do longer than 20 minutes, you quite honestly did not push hard enough. At the end you should be absolutely spent.

These patterns of intensity and the duration cause your body to burn more calories for the next 24-48 hours. That’s the beauty of HIIT. You may only burn 400 calories during the 20 minutes, but you’ll continue to burn at an increased rate for the next day or so.

Any high intensity workout requires a recovery period. You can repeat this workout three times per week. Anything more than that will cause you to become over-trained and stifle your fat loss.

If you do nothing more than HIIT, you will burn plenty of fat. It should, however, be integrated into a complete fitness program.
You can find Tim at The Fitness Review Blog.

For more information, please contact: No Nonsense Fitness