Day 2: Fat Burning- The First CRUCIAL Step to Getting Abs…

Ok, you’ve decided to take action on getting the abs that you’ve always wanted. Sexy, ripped, attention-grabbing abs!

And when you think about getting six-pack abs, you probably imagine yourself doing thousands of crunches a day in order to turn your stomach into chiseled, rock hard abs, right?

Well, one of the things that most people forget is that everyone already has six pack abs. The “six pack” is the natural shape of abdominal muscles. While exercising can make those muscles larger, it is not the only thing you need to do to make them more visible.

One of the major roadblocks in developing your six pack abs is your belly fat. Belly fat hides your abs’ definition underneath a layer of thick fat that makes them appear rounder and flatter.

The vast majority of those looking to create a six pack will need to focus on fat burning in order to make their abdominal muscles more visible.

Doing abs-specific exercise is important, but unless you can remove the layers of fat that hide their definition, your abs are never going to be as ripped as you want them to be.

So today, let’s talk about the 4 things you should consider before you begin a six pack abs program:

 

1) Destroy the Belly Fat Shedding Lie…

Many people believe that you can shed belly fat simply by working your ab muscles. This is absolutely not true. There is no such thing as “spot fat loss” – you cannot burn fat from one area of your body simply by working it out more. The only ways to burn fat are to increase your metabolism and burn off calories so that your body uses up all of your fat for energy.

Working your abs alone will not burn fat in your stomach!

This is the myth that fitness companies use to trick you into buying their bogus ab exercise gadgets and machines. They try to convince you that if you use their ab exercise machine, your abs will suddenly spring forth and your fat will melt away.

That cannot be further from the truth. If you hope to achieve six pack abs, you need to work on burning body fat throughout your body. Only by improving your ability to burn fat can you hope to truly achieve six-pack abs.

 

2) Find Out Your Body Fat Percentage Now!…

Before you can begin a proper exercise routine, you need to find out your body fat percentage (BF%). That number will be used as a starting point for how to decide on the best exercise routine for showcasing your ab muscles.

BF% is the total weight of an individual’s fat divided by their total weight overall. The average man has a BF% of roughly 18% to 24%, while the average woman has a BF% of 25% to 31%. A small portion of body fat is necessary to sustain human functioning, but otherwise the lower your body fat the better.

In order for your abs to be visible, men will need to get your BF% lower than 11%, and preferably closer to 8%. Women will need to lower their BF% as close to 14% as possible. This is the reason it is important to find your BF% before you start trying to build 6-pack abs…

…if your BF% is greater than 11% for men, or greater than 14% for women, no amount of abs-building will allow your abs to be visible until you have been able to burn your fat away.

3) Lower Your Body Fat Percentage…

One of essential keys to burning fat and lowering your BF% is cardio training. Cardio workouts have the ability to burn hundreds of fat calories a day. The way they work is fairly interesting. Calories themselves are simply energy. When that energy goes unused, it becomes fat and is used as “storage” in case you are unable to get enough calories in your diet.

When you use up your calories during cardio training, your body starts to use your fat for energy. As a result you start to quickly burn fat and your BF% drops dramatically, burning fat along the way. There are many different types of cardio programs that you can enjoy.

Traditional cardio exercises include:

• running
• swimming
• biking

You can also do less traditional cardio exercises, such as:

• boxing
• swimming
• basketball

The best exercises are going to be the ones that use the entire body and manage to keep your heart rate somewhere between 65% and 75% of its maximum. That level of exercise ensures that your body is getting the greatest amount of calorie burning power at any given time, in order to burn up more of your fat reserves during your training.

If you are prepared to ramp up your fat burning power in order to achieve six-pack abs, you may also want to consider a type of cardio training known as “interval training.”

 

4) Rev-up Your Fat-Burning with Interval Training…

Interval training is a style of cardio that involves short bursts of intense cardiovascular exercise followed by short periods of less intense workouts as a way to “rest” in between.

Interval training has been shown to be one of the best ways to burn body fat because the high intensity exercise burns more calories than medium intensity, and the short periods of rest ensure you are able to maintain that high intensity for longer.

Interval training provides the same benefits of steady cardio training in a shorter amount of time.

Interval training can have several different styles. You can easily create your own interval training program that meets your needs, but if you’re looking for a type of program that is known to be successful, the following are both known to be effective for burning fat:

 

Pyramid

Pyramid interval training is perhaps one of the most common types currently used by athletes, both novice and advanced. The principles of pyramid training are fairly easy. You start with a low level of intense training (for example 15 seconds), then follow that intense exercise up with a period of low intensity exercise. You then up the intensity the next round (for example 30 seconds), and follow that up with low intensity exercise again.

Once you reach peak intensity, you then start to decrease the intensity period by the same amount you increased the intensity earlier. In the end, your pyramid will look something like this.

• Warm-up Period
• 15 second high intensity
• 30 second lower intensity
• 30 second high intensity
• 30 second lower intensity
• 45 second high intensity
• 45 second lower intensity
• 60 minute high intensity
• 60 second lower intensity
• 45 second high intensity
• 45 second lower intensity
• 30 second high intensity
• 30 second lower intensity
• 15 second high intensity
• Cool-down Period

The result is time pyramid that makes it easier to maintain your high intensity for longer. In between each level of high intensity should be roughly 30-60 seconds of low intensity designed to help you bring your energy level back. This method has been shown to greatly improve your fat burning potential, as well as improve your heart rate and stamina.

 

Spikes

Spikes are a more basic form of interval training. You spike your intensity up at regular intervals, each time spiking for roughly the same amount of time (for example, 1 minute high intensity spikes followed by 1 minute low intensity). This is the simplest form of intensity training, but still has the benefit of vastly increasing your calorie burning power.

 

Bottom line: Burn Fat to Gain Abs!

There is no denying that working out your abs is important for gaining six-pack abs. But abs exercise alone will not improve your abs definition if you have too much body fat in your belly. Burning fat does not happen on its own through your ab workout routine.

If you hope to achieve six pack abs, you must also be ready to integrate fat burning exercise into your current workout, to reduce the fat and make your abs more visible.

I hope you’ve learned some valuable information today. Be sure to TAKE ACTION!

Now It’s Time to Take Action: Your Fat-Burning Plan…

Tuesday:

20 minutes of Interval-Training:

• 2 minute warm-up
• alternate 1 minute fast running, swimming or bicycling with 1 minute of slow jogging, swimming or bicycling
• repeat  8-13 times
• 2 minute cool-down

Thursday:

20-30 minutes of regular, steady cardio

Saturday:

20 minutes of Interval-Training:

• 2 minute warm-up
• alternate 1 minute fast running, swimming or bicycling with 1 minute of slow jogging, swimming or bicycling
• repeat  8-13 times
• 2 minute cool-down

Previous Days:

• Day 1: Three Outstanding Tools to Sculpt Ripped, Attention-Grabbing Abs!…

 

Be on the look out for Day 3 tomorrow:
The 7 Eating Strategies You Must Follow to Get a Six Pack!…

 

Got a question or comment? Got something to add? Let me know below…I respond to all comments…