Potentially the top request personal trainer’s hear everywhere is with regards to tightening these muscles. Face it, washboard abs not only look great, but, they also signify the holy grail of fitness.

One big misconception that some people have regarding getting a washboard stomach is that you should be working all these muscles separately. Because these individuals often envision the so-called ‘6-pack‘, they think that you can divide this muscle up, working on it section by section.

Without a clean diet, six pack abs will never be yours.

One thing you must realize is that while exercise is important, it’s only going to take you so far. No matter how many crunches or sit-up variations you perform, if you’ve got a solid layer of fat covering your stomach, your muscles are not going to be seen.

Unfortunately, this simply isn’t true.

While the abs definitely do consist of a few different muscles, all of these muscles are going to contract simultaneously, helping perform whatever movement is being asked of it. You can definitely target certain areas slightly more than others, but overall, you cannot solely isolate any one of the muscles in particular.

So, having said that, try not to do too many isolated ab exercises during your workout. While these can be nice in a sense that you’ll likely really ‘feel the burn’, they aren’t going to work as many muscle fibers as possible – which is your primary goal with any weight lifting session you perform.

The better thing to instead, is to do exercises that decrease your balance because that is what best calls your muscles into action.

Think doing ab crunches on the floor is good? Move those crunches onto an stability exercise ball.

This applies for other calisthenic exercises as well. Performing a set of push-ups? Why not move those onto an exercise ball as well? It’s the perfect opportunity to really challenge those muscles and help develop washboard abs. Simply place an exercise ball under your arms or under your feet and push-up from there. If you’re really ambitious, try both at the same time (note, use a spotter when doing this as there is a good chance you’ll roll off until you gain the skill necessary to balance).

The only time when you don’t want to decrease your stability too much, however, is when you’re lifting very heavy weights in major compound lifts (such as squats for instance). This could prove to be very dangerous because one small movement in the wrong direction due to being off balance could cause your form to go and that could lead to a severe injury.

So, keep your destabilization work to exercises that are performed with your body weight or very light weights.

By following these principles though, you can be sure that washboard abs are on their way for you.
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About the Author:

Vince DelMonte is the author of Your Six Pack Quest found at http://www.YourSixPackQuest.com

He specializes in helping chubby guys and gals get six pack abs without gimmicks, supplements or dieting.

The diagnosis of obesity is confirmed by the determination of too much fat. This can be measured in three ways.

The first is by the honest visual perspicacity of the individual. If an obese person suspects he is over fat, he need only take off his clothes, stand in front of a full-length mirror, and take a look—if he dares. Overweight people know they are fat. They do not need to be told by a doctor. No patient comes to my office and asks, “Should I lose weight, Doctor?”

They come in asking, “How much should I lose?” Insensitive indeed is the individual who cannot recognize a one-notch change in his belt, for better or for worse. Actually the waistline is a fairly accurate index of “ideal” weight.

More scientifically, obesity can be diagnosed by the “skin-fold” or “pinch” test. This test measures the amount of fat that exists beneath the skin and over the muscles. In everyone a layer of fat is blanketed between muscle and skin.

In addition to serving as a layer of insulation, fat also serves as a measure of obesity. To perform this test one grasps a pinch of skin between thumb and forefinger. What separates the fingers is skin on either side with fat in the middle. Muscle is not pinched up. This is done over the upper arm, upper chest, abdomen (while standing), buttocks, and calf. If more than one-half inch separates thumb and forefinger in one or more areas, then the patient has too much fat—and should reduce. This is a simple and accurate assessment of truly ideal weight.
A more reliable but less practical measurement is that of density or specific gravity. The more fat an individual carries

around, the more he weighs on land but the more he bobs to the surface when weighed under water. The reason is that fat is lighter than water and tends to rise, much as cream in a bottle of unhomogenized milk. Muscle is heavier than water and tends to sink. The more lean and well-knit an individual, the less he weighs dry, but the more he sinks to the bottom of a swimming pool. For instance, Mr. S. weighed 202 pounds on his bathroom scales. (He thought he weighed 202, but a somewhat protuberant abdomen obscured his view.) When he was weighed under water he registered a mere 9 pounds.

Having taken a brief, yet horrifying glance in the mirror and having viewed with dismay a bulbous and fatty front which had little if any sign of life or muscle tone, Mr. S. began to lose weight. He did this by diet and exercise. After several months passed by, he weighed a svelte 186 pounds on the bathroom scales. But a re weighing under water revealed an increase to 12 pounds. As contradictory as this may seem, Mr. S.’s increased submerged weight was a reflection of his increased body density, i.e., relation of lean muscle to fat. He had lost weight as fat.

Learn more details about fat loss in this >>free ebook<< you can dowload right now.

Metabolism is the two-way process of synthesizing complex living tissue from simple nonliving foods and then the breakdown of these living tissues into simpler substances.

• The building-up process is called constructive metabolism or anabolism.
• The breaking down of living tissues to fuel and waste products is known as destructive metabolism or catabolism.

In the healthy adult who has attained his maximal growth, anabolism and catabolism proceed at equal rates, although of course in opposite directions. Thus weight remains steady.

In the resting state, metabolism proceeds slowly at a basal or minimal rate (”basal metabolic rate” or BMR) since there are no demands on the body other than to remain viable. But during exercise energy requirements increase. It is obvious that metabolism must accelerate in order to provide the extra fuel or calories necessary to sustain the added work load.

The principle sources of readily available calories in large quantities are glucose and fatty acids.

End products of their metabolism are carbon dioxide and water, both of which readily escape via the lungs. Except in exercise sustained for several hours, almost no protein is burned. This is fortunate. The end products of protein breakdown cannot find egress via the lungs but must be excreted by the kidneys. Since the kidneys shut down during exercise, a harmful accumulation of acid would result if protein were a significant fuel.

The Function Of Sweat

Sweating is useful chiefly as a means of losing heat. Because the human organism is only partly efficient, the metabolism of glucose and fatty acids yields work plus heat.

If the body were completely efficient, work and no heat would result. Thus exercise produces an increase in body temperature. After one to two hours of sustained activity, rectal temperatures of 101-103 degrees Fahrenheit are to be expected.

Sweat is an important defense against disastrous rises in temperature which may result in heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Believe it or not, the fit subject sweats better! In a recent experiment untrained subjects were exercised in a hot environment daily. At the outset they perspired moderately and lost copious amounts of salt. In a few days their sweat glands became acclimatized. They perspired more to get rid of more heat and cut back on salt losses to avoid the hazards of salt depletion.

Training of the mind is as inevitable as training of the body in the fit individual. The sportsman disciplines himself to ignore fatigue and to give forth with his best effort. Long surmised by coaches and trainers, this fact now has received scientific corroboration.

Trained and untrained subjects were examined in the laboratory. Each subject was asked to lift as much weight as he possibly could. Obviously the trained men could lift more. But that is not the point. Next, each subject was then given more weight than he said he was able to lift. At the very moment when the subject was about to hoist the weight a gun blast went off beside his head. By being thus distracted and startled the untrained men were able to lift more than previously. However, this was not so with the trained subjects-they already had “psyched” themselves up maximally.

The gun shot added nothing to their performance because they already had disciplined their minds for maximum effort.

This point was also confirmed by asking the subjects to shriek at the top of their lungs as they weight-lifted. Again, the untrained men lifted more. Shrieking made no difference to the fit subjects.

Here after, you’ll find two excellents methods teaching how to boost metabolism :

• Mike Geary’s fat burning method
• Burning Furnace by Rob Poulos
• Muscle Gaining by Jason Ferruggia

We all know that heart disease is one of the leading killers of people around the world, particularly highest in countries such as the US and Australia.

However, did you know that there are several medical studies worldwide that clearly show that higher cholesterol levels in the body actually increases longevity instead of decreasing it? Yes, you heard that right! People with high cholesterol have been statistically shown to live longer and healthier than people with low cholesterol in several studies. There are multiple references for this phenomenon in Shane Ellison’s controversial book, The Hidden Truth about Cholesterol Lowering Drugs, Dr. Uffe Ravnskov’s (MD, PhD) book entitled The Cholesterol Myths, as well as Sally Fallon and Mary Enig’s book, Nourishing Traditions.

So why in the world are the pharmaceutical and medical industry pushing for practically everyone on the planet to “lower their cholesterol”? Well, the first, and more innocent answer, is flawed medical studies from decades ago that have been accepted as fact and never fully analyzed for their validity. Another answer is that this practice of recommending that half of the damn planet takes a cholesterol lowering medication (currently, statins), regardless of whether they truly have any real risk for heart disease, creates insane multi-squillion dollar profits for the drug companies!

As a perfectly absurd example of how doctors have been wrongly influenced by the drug companies… a couple years ago, I was a perfectly healthy 28 yr old, in great shape, exercising daily, eating a balanced healthy diet full of antioxidants and quality nutrition, no smoking, and with no real risk factors for heart disease, and just because my cholesterol level has been consistently measured over 200 for my entire life, my doctor recommended I consider using a statin drug.

Consider how outlandish this scenario is! The drug companies have hypnotized doctors into prescribing unnecessary prescription drugs to healthy young people with perfectly normal cholesterol levels that just happen to be over this arbitrary number of 200 that they’ve come up with. Luckily, I refused to be a guinea pig and fork over my hard earned duckets for potentially dangerous drugs, and decided to start researching this whole cholesterol and heart disease connection myself. Consider also that my father, who is now 60 years old, has had cholesterol levels slightly over 200 his entire life also (just like me), yet he is perfectly healthy at his ripe age of 60.

As time goes on and scientists continue to learn more about heart disease, it has become quite clear over the recent years that inflammation within the body (NOT cholesterol levels) is what causes plaque build up in the arteries and eventual heart disease. Inflammation can be caused by many personal factors such as stress, smoking, viruses, consumption of refined and/or hydrogenated fats (man-made trans fats), an imbalance of omega-6 polyunsaturated fats to omega-3 polyunsaturated fats in the diet, excess refined sugars in the diet, etc.

Here’s a quick and dirty of how it works in general. Cholesterol is a healing substance within the body (among many other important functions), and responds to arterial inflammation by getting deposited in combination with other substances, forming “plaque” as a healing agent on the artery lining.

Levels of inflammation in your body can be measured with what’s called a CRP test (c-reactive protein). The accuracy of this test still has room for improvement, as it can vary depending on the time of day and other factors, but it is a much better indication of heart disease risk than a cholesterol test (which is practically useless for determining heart disease risk).

Another more important test than cholesterol levels for heart disease risk is a test for serum homocysteine levels. The next time your doctor wants you to get blood cholesterol tests, request CRP and homocysteine tests instead. He/she should be well aware of the validity of these tests if they are up to date.

Basically, if you have significant internal inflammation, this plaque will be deposited as a healing agent regardless of whether you have high or low cholesterol. On the other hand, if you don’t have inflammation, high cholesterol levels just keep circulating without getting deposited on the artery linings. Therefore, it is more important to control inflammation rather than trying to lower your cholesterol.

Lowering your cholesterol doesn’t attack the root of the problem (what is actually causing the inflammation in you). Lowering your cholesterol does nothing except to make the drug companies rich, and possibly leave you with a whole assortment of possible negative side-effects.

The good news is that preventing heart disease is about living a healthy lifestyle, not about throwing down a drug pill everyday. Controlling your inflammation to prevent heart disease is as easy as reducing the stress in your life (try deep breathing exercises, Qigong, yoga, etc.), maintaining a healthy weight, eating a high-antioxidant, highly nutritious unprocessed diet (as recommended in my Truth about Six Pack Abs program), and avoiding smoking and other causes of heavy free radical production in the body.

I hope this article has given you some helpful info about the real causes of heart disease and not the propaganda that has been shoved down your throat for years, based on flawed medical studies from 40-50 years ago, making drug companies filthy rich.

If you or anyone you care about is currently taking statins, or if you just want to learn more about cholesterol and the scandal that is revolving currently around statin drugs, please see The Cholesterol Myths.

On a related topic, were you aware that there is also quite a controversy these days in the health industry over the fact that saturated fat is not necessarily bad for you, and can actually be downright good for you in some cases? I posted this article a few months ago, but thought I would mention this article again

by Mike Geary – Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

Working as a fitness professional, there is one type of question I get all the time that shows that many people are missing the big picture regarding the benefits of strength training. This popular question usually goes something like this:

“What exercise can I do to isolate my _______ (insert your muscle of choice – abs, quads, biceps, triceps, etc)?”

It doesn’t matter which muscle someone is asking about, they always seem to be asking how to ‘isolate’ it. My first response to this question is always – “Why in the world would you want to isolate it?”

The first thing I try to teach my clients is that the body does not work well in muscle isolation. Rather, it works better in movements along a kinetic chain; that is, large portions of the body assist other portions of the body in completing a complex movement. In fact, there really is no such thing as true muscle isolation. There is almost always a nearby muscle group that will assist in some way with whatever movement you are doing. However, this article compares attempting to ‘isolate’ body parts via single-joint exercises to the much more effective strategy of performing multi-joint complex movements.

When you attempt to “isolate” muscles by performing single-joint exercises, you are actually creating a body that is non-functional and will be more prone to injury. Essentially, you are creating a body that is a compilation of body parts, instead of a powerful, functional unit that works together.

Now if you really want to end up hobbling around in a body bandaged up with joint problems, tendonitis, and excess body fat, then by all means, continue trying to ‘isolate’ body parts. On the other hand, if you would rather have a lean, muscular, injury-free, functional body that works as a complete powerful unit to perform complex movements (in athletics or even everyday tasks), then you need to shift your focus away from muscle isolation.

Believe me, focusing on how well your body functions will give you the side effect of a body that looks even better than it would have if you focused on muscle isolation. For example, take a look at the physiques of any NFL running backs, wide receivers, or even world class sprinters. Trust me when I say that these guys pretty much NEVER train for muscle isolation (their strength coaches wouldn’t be crazy enough to let them), yet they are absolutely ripped to shreds! Just look at guys like Maurice Green or Terrell Owens and tell me who wouldn’t want a physique like those guys.

Another benefit to moving away from the ‘muscle isolation’ mindset to a more ‘complex movement’ mindset is that you will find it much easier to lose body fat. The reason is that by focusing more on multi-joint complex movements as opposed to single-joint muscle isolation, you not only burn a lot more calories during each workout, but you also increase your metabolic rate, and stimulate production of more fat burning and muscle building hormones like growth hormone and testosterone.

Let’s look at an example. The machine leg extension is a single joint exercise that works mainly the quadriceps, can potentially cause knee joint instability in the long run, and doesn’t even burn that many calories. On the other hand, exercises like squats, lunges, step-ups, and deadlifts are all multi-joint complex movements that work hundreds of muscles in the body (including the quadriceps) as a functional unit, create more stable and strong joints in the long run (when done properly), and also burn massive quantities of calories compared to the single-joint exercises.

If you’re interested in discovering more ways to create a body that looks as good as it functions, pick up a copy of my innovative book The Truth About Six Pack Abs

I know this meal concoction may sound a little weird, but I had a couple friends try it and they couldn’t believe how good it was.

They demanded the recipe they liked it so much.

Really it’s nothing more than a bunch of stuff thrown together in a pot.

Geary’s Turkey-Bean Concoction (makes about 4-5 servings)

• 2 large cans of chunked or shredded turkey breast (or use about 1-lb of fresh shredded turkey breast).
• One 16-20 oz. can of baked beans
• 1 large tomato diced (or 1 can crushed tomatoes).
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• A couple cloves fresh diced garlic (or a tablespoon or so of crushed garlic from the jar)
• 1 large vidalia onion diced
• 2 red peppers diced

In a large pot, mix the olive oil, diced tomatoes, onions, peppers, and garlic together until it starts simmering and allow to cook for a few minutes. Then add in the shredded turkey and can of baked beans and simmer for a few more minutes.

That’s it… Simple, and maybe sounds a little weird, but I couldn’t believe how delicious it was! Plus, it has a great mix of healthy carbs, protein, and fat, as well as a good dose of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals.

The 2 Vital Secrets for Losing Your Belly Fat for Good

I bet you’re thinking that you’ve tried every technique in the world for losing your stubborn belly fat, but it just never seems to budge… right? I’m sure you see TONS of commercials and ads making all kinds of miracle claims for losing your belly fat overnight with their magic pill or wildly-hyped snake-oil supplement.

How about all of the bogus infomercial gadgets out there claiming you can shrink your stomach in a matter of days just by strapping some worthless “ab-belt” around your waist, or sizzle away the stomach fat by using their patented “ab-roller-rocker” do-hicky.

Come on now! I hope you’ve been insulted by all of these fraudulent marketers and the gimmicks and scams that they are pushing down your throat by trying to get you to believe that a fat-loss miracle is possible overnight.

So let’s get past all of the scams and gimmicks and get right down to the hard science and reality behind what techniques and strategies really do help you for losing your stubborn belly fat and keeping it off for life!

1) The first important principle we’ll discuss is how you structure your workouts. In order to stimulate fat-loss from your stomach, you need to stop wasting so much of your time doing all kinds of various abdominal exercises and hundreds of reps of crunches, leg lifts, and torso twists in the hopes of “spot-reducing” your belly and love handles.

I’m sure you know by now if you’ve read any reputable fitness publications over the last decade that spot-reduction DOES NOT occur. It’s a myth that just won’t seem to go away. The truth is, losing belly fat does NOT occur by doing exercises that target the stomach area. Unfortunately, even though most people by now do understand this (or at least they should), they still spend WAY too much of their training time trying to target the stomach with tons of abs exercises.

Now don’t get me wrong, a certain amount of abdominal exercises are great and they do help to strengthen your core and help you maintain a healthy back. But the fact is that direct abs exercises should only be a small portion of your workout routines. The majority of your time should be spent focusing on big multi-joint exercises that work the largest muscle groups of the body like the legs, chest, and back.

Now that is one of the REAL secrets for ridding yourself of that sloppy belly fat for good. Focusing on big multi-joint exercises for the largest portions of your body greatly increases your metabolic rate both during the workout, and for 24-48 hours after the workout.

In addition, this also stimulates an increase in fat-burning hormones within your body. You simply don’t get this type of metabolic and hormonal response by wasting most of your time with “abs-pumping” exercises.

Want to lose your belly fat the right way… Well, get your butt under a barbell and do some squats, some lunges, some deadlifts, step-ups, some back and chest work. For you ladies, don’t worry…it’s not going to “bulk you up”.

It doesn’t matter if it’s barbells, dumbbells, or even bodyweight exercises… the focus needs to be on big multi-joint exercises at a high intensity. That means no 5-minute rest periods between sets while you flap your gums with half of the people at the gym. Losing that stubborn belly for good requires some focus and intensity in your workouts!

Anybody who tells you that you can do it while sitting on your couch watching TV with some “ab-belt” strapped to you, or doing only 2-minutes of crunching with your “ab-rocker-roller” is flat out lying to you!

2) The second important principle to rid yourself of that flabby belly revolves around your nutrition. The first thing you need to realize is that “diets” only work against your body in your effort to lose the stomach fat.

You see, if you follow any of these fad diets like low-carb, or low-fat, or the grapefruit diet, the soup diet, or anything else that restricts 1 or more of the macro-nutrients (protein, carbs, and fat), most of the time you will actually lose lean muscle and lower your metabolic rate.

This only makes you fatter in the long run, when you start to eat normal again!

I could go into all kinds of details, but essentially you are messing up processes related to your hormonal balance in your body, the muscle glycogen process, insulin, blood sugar, etc., and this stops your fat loss dead in its tracks!

It’s important to stop falling for the fad diet gimmicks, and understand that as humans, we are meant to eat a balanced diet full of a diverse array of foods from healthy natural sources of carbohydrates, proteins, AND fats. This gives your body all of the macro-nutrients as well as all of the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and enzymes that your body needs to run like a well-oiled fat-burning machine!

I could go on and on with dozens more strategies for losing your belly fat faster, the natural way, but I’ve rambled on long enough for one article. You can find all of my best fat-loss strategies to help you uncover those hidden abdominals of yours, laid out into actual programs for you to follow in my Truth about Six Pack Abs Program for Losing Belly Fat losing belly fat.

If you’ve been thinking of getting a copy of The Truth about Six Pack Abs Program, but just haven’t made the move yet, now is the time to take action, and get started on your lean ripped flat stomach today!

I’ve been talking to some other top-selling fitness professionals lately, and they’ve told me that my price is WAY too low for the amount of quality info that I reveal in the program…not to mention the additional value with the 5 extra bonuses that you receive for free (including Virgil Aponte’s famous Stair’s Exercises e-book, a $29.95 value by itself, and the Killer Stability Ball Abdominals Exercises Guide)

Please keep an open-mind and don’t worry so much about what other people think, because this is quite different and you may get some funny looks, but you’ll get the last laugh with your new rock hard body! To be honest, most people are too self conscious to try something like this. If that’s the case for you, then that’s your loss.

Here’s how it works:

Instead of doing your traditional workouts of going to the gym 3-4 times a week and doing your normal weight training and cardio routines for an hour at a shot, with this program, you will be working out for just a couple minutes at a time, several times throughout each day, 5 days/week.

The program will consist of only bodyweight exercises done for about 2-3 minutes, 6-8 times per day, throughout each day. Now obviously if you work a normal office job, you are going to have to not be shy about doing a few exercises in your office and having your cube-mates watch you. Actually, I’ve found that some people that have tried this have actually gotten their co-workers to join them!

If you have a private office, then you don’t have to worry about anybody watching you. If you work from home, or are a stay at home mom, there’s no reason you can’t fit these in throughout the day while at home. If you end up having a busy day with meetings and so forth, and can only fit a couple of these 2-minute workouts in, then so be it, but try to get as many done each day as you can.

If you’re on a normal 9-5 office schedule, I recommend doing your 2-minute workouts every hour, on the hour, with the exception of lunch. For example, you could try 9 am, 10 am, 11 am, 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm, and 4 pm.

Some of the exercises that are the best to focus on are: * bodyweight squats (and variations) * pushups (and variations) * forward, reverse, or walking lunges * up & down a staircase if one is available * floor planks (holding plank position from forearms and feet) * floor abs exercises such as lying leg thrusts, ab bicycles, etc. * one-legged bodyweight Romanian deadlifts

This list is not fully comprehensive, but I wanted to keep it relatively simple. If you know other good bodyweight exercises, you can add those to your routine also. If you want to keep it real simple and don’t want to get down on the floor for anything, you can stick to squats, lunges, and pushups and still get great results.

The good thing about these workouts is that you do enough in 2-3 minutes to get your blood pumping, heart rate up a bit, a large portion of your body’s muscles worked, and body temperature raised. However, it’s usually not enough to break a sweat in only 2 or 3 minutes, so you don’t have to worry about sweating in the office or where ever you may be. At most, you might just get a little moist on the skin.

Here’s an example routine (adjust the reps up or down based on your capabilities): Mon/Wed/Fri: 9   am: 10 pushups/15 bodyweight squats, repeat 1X for 2 sets. 10 am: Plank holds (hold the planks as long as you can taking short rest breaks for a total of 3 minutes). 11 am: 5 pushups/10 bodyweight squats, repeat for 4 sets. 1   pm: Plank holds (hold as long as possible in 3 minutes). 2   pm: 8 pushups/12 bodyweight squats, repeat for 3 sets. 3   pm: Plank holds (hold as long as possible in 3 minutes). 4   pm: Max pushups/max bodyweight squats in one set (no repeat). Tues/Thurs: 9   am: – 6 fwd lunges each leg/6 rev lunges, repeat 1X for 2 sets. 10 am: One legged bw Romanian deadlifts (RDL) 6 each leg/floor abs for 20 sec, repeat 1X for 2 sets. 11 am: 3 fwd lunges each leg/3 rev lunges, repeat for 4 sets. 1   pm: One legged bw RDL 3 each leg/floor abs for 20 sec, repeat for 4 sets. 2   pm: 5 fwd lunges each leg/5 rev lunges, repeat for 3 sets. 3   pm: One legged bw RDL 10 each leg/floor abs for 30 sec (no repeat). 4   pm: Max fwd lunges each leg/max rev lunges in one set (no repeat).

In order to progress on these workouts, you could either add 1 or 2 reps to each set per week, or you could progress to more difficult versions of each exercise each week (for example, close grip pushups, one leg raised pushups, squats with arms raised straight over head, etc.).

The above routines are just a couple examples of how you can use this very unique style of training. Use your creativity and come up with your own. Think about what you’ve accomplished with these “mini” workouts completed throughout each day… You’ve increased your heart rate and pumped up your muscles 6-8 different times throughout each day, burning a lot of extra calories and stimulating your metabolism.

Even though each “mini” workout was a very short duration, you’ve accumulated lots of repetitions for almost every muscle throughout your entire body, and you didn’t even have to break a sweat during any of the “mini” workouts. And there’s hardly any excuse for not being able to take a 2-minute break once per hour and do a couple of exercises.

Another benefit of this style of training is that now you don’t have to devote any time before or after work to going to the gym because you already got your workouts little by little throughout the day. You’ve now got some extra free time on your hands!

Try this type of routine out for 3-4 weeks and then go back to your normal gym routines. I think you’ll find that it was a great way to break out of a plateau and stimulate new results in your body. You can try mixing in a cycle of these “mini” workouts every couple of months to keep things fresh.

Keep in mind that this is only one method of training and doesn’t mean that you should only stick to this method for eternity. You will hit a plateau on any given training method, so I’d recommend just rotating it into your arsenal of various training methods. And by all means, don’t worry so much about what other people think…have the courage to try something a little different. In the end, you’ll be the one laughing back at all of the “blubber-bellies” that are giving you funny looks while they eat their donuts!

If you liked these training ideas, my internationally popular ebook The Truth about Six Pack Abs contains gobs and gobs more innovative training ideas to lose stubborn body fat and carve out a rock hard set of abs.

The majority of exercisers today still rely on long duration moderate paced aerobic exercise as their primary routine to burn fat fast. But recent studies have shown that this is a big, I mean big mistake.

In fact, you could say that the whole aerobics explosion of a few decades past was one of the biggest mistakes in the health and fitness industry. Why?

There are several reasons, but I’ll focus on the two main issues here. When you exercise at a moderate pace for extended periods of time (as in the typically recommended percent of your target heart rate), your body is burning fat during the exercise.

While this may sound good, it’s actually bad news. This sends a signal to your body to keep a certain amount of stored fat available for your next workout. You’re essentially telling it that it needs fat available to burn, ‘because you’ll be doing this exercise again.

So while we may be burning some calories during this exercise, after the exercise is over, our body begins storing up some fat for the next workout. Obviously not what we’re looking for in terms of maximum ability to burn fat fast.

The other big concern with moderately paced aerobic exercise performed several times per week is that it trains your body (heart, lungs, muscles, etc.) to become efficient. Again, this may sound good, but what is actually happening is bad for long term health.

You are working only within your existing aerobic limits, without improving your aerobic capacity. This is important because your aerobic capacity is what determines how your body responds in times of physical, emotional, and mental stress.

If you reduce your capacity for work, as you do in this type of exercise, you’re reducing your long term health, no to mention a poor chance of burning fat.

The good news is, you can reverse these effects by instead focusing your workouts on high intensity resistance training, with workouts that last 15-20 minutes on average, and can only be performed 2-3 times per week. These workouts will burn carbohydrates instead of fat during the workout, and will cause your body to use its fat stores to replenish the burned carbs over the next 24 hours, after the workout is done!

This type of work will also increase your reserve capacity and thus your ability to handle all types of stress, leading to lasting health and fitness…and 24/7 fat burning. Nice!

But the exercise must be performed correctly to be effective, and that means using sufficient intensity, and keeping your rest periods between exercises and sets down to 60 seconds or less.

The students of my Fat-Burning-Furnace method know this, and are reaping the benefits. When you think about how little time you have to spend compared to the typically recommended methods to get these fat burning and health creating results, it’s almost magical.

Check out the free gift 7 Forbidden Secrets of Fat Loss Report that Rob is giving away.

That about it for today. Hope you’re having a great one!

Stay lean,

Mike Geary

Instead of the typical ab routines that we see so often with crunches, situps, leg lifts, etc… I like to give my readers better options for metabolism-boosting high intensity workouts that work their entire body while also working their abs.

I’m going to show you an example today of one of my favorite “ab workouts” that doesn’t include any direct “G” at all. It’s in a tri-set format (similar to a super-set but alternating between 3 exercises).

Here goes:

1. Renegade Dumbbell Rows
2. Front Squats with Barbell
3. Mountain Climbers on Floor

A good rep scheme to use with this could be 3-4 sets of 8 reps for each exercise, or more sets for less reps, such as 5 sets of 5 reps of each exercise. Mountain climbers can be done for a time interval (such as 30 seconds) instead of “reps”.

Exercise Pics & Descriptions:

Renegade dumbbell rows are done starting in a pushup position with the hands on 2 dumbbells. You then row one dumbbell up while stabilizing your body with the other arm. Bring the dumbbell back to the ground and alternate the rowing arm while stabilizing with the opposite arm. This stabilizing effect during the rows creates incredible work for your entire midsection core area. Trust me… you’ll feel it in the abs!

Renegade Rows shown above

Front squats are done similar to back squats, however with the barbell in front of your body on the front of your shoulders instead of resting on the upper back as in back squats. You stabilize the barbell on your shoulders by crossing your arms and pushing your fists into the bar against your shoulders while keeping your elbows out in front of the body.

This takes a little practice at first, so you will want to seek a professional trainer at your gym to help you with the form. Front squats require extreme stabilization strength from the abs due to the barbell weight being shifted to the front of the body instead of the back. Even though this is mostly a leg exercise, you’ll feel this one in the abs big time!

Front squats shown above

Mountain climbers are done by starting in a pushup position and then shuffling your feet in and out so that your knees are moving in under your chest and then back out to starting position. It sort of resembles climbing a mountain but flat on the floor. If you want an advanced version, you can also shuffle your hands 8-10 inches forward and backward in addition to the leg movements. This really makes it a full body exercise and MUCH more difficult than standard mountain climbers.

Mountain Climbers shown above

After finishing each exercise, rest about 30 seconds before starting the next exercise. Rest about 1-2 minutes after completing each “tri-set” before repeating.

This will give you one of the best ab workouts you’ve ever had without even doing any direct ab exercises. You’ll see what I mean after you try it!

This is just a sampling of some of the killer ideas you’ll discover in my internationally best-selling ebook program, The Truth about Six Pack Abs, currently the #1 most popular abs program on the internet (as ranked by clickbank.com) with 10’s of thousands of users in over 100 countries. If you don’t already have a copy be sure to pick one up today…

Not only will you receive a complete blue-print for challenging full-body workouts that will thoroughly define your entire body in addition to your abs (can be adjusted to beginners or advanced levels), but you’ll also gain a thorough understanding of what types of nutritional strategies and other lifestyle aspects that it takes to reduce your belly fat to the level where your abs are visible.

Check out what other users are saying about their results with the Truth about Six Pack Abs program.

Don’t be lazy… Be lean.

Mike Geary

In this article, I have an intriguing discussion about cardio workouts, which will hopefully get you thinking differently, and trying new things. You may know I’ve been called the anti-cardio guy before, but this week I’m back posing the question to you…Do you really need cardio training to get lean and in great shape?

By the way, you’ll see in a minute that I’m not really “anti-cardio”, just “anti traditional cardio”.

Most fitness buffs, weekend warriors, or anyone trying to get in shape or lose body fat, consider it a fact that abdominal exercises can’t exist without cardio, and that they need “cardio” exercise to accomplish these goals. They would never even question it.

However, I’m not only questioning it, I’m going to refute it! In fact, you may be surprised to know that some of the leanest and meanest people I know (men and women), NEVER do any type of normal or traditional cardio. And I’ve spent over 15 years working out in various gyms, and hanging out with athletes of all sorts, so I’ve seen it all.

I will say that there can be a place for low-moderate level cardio workouts for really overweight or deconditioned people, but even in those cases, there can be more effective methods.

But what exactly is “cardio”? Most people would consider cardio to be pumping away mindlessly on a treadmill, riding a stationary bike, or coasting on an elliptical machine, while watching the TV screen at their state of the art gym. This is what I call “traditional cardio”. Hmmm, no wonder the majority of people get bored with their workouts and give up after a couple months without seeing results.

But if you look closer, “cardio” exercise can be considered any type of exercise or activity that strengthens the cardiovascular system.

I’m not going to get into anything technical like increasing your VO2 max or anything like that. To keep it simple, if it gets your heart pumpin, and gets you huffin and puffin, it’s cardio. I don’t care if you’re holding dumbbells or a barbell and everyone calls it a weight training exercise…it’s still conditioning your heart.

Let’s take a look at a couple examples:

Take a barbell (or dumbbell, or kettlebell) clean & press for example, which involves lifting a barbell from the floor up to shoulders, then push pressing overhead. And listen up ladies, because even though this is usually seen as a manly exercise, it doesn’t matter if you’re not lifting 250 lbs; if 45 lbs is challenging to you, then you will still benefit just as much.

At first glance, most people think of the barbell C&P only as a weight training exercise or strength exercise. However, I challenge you to do a hard set of around 10-15 reps on the C&P. If you used a challenging enough weight, what you’ll find is that your heart rate is probably up to about 80-90% of your recommended max, and you are huffing and puffing like you just ran a 100-meter sprint (which by the way, sprinting kicks the crap out of jogging any day if you want the easiest way to lose the flab).

Try the same thing for a set of 20 reps of one-arm snatches or swings with each arm with a kettlebell or dumbbell, and tell me your legs aren’t burning, heart racing, and you’re gasping for breath. How about trying 5 minutes straight of bodyweight squats, lunges, and pushups with very little rest. Again, notice your heart pounding, sweat pouring off of you, and chest heaving for breaths!

Try and tell me you’re not conditioning your heart with this style of training! Conventional thinking says that these are weight training or strength training exercises. However, they are fullfilling your cardio workout needs as well.

Not only do you save time, but you strengthen and condition almost every muscle in your entire body with these full body exercises if you do them with enough intensity…something that can’t be said for that boring stationary bike ride or treadmill jaunt while reading or watching TV. Seriously, if you can read or watch TV while doing any exercise, you’re not concentrating enough on what you’re doing, plus you’re probably not working out hard enough to see any real results.

I challenge you to give the “traditional cardio” a rest for a month or two, and start training the way I explain in my internationally-selling Truth about Six pack Abs Program, and see how you start getting leaner,  more defined, and your six pack starting to show through what used to be stubborn stomach fat deposits.