Manchester’s Most Exclusive Personal Trainer introduces you to his article on Abdominal Myths
We are forever been told that there is a new exercise, piece of equipment or a magic pill that is going to give us those 6 pack abs we all dream of. Well I am going to make this clear once and for all. You can’t cheat there is no magic pill, no miracle exercise and don’t even get me started on those stupid pieces of equipment that make you vibrate or do all kinds of silly movements.
Everyone is led to believe that if you train your abdominals day after day you are going to get a six pack. If this is true then the current holder of the most crunches performed at the Guinness world records would have the most amazing abdominals you have ever seen. However he hasn’t.
There is still people who believe if they have trained hard at the gym it is fine to have a pizza, hamburger and a chocolate shake and they will still get there six pack. Same goes for the majority of protein bars which are bluntly just over rated chocolate bars. Getting a six pack and eating crap just don’t go together.
So You want that 6 pack, a flat stomach or even an 8 pack. So how do you get one, you would like to know. The truth of the matter is in reality you know already how to get one don’t you? The main problem you have is that the PAIN of giving up your pizza, hamburger, alcoholic beverages and putting in some hard graft just seems too much for you to even give it a go. Sign up to my newsletter and get a free nutritional plan.
So how can you change this mentality? First and most importantly you need to realise if you really want that flat stomach / six pack you need to associate some pleasure to achieving it. You need to imagine how good it will feel when you are walking down the beach with your ripped up ABS. You need to think of everything that is going to get in your way of achieving those dream abs. These are the PAINS use these to your advantage I WILL NOT EAT THAT AS IT IS PAIN. IT WILL STOP ME ACHIEVING MY DREAM.
Getting yourself to really set the goal in your mind of getting your dream goals is the most important step after you have done this it is actually not as hard as you would think I do this with people who want to hire a personal trainer via my free consultation.
Now that in your head you know what you want and you know what you defiantly don’t want to do as it will be so PAINFULL to your progress you can move forward. What I will tell you now will GUARANTEE you an 8PACK but only if you have taken on board what I have already said as your mentality is the most important aspect of achieving the dream.
SO WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO TO GET THOSE LEAN ABDOMINALS
FIRST OF ALL YOU NEED A NUTRITION PROGRAM THAT
1) Is going to get you melting fat away at optimal speed
2) Is going to allow you to build lean muscle
3) That is not ridiculously difficult to follow
Now this is a lot easier to do than we are led to believe. You don’t need to follow any diet religiously or take supplements. Follow one simple rule BE A CAVEMAN/WOMAN.
Imagine there was no processed food, no unnatural sugars nothing packaged; a time when everyone was lean well there was a time. The human body has evolved over the last 2 million years. All we have to do is go back in time. Your diet should include game meat, fish, vegetables, wild fruits, eggs and nuts.
Simple eat a diet containing only these foods and you will be lean. You already knew that though didn’t you. We all know however many times they tell us special k is not good for us. So start eating the foods from above having a diet high in animal fat and low in carbohydrates.
Did you know eating your averaged sized potato is the same as eating 4 teaspoons of sugar this causes your blood sugar to go up to levels the body doesn’t want. As a resort you end up storing more fat and wanting to snack more, causing you to store more fat. So if you want to ditch the fat ditch the starchy carbohydrates and processed food.
IN TERMS OF EXERCISE WHAT DO I NEED TO DO
Ok so let’s start with spot reduction, you can’t reduce fat from just one area (except lipo suction and even that won’t last)
You need to reduce body fat levels in general. This involves full body weight based training anything from bodyweight to full on power lifting and adding some interval based training into the mix.
Now before I continue I want to explain that if your body is not in optimal alignment (if you work in an office then there’s 95% chance its not) then the exercise you are doing is not as effective as it could be. Book in to see a Kinetic chain specialist. If your spine is anteriorally tilted then your abdominals are constantly stretched and you will find it impossible to get the abdominals you want.
In terms of rectus abdominal exercises (the six pack). It doesn’t matter what exercises your doing. All that’s important is getting the pubic synthesis and xyphoid process (hip bones and middle point below the chest) as close to each other as possible putting the muscle under full contraction.
SO WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO SUMARY
- Get the right mental attitude
- Start eating like a caveman
- Approach the body as a whole
- Don’t worry about silly abdominal exercises
Harry Pointon
Health Coach