How to Get Six Pack Abs Fast!

You can imagine how difficult it is for a fitness professional to speak or work with people who are frustrated at their inability to lose weight but whom also seem to refuse to give up junk food altogether! In fact, most people who are “attempting” to lose weight typically have a house filled with junk foods – instead of unprocessed natural food.

So, how can you expect to truly lose any weight at all if you have candies, sugary cereals, cakes, chips, soda, and syrupy juices in your home? The most common reason for people keeping a few guilty pleasures about the abode always strikes me more as the rationalization of an addict: people want something fun on the side so they can ‘live a little.’ But are you living or dying?

The truth of the matter is that if you could force yourself to stick to healthy foods, you’d notice before long that you are actually feeling better and more energetic. And eating healthy means developing a better-looking body which, of course, increases your confidence. So how are you ‘living a little’ by clinging to unhealthy snacks, exactly?

What needs to be made painfully clear is this: Eating healthy does not mean eating bland, boring food! Actually, when you learn to enjoy all-natural meals and explore the seemingly endless variety of healthy foods, you’ll quickly discover just how many exciting flavors the world has to offer. Eventually, you’ll become used to the planet’s intended flavors and find the more aggressive, salty or sweet junk foods overbearing.

Take, for example, what happened with a friend of mine just the other day: While on the road, he wanted an unsweetened iced tea, but all that happened to be available were bottles of commercially-sold iced teas. He hadn’t drunk one in years, and almost gagged because it was so unnaturally sweet – his body could identify that it was heavily produced.

Similarly, I used to take a lot of sugar in my coffee, but after slowly reducing the amount over time, I don’t like any sugar in my coffee at all. With time, you can come to appreciate such natural flavors and reject the artificial additives that we have been conditioned from a young age to accept as normal.

So, while my belief is that every individual ought to be able to enjoy what he or she eats, I’m also confident that you can do this without having to consume the heavily-processed, name-brand foodstuffs that appear in some supermarkets, quick-stops, and fast-food restaurants across the country. Here are a few examples of how you can replace normal stacks with healthier alternatives that are also delicious:

Chocolate: Instead of eating a candy bar, a donut, or a piece of chocolate cake, consider picking up a couple of pieces of extra-dark chocolate – something with a cocoa content that’s a bit higher than 70%. Dark chocolate is higher in fiber, and has far less sugar than milk chocolate.

Chicken: Replace deep-fried chicken or breaded chicken with grilled chicken breast strips with a peanut dipping sauce. Get rid of the fries, too! Try vegetables on the side instead.

Hamburgers: Get rid of the fast-food burger with its refined white bun with a burger made from grass-fed cows – and the same goes for the cheese on it!

The list goes on and on! It’s easy to maintain a healthy diet once you get rolling. And while it does take a little effort at first, you’ll look back and feel silly for all the time you spent trying to lose weight while eating food that was terrible for you. There is more to life than eating junk food, and you’ll actually discover more of life once you stop eating junk food!

Interested in learning more? Check out The Truth About Abs website for more info and a free ebook on losing fat and building muscle.

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With every passing day, more people become aware of the benefits of including antioxidant-rich foods in their diet. Antioxidants literally slow the aging process, but also help stave off heart disease, cancer, and many different degenerative diseases. And as though these benefits weren’t enough, these free-radical combating friends also help individuals recover from exercise more efficiently – which means that you build more muscle and burn more fat!

How it Works

When you exercise, your body generates free radicals which are known to damage muscle tissue. Antioxidants simply inhibit your body’s ability to produce free radicals, substantially reducing the risk of muscle damage post-workout provided they are ingested about an hour before exercising.

A short list of some of the places you can find large amounts of antioxidants: teas (green tea, oolong tea, whiote tea, red tea, black tea), cherries, acai fruit, berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, cranberries), seeds, nuts, black beans, red beans, purple potatoes, grapes, cinnamon, dark chocolate, cocoa, and red wine. Always remember that while various antioxidant supplement pills are on the market, all-natural whole foods will always be better for you – and probably cheaper in the long run!

A healthy friend of mine has a pre-workout ritual that seems to be working wonders: a piece of whole-grain toast with almond butter and a small amount of blackberry jam, topped with a small pile of fresh blueberries or sliced strawberries. This is then followed by a cool glass of iced tea – or rooibos (red) tea with a teaspoon of raw honey added. Can you think of a more potent punch of antioxidants? What’s more is that so many of these items are loaded with different kinds of muscle-protecting and muscle-building antioxidants. Try it out for yourself, or come up with your own successful recipe! The difference you notice will astound you.

Free radicals bombard your body continuously throughout the day, after all – from exercise but also from smoke and air pollution, the sun, junk foods, and various chemicals that you’ll find yourself exposed to. To remain healthy, ensure that every meal in your diet contains at least one or two sources of antioxidants; this will leave your body with a persistent supply of antioxidants to draw upon as you attend to your daily tasks.

Of course, antioxidants are but one piece of a much larger puzzle that makes up a healthy and active lifestyle. To find out more about how you can keep your body in tip-top shape, use Google to search for the following items: macronutrient profile; hormonal response; glycemic response; glycogen storage; muscle-protein synthesis; leptin; insulin; etc.

Interested in learning more? Check out The Truth About Abs website for more info and a free ebook on losing fat and building muscle.

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You might be shocked to hear this, but here goes - elliptical machines and treadmills are the least effective way to work out, period. And in this very article I’m going to explore ways of achieving a workout regimen that is much more effective in burning fat than using those boring machines.

That being said, it should nonetheless be noted that if you are truly happy with your elliptical machine and/or treadmill workout routines, then by all means, go nuts. Regardless of what kind of machine or exercise is most effective, in the long run what matters is how much you are enjoying what you are doing. People who enjoy their workout and find it stimulating are more likely to stick with it in the long run!

Just don’t say that you weren’t warned!

Even though I am a fitness fan myself, I can’t remember the last time I used an exercise machine—such as a bike, an elliptical, or any variety of cardio machine—in any of my own workouts, even to warm up! For years now, my warm-up routine utilizes dumbbells, presses, and bodyweight exercises.

But why are cardio machines are so useless? Here are a few reasons:

1. They’re simply ineffective! Considering the time you put into an elliptical- or treadmill-based workout, you aren’t burning nearly as much fat as you could by doing other, more interesting workouts.
2. Elliptical machines and treadmills are terribly expensive, and when you consider some of the other available methods of burning fat and improving your metabolism, it’s hard not to see how purchasing one of these machines for your home is a waste.
3. There have been quite a few studies into the effectiveness of various weight-loss machines, and they’ve been shown to be less effective than simply walking, jogging, running, and so forth. Because the ground has various different angles and other abnormalities, you burn more calories as well as train your heart and your muscles to become used to various kinds of environments.
4. Incidentally, research has also shown that when you are in a steady-state exercise, you tend to allow yourself to become distracted – say, by listening to music or by watching television. This creates a mind/body disconnect that tends to lower results of using such machines.
5. Using a treadmill or an elliptical sound is frankly just boring!

So, what alternatives can you use to fill the gap of cardio machines? Here are a few good suggestions:

1. Outdoor wind-sprint workouts: The perfect workout when it comes to achieving a lean, fit, muscular body. Consider the physiques of world-class sprinters with the less-spectacular appearance of your normal marathon runner. Which would you prefer for yourself?
2. Jumping rope: Why do you think professional boxers do so much jump roping? It’s fun, but it also requires full-body coordination. Once you are good enough, you can try speed jumping, crossover jumps, double jumps – you name it!
3. Kettlebell workouts: High-rep kettlebell snatches and/or swings are the best thing to get your heart pumping and the sweat flowing! Though you can also use dumbbells, kettlebells typically have a better weight to them.
4. Rowing machine: While some might argue that this is a cardio machine, the rowing machine offers a full-body workout as well as proper resistance to truly build that muscle and burn fat.
5. Hill sprinting: This is simple! All you have to do is run up a hill as fast as possible, and proceed it with a calm walk back – then repeat! This is another classic often used by professional athletes to stay in tip-top shape.
6. Shadow boxing: Just what it sounds like! If you’re a little self-conscious, feel free to try this at home.
7. Swimming sprints: Similar to hill sprinting, you essentially swim as hard and fast as you can for one lap. Afterwards, you rest for about 15-20 seconds and then do it all again!
8. Heavy bag kick-boxing: Any large, weighty bag—such as a speed bag or a rebounding bag—will do for this. A very focused mind/body connection is quite essential for the best results.

I hope that I have at least offered you a few fun ideas for how to shed those pounds in a more rapid-yet-exciting fashion! You can go out and use any of these right away, and even mix it up for the sake of variety. Good luck!

Interested in learning more? Check out The Truth About Abs website for more info and a free ebook on losing fat and building muscle.

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by Mike Geary - Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

I’ll preface this article by saying that it will help if you have an open mind and accept that some of these facts are a slap in the face to politically correct nutrition in this day and age where fats are admonished by many doctors, health “experts”, and the mass media.

To start, eating an adequate supply of healthy dietary fats is vitally important to your overall health. Fats are one of the main components in all of the cell membranes throughout your entire body. If you eat enough healthy natural fats, your cellular processes will proceed normally. On the other hand, if you eat man-made, heavily processed, chemically altered fats (damaged fats) that are found in most processed foods, your cellular function will be impaired as these damaged fats become part of your cell membranes, the body will have to work harder to operate correctly, and degenerative diseases can develop.

In addition, healthy dietary fats are necessary for optimal hormone production and balance within the body and are therefore essential for the muscle building and fat burning processes.  Other important functions that dietary fats play in a healthy body are aiding vitamin and mineral utilization, enzyme regulation, energy, etc.

I cringe every time I hear so called “health experts” recommend restriction of dietary fat, claiming that a low-fat diet is the key to good health, weight loss, and prevention of degenerative diseases.  Restriction of any one macronutrient (protein, carbs, or fat) in your diet works against what your body needs and can only lead to problems.

All three basic macronutrients serve important functions for a lean, healthy, and disease-free body.  As Dr. Mary Enig, Ph.D, and one of the leading fats researchers in the world, notes in several of her books and articles, there is very little true scientific evidence supporting the assertion that a high fat diet is bad for us.

For example, if these so called “health experts” that admonish fat are correct, and a low-fat diet is the solution to good health, then why did traditional Pacific Islanders who typically obtained 2/3 to 3/4 of their total daily calories from fat (mostly from coconut fat), remain virtually free from heart disease, obesity, and other modern degenerative diseases (that is, until Western dietary influences invaded)? Also, why did traditional Eskimo populations, consuming up to 75% of their total caloric intake from fat (mostly from whale blubber, seal fat, organ meats, and cold water fish), display superior health and longevity without heart disease or obesity?

Why did members of the Masai tribe in Africa remain free from degenerative diseases and maintain low body fat percentages on diets consisting of large quantities of raw whole milk, blood, and meat? What about the Samburu tribe of Africa, which eats an average of 5 times the quantity of dietary fat (mostly from raw whole milk and meat) as overweight, disease-ridden Americans, yet Samburu members are lean, healthy, and free of degenerative diseases? What about traditional Mediterranean diets, which are known to be very high in fat in some cases (sometimes up to 50-70% fat), and are also well known to be very healthy?

These examples of high fat diets and the associated excellent health of traditional populations around the world go on and on, yet it seems that many doctors, nutritionists, and media outlets still ignore these facts and continue to promote a diet that restricts fat intake.

Well, the problem is that the good fats (the natural unprocessed health promoting fats) have gotten mistakenly lumped together in nutritional advice with the deadly processed fats and oils that make up a large percentage of almost all processed food that is sold at your local grocery store, restaurant, deli, fast food joint, etc. These deadly processed fats are literally everywhere and almost impossible to avoid unless you know what to look for and make smart choices in what you feed your body with.

Take note that I’m not recommending following a super high fat diet. Active individuals that exercise on a regular basis certainly also need adequate supplies of healthy carbohydrates for energy and muscle glycogen replenishment as well as good sources of protein for muscle repair. The above examples of the high fat diets of traditional populations and their corresponding excellent health were simply to prove the point that you don’t need to be afraid of dietary fats as long as you make healthy natural choices and stay within your daily caloric range to maintain or lose weight (depending on your goals).

Following is a list of some of the healthiest fatty foods (some will surprise you!) as well as some of the deadliest fatty foods to try to avoid at all costs:

The Healthy Fatty Food Choices:

• Coconut fat: Coconut fat is approximately 92% saturated fat, yet surprisingly to most people, is considered a very healthy natural fat. The health benefits of coconut fat lie in its composition of approximately 65% medium chain triglycerides (MCTs). Specifically, about 50% of coconut fat is a MCT called lauric acid, which has very potent anti-microbial properties helping to enhance the immune system. Also, MCTs are more easily utilized for immediate energy instead of being stored as body fat.  Coconut oil is also an excellent cooking oil for stir-frying, etc. since saturated fats are much more stable and do not oxidize like polyunsaturated oils when exposed to heat and light, which creates damaging free radicals. The best sources of healthy coconut fat are organic coconut milk, virgin coconut oil (available at http://coconut-info.com), or fresh coconut.
• Extra virgin olive oil:  Olive oil is approximately 71% monounsaturated, 16% saturated, and 13% polyunsaturated. Choose “extra virgin” olive oil, which comes from the first pressing of the olives and has higher quantities of antioxidants. Unlike most other oils on supermarket shelves, extra virgin olive oil is not extracted with the use of harmful industrial solvents and is one of your healthiest choices for liquid oils. Try making your own salad dressing by mixing a small amount of olive oil with vinegar. This is healthier than most store bought salad dressings, which are usually made with highly processed and refined (chemically damaged) soybean oil extracted with industrial solvents.
• Dark, bittersweet chocolate (>70% cocoa):  The cocoa bean is a very concentrated source of antioxidants and responsible for part of the health benefit of dark chocolate. The fat portion of the cocoa bean (cocoa butter) is a healthy natural fat, composed of approximately 59% saturated fat (mostly healthy stearic acid), 38% monounsaturated fat, and 3% polyunsaturated fat. I’ll limit the description of healthy chocolate to ONLY dark bittersweet chocolate with >70% cocoa content. Most milk chocolates are only about 30% cocoa, and even most dark chocolates are only about 55% cocoa, leaving the remainder of those products composed of high amounts of sugar, milk fat, corn sweeteners, etc. Look for a quality dark chocolate that lists its cocoa content like Chocolove Extra Dark (77%) or Dagoba New Moon (74%), which contain mostly cocoa and very little sugar. Keep in mind that although dark chocolate can be a healthy treat, it is still calorie dense, so keeping it to just a square or two is a good idea.
• Avocados or guacamole:  The fat in avocados (depending on where they’re grown) is approximately 60% monounsaturated, 25% saturated, and 15% polyunsaturated. Avocados are a very healthy natural food that provides many nutrients, fiber, and healthful fats, while adding a rich flavor to any meal. Try sliced avocado on sandwiches or in salads or use guacamole in wraps, sandwiches, or quesadillas.
• High fat fish such as wild salmon, sardines, mackerel, herring, trout, etc.:  Just about any fish or seafood are good sources of natural omega-3 polyunsaturated fats, but the higher fat fish listed above are the best sources of omega-3’s. Due to the radical switch to a higher proportion of omega-6 polyunsaturated fats like soybean oil, corn oil, safflower oil, etc. in our food supply during the middle of the 20th century, the average western diet is currently way too high in omega-6’s compared to omega-3’s, which wreaks havoc in your body. This is where good omega-3 sources like high fat fish, walnuts, and flax seeds can help bring you back to a better ratio of omega-6/omega-3.
• Nuts (any and all - walnuts, almonds, peanuts, cashews, macadamias, etc.): Nuts are great sources of healthy unprocessed fats as well as minerals and other trace nutrients. Macadamias, almonds, and cashews are great sources of monounsaturated fats, while walnuts are a good source of unprocessed polyunsaturated fats (including omega-3’s). Try to avoid nuts that are cooked in oil. Instead, choose raw or dry roasted nuts.
• Seeds (sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds):  All of these seeds are great sources of natural unprocessed healthy fats. In particular, flax seeds have received a lot of attention lately due to their high omega-3 content. However, keep in mind that omega-3 polyunsaturated fats are highly reactive to heat and light, and prone to oxidation and free radical production. Therefore, freshly ground flax seed is the only way to go. Instead of using the store bought ground flax seed, you can buy whole flax seed and use one of those miniature coffee grinders to grind your own flax seed. Try grinding fresh flax seed into your yogurt, cereal, or even your salad.  If you’re using a flax oil, make sure it’s a cold-pressed oil in a light-proof refrigerated container, and use it up within a few weeks to prevent it from going rancid. NEVER cook with flax oil!
• The fat in organically raised, free-range animals:  This is where most people have been misinformed by the mass media. Animal fat is inherently good for us, that is, if it came from a healthy animal. Human beings have thrived on animal fats for thousands of years. The problem is, most mass produced animal products today do not come from healthy animals. They come from animals given loads of antibiotics and fattened up with hormones and fed un-natural feed. The solution is to choose organically raised, free-range meats, eggs, and dairy. At this time, the price is still a little higher, but as demand grows, the prices will come down. I’ve found an incredible website that actually offers free-range grass-fed meats delivered right to your doorstep at very reasonable prices. Believe me, it’s very hard to find grass fed meats at any grocery stores, so I was pleased to find this site.

The Deadly Fatty Foods:

• Hydrogenated oils (trans fats):  These are industrially produced chemically altered oils subjected to extremely high pressure and temperature, with added industrial solvents such as hexane for extraction, and have a metal catalyst added to promote the artificial hydrogenation, followed by bleaching and deodorizing agents…..and somehow the FDA still allows this crap to pass as food. These oils aren’t even worthy of your lawnmower, much less your body! They’ve been linked to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and more. Even small quantities have been shown in studies to be dangerous. If you care about your health, check the ingredients of everything you buy, and if you see partially hydrogenated oils of any kind, margarine, or shortening, protect yourself and your family by choosing something else. The FDA has mandated that all food manufacturers are required to show the quantity of trans fat on all labels by January 2006.
• Refined oils:  Even if the oils are not hydrogenated, most oils on your supermarket shelves are refined, even most of the so called “healthy” canola oils. Most refined oils still undergo the high temperature, high pressure, solvent extraction, bleaching, and deodorizing processes. Anything labeled vegetable oil, soybean oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, safflower oil, and even many canola oils have been damaged by this refining process (unless they say “virgin” or “cold expeller pressed”). This damages the natural structure of the fats, destroys natural antioxidants, creates free radicals, and produces a generally unhealthy product. Take note that the explosion of heart disease in the middle of the 20th century coincides quite nicely with the rapid increase in the use of hydrogenated and refined oils in the food supply.
• Anything deep fried: including tortilla chips, potato chips, French fries, donuts, fried chicken, chicken nuggets, etc. All of this crap shouldn’t even pass as real food in my opinion!
• Homogenized milk fat - Milk fat is a very healthy fat in its natural raw state. Milk and beef from grass fed organically raised cows is known to have higher quantities of healthy fats like conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and omega-3 fatty acids compared with grain fed cows. Traditional populations around the world have thrived in perfect health while consuming huge quantities of raw, non-pasteurized, non-homogenized, full fat dairy products.  Once again, food processing ruins a good thing by pasteurizing and homogenizing milk fat, rendering it potentially dangerous inside the human body. Unfortunately, you will find it almost impossible to find raw milk in the US unless you personally know a farmer. Check out http://www.realmilk.com for more info on the benefits of raw milk and to find out if it’s available near you. As an alternative, cultured dairy products like yogurt have at least had beneficial microorganisms added back to them making them better for you.  Realistically, since you probably won’t find raw milk, sticking to skim milk is the best option to avoid the homogenized milk fat. If you use butter for cooking, your best option is grass-fed butter.

I hope this article has shed some light on the truth about dietary fats and made you realize their importance in a healthy diet. A fully comprehensive analysis on dietary protein, carbohydrates, and fat, and how to compile all of this information into a diet that promotes a lean healthy body with a low body fat percentage is provided in my book “The Truth About Six Pack Abs”.  Give it a try and you won’t be disappointed!

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