So you want to know how to know get a six pack fast. Are you ready to do what it takes?

Do you have what it takes? Believe it or not, you can get a flat sexy stomach in a matter of weeks instead of months. Read on…

What you may not realize is, seeing ripped abs in a short amount of time will have less to do with your ab workout and more to do with what and when you eat, drink, the intensity levels of your workouts, and the rest required for you body to get stronger.

You need to lose the fat around your midsection to show off your hard work. Guys will need to lose the love handles. To shed these pounds it is important to turbo charge your metabolism. Here’s how to do it in simple steps:

• Eat 5 to 6 portioned sized meals per day – One serving of lean protein and carbs per meal. Add veggies to two or more meals per day.
• Don’t drink your calories! The only thing you are going to drink is water – a lot of water. A good rule of thumb is to drink 1/2 to 2/3 ounce per pound of body weight. (If you weigh 160 pounds you would need to drink between 80 and 108 ounces per day.)
• Don’t eat 3 to 4 hours before your workout. It’s best to workout first thing in the morning. DO NOT EAT FIRST! Wait for an hour after you exercise to eat. You will burn up to 300% more calories this way.

Your workout routine is going to look like this:

• Monday – Chest, back, shoulders, triceps, biceps
• Tuesday – 30 to 40 minutes cardio (70% of maximum heart rate. 220 – Your Age x .7 = MHR)
• Wednesday – Abs, hamstrings, quads, calves
• Thursday – 20 to 30 minutes cardio (80% of MHR)
• Friday – Chest, back, shoulders, triceps, biceps
• Saturday – 30 to 40 minutes cardio (70% of MHR)

The next week, replace Monday and Friday’s routines with Wednesday’s. Flip Tuesday and Saturday’s cardio with Thursday’s exercise. Keep alternating from week to week.

For your ab workout, try a lot of stability ball exercises. Any weight you would lift on a bench use the ball instead. This will make your abs work hard, too. The plank is a great exercise. Sit ups may be the least effective, but anytime you engage your abs is going to get you closer to your goal.

If you miss a day, don’t worry about it. Just make sure you get right back on track. You will see excellent results if you are averaging 11 sessions every two weeks. (You asked how to get a six pack fast. I didn’t say it was going to be easy.)

Now for intensity. Your weight training days should make you feel like you absolutely could not lift another dumbbell if you tried when it’s time to hit the showers. Shoot for 4 to 6 sets for each muscle group. Your first set should be a warm up. Second set should be a little harder. The following sets should get progressively harder until the last set where you should feel like the last rep is too hard to do. Don’t leave anything on the table. Don’t cheat yourself. Bodybuilding will burn more calories than cardio exercises.

Your cardio workouts should be similar. Warm up. Vary intensity. Think of intensity in levels of 1 to 10. Start out on a 5. Then 6, 7, 8, 9, 6, 7, 8, 9, etc. Divide this up for the time you have. Just before the end of your routine, hit a level 10. You should feel like your legs couldn’t move faster. Cool down.

You need to be sleeping a minimum of 7.5 hours per night. Eight is better. This is when your body repairs itself. A sleep deficit will short circuit your progress. This is just as important as your eating plan and exercise routine.

So if you want to know how to get a six pack fast, what is written here will get you well on your way. There are many programs you can find on the net that have bad info. I have tried many of them. If you are looking for additional info, you can read my review of two of the internet’s top ab workout programs HERE. I use both of them and highly recommend them. There is a no risk, 100 percent Money Back Guarantee, too. Go check it out now.

To your Health and Success!

David

You are crushing your ab workout. You’re eating right. In fact, you are doing everything right, but you aren’t seeing the results you should.

What’s going on? It used to be a lot easier than it is right now. Instead of trying to blame the unknown on Father Time, you take an inventory of your schedule. Aha! That’s it!

You’re putting in longer hours at work to get the promotion you’ve been gunning for. Your kids got accepted to play for the elite soccer team. Hurray! But you’ve been driving them all over the state. On and on and on. You have stretched yourself so thin that you’ve cut into your sleep.

Sleep. We all need it. It’s one thing some of us start shaving off to get more done. Doing this is counterproductive and has potentially long term negative affects.

Here are some of the things that have been linked to not getting enough sleep:

• Higher risk of automobile accidents (Duh!)
• Obesity due to an increase in appetite cause by sleep deprivation
• Higher risk of heart problems and diabetes
• May increase risk of depression
• etc…

But here’s another: You body does much of the healing to repair the damage you do to it every day while you sleep. When you are getting enough sleep, your body has less time to heal itself and you find very quickly a downward spiral that isn’t easy to recover from quickly.

Keep in mind the idea of resistance training is to break down muscle tissue. The magic happens when it is repaired. You need the sleep to facilitate this process.

So how much is enough? That really depends on you, but most experts agree that 7.5 to 8 hours is the norm. I know some people that claim they can function on 5 hours of sleep per night. I have spend many days with them and can tell you if it weren’t for gallons of Starbucks lattes they wouldn’t be able to function.

And that’s another thing… If you find you need some substance to wake up or stay awake, you need more sleep. I don’t drink coffee so I’m not very sympathetic, I admit. But when I don’t get enough sleep I am very motivated not to repeat a short night’s sleep any time soon.

Some people have a hard time getting to sleep at night and create their sleep deficit because they lay awake in bed. Here are some tips for you to get to sleep when it’s bed time:

• No caffeine 6 hours before bed time. (Very often this will end Restless Leg Syndrome)
• Don’t eat for 4 hours before bed time.
• Stop drinking water at least 30 mins. before bedtime to avoid interrupted sleep.
• Don’t workout before bedtime. Your metabolism is raging.
• No video games, loud music, or exciting t.v. before bed.

If you are still having problems, try Melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone your body produces that makes you want to sleep. The older we get, the less our bodies produce. You can purchase Melatonin at most supplement stores.

You may also want to see your doctor or naturopath if the problem persists. Don’t get caught in the medication trap. Taking meds to make you sleep is a slippery slope (can anyone say HIGHLY ADDICTING?!) that can catch up and cause other problems. It’s best not to start down that path unless your doctor has eliminated all other alternatives.

It’s a good idea to plan ahead and schedule bed time and make that time sacred. If you aren’t getting enough sleep, you aren’t at your best and everything else falls apart – the very least of which is your ab workout!

To you Health and Success!

David

The reasons diets don’t work are many. You may starve your body of essential nutrients you need.

People on low carb, high protein diets often lack energy and eventually may do damage to their internal organs. Extreme low fat or no fat diets may make it hard for brain function, among other things. It is imperative to give your body the essential nutrients it needs to sculpt the physique you want.

Let’s just assume that you are eating healthy and getting a good balance of high quality protein, carbs, and fat. You are eating properly portioned sized meals and healthy snacks throughout the day. And just like everyone who’s ever been on a diet experiences, you start to crave pizza, bread, ice cream, beer, chocolate cake, etc. Does it mean you can never eat this stuff again? Absolutely not. As a matter of fact, it is a good idea to splurge and over eat ONE day a week! Eat whatever you want and however much you want.

Over eating one day a week has TWO main benefits: one is biological and the other is psychological.

The biological benefit is your body tends to store what it rarely sees or does not get enough of. If you don’t drink enough water, you will retain it like a camel. When you start drinking the amount of water your body needs, you will find yourself making frequent trips to the restroom at first as your body is flushing out the fluid it has retained.

When you are trying to lose weight, you are more than likely running on a calorie deficit – either by eating less or burning calories through working out. (Still with me? Your goal is to burn more calories than consumed.) Once a week when you over indulge, your body realizes that you aren’t trying to kill it and has no problem not storing the excess. ** Note ** You can over do this. Don’t over eat to the point that you feel like you are going to explode. I have learned from experience this doesn’t work.

The psychological benefit is it helps you stay the course. At the beginning of an effective workout and eating program you may become overwhelmed or frustrated. You may begin to miss some of your favorite foods or drink. This can make it very hard to keep going.

Having one day a week to look forward to eating whatever you want will give you the mental boost and determination you need to make it. Even when you are feeling better by feeding yourself the right nutrients, you will look forward to this day.

Now… Having said all this, you may eventually come to the point that you don’t miss the other things that used to make your belly happy. You get to really enjoy how eating healthy makes you feel. You find recipes that taste great, and all the ingredients are very good for you. I never thought I would really like cottage cheese. Now there are times when I crave it like I used to crave hamburgers.

In all of this, make sure you listen to your body. If you eat something that makes you feel not too great afterward, stop eating it. If you realize you ate too much, eat a little less next time. Your body won’t lie to you. It will tell you what it needs if you listen.

Plan one day each week to over eat. If you have a day where you got off track in your eating plan, use that as your over indulge day and skip the day you planned. If you do fail during the week, give yourself the grace you deserve and move on and don’t beat yourself up about it. Don’t let it become a habit, but let the past be the past.

Six days a week be sensible. One day a week go crazy!

To your Health and Success!

David

Ok.  So if there was a simple way you could triple the amount of calories you burned per workout, would you do it? 

How about if there was something you could do in your routine that diminished your results, would you avoid it?

As stated in an earlier post, burning calories is burning calories and it is much better to move than not.  But what if you could do something really simple and burn not just a little, but A LOT more calories?  You’d be foolish not to. 

The easiest thing to do to possibly triple the amount of calories you burn per workout is to train on an empty stomach and wait an hour after your exercise to eat.  If possible, the first thing in the morning.  The reason for this is when you work out on an empty stomach, your body is forced to burn stored energy – up to three times the calories as if you had food in your stomach.  If doing it first thing in the morning, wait to do your cardio four hours after you’ve eaten last.  Let’s look at the numbers:

You work out on a Precor Elliptical trainer for 35 minutes.  (This is my machine of choice, but there are many great machines like it.)  You tprogram in the “Options” button your weight and age.  The machine is able to adjust to tell you how many calories you burn during the time spent on it.  I typically burn an average of 350 calories.  But because I workout on an empty stomach, my body is forced burn the fat stores.  If I end up tripling my burned calories, that will be 1050 cals! 

Here’s where the numbers get really exciting.  It takes approximately 3500 calories to burn one pound of fat.  It will take only about 3 elliptical sessions to burn one pound of fat doing this method.  If I were to do it with food in my stomach, it would take about 10 trips to the gym to have the same effect.  That’s HUGE!  In the same amount of time, I have burned 3 pounds to 1.

At first, this may be very difficult.  Your body may not like your choice of working out without anything in your belly.  You will get over this quickly.  Make sure to drink water before and after.  Remember to wait an hour after to eat.

Now, what could you do that would dimish your returns?  Establish a predictable routine.  Let me explain…

Going back to the Precor machine.  If you have never used it before, the first few times or even first few weeks it will seem very hard.  Over time it will get easier and easier.  You will notice that your average heart rate for the 35 minutes will decrease.  Your body gets used to it and doesn’t have to work as hard.  You develop musculature around that exercise. 

The key is to change up your routine.  Vary your excerises.  Elliptical one day.  Bicycle the next.  Then treadmill.  Back to bicycle, etc.  The idea is to shock your body.  Your mind knows what is going on, but your body doesn’t.  You will naturally get better at each, but you want to keep your body as off balance as possible.  If you’re like me and you can’t do jarring exercises like stairs, treadmill, and so on; it does get tricky.  But you can keep you workout varied enough to avoid reaching the point of diminishing returns.

When we were young, we didn’t have to be too smart in how we devised our routine.  We could lose weight thinking about exercise.  The older you get, the smarter you need to be to get the results to lose your love handles and show off your flat stomach.

To your Health and Success!

David

If you can see your six pack abs or flat stomach in the mirror, chances are really great you are not overweight.  But how do you know for sure?

Take the jiggle test.  What’s the jiggle test?  I’m glad you asked…

Take into account that guys and gals both have parts of their anatomy that will bounce no matter what.  With this in mind, go into a room with a mirror.  Shut the door.  Take off your clothes and jump up and down in front of the mirror.  If something jiggles other than the parts that make you a man or woman – you are overweight and you need to lose weight.

Why is this important other than we want to lose our love handles and show off our abs?  Fat cells are storehouses of inflammation.  Inflammation can do all sorts of damage on your body and will cause you to age at a faster rate.  Here are some things that inflammation can cause:

• weakened immune system
• high cholesterol
• diabetes
• rheumatoid arthritis
• Alzheimer’s disease
• cancer
• arteriosclerosis – narrowing of the arteries by plaque build up
• gall bladder disease
• etc…

Fat also stores toxins.  One of these toxins in particular is mercury.  Mercury is one of the most toxic substances know to man.  If you have silver amalgam fillings or have have had vaccinations, there is a good chance that you have mercury stored in your fat cells.

If you are in the process of losing weight, you will want to beware of the release of these toxins into your system caused by weight loss.  It is important to drink ots of water.  Regular trips to a sauna and even massage therapy can help in moving the toxins through your body.  See a naturopath for advice.  A few years ago when I started to shed pounds quickly, I was sick a lot.  Knowing what I know now helps me understand why this may have been – I have been heavily vaccinated and have many very old silver amalgam fillings.  Add to that the fact that eaten a lot of things I shouldn’t have over the years.  Smokers should be cautious, as well.

Are you beginning to see why excess fat is not only not attractive, but very unhealthy?

This is not to say that any fat is unhealthy.  In fact, it will be impossible to lose all of your body fat.  So much is acceptable?  For women, the essential percentage of body weight to fat is 10 – 12 %.  That means if you weigh 135 pounds, at least 13.5 pounds needs to be fat for you to be healthy.  To be able to show a flat, sexy stomach you will need to be somewhere between 14 – 20 percent.  For men, essential body fat percentage is between 2 – 4 %.  To show off your six pack abs you will need to be between 6 – 13 %.

Another interesting statistic is the average American gained approximately 1.5 pounds of fat per year between 1994 and 2002.  That’s a lot if you consider after 10 years will be almost 12 pounds heavier!

Being overweight is a heavy subject.  (Pun intended!)  To learn more about the damaging effects of being overweight, click on these links: Fight Aging!, USC Health Sciences, Freedomfly, and About.com.  It will be a real eyeopener if your eyes aren’t already wide open.

So do the jiggle test and lose what shouldn’t be bouncing.

To your Health and Success!

David

AbWorkout.Biz

If you’ve read much about ab workouts, or just plain getting in shape, you have probably seen a minor controversy that wages among the experts. 

“Does cardio really do much to help you lose weight?”  Some say yes, and some say there are much better ways of losing weight.  I think that, as in much of life, balance is the key.  A good cardio program is a great way to lose weight (and to even have a time to disconnect your mind and let your body take over for awhile).

Burning calories is burning calories.  There may be more efficient ways of doing it, but any time you are moving you are burning calories – heck, anytime you breathe you’re burning calories.  Any extra movement will burn calories and get you closer to your goal of showing off you flat stomach.

Maybe you haven’t had an exercise routine as a part of your life since you bought your first pair of Nikes and valour sweat suit (if you’re under 30, you’re not going to have these fond memories), but it’s never too late to start.

** Warning **  Talk to your doctor if it’s been a while since you’ve been working out.  Let him have a look at you to make sure the ticker is working ok and nothing is blocking anything that shouldn’t be blocked.  Serious things like heart attack or stroke can be avoided in most cases with a simple check up. 

It’s a great idea to have some kind of heart rate monitor.  You can purchase wrist watches that do the job well at a reasonable price.  Many exercise machines have built-in heart rate calculators that let you easily monitor you heart rate, too.

It is important to know your target heart rate for your age.  You will want to subtract your age from 220.  This gives you your maximum heart rate.  You will want to work out at around 65percent of your maximum heart rate for a low intensity workout, and all the way up to 80 percent of your max for a high intensity workout.  The math looks like this:

220 – Age = Y x .65 (or .8 for high intensity)

Just to plug real numbers in it, I’ll show you my equation.  (I’m 41 years old.)

220 – 41 = 179

179 x .65 = 116  Low intensity

179 x .8 = 143  High intensity

Whatever exercise(s) you chose, start out slow and focus on low intensity.  You’re not a teenager anymore.  (Unless you are, then nobody’s going to tell you anything.)  Walking is a fantastic cardio exercise for just starting out.  Try 10, 15, or 20 minutes at a pace that is comfortable.  After only a week, you will be able to extend the time 5 minutes or more.  Your goal is to exercise 30 – 40 minutes three times a week.  After you have increased time, you can gradually increase intensity.   I like to vary intensity.  Start out on low, go to moderate, and then to high.  I’ll repeat this cycle several times in my cardio workout.

Different exercises include:

•  jogging
• bicycling (outdoors and machine)
• jump rope
• treadmill
• elliptical exerciser (my favorite)
• stairs (real and machine)
• swimming
• rowing
• etc…

I have bad knees from sports injuries.  If you have problems with joints, try the exercises that are easier on your joints.  Jogging, stairs, and the treadmill may be too much.  Try the elliptical trainer.  It is very easy on your joints if you don’t overdo it.  But be warned…  You can overdo it.  I have had to put ice packs on my knees many times from forgetting that I’m NOT a teenager anymore! 

This advice will get you going in the right direction.  Remember, burning calories is important if we want to shed weight and show off our abs.  Get started today.

Next article…  Cardio for Flat Stomach – Tips and Tricks

To your Health and Success!

David

AbWorkout.Biz

The diet food industry could be putting flab on your six pack abs!  It doesn’t matter what ab workout routine you have, if you have flab or love handles, who is going to see a sexy flat stomach?!

If you have been watching your weight for any length of time, there is probably a great chance you have been eating or drinking something with an artificial sweetener.  The idea sounds great.  Take the sugar out and substitute it with a lower calorie sweetener.  Instead of drinking a full strength, old fashioned Coca Cola with 140 calories, you buy 12 packs of Diet Coke with less than a handful of calories.  What a great way to lose weight, right?  WRONG!

Aspartame – commonly known as Nutra Sweet, Equal, etc., does more harm than good.  It prevents your brain from sensing when you’ve eaten too much.  It actually makes you hungrier.  That’s why so many people can drink several cans of diet soda in one sitting.  Instead of helping you stick to a healthy eating regimine, it makes you crave junk and sugary sweets.

It is an incomplete amino acid and really messes with your digestive system.  It causes you to store more of the food you eat as fat as it is so hard to break down.

Some people are more sensitive to the immediate negative effects of artificial sweeteners, but some documented adverse reactions and side effects of aspartame are:

• headaches and/or migraines
• dizzyness
• irritability
• anxiety
• insomnia
• shortness of breathe
• nausea
• hives
• tinnitus – ringing in ears
• confustion
• memory loss
• epileptic seizures
• decreased tears
• gradual weight gain
• hyperactivity in children
• etc.

There are other adverse reactions that are really scary.  Do a Google search for “negative side effects of aspartame” and see for yourself.

Another really harmful thing that can happen to us when we ingest artificial sweeteners is it can cause a hypoactive thyroid.  When this happens, your metabolism slows down!  If we want to show off our six pack abs, we can’t afford to have a slowed metabolism.  We need every bullet in our weapon in our battle against the bulge.

If you have eaten or drank a lot of foods with aspartame as an ingredient, it may not be a bad idea to see a naturopath to see if you have an unhealthy build up of it in your system.  You may need to do a detox, among other things, to help your body rid itself of this harmful substance.

What you can do in the meantime is stop putting artificial sweeteners in your body.  Drink lots of water.  If you have access to a sauna, spend time trying to sweat it out.  Eat lots of raw foods.  And of course, EXERCISE!  This will help move it through your system more quickly.

The diet food industry is a multi billion dollar industry.  They are more concerned about returning profits to their shareholders and CEO bonuses than they than they are about your health.  They are not going to tell you their product is bad for you.  Check out these articles to find out more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspartame

http://www.mercola.com/article/aspartame/dangers.htm

I rarely ever ingest aspartame, or any other artificial sweetener by choice.  And I can tell you from my own experience, on the rare occasion I drink something with it, I get a headache almost immediately. 

If you need an alternative sweetener for cooking, use Stevia.  It is an all-natural sweetener without serious side effects.  A little is all you need.

So be careful what you are eating and drinking.  Pay attention to the ingredients.  Be vigilent and see the benefits around your waist and for the rest of your body.

To your Health and Success!

David

AbWorkout.Biz

You’ve found your motivation.  The things that get you moving toward your goal.  The boulder that starts to roll down the hill.  Now you need to keep the momentum going to start to see the results multiply.

How many times have you started something only to drop off and completely stop what you started not even a few weeks into your new routine?  There WILL be days where you don’t want to continue.  Your bed is going to seem a better choice than the gym.  So what can you do to stay motivated?  You will need to measure results, plan for failure, give yourself grace, and move on.

Measuring results are wonderful.  When you are sticking to a plan that works, small advances are really encouraging.  I really recommend weighing yourself every day.  Studies show that people who weigh themselves every day lose weight and keep it off.  Over a period of two months last summer, I lost 20 pounds.  Every morning when I stepped on the scale and found that I lost weight I was extremely excited. (I even had a little dance I’d do!  Losing weight is cause for celebration, right?!) The days I didn’t lose anything didn’t bother me too much as long as those days were equal to or fewer to the days I was losing.  On the days I had gained weight I did a mental checkdown of what I ate the day before, when I ate it, how was my ab workout, and so on.  This helped me to get immediately back on track.

There will be times when you will gain a pound or two.  Or you may be too busy to workout.  That’s normal.  Plan on it.  Most of us will continually struggle with a routine.  That’s ok.  You will get sick, or possibly even injured.  The demands of your job may keep you from working out.  Your family or friends might have a crisis that requires all your time.  Heck, even something fun like a vacation can throw you off your routine.  When I have distraction like this, I like to be able to rely on an “anchor point.”

An anchor point is something that is fundamental and recurring.  Something that can keep you on track when you get off track.  I like to think of it as a point where if I’ve fallen off the wagon, it’s a time I can count on where the wagon come around again and slow down enough for me to get back on.  Example:  Mondays are my anchor point for when I’ve gotten off track.  I’ve had many times where the demands of my schedule made it hard to get up and workout.  Pretty soon the whole week goes by and I only went to the gym once or twice (or none at all) instead of the four to six times I like.  Every week when Monday comes around I start my routine over again.  That’s the great thing about planning for success this way.  If I fall off my routine, the routine comes back around for me.

Something that can happen is we can get really down for time lost or a few pounds gained.  Give yourself grace for failure.  You’re human!  Just like everyone else.  Remember that the goal here is to be healthy and fit for life, not just for a while.  Don’t get caught up in the past.  Live in the NOW and for the FUTURE.  The past is yesterday’s news and nobody cares.  Don’t let it reach back and pull you down.

In my life I have been knocked down many times.  I heard someone say, “It’s not how many times you get knocked down that matters.  It’s how many times you get back up that does.”  You are going to get knocked down.  Get back up and move forward.  You deserve it!  Give yourself the body you desire.  Live full of energy.  You are in control. 

Prepare.  Plan.  Stay motivated.  And be kind to yourself.

To your Health and Success!

David

AbWorkout.Biz

This post is crucial.  Read and devour it. 

I believe that the topic of Motivation is a very important one if we are concetrating on our ab workout quest, or really ANYTHING for that matter.  If we are ever going to re-shape our bodies, change a habit, or climb a mountain, we are going to have to find a powerful motivator.  The “carrot” before us needs to be huge!

Imagine that we are stationary like a boulder on a hillside.  We want to roll the boulder to the bottom of the hill.  We are going to have to start the with more force and energy to get the boulder in motion, but once it starts to roll it will be easier to keep it moving.  We need to have a vision of where we want it to be and the drive to keep it in motion.

In our case of finding motivation for physical fitness, the motivation needs to be great and long lasting.  Not only do we want to be fit, we want to be this way the rest of our lives.  Bill Phillips in his book, Body For Life, talks about how the importance of the title Body for Life gives a different impression than Body for 3 Months!  The first time I read that I realized where my priorities need to be – in the “now” and for the long haul.  I needed to get the boulder in motion and not let it rest on the hillside.

I want to share a little about what motivates me.  I think many of you can relate, and if you’ve never really thought about it before maybe this will help you light the fire of motivation for yourself.

For me, the item at the top of the hill that I wanted to change was and is my body’s natural tendency to put on weight and be un-fit.  (I mean, what should I expect it to do if I like Ding Dongs, pizza and Coke as my main sources or nutrition?!   I started to imagine what the bottom of the hill looked like.  I tried to invision what my body would look like when I had six pack abs. 

But why would I want to change?  What was my motivation?…

I have two kids.  I love them like I never thought I could love anyone.  I want to share many of life’s wonderful experiences with them.  I don’t want to leave them fatherless at a young age.  I want to be around to be a grandfather, and a great grandfather.  I realized that eating junk food and having a sedentary lifestyle was not helping me live a healthier, longer life.

Death and disease has been a constant companion in my life.  My paternal grandfather died at the age of 49 from a heart attack.  My maternal grandfather died at 33 from an assumed heart attack.  My best friend died at 51 from a heart attack.  My cousin died at 42 from cancer.  My mother’s stepfather died at 49 from cancer.  I have had pneumonia and a series of strokes that have affected both of my optic nerves (my vision isn’t what it used to be).  These are things someone my age (at the time of the incidents, I was in my mid to late thirties) should not be suffering from.

When I add the two previous paragraphs together, it is a powerful motivator for me.  Fear – not an overpowering “I’m afraid of the big bad wolf” type of fear, but the fear of losing out.  I believe this is healthy and very motivating for people.

But I also want to feel good.  I don’t want my back to ache.  I don’t want the extra weight on my knees and other joints.  I want energy and mental clarity.

Is this motivation enough to help me to push through my , chest, arms, back, legs, and ab workout?  You bet!  Cardio?  Uh huh!

Now it’s your turn.  What motivates you?  Write it down.  Make it powerful.  Get the boulder rolling.

To your Health and Success!

David

AbWorkout.Biz

People are constantly asking, “Which abs diet will give you the best six pack, or flat, sexy stomach?” 

If you want ripped abs and flat stomach, you will need to be pretty dedicated to feeding your body the right fuel, at the right time, for the right results.

The key is not to think “diet” because diets DO NOT WORK!  How many diets have you been on that truly gave lasting results?  I’m guessing zero, or you wouldn’t be reading this.

Our metabolism is like heat from a fire.  Food is the fuel to the fire and exercise is the spark.  If you put too much fuel on the fire, you will put out the fire.  Not good.  However, if you are constantly stoking the fire, it will burn long and hot which will help you burn fat and remove the layers hiding your sexy midsection.

We have grown up with the idea that eating “three square meals a day” is the right way to fuel our bodies.  Science has shown us that this method is not efficient.  It is much better to eat 5 to 6 smaller meals per day every few hours.  The same amount of food, but spread out.

You need to portion out your food.  A good rule of thumb for a portion is judged by the size of either your clenched fist or open hand.

Each meal needs to consist of a portion of protein and carbohydrates.  You should include fresh fruit or veggies to at least 2 of your meals. 

Proteins should be low fat like; skinless chicken breast, turkey breast, tuna, salmon, legumes, eggs, low fat beef, cottage cheese, yogurt, etc.  Carbohydrates should be whole grains, veggies, fruit, brown rice, oatmeal, pasta, etc.

You can eat or drink meal replacements such as a protein shake, etc., if your schedule doesn’t allow the necessary preparation time.  But be careful.  Some replacement meals are simply nicely packaged garbage.  A visit to your local nutrition center you trust will point you in the right direction.  Or research this topic on the net.

You will also need to make sure you are getting healthy fats.  Olive oil is a great source.  Use it in your salads or to cook with.  Nuts are also a great source of healthy fats.  Almonds and walnuts are excellent nuts, but so too are most nuts.  You can have a handful for a snack each day.  Keep it simple and choose the unsalted variety.

With this method, you will never go hungry – guaranteed!  It does take some planning.  It’s best to prepare the night before what you will be eating.  After you have done this for a while, you really won’t need to plan as much.  It will be like second nature.  Replace any bogus ideas of an abs diet with this way of eating, and you will be well on your way to acheiving the results you’re after.

To your health and success!

David

AbWorkout.biz