Summer 2015 is around the corner.
And that always means one thing…it’s time to get ripped up!
Getting a lean, defined six-pack is actually one of the most difficult things to achieve…when you DON’T know what you’re doing. And you’ll probably lose muscle and look terrible in the process.
Thankfully, when you DO know what you’re doing, it isn’t that hard…and results are predictable.
Here are 10 points that you absolutely must keep in mind if you are finished playing games and are finally serious about attaining that body you always wanted…
(1) Create a Caloric Deficit
Yes your macros matter. Yes your training is important. But to ensure fat loss, the bottom line is that there must be a caloric deficit.
Some people are working under the delusion that you can simply “low-carb” your way to a six-pack with no thought for calories. This is just wrong.
This method may work for very overweight individuals trying to get to a normal weight range.
But it’s a whole different ball game for “normal range” people trying to get under 10% body fat. Calories count. Fact.
(2) Get Your Macros Right
So I said above that your macros matter.
If calories are king, why do macros matter? Because there is an optimal macro-ratio that will preserve all your muscle mass and allow your body to burn body fat freely.
Roughly speaking, keeping carbohydrate moderately low (but not very low), protein intake high, and fat intake moderate, allows for an optimal hormonal environment in the body for anabolism (muscle building) and fat oxidation (burning fat for energy). Macros matter.
(3) Understand That Diet Is King. Exercise Is Secondary
There is just no doubt about it. It is diet that is predominately responsible for fat loss, not exercise. Unthinking personal trainers all around the world may say different, but bear in mind that these people are not known for their abundance of brain cells.
Thankfully, the real science on this is finally hitting the mainstream as I talked about on my facebook page recently.
The correct diet coupled with weight training produces better changes in body composition than anything else
If you are serious about losing body fat and getting ripped, the 3 methods in their order of effectiveness are:
(1) Diet
(2) Weight Training
(3) Cardio
Science has repeatedly proven that the combination of correct diet and weight training is THE SINGLE BEST way to lose fat and improve body composition.
And if you need proof that weight training is much more effective than cardio even for fat loss, read my post, ‘Want To Lose Belly Fat? Skip The Cardio & Lift Weights‘.
Is it any wonder that people that get my Total Six Pack Abs program produce such astounding results? With their calories, macros, and training all dialed in 100% correctly, it’s simply a matter of time.
(4) Keep Your Protein Intake High
Us lifters already know that muscle IS protein. We keep our intake consistently high to repair and grow our muscle tissue.
But if anything, you should be even MORE vigilant regarding protein intake while cutting.
Any periods of sub-optimal protein intake can easily lead to a loss of muscle tissue. And you worked too damn hard for that muscle to give it up so easily. Click here for a formula to work how much much daily protein you need.
(5) Train Your Whole Body
When on a mission to get ripped, you don’t merely train your abs, or your “glory” muscles (chest, biceps…). You train your whole body as normal.
Nothing changes. There are no special exercises or rep ranges for cutting. Any advice to the contrary is anti-science hogwash. Train for hypertrophy as usual (just like we do with free THT training).
As a bonus, training your full body will result in calorie-burning for days after the workout has concluded. All that muscle repair costs energy/calories. You don’t get that with cardio.
(6) Train Abs No More Than 3 Times A Week
And that’s high-intensity training. Not 100 crunches!
The abdominal muscle is not comprised of some weird muscle fibers that are not found in the rest of the body.
This muscle group is exactly the same as any other. And if you want a killer-six pack, you train your abs just like you do when you want killer biceps.
Whether it’s sit-ups or hanging leg raises, select a weight for each set that allows you to get no more than 12 reps (16 reps at an absolute max) before you reach failure.
(7) Have High-Calorie Days
The longer you diet, the more your metabolism will slow to counteract what you’re doing (it’s a built-in survival mechanism).
But this can easily be fixed by giving your metabolism a shot in the arm.
All good cutting plans involve weekly re-feeds and/or carb-ups.
(8) Stop Relying On Dumb Supplements
There is no such thing as a food or supplement that melts belly fat. That anyone on earth believes this in the year 2015 is just sad.
You can’t possibly target fat around the midsection. You can only lose TOTAL body fat, then your own genetics will determine the pattern of where it comes off over time.
To believe that any miracle berry, green tea, or fat-burning supplement could contain a chemical that goes straight to the fat on your belly and burns the fat there is just really silly.
To promote this nonsense is to promote magic. Stop it.
Some supplements can temporarily raise your metabolism. But whether it’s green tea or some expensive gibberish, it’s just the caffeine content that is raising your metabolism. Save yourself a TON of money and just buy cheap caffeine tabs if you really want to. UK/Europe link. USA link.
I do have a list of supplements that have been scientifically verified here. And here are 10 supplements you should NEVER buy.
(9) Eat Fibrous and Salad Vegetables To Minimize Hunger
These salad vegetables are high in fiber and therefore help you feel full.
They also add a lot of bulk to your stomach for very few calories.
When I’m cutting, I load up on cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, and so on.
If you do it right, you can start to feel full after only 200-300 Calories. (Listen to my podcast ‘7 Ways To Diet Without Being Hungry‘ for more).
(10) Finally…Keep Going & Quit Your Whining
“I’m hungry”
“This training is too hard”
“I’m too tired for the gym today”
“I wish I could eat [enter your fav junk food]”
“I want my mommy”
Shhhhhhhhhhhh. Be quiet.
Remember you’re in good company. We all went hungry sometimes to look like this. We all trained when we didn’t want to. You’re not special. So stop asking for a miracle and do what the rest of us did to look this way.
You want this? You really want this? Then shut up and get on with it.
—————————————————————————————————————
As always, if you have any questions, feel free to ask below and I will help you.
If you don’t need to focus on fat loss now and just want muscle gains in the fastest way possible, download THT training below. After inputting your email, you will be taken directly to the download page for instant access to the workout. You don’t need to log into your email to confirm anything.
I’M SOCIAL – ADD ME & LET ME HELP YOU…
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Google+
Train With Intensity!
Mark
Great work again Mark. Currently at 11%, down from 19% on TSPA – only a week or so more and I’ll be under 10! Love the program!
@Andrew. Great results so far, buddy. You’re so close! Keep going 😀
As always straight to the point. Thanks Mark!
Shut up and get on with it
Haha!!!! Nice one Mark, so very true.
It is a very good idea to establish a list of food companies to be blacklisted. All fast foods and soft drinks are obvious, but for a systematic system I use two steps. First I download a list of all the food companies that are owned by the tobacco industry and learn them. Thus, for instance, when it says Kraft or Nabisco, I don’t read the label as though I would even consider buying it the same way that if I were a grade school principal I would not read the resume of a registered sex offender as though I would even consider hiring that pedophile. If someone, such as an employer, ordered me to stop at the store and buy with money he gave me something made by one of those companies I would refuse out of conscience and take my chances of getting fired. Second, I download the list of organic or so-called health foods that are owned by the food giants; e.g. Kashi is owned by Kellogg anf Naked juice is owned by Pepsi-Cola. I add the names of these food giants and the so called health foods that they own to my blacklist. I compile this into a master blacklist of food companies that I call the merchants of blimptitude. With them three can be no compromises.
I resolve that putting these foods in my mouth is worse than putting dog feces in my mouth to the degree that I am at least as grossed out by the sight of them being sold and eaten as I am by the ending of the movie “Pink Flamingos.”
Best selling diet authors are best selling because they go too easy on the merchants of blimptitude with “Try to cut down,” “reduce your intake of Coke by replacing one serving a day with a glass of water,” and “everything in moderation.” This is too much of a Neville Chamberlain approach to a psychopathic industry that wants to put its ugly fat in your body in the course of using you as nothing more than a source of maximum sales and unearned profit. If you let them have that half of Czechoslovakia that is demanded when, for example, someone, no matter how important they are, invites you to eat at Cracker Barrel, that inch you yield will cost you a mile. You cannot have peace in our time with the merchants of blimptitude because they already started the war against your right to have a ripped and jacked body a long time ago when they engineered the obesity epidemic. We must fight back by blacklisting them and shunning them without compromise.
Delightful! Excellent.
Especially No.10.
Thanks a pile.
but I AM hungry 😀
😀 Thanks for the awesome comments, everyone!
Amen! (Point 10) 😀
I want to back hand people when they say…Eat everything in moderation and you will be fine!! Oh really…weight loss solved then….IDIOT!!