8 pack abs have become the latest ‘in thing’ when it comes to a ripped and shredded abdominal section. This is because of the rise of celebrities like twilight star Taylor Lautner and the number one fitness model Greg Plitt. With the rise of such celebrities, it was only natural that people’s desires to acquire physiques like theirs would increase as well, in this case the desire to have 8 pack abs.
You too can have 8 pack abs, that is if your midsection is genetically structured to have 8 pack abs, the truth is not all of us are meant to have 8 pack abs, some of us have 6 pack abs and some have four pack abs. This should not discourage you, because no matter what your abdominal genetic structure allows, I have abs workout tips that will maximise your midsection look, so that you get the ripped and shredded
physique that resembles your on-screen heroes and role models.
To get the abs of your dreams is something anyone could achieve if they put their mind to it, it is about following 3 basic rules or stages, and each stage is integral to your overall success and doing each step will surely get you those well deserved 8 pack abs. So what are these stages you ask me, I will not make you
wait no longer…
Here are the 3 stages you need to go through or follow to get 8 pack abs:
Stage 1
Sort out your diet, have a clean healthy diet because nothing will set you back as much as not eating healthy food. Think about it this way, food is to you what the sun is for green plants, without which those plants cannot go through photosynthesis. You will need to have protein in your diet and lots of it, this will ensure you get maximum abs muscle growth and this will help your muscles recover. You will be able to get protein from a variety of natural food sources such as eggs, milk, beans, nuts, fish, meat, chicken and the list goes on ( research other food sources with protein).
Alternatively if you want to build a complete physique not just abs your protein could come from taking supplements to meet your daily requirement of about a gram of protein per pound of body-weight. Another thing you need to consider is trying to cut out the meat that has a lot of fat, and using olive oil to cook if you can afford it. Junk food is a no-no, if you are serious about getting abs try to cut out junk food or eat it once per week but compensate by working extra hard at the gym that day to the burn extra calories you have chosen to indulge in. Make sure you drink lots of water and stop or limit the amount of alcohol you consume (drinking is a step backwards especially beer). Try and stay away from sweets if you have a sweet tooth because that is also a step backwards and will make reaching your goal more difficult.
Stage 2
This step involves the actual workout; this is the most fun part for me as I am the type that enjoys doing sit-ups. During this step, you are required to pick abs exercises that will target your whole abdominal region to get the ripped and shredded abs look, by your whole abdominal region I mean your upper and lower abs as well as your obliques. At this point it is best to choose abs exercises that are simple and yet provide a difficulty level that will both carve and thicken your abs, examples of these would be crunches, hanging leg raises and oblique v-ups(extremely difficult at first).
These are not the only effective abs exercises that target your whole abdominal region just good examples to show you what I mean by ‘target your whole abdominal region’. I believe all abdominal exercises work but they work in a different way, some need to be done in higher reps (these are your crunches or your sit-ups), others require less reps and more sets (hanging leg raises could be done in 20 reps and 4 sets combined with another abs exercise). Choose your favourite abs exercises and do them well until your abs hurt so much that you can’t laugh.
3rd and final stage
This is your fat burning stage to reveal all your hard work. This is not my favourite stage but it is necessary if you want to add the ripped and shredded to your 8 pack abs description. This stage is where you do cardio to burn that extra fat on your belly to reveal the magic. There are a lot of cardio exercises which can be grouped as steady same pace cardio and high intensity interval training.
I will admit that my personal favourite is HIIT because it does not take too much time and the intensity makes it fun, also it raises your metabolic rate so that you burn calories long after you finish working out, an example of a HIIT exercise is to do sprints between a couple of points, not continuously that’s why that interval in the description. Normal steady pace cardio is also popular in the form of jogging and people who use the stationary bike (though you could do interval training on a bike as well) at the gym, I find this option time consuming and if you jog for too long a distance you might be burning muscle as well not just calories.
Please note that all three stages are to be done together, but you could do stage one and two together and at a later stage do stage 3 to reveal the finished product.
