CB: Mike, you have a site, The Truth About Six Pack Abs. So… what the heck is the truth?

MG: Well, from what I see on a daily basis, one of the most common fitness goals people have is to get a flatter stomach and if possible, achieve some sort of a “six pack abs” appearance to their stomach. Unfortunately, most people struggle for years without ever achieving this goal. Instead, I see so many people waste so much of their time on worthless abdominal exercises, and falling for every gimmick product that comes onto their TV screen promising them a 6-pack in only 2 minutes a day while sitting on their couch.

To be honest, seeing so many people over the years waste their hard earned money on all of these worthless ab gadgets, machines, ab belts, and bogus fat loss pills was really getting under my skin.

That’s why I developed my Truth about Six Pack Abs Program. Over the last couple years, this program I developed has gained popularity worldwide, and has now recently become the most popular abs program on the internet with tens of thousands of people in over 100 countries using my system.

So what’s the truth? The truth is that people are looking in the wrong direction to achieve this goal… abdominal exercises are NOT the answer to six pack abs! Sounds counterintuitive I know. In fact, ab-specific exercises are the LEAST important training aspect in getting a six pack.

Most people think there must be some magical “underground” abs exercise that is going to finally get them their six-pack after years of struggling.

The fact is, the real solution to seeing a visible six-pack is bringing your body fat percentage down to a low enough level to where the abs become visible. Most people already have them hiding under there and don’t know it. This is generally about 10% body fat or lower for men, and about 16-18% for women from my experience.

Heck, even my 7-year old nephew has a six pack… do you think he got that by doing “abs exercises”? No way! He has a six pack because his body fat percentage is extremely low since he’s so active running around playing all day at his age.

So the most important aspect to getting visible abs is actually a properly designed full body training program, combined with good nutrition that can be maintained for life (instead of a short-term gimmick diet).

CB: For a beginner, how much focus needs to be on abs? What other exercises would you give them for fat loss?

MG: For beginners, I generally start them off with the most basic bodyweight exercises such as bw squats, bw lunges, bw step-ups, pushups, inverted body rows, along with basic dumbbell exercises like overhead presses, rows, etc. We also work on body stabilizing exercises like planks and side planks and a few stability ball exercises to make sure they’ve learned to properly engage their entire “core” area in stablizing the body.

CB: What type of cardio/interval training do you use for fat loss?

MG: The programs I design are almost entirely based on high intensity resistance training instead of cardio. In fact, my resistance training workouts get people sweating and huffing and puffing much more than any boring cardio workout ever will.

The bottom line based on research as well as my personal experience… cardio is NOT necessary for fat loss! In fact, some of the leanest people I know NEVER do traditional cardio. Personally, I haven’t stepped foot on a treadmill, elliptical machine, or stationary bike in about 8 years and I maintain single digit body fat year round.

Now don’t get me wrong about the cardio thing… in reality, I actually work on exercises that are much tougher and more intense than traditional cardio… I prefer wind sprints, hill sprints, swimming sprints, speed rope jumping, etc to complement my resistance training… all of which are more anaerobic in nature than aerobic.

This type of training stimulates a vastly higher metabolic response in the body than steady pace cardio.

Of course, most people can’t just jump right into doing wind sprints without injury until they’ve gotten themselves into pretty good shape first. I use various resistance training methods and interval training for most people before they are ever ready to even attempt any type of sprinting.

CB: Tell us about your favorite bodyweight exercises and how you use them in a fat loss program.

MG: I like to combine bodyweight exercises and free weight exercises into what I call “tri-sets” or “quad-sets” (aka – mini circuits). Basically, I pick 3 or 4 exercises that don’t work the same body movements (non-competing) and combine them into high intensity mini-circuits for my clients.

A great example would be:

1. mountain climbers for 20-30 seconds

2. dumbbell squat & presses (combination squat then press overhead)

3. stability ball leg curl-ins

4. stability ball plank holds (a little harder than a floor plank)

This type of circuit can be done without much rest at all between exercises and we would repeat the circuit several times before moving to a new circuit. This creates a high intensity fat burning workout that works almost every muscle in the entire body.

The 2nd part of the abdominals interview will come shortly and we’ll cover the most important aspect… nutrition for fat loss!

If exercising is the bane of your existence, or if you would prefer to be flayed alive than be seen in a gym or doing anything that remotely resembles exercise, then you might find that it’s slightly difficult to get the flat abs that you are dreaming about.

However, on the other hand, if you don’t mind the rigors of exercise and if you are alright with sweat dripping down your face and your muscles aching from here to eternity because you just had a good day getting down and dirty with your ab exercises, then there is probably hope for you yet.

You will find it easier to get into the groove of exercising and eating healthy in order to get your flat abs, because make no mistake, you will need to exercise and you will need to change your diet to something that is remotely resembling healthy into order to get flat abs.

That said, if all you want is to lose that belly pooch, and not necessarily to have flat abs, you should be able to significantly cut down on the ab exercises that you have to do, but remember this is only if you want to lose the belly pooch, not if you want to achieve great looking flat abs.

To achieve this unfortunately, you will need to exercise and you will need to eat in a healthy manner, and this includes the amount of alcohol you imbibe on a daily or weekly basis as well. Once you have come to terms with all of this of course, you have the option of getting yourself down to your doctor and getting a routine physical done, or you also have the option of just winging things and taking it slowly to begin with. The choice is entirely in your hands.

Then the next thing that you need to do is to find an ab exercise routine that will suit your physical fitness level as well as your goals. If you want flat abs, then you definitely won’t have to do as many exercises as you would if you wanted six pack abs. And when this is all sorted out, you can then set about the task of getting your flat abs today, without any more delay.

The hard truth is that no matter what commercials may tell you, it is impossible to spot reduce your belly fat.  Spot reducing is where you focus on exercising just one area of your body, like your abs, in order to lose fat in just that area.  This is impossible.  Your body stores fat over the whole body.  While it may store more in your belly than anywhere else, it is impossible to lower your fat in just your belly.  If you want to lose that stubborn belly fat, you need to focus on reducing your total body fat if you want to start seeing those 6 pack abs.

Reducing your body fat will allow the ab muscles that you already have to show through.  Most likely you have tried to build your abs bigger and bigger, but honestly you probably already have a 6 pack that you just can’t see.  You can’t see it because it’s covered in a layer of fat.  So how do you let those beauties shine through?

In order to get sexy 6 pack abs, you need to eat less fatty foods, and focus on eating healthier carbs.  This means cutting back on breads, pastas, and potatoes, and avoiding fried foods for a while.  Focus on foods like fish, chicken and green vegetables.

The other thing you can do to help those abs show through, is exercise.  Weight training is absolutely the best thing you can do to cut your body fat, but any exercise is a good thing.  Go for a walk, jog, or do some push ups and jumping jacks if you can’t get to the gym right now.

Don’t think for a moment that doing just a little bit of exercise will give you a models body.  If you want to have those sexy six pack abs, you need to get to the gym and get started on a good weight training program immediately.  Because if you don’t cut you overall body fat, you won’t have those sexy abs.  If you add some crunches to a good weight training program and a healthy diet, 6 pack abs will be inevitable.

The hard truth is that sexy 6 pack abs don’t come from just a few crunches or a magic machine.  It takes a good diet and some weight training to cut your body fat so that you can see those little stomach ripples.