Supplements for Six Pack Abs

March 4th, 2010

So You Want a 6 Pack?

Six Pack Abs

Six Pack Abs

The average person probably does not want to look like a bodybuilder, probably far from it. In general, the majority of people probably just want to increase their overall tone, strength and fitness. Having toned six pack abs is probably the biggest goal for most people. Training for a six pack is easy and it only takes a few weeks for the muscles to develop… the hard part is burning off the fat above your abs to make them visible. To make your abs visible, your body fat level needs to be reduced to around 8-10%.

Reduce your body fat using these Diet Tips

To reduce your bodyfat to reveal your abs, you have to do the following with your diet:

  1. cut out all sugars from your diet
  2. consume the same amount of calories every day (about 12 times your bodyweight in pounds)
  3. split your daily calories over 6 equal calorie meals
  4. increase protein intake
  5. drink 8-10 glasses of water per day

Bingeing on sugary foods, drinking beer, missing breakfast, etc. will stop you getting any results, so don’t do it. Consistency is the main thing when reducing body fat. Aim to lose around 1% body fat every fortnight and do not judge results by your weight. You may lose 2 pounds of fat, but gain 2 pounds of muscle in a week, resulting in zero weight loss, although this would still be good progress.

Getting there now… Just add a little Exercise!

The above diet advice, when followed 100% would improve your physique. However, the diet would work better still when combined with exercise. Subtle changes could make all the difference. Here are some tips:

  1. Perform aerobics 3-5 times per week, first thing on a morning before breakfast, but after a cup of green tea (no milk or sugar). This could be as easy as taking a brisk walk to work instead of driving – aim for 20-30 minutes.
  2. Perform anaerobics 3 times per week. This means go to the gym and lift medium to heavy weights. Only use multiple joint exercises, performing just 10-12 high intensity sets per workout. Each set should be 8-12 reps, each lasting 4 seconds, with no stopping or locking out. Complete your workout within 45-50 minutes and consume a post workout shake immediately after your workout.

If you feel as though you are getting too muscly, just raise the number of reps that you do on the weights to 12-15, meaning you will then be targeting different muscle fibers that do not get as big.

…And finally, use Supplements to make your goals more Achievable!

There are 3 parts to this advice, i.e. diet, aerobics and anaerobics. Your diet is probably the hardest part to follow and is where most people would fail. To counter this, I would suggest eating a small bowl of unsweetened porridge with semi skimmed milk and/or water every day for breakfast and using a low calorie meal replacement shake for when you do not have the time or effort to eat a proper meal. It is surprising how well meal replacement shakes can satisfy your hunger, so give them a try if this is something you struggle with. I personally recommend CNP Professional’s meal replacement products, with Pro-MR suitable for men and Pro-MS suitable for women. Let me know how you get on, or if you have any questions.

(Note: the above advice is based upon vast amounts of research and experience, both personal and external and will work. I haven’t backed up my recommendations because it would have made this article 4-5 times as long and people would lose interest)

Regards,

Brian

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How Many Calories Per Day for Bodybuilding?

March 3rd, 2010

If you are a bodybuilder, then you will probably be following a mass gaining diet, whilst trying to gain lean muscle mass. You will then cycle this diet with a cutting diet, when trying to reduce body fat percentage, to increase definition and striations, possibly in preparation for a show. The question is… how many calories are required per day for mass gaining and for cutting?

As a general rule of thumb, when following a mass gain diet, you will need to consume 15 to 20 calories for every pound you weigh, per day. If you have a slow metabolism, consume 15 times and if you have a fast metabolism, consume 20 times. Obviously you would have to tweak this number to suit your individual requirements. When following a cutting diet, consume 10-15 calories for every pound you weigh, again tweaked to suit your individual requirements.

However, calories are just one part of the recipe for optimum lean mass gains and cutting without losing muscle. You also have to ensure that your calories are based upon a macronutrient split of 50/30/20 for mass building. This means that 50% of your calories should come from carbs, 30% from protein and 20% from fat.

For example, if an individual weighs 180 pounds and wants to gain weight, in the form of lean muscle mass, without gaining weight and has a fast metabolism, then they would need 180 x 20 = 3600 calories per day. A macronutrient split of 50/30/20 would mean that 0.5 x 3600 = 1800 calories from carbs per day, 0.3 x 3600 = 1080 calories from protein per day and 0.2 x 3600 = 720 calories from fat per day. Bearing in mind protein and carbs are both around 4 calories per gram and fat is 9 calories per gram, it follows that in this example, the individual would need 1800/4 = 450g of carbs per day, 1080/4 = 270g of protein per day and 720/9 = 80g of fat per day.

For best results these nutrients should be spread evenly over 6-8 meals per day. So, continuing the example over 8 meals per day, each meal would need to contain approximately 450/8 = 56g of carbs, 270/8 = 34g of protein and 80/8 = 10g of fat. Further, carbohydrates should always be low GI, other than during and post workout, protein should be complete (i.e. chicken, beef, turkey, tuna, salmon, milk, whey protein, micellar casein, etc.) and fats should be from healthy sources, such as flax seed oil, olive oil, fish, etc.

If all of the above numbers have left you feeling confused, leave your comments below and if demand is high enough, I will provide a calorie and macronutrient calculator!

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Protein Supplements For Lean Mass Gain

March 1st, 2010

Protein supplements are the most important supplement for athletes, sports men and women and bodybuilders. Without them, let’s face it, you’re not going to consume 1.5g of protein per pound of bodyweight per day, no chance. Even if you did, you would have to eat so many eggs and so much meat, that your diet would contain massive amounts of cholesterol and so many calories that you would get fat. Not to mention that your food shopping bill would cost the earth and you would spend your life cooking, eating and washing up. So, if you are wondering how many competitive athletes, sports men and women and bodybuilders use protein supplements, the answer is ALL OF THEM!

Protein Supplements Requirements

If you want to consistently and progressively improve your physique, you will need 1-2 good protein supplements as well. My advice would be to have a whey protein shake with every meal lacking in protein (usally all meals except your evening meal), have a micellar casein protein supplement before bed (with 1-2 slices of wholemeal toast) and if you only eat 3-4 times per day, increase this to 6 meals per day by using high protein meal replacement shakes.

Whey protein supplements are most easily digested, but don’t use more than 20g every 2-3 hours or the extra protein will be used as energy, or stored as fat. Micellar casein protein supplements digest slowly, ensuring a steady stream of nutrients are bing digested up to 7 hours into the night. Meal replacement powders can be used 2-3 times per day, between regular meals.

Protein Supplements ensure that instead of losing muscle, you just Gain Muscle

Your body needs protein every 2-3 hours, or it starts using it’s own stores, i.e. your muscles – this is called a negative nitrogen balance, when your body is in a muscle losing state. It is therefore essential that you consume your protein every 2-3 hours during the day, to keep your body in a positive nitrogen balance, where your body is in a muscle gaining state. It is then up to you to perform progressively higher intensity exercise, which will result in progressive muscle gains.

Regards,

Martin.

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