Image by: tpsdave
By: Ken Lucas

Abs abs abs. What’s so great about them? Yea they give other people that you’re a Greek god and have the capacity to endure long hours in the bedroom with the opposite sex, but why are they so valuable? That’s a question we will probably never know the answer to. It’s like asking why the sky is blue or why  grass is green, it just is. Men like Breasts, ass and legs and women like money, confidence and apparently six pack abs.

The problem is, though, not everybody has the washboard abs that women fantasize about. Lots of people have what society might call the potbelly, muffin top or tub lump (Okay I made the last one up). And if that person is you, then today’s your lucky day, because even though you’ve got the ravishing personality and you’ve got the overflowing bank account, you need to seal the deal with the abs.

That statement may come off as a bit vain, but hey, it couldn’t hurt to have a nice stomach. So here we go: A few crucial notes to document when seeking the 6 pack.

#1) Eat More Meals

You may think that in order for you to lose that muffin top you either need to go vegan or starve yourself to death. Good news, people, you can keep eating! In fact, you may even want to increase the meal intake. Key word, meal intake, not calorie or food intake, as restricting your calorie intake is crucial to losing belly fat. You may have been mistaken about fasting being the key to losing weight, but in reality the higher the meal intake the more your metabolism has to work to convert that food into energy.

Now I’m not telling you to eat five full course meals throughout the day, but rather 4-6 light meals that consists of high protein and moderate carbs and fat. And to top it off studies show that eating breakfast within an hour of waking up keeps your insulin levels steadier and your LDL cholesterol levels lower. Sounds good huh? You get to lose weight stay healthy at the same time.

Another word of advice regarding consumption: Drink plenty of water. Studies suggest that consistently drinking water (8-oz glass 8 times a day throughout the day can also speed up the metabolism; it also helps the body flush out waste, toxins and improves your overall health.

It is rumored that the first step to achieving the highly sought after washboard abs starts in the kitchen, so before you decide to kick the weight room up a notch, be sure you have all the essentials you need in the kitchen such as wheat bread and brown rice, lean meats and protein supplements that aid you in reaching your daily meal consumption.

Yea it’s tough work, and you might have to learn to be a chef, but if you’re serious about closing the deal in the bedroom with the new girlfriend then you may want to invest.

#2) Cardio!

Aerobic exercise–otherwise know as cardio–exists to get the heart pumping and burn calories. And you know what that means right? Shedding body fat as though it were a second skin. Why do you think marathon runners and professional boxers (Albiet Butterbean) barely have an ounce of fat on them? It’s because they’re training regimens often includes so much cardio that their body has no choice but to eliminate the excess weight hindering them from the tasks they are preparing themselves for.

Start spending time on the treadmills and tracking how long it takes you to run a mile before you blow a gasket. At first it will be difficult, but within a month or so you’ll notice your time steadily decreasing and your tolerance growing higher.

One thing you want to keep in mind as well before you merge yourself with treadmill is to run correctly. Yea, I know it sounds ridiculous, but you’d be surprised by the amount of people that complain about shin splints when they run. These shin splints are a pain around the front of your shins when you run as a result of over-pronating or landing with most of your weight on the outer side of your foot.

If you find you happen to have this issue and are too lazy to correct it, there are specialized shoes designed by brands like Nike and Under Armor designed to alleviate this issue.

Pretty soon you’ll eventually graduate to different machines such as the elliptical, stair climber and bike. But for now, if you’re a beginner don’t over do it. When first getting into cardio aim to workout only a few days a week and build on those days according to your body’s growth.

#3) Resistance Training

You may have found yourself doing a multitude of crunches and sit ups and wondering why they aren’t taking effect. While it may seem like they’re not taking effect, they are–it’s just you don’t see the results because their hidden under what belly fat you do have. So in order to get those abs showing, you’re going to have to commit yourself to a light weight, high rep workout regime.

Even if you are just trying to lose fat exclusively off the belly, doing exercises like squats, standing military press and bench press also help you burn belly fat, because your core is the secondary muscle for all compound exercises.

You may be able to bench press a house, but that won’t necessarily help you when you’re trying to shred the abs. Heavy compound exercises tend to have more of a fiber tearing effect than a cardio effect on the muscles–hence bro science advocates emphasizing on the chest tri’s, back bi’s, and legs routine for 6 to 10 reps.

As tempting as this may be, if you are indeed trying to lose unwanted fat, you will want to stick with full body, circuit training-esque exercises. Higher reps will cause your body not only to trigger an anaerobic effect, but also an aerobic effect that will work together simultaneously to aid you in the process of taking a few bites off the top of that muffin.

A few notes to consider: 1.) Skip the crunches and focus on free weighted compound exercises. 2.) Stretch before every workout 3.) To prevent injury, keep your form tight.

Are you the epitome of a before and after model that should be featured in any and every fitness magazine? Don’t be shy, before you jump in front of that camera tell us about how you achieved that six pack!