Who here has a 6 pack?

[RP33]

Now, i know we have an 'Ask the Trainer' area but I don't want real technical answers..

Basically i started up the diet/working out again since the beginning of the year and i want a 6 pack by summer.. I had a 4 pack last year, and got it by doing like 250-350 crunches before bed every night for a few months, but i couldn't get the bottom part of the abs to show..

Now, know this.. I'm lazy as hell, so i don't want like 10 different exercises or recommended machines to use or any of that crap.. I just want to know if anyone has any workouts that they feel helped them accomplish what i want to..

I'm at the gym at the least every other day, and have an elliptical in my basement that i run on every day.. I've also been easing myself into a diet..

So i guess what i'm asking would be a lazy man's routine for what you guys do for cardio (how far you're going/how fast you do it) and any other routines/methods you feel you should include..

Again, I know we have an Ask the Trainer part but i just want some basic ideas that worked for people..

CC's for quality replies.

[boozeboxer]

[First I am no health guy and I have never been to a gym] and I don't have a crazy 6 pack but I have kept the stomach from being gutty simply by doing a few situps and pushups everyday. I don't think that doing a crazy ton of them in a week is the (most efficent) way to get in shape. It is better if you just start doing some and do them EVERY day. Eventually you won't look like the fat ass I assume you are.

[RP33]

[First I am no health guy and I have never been to a gym] and I don't have a crazy 6 pack but I have kept the stomach from being gutty simply by doing a few situps and pushups everyday. I don't think that doing a crazy ton of them in a week is the (most efficent) way to get in shape. It is better if you just start doing some and do them EVERY day. Eventually you won't look like the fat ass I assume you are.

haha thanks..

nah i'm in pretty good shape, i just would like to try something that someone recommends to me because they feel it worked, as oppose to wasting time on some exercises that aren't as effective..

and i know that any type of workout will help, but i'd still like to hear a story from the horse's mouth.

basically i just want every minute of the time i put in working out to count.

[Ghost]

Who here has a 6 pac?

Have two of them, one in the frig and the other waiting to go into the frig.

[RP33]

Who here has a 6 pac?

Have two of them, one in the frig and the other waiting to go into the frig.

I prefer the "why have a 6 pack when you can have a KEG" joke.

[Ghost]

Who here has a 6 pac?

Have two of them, one in the frig and the other waiting to go into the frig.

I prefer the "why have a 6 pack when you can have a KEG" joke.

Have two of them sitting in the garage waiting for the weekend to get here. Summer time here and the BBQ gets used a lot. And what is a Barby without a few beers and freinds.

[RP33]

Who here has a 6 pac?

Have two of them, one in the frig and the other waiting to go into the frig.

I prefer the "why have a 6 pack when you can have a KEG" joke.

Have two of them sitting in the garage waiting for the weekend to get here. Summer time here and the BBQ gets used a lot. And what is a Barby without a few beers and freinds.

haha man, sounds terrific.. i wish it was summertime here, although yesterday was 65 in the midst of winter, that has to be some sort of record.. and it has only snowed 2 times so far, so it's not terrible, i suppose i can't complain..

[No Contest]

Lower abs? Just type in ab execise in your browser. There are easy leg lift types of exercises, which is like a crunch with your legs extended. Those work for lower abs, normal crunches wont work that area.

[Kev]

Well first off if you are already doing 235-350 crunches a night, using an elliptical and going to the gym you are a LONG WAY from being lazy! Give yourself a pat on the back.

As to building a sixpack, it's not so much more muscle definition you need but rather losing that last bit of fat.

Actually it's notoriously difficult to shift that last bottom layer. Your body is more likely to strip the fat from your face and fingers before it goes down there so you may end up looking pretty gaunt everywhere else before you get rid of it completely, it's a crazy genetic mystery as to why the body does that

As for exercises, I prefer stabilising moves to contractual ones. Instead of crunches I do what's called the plank exercise. you basically hold yourself in a press up postion, elbows and palms on the ground, your feet on the ground and everything else up.

Do 3 x 30 seconds building to 3 x minute.

The do what's called a bridge.

Lie on your side push yourself on you elbow and feet holding the body up. Youll feel a burn in your obliques. Do both sides again building up 3 x 30 seconds etc.

I know you didn't want a lot of exercises but weight training is also an important part. A single pound of muscle will burn 35 -50 calories in a day as opposed to fat which burns none.

If you packed on 10 lbs of muscle you'd be burning an extra 350 - 500 calories a day without doing anything!

That's why any succesful weight loss strategy should incorporate some resistance training. You don't need to do a lot, just focus on a single exercise per major bodypart and work out your whole body twice a week or better yet split it in half and work out 4 times a week focusing on chest, shoulder, triceps one day and legs, back and biceps another.

Doing this you'll change the amount of muscle mass you have which will burn more fat each day. 3600 calories is equivalent to a lb of fat.

If you packed on 10 lbs of muscle mass you'd burn an extra 3500 calories a week which would go a long way to shedding any unwanted fat and finally giving you a six pack.

[RP33]

Well first off if you are already doing 235-350 crunches a night, using an elliptical and going to the gym you are a LONG WAY from being lazy! Give yourself a pat on the back.

As to building a sixpack, it's not so much more muscle definition you need but rather losing that last bit of fat.

Actually it's notoriously difficult to shift that last bottom layer. Your body is more likely to strip the fat from your face and fingers before it goes down there so you may end up looking pretty gaunt everywhere else before you get rid of it completely, it's a crazy genetic mystery as to why the body does that

As for exercises, I prefer stabilising moves to contractual ones. Instead of crunches I do what's called the plank exercise. you basically hold yourself in a press up postion, elbows and palms on the ground, your feet on the ground and everything else up.

Do 3 x 30 seconds building to 3 x minute.

The do what's called a bridge.

Lie on your side push yourself on you elbow and feet holding the body up. Youll feel a burn in your obliques. Do both sides again building up 3 x 30 seconds etc.

I know you didn't want a lot of exercises but weight training is also an important part. A single pound of muscle will burn 35 -50 calories in a day as opposed to fat which burns none.

If you packed on 10 lbs of muscle you'd be burning an extra 350 - 500 calories a day without doing anything!

That's why any succesful weight loss strategy should incorporate some resistance training. You don't need to do a lot, just focus on a single exercise per major bodypart and work out your whole body twice a week or better yet split it in half and work out 4 times a week focusing on chest, shoulder, triceps one day and legs, back and biceps another.

Doing this you'll change the amount of muscle mass you have which will burn more fat each day. 3600 calories is equivalent to a lb of fat.

If you packed on 10 lbs of muscle mass you'd burn an extra 3500 calories a week which would go a long way to shedding any unwanted fat and finally giving you a six pack.

never really thought of it that way..

I guess what i meant by being lazy is that i really just like getting to the point in my workout.. I'm not a body builder who is obsessed with protein shakes and working out at the gym all day.. i'm sure you know the type of people i'm talking about.. I just want to be healthy, in shape, and fit..

I did a similar workout to the one you explained, i think it was out of Men's Fitness magazine or something like that.. i think they called it the jackknife.. when you lay on your side and use your forearm to hold yourself up and then you lift your feet up in the air for a specific amount of time..... it absolutely kills, but that usually means it works..

thanks a lot Bilbo and CC for the information.

[RP33]

Also Bilbo.. good to hear that this is some sort of 'known' problem..

Even when i was in high school, i was a lot thinner than i am now but i played a lot of sports so i was still in shape and had abs, just not the lower area, and it was always in the back of my mind why it was that way.

[getupkid2004]

hobbits have sixpacks?

[Kev]

Also Bilbo.. good to hear that this is some sort of 'known' problem..

Even when i was in high school, i was a lot thinner than i am now but i played a lot of sports so i was still in shape and had abs, just not the lower area, and it was always in the back of my mind why it was that way.

Yes unfortunately for men your stomach is the first place your body will store fat but the last place it will take it from.

Which ultimately means that in order to shift it entirely you'll need to lose all of your bodyfat everywhere else first

It's no better for women though. I'm sure you've met women who are stick thin with washboard abs but a with a huge bubble butt that they can't do anything about.

I personally think it's part of the punishment dealt out by God on Adam and Eve. Along with bushes growing thorns he also cursed us with fatty buildups that we can do nothing about

[Kev]

hobbits have sixpacks?

Actually it's not something we hobbits find attractive. Instead of worrying about our abs we pride ourselves on having the most well groomed feet with the most lustrous hair

[RP33]

Also Bilbo.. good to hear that this is some sort of 'known' problem..

Even when i was in high school, i was a lot thinner than i am now but i played a lot of sports so i was still in shape and had abs, just not the lower area, and it was always in the back of my mind why it was that way.

Yes unfortunately for men your stomach is the first place your body will store fat but the last place it will take it from.

Which ultimately means that in order to shift it entirely you'll need to lose all of your bodyfat everywhere else first

It's no better for women though. I'm sure you've met women who are stick thin with washboard abs but a with a huge bubble butt that they can't do anything about.

I personally think it's part of the punishment dealt out by God on Adam and Eve. Along with bushes growing thorns he also cursed us with fatty buildups that we can do nothing about

my kinda girl