Losing fat and gaining an attractive six pack.

[O'neal]

Hey all,

I'm new to these forums but I did search for this topic but couldn't find anything that really interested me, so here goes. I am a 17 year old student and have over the years, like many of my age, put on weight around my body especially on my abs. Now, I would like to know what you people suggest on a routine excercise that would really help me lose a lot of fat:

 

-off my hips

-lower abs (Area around belly-button)

-and most importantly gain a six pack and a nice body.

 

I do follow a pretty normal diet which in my opinion is healthy. I eat plenty of vegetables, fibres, I only drink water and milk, and try to avoid junk food and sugary sweets.

 

Now to the main help I require from you guys, is what do you suggest as a good routine excercise which can give me a very nice body along with a six pack?

 

All help will be appreciated,

regards.

[Rob]

Well, I don't know if this will help you or not, but it seems to have worked wonders for me since starting it in September. I go to the gym about three times a week, and while I vary the excercises throughout my whole body, I work my abs every single time. I do situps on an incline, I use an ab machine, and I do crunches as well. Try to go for about 25-50 each time. Also vary it up with running on a treadmill and biking.

 

For my side abs, I take a 25 lb weight and hold it in one hand, while holding my other hand behind my head. I lower it up and down moving only my sides, keeping my feet in place and not cheating by using my arm. I do that for about 20 reps. I then switch sides. I'm not sure what they call that excercise.

 

It seems to have done alright for me. I'm back down to a 32 inch waist (from a 34). If Ryan is around, I'm sure he can find some fault in this routine and show you the proper way of doing it. Good luck and I hope you find what works for you.

[yogi-mon]

Run 2 hours a day, eat less, and use weights 4 times a week.

eat things which are metabolic enhancers

[InmanRoshi]

I was in really good shape in my late teens, as I was a pretty good high school athlete. Once I got out of athletics, I started gaining weight, especially around my mid-section, in my early 20's. I went to a trainer, and we worked on a program, and I've stuck with it for the last 7 years.

First thing in the morning, I jog or ride an eliptical trainer for 25-30 minutes on an empty stomach. I do this almost every day.

 

Then, in the afternoons, I alternate heavy weight lifting days with yoga. No longer than 30-45 minutes.

 

I found the yoga to particularly help my midsection, as it helps stretch and elongate the mucles and the spine. I was surprised at how much my "beer gut" in my early 20's had to do with general bad posture.

 

Truthfully, as with anything in life, establishing a good workout routine is trial and error. I found I needed to find things that fit into my schedule that involved things I enjoyed doing. This routine works easily for me, as I have access to a gym at my work that is seldom used. I record all of my yoga off of basic digital cable.

[O'neal]

hmmm. Thing is that I can't go to the gym, as it's far from my house therefore I have to do excercises at home. Do you guys know any good excercises I should do to start with and how many or how long of each I should do?

All help will be greatly appreciated.

[InmanRoshi]

Jog, pushups, pullups, situps.

 

It worked for all the people I know who went into the Marines.

[xcbizzle86]

hey, i was wondering, if i were to do 100 situps from now until the summer do you think i will have six pack? Because thats what i have been doing, but so far i have seen no results. There is a little cake on top, but nothin has gone down. What else do you think i should do?

[wideawake]

Having your abominals show (6pack) is completely dependent on your body fat percentage.

 

No amount of exercise will allow them to show through if you still have a layer of fat covering them. Period.

 

Diet and exercise are key to losing fat, but it really doesn't matter if you do 1,000,000 situp a day for the next 5 years if you're still taking in more total calories than you're using.

 

You need to come in around 500-700 calories a day under your maintance level, which is going to be different for everyone.

[corythosaurus]

The only way you will see your ab muscles is to reduce your bodyfat!

 

That is it. You can do all the weight training, and abdominal routines you can do, but if you do not decrease your bodyfat percentage, you will never see your abs. 10% bodyfat or less for men.

 

How can you reduce your body fat?

 

Eat healthy: Clean foods, whole grains, fresh vegetables

 

Increase your metabolism: Increase your cardio vascular activities. Weight training, more muscle increases your metabolism.

 

As fas as training abdominal muscles; you train them just like any other muscle. Add resistence, and increase as you go and REST! You wouldn't train your legs or chest everyday, do no train your abs everyday.

[faux]

I'm working on something similar myself. This time last year I weighed 189-190ish at 5'4". After a bad break-up in March of last year I took it upon myself to improve on a few things, and went down from 190 pounds in April to 150 pounds by August. Right now I'm 140 but I still want to lose more fat around my stomach and work on those "love handles."

 

All around exercising is great. I work with heavy weights three or four times a week depending, and try to keep a decent diet. I'm having no problems maintaining my weight or seeing results from exercising... Well, seeing results everywhere but the stomach and love handles.

 

I work my abs every time I do weights, but I've learned that it really does depend on your body fat percentage as said above.

 

It's been recommended to me that I start doing more cardio. This weekend marks my start of 30 minutes of cardio, 3 times a week. Along with everything else that I am doing I may be able to rid myself of those vanity pounds.

 

Cardio in general is what I have been neglecting because of the cold weather. It's no excuse. Once I start walking and going for light jogs I'll be sure to say if it's made any difference.

 

Most importantly though, if you're exercising, and eating well, and you think that you are at a healthy weight (Let's not talk about vanity pounds) then you're doing well, right?

 

I mean hey... I was a chubby kid, then a stick thin 14-17 year old, then I went up to around 230 pounds for a while. I prefer how I am now

[wideawake]

Originally posted by faux

I'm working on something similar myself. This time last year I weighed 189-190ish at 5'4". After a bad break-up in March of last year I took it upon myself to improve on a few things, and went down from 190 pounds in April to 150 pounds by August. Right now I'm 140 but I still want to lose more fat around my stomach and work on those "love handles."

 

All around exercising is great. I work with heavy weights three or four times a week depending, and try to keep a decent diet. I'm having no problems maintaining my weight or seeing results from exercising... Well, seeing results everywhere but the stomach and love handles.

 

I work my abs every time I do weights, but I've learned that it really does depend on your body fat percentage as said above.

 

It's been recommended to me that I start doing more cardio. This weekend marks my start of 30 minutes of cardio, 3 times a week. Along with everything else that I am doing I may be able to rid myself of those vanity pounds.

 

Cardio in general is what I have been neglecting because of the cold weather. It's no excuse. Once I start walking and going for light jogs I'll be sure to say if it's made any difference.

 

Most importantly though, if you're exercising, and eating well, and you think that you are at a healthy weight (Let's not talk about vanity pounds) then you're doing well, right?

 

I mean hey... I was a chubby kid, then a stick thin 14-17 year old, then I went up to around 230 pounds for a while. I prefer how I am now

 

Train abs once or twice a week...no more. In this case more is not better. They need recovery time just like any other muscle group.

 

More cardio will help. Do what you can, but try and keep the cardio and weight training at seperate times, i.e., run in the am and lift in the pm.