Sexy 8 Pack Abs
Everyone wants to be the proud owner of rippling, six pack or sexy 8 pack abs. Imagine being able to wear that two piece swimsuit and get the admiring stares of the people around you. Or being able to flash those abs to the admiration of the girls around you. That would be great, right?
However, six pack abs or eight pack abs do not happen overnight. To get them would require lots of time, effort, dedication, patience and willpower on your part. But trust us, when you look at the results, you will also agree that all these are well worth it. You will be rewarded not just by well defined and toned abs that show – without that extra layer of fat.
Now, six pack abs or eight pack abs are accomplished using two major things – losing the fat (that prevents your well-toned muscles from showing) and build muscle. This article provides some tips and advice on how to do these two things.
First, how do you build muscles to get six pack abs? Here are some ways:
- Crunches. A proper crunch involves lying on the floor with arms crossed in front of the chest (and not placed behind your head). You can also As high as you can, bend your knees up. Raise your upper torso to your knees. When doing this, try to use only your abdominal muscles. To do this, avoid raising your whole back off the floor – just your shoulders. Doing this will prevent straining your back so that you don’t end up with lower back problems in the future. Using your mouth, exhale as you lift your shoulders off the floor. Breath briefly once you are able to lift your shoulders and then exhale again as you flex the abs. Then, slowly and in a controlled way, lower your back and inhale through your nose. It’s recommended that you don’t allow your head to touch the ground.
- Sit Ups. Again, this is done lying on the floor with hands crossed on the chest and knees up. Keeping the feet on the floor, lift your shoulder blades and lower back off the floor. Gently lower yourself back down.
- Leg Lifts. Lying on the floor, lift alternate feet while doing sit ups. The legs should be straight out (with the knees unbent) and the hands are on the sides. Another alternative would be to put your hands behind the head and tough one elbow to the opposite knee – left elbow to right knee and right elbow to left knee. You can also pedal (like you’re bicycling) while you’re sitting up.
- V-Ups. Do this while lying on the floor, with legs straight and knees unbent. The hands should be on the floor and extended out over the head. At the same time, raise your torso and legs, as if you are forming a V. Then, reach with your hands towards your raised feet. Then, lower gently and repeat – think about it, you are building-up as we speak those nice sexy 8 pack abs!
- Jackknife Sit Ups. Again, while lying flat on the floor, with hands on the side, raise your torso and knees at the same time in such a way that the face and knees meet (the legs should be at a 90-degree angle – like an imaginary line that extends from the pelvis to the ceiling). At this point, you can already fold your knees towards your hips. Then you can lower yourself gently and repeat. When you are able to handle this, you can add a weight between your feet.
Other exercises you can do to help you build muscle for those six pack abs would be the side statics, ball crunches, weighted sit ups, the static hold and oblique muscle exercises (such as revising the sit-up by twisting as you go up). It is great to note that these exercises can be done at home. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to get your coveted six pack abs! Of course, some time spent in the gym with a fitness trainer will also help you get faster results.
The second major way to get washboard six pack abs is to lose fat. You see, even if you have perfectly toned muscles, these won’t show if you have a layer of fat hiding them! Without the fats, you can show off those rippled muscles to the best advantage. Now, here are some ways for you to lose that fat.
- Maintain a Steady Metabolism Rate. Would you believe me if I told you that you have to eat regularly to lose fat? Yes, that’s right! When we eat, we keep our metabolism rate up. When we don’t eat for long periods of time, our metabolism slows down. So to keep the metabolism going, eat a small meal regularly, say, every three hours. That means that when you eat regularly, it will help lose that weight you’ve been carrying around. Mind you, the meal should not be made up of empty calories. It should include lean protein. This way, the abs can shrink and your body does not have to break down the muscles for fuel.
- Lift Some Weights. Do you know that your muscles are able to burn calories, even when you are not doing anything? Yes, when you have more developed muscles, these can burn calories. You need to lift weights in order to maintain muscle mass. That means that cardiovascular exercises would not be enough and losing fat would take more time. The best way is to combine weight lifting with cardiovascular exercises.
- Increase fiber intake. Fiber, fiber, fiber! Take lots of these for a healthier and leaner diet. These are mainly obtained from foods such as seeds, nuts, whole grains, fruits and vegetables. You can also take in fiber supplements.
- Don’t miss out on breakfast! To lose fat, don’t skip breakfast. When you do, there is a tendency to eat more during lunch time. It also messes up your metabolism. If you are too busy to bother with lunch, try to grab a quick bite by munching on some breakfast bars or drinking a smoothie.
- Cut down on dinners. Huge dinners don’t match-up well with the sexy 8 pack abs you want. This does not mean that you will have to skip dinner altogether. No, just avoid large dinners. This is because the activity level after dinner is not as high. Thus, eating a huge dinner just a few hours before going to bed will hurt the fat loss process. The best option would be to snack on low calorie food or fruits. Don’t worry, you can try to offset this by eating a hefty breakfast or lunch, which will not be as harmful, as the level of activity is higher at this time. If you think that a small dinner is not enough, try to drink a large glass of water before you eat. You can also snack on some nuts and fruits.
- Drink plenty of water. Water cleanses the body and keeps you hydrated. The general rule would be 8 to 10 glasses a day. Another great alternative would be green tea, which helps stimulate the metabolism and raise the number of calories burned.
- Foods to Avoid. Of course, there are a number of foods that should be avoided if you want to have six pack abs. You should stay away from “white” foods. These include white flour or white rice. These are foods that are rich in fat (and often, with empty calories) and they are quickly metabolized into fat. You should also go easy on cakes and sweets – or foods rich in refined sugar. It is key to remember that maintaining a proper diet is not all dreariness and deprivation. With a little creativity, you can have sumptuous and delicious meals without breaking your promise to eat only healthy foods.
As you can see, it really takes a lot if you want those six pack abs or some sexy 8 pack abs. It is important that, as you do these, you should keep yourself well-motivated. It is also important that you enjoy yourself as you do the exercises, eat the right kinds of food and keep yourself healthy. If you think all these requirements are too much, you can incorporate them gradually, so that you are not too overwhelmed with all that it involves. For example, if you are used to skipping breakfast, you can start with a cup of coffee or some water. Then gradually work into incorporating a more complete breakfast to your routine. If you find that the exercises are too much to do in one go, you can try a few exercises or do all them with just a few repetitions. Then, when you are used to these, you can add on exercises or repetitions.
For those luscious and jaw-dropping six pack abs or eight pack abs, you need to want it and be willing to work hard to get it. To help you keep track, you can use an exercise and diet plan book, or some sort of record keeping system to help you record your gains and the positive changes you see in your body. The benefit of having a record is that you can refer to these in the future, to see what areas you can improve and what areas you should maintain.
You can also use nutritional supplements to boost your efforts. You can take thermogenics to drive metabolic rate up, appetite suppressants to conquer hunger and cravings for sweets, thyroid supplements such as L-Thyrosine, carb blockers and/or fat blockers.
So get to work and soon you will be able to display those sexy 8 pack abs. Yeah, baby!