Get Six Pack Abs Like a Fitness Model

The quickest and best way to get ripped, washboard, 6 pack abs is to do resistance exercise and cardiovascular interval training combined with clean eating to reduce body fat.

What's interval training you ask? It's several sets of brief but high intensity bouts of exercise followed by ample rest periods or low/moderate intensity cardio to let your heart and muscles recover for the next set. By high intensity I mean putting in a near maximal effort for each set, anywhere from 85% to 100% of your maximum exercise output. When beginning an interval program, always start out at the lower end of this intensity scale and gradually raise your maximal efforts.

Interval training forces your body to burn more fat since it is not able to adjust and adapt to the varying intensities. Examples of interval training include any intense (fast) movement of your body to rapidly increase your heart rate and exhaust your muscles, such as:

• Wind sprints


• Jumping jacks


• Squat thrusts


• Mountain climbers (pushup position & pumping your knees back and forth


• Stationary or regular bike sprints


• Spinning


• Cardio Kickboxing

Just about any lower body, upper body or full body exercise can be used for cardio intervals. You can be creative and do something you enjoy.

Do interval training 2-3 times per week max for 15 minutes each session. This will burns more fat than conventional moderate or low intensity activities like walking or jogging. And it does so very quickly and with less time investment.

Regarding my abs exercises, I spend about 30-45 minutes per week on them. That's it. I like to do super set circuits with 30 seconds rest for your abs and a 60 second rest between abs circuits.

Best Abs Exercise Circuit

Lying Bent Knee Leg Lifts - Lying on back, hands and arms out resting on floor, raise your knees & thighs perpendicular to the floor with calfs/shins parallel . Do a set of 15 - 20 reps of lowering
your legs and raising them slowly (count of 3 up and count of 3 down). Rest 30 seconds and then immediately do:

Reaching Sit Ups - Lay on your back with feet planted firmly in front of you and knees bent pointing up toward the ceiling. That's the starting position. Next do a slow, deliberate sit up with your arms and hands reaching 45 degrees towards the ceiling. Sit up so your torso is perpendicular to floor. Then immediately go back down to starting position. 3 count on the way up. 3 count on the way down. The reaching part of this exercise places extra resistance on your upper abs. Rest for 30 seconds. Then do:

Bicycle Kicks, Elbow to Knee - Lay on your back, body flat on the ground. Tuck your hands just behind your ears. Pull your knees and legs up so your thighs are perpendicular and lower legs are parallel to the floor. Raise your shoulder blades off the floor a little and begin by touching your right elbow to your left knee while extending your right leg out, followed by touching your left elbow to your right knee while extending your left leg out.

When doing this exercise correctly, you will look like you are riding a bike flat on the floor and at the same time twisting your torso up to touch your opposite elbow to your knee. Do 30 Reps & Rest 1 Minute before doing a second and final circuit.

Do this circuit twice per session, 2-3 times per week and your abs will "pop"like cobblestones, I assure you! Both the routines described above take 15 minutes each, so you only have to put in 75 - 90 minutes total per week to sculpt and reveal your washboard abs.

I don't recommend many third party fitness products, but this is something I really believe in... Vince Del Monte and I have a lot in common and I approve and recommend his No Nonsense Six Pack Abs program without hesitation. A big thumbs up!

I'm going to give you a few fat burning tips and secret foods from my six pack abs diet. I'll also briefly explain how and why FOOD is an extremely important success factor for burning enough fat to reveal six pack abs.

I think it's safe to say that everyone who reads this knows that food is important for achieving their training goals, whether that’s to build and tone muscle, lose fat or both. Everybody knows you need carbohydrate energy for workouts and you need quality protein for muscle recovery and repair. However, what most people don't realize is that you can't just guess or haphazardly go about your abs nutrition. You certainly can’t deprive yourself of food or expect success by going on an extreme calorie-restricted diet. Abs nutrition doesn't work that way.

What you eat and how you eat is an important part of the six pack diet formula. What you eat, how much you eat, in what combinations, pre workout eating, post workout eating and meal timing can be confusing until you learn how to do it automatically.

These tips will take some of the guesswork out of how to eat to lose weight and to build and tone your muscles. Trust me, I have reduced my own body fat percentage down to a measly 6% using these simple eating tips and tricks. They work. They will absolutely work for you too if you apply them consistently.

1) No Extreme Dieting. Make Sure You Eat Enough Quality Food!

Most people who try to lose weight go an extreme calorie reduction diet. While this kind of dieting works in the beginning, the problem is that it quickly slows down your resting metabolism and your weight loss, which is why most people get discouraged and quit these programs. Food is anabolic, meaning it builds, repairs and nourishes lean muscle. According to research studies, just eating enough of the right foods will help you build new muscle and burn fat even without exercising.

2) Eat 5 - 6 smaller meals/snacks a day instead of 2 or 3 “normal meals”

First of all, never skip breakfast. A study by the U.S. Navy showed that eating breakfast raises your metabolism (your caloric “burn rate”) by 10%. You should eat your first meal immediately or within 30 minutes of rising. After that, space your meals and snacks 2-3 hours apart throughout your day. For example, when you eat meals, be sure to eat a snack 3 hours after eating that meal. When you have a snack, you only need to wait 2 hours before eating your next meal.

Snacks are a little smaller than meals and are typically convenience oriented. Here is an example of meal timing on a “non-training” day:

7:00 AM – Breakfast
10:00 AM – Snack
12:00 PM – Lunch
3:00 PM – Snack
5:00 PM – Dinner
8:00 PM – Snack

You’ll notice that you are eating 6 times a day and on tough training days you can eat 7 or 8 times per day. How many conventional diets let you do that? It’s very important NOT to skip the pre and post workout meals & snacks. If you have a hard time eating this frequently on a training day, just leave off the last snack or meal if you must, but only as a last resort. Eating in this fashion distributes your calories evenly throughout the day, so you're body re-orients itself to burn those calories immediately rather than store them as fat.

All the times above are estimates and can be adjusted according to your personal routine. The key is to space meals and snacks 2-3 hours apart! Do this and you will lose fat. If your schedule won’t allow you to eat every 2-3 hours, than eat at least every 3-4 hours. Again, this is the most efficient way to eat because you feed your body just the right amount of calories to stay energized, balanced and in an anabolic state to build muscle and burn fat.

3) Glycemic Index Made Simple

For most of your meals and snacks, you should eat a mix of quality protein, carbohydrates, good fats and fiber. Don’t skimp protein. You need some in every meal or snack to boost your metabolism. This food combining will promote an even flow of calories in your bloodstream for sustained energy throughout the day. You will also avoid extreme low and high energy levels when you eat this way. You also ensure your blood sugar does not spike, which prevents you from burning fat.

When you you focus meals and snacks around protein, your body will raise its resting metabolism. That's because protein has a high thermic value. High thermic value means that your body must use more calories to digest protein than it does to digest carbs and fats. When you increase protein consumption, you raise your resting metabolism automatically so you burn more fat. The simple but fascinating process of digestion is calorie-dependent and much more so when you eat protein.

Six Pack Abs Diet: Nutrition Tips & Foods That Melt The Fat off Your Stomach

• Quality animal protein from sources like lean chicken, turkey & beef


• Eggs. I know eggs have gotten bad rap due to the saturated fat in yolk, but there's no solid proof that it actually increases your cholesterol risk. In fact brand new research shows that it can lower your bad cholesterol. Limit yourself to one yolk per day and you should be fine.


• Omega 3 fatty acids from sources like seafood and milled flax seed. Omega 3 fatty acids actually increase your body's ability to burn fat. It's kind of like pouring gas on a fire, but keep the amount of fats to a reasonable level per meal or you will put your metabolic fire out.


• Dairy from quality sources like low fat cheese &cottage cheese, non fat plain yogurt and of course skim milk.


• Whey protein powder mix such as Muscle Milk or Body Fortress.


• Limited quantities of starchy carbohydrates; choose whole grain versions of breads, pastas and snacks (like whole wheat pretzels).

Combine the above food tips with a carbohydrate phasing plan: eat limited amounts of carbohydrates, during the week and then "treat" yourself to an indulgence of a few high carbohydrate meals on the weekend. So, it's low-moderate carbs intake for 4-5 days, followed by 2 days of higher carbohydrate consumption.

Whether you realize it or not, you now have in your possession some the most powerful strategies and tips for burning fat, ripping your abs and improving your health – information you won’t find in most diet books on the market. Apply these tips and foods with the abs training, and you are sure to reveal your abs this year.

Of course there is definitely more you need to know about how to get great abs, but this lens will give you a head start to hit the ground running in 2009.

Before engaging in any diet or exercise program, you should seek medical advice from a physician. The author of this lens is not engaged in providing medical advice or services to the reader. The nutrition tips and suggestions contained herein are not intended to be medical advice or services and as such, the reader's use or reliance on the information is at their own risk. The author assumes no risk or liability from the reader's use or reliance on information contained herein.