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What does it take to get ripped abs?

By Jim Clements

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 29May2009 Word count: 596 Viewed: 389 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

The abdominal muscles are thought to be one of the most attractive features of the body. Unfortunately, the mid section is one of the hardest areas of the body to burn fat and build muscle and get that desirable 6 pack (or even an 8 pack). So what does it take to get that head-turning belly?

Abs are very similar to your other muscle groups as far as building muscle and burning fat. Your body type will determine phase your start with. Overweight people tend to start with a fat burning phase while thinner people start with muscle building. Either way, there are two main factors that need your attention.

Diet

The first factor (possibly the most important thing) is a very strict diet. Most people don't have great eating habits, or at least the eating habits that promote a slim mid section. Very often people will go on an obsessive sit-up/crunch kick hoping to shred the fat covering them. This is the complete opposite way to go about it. In fact there are two parts to the diet, fat burning and muscle building.

When it comes to burning fat, you need to remember that your caloric intake is lower than the amount of calories you are burning. In other words, you should have a calorie deficit. This way your body will need to use the fat as an energy resource.

But just as important, you need to make sure you stay away from foods that influence fat storage. Keep your fat and sugar intake low. While our bodies do use good fat (unsaturated), too much will catch up with you. Sugar, starch, bread, and pasta are digested so fast that the insulin our bodies create to digest it goes unused and eventually turns to fat. Always have protein or fiber with any of these and keep them to a minimum.

For muscle building you will need to increase your caloric intake. This does not mean you can eat anything. You need to stick to the good calories you have already been consuming. Just add more. Most importantly though, you will need more protein in your diet to feed your muscles.

Exercise

The next factor is exercise. It's no surprise that exercise should be part of your overall ab plan. Exercise is usually the only thing people do to try to get the 6 pack. However, they usually go about it the wrong way. In order for your abs to be more visible they need to grow. What most people fail to realize is that the abdominal muscles are just like any other muscles in your body; they need to experience microtrauma, small tears in the muscle fibers, in order to grow. This requires an abnormal amount of stress on the muscles on a continual basis. Although cardiovascular exercise is necessary in the fat burning phase, it is not enough for the muscle building phase.

In order to ad more stress to the abdominal muscles you will need to do weighted exercises. For instance, if you are doing leg lifts, try using ankle weights or handing weight from your ankles. Or hold weights in your arms while doing crunches. It is important to add weights as you progress to constantly push your muscles to new limits, forcing them to grow.

So there you have it. Getting ripped abs may not be easy, but it can be simple. If you pay close attention to your diet and implement the correct muscle building exercises you will be well on your way to having that 6 pack (or 8 pack) you always wanted.

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