Abs

[warin]

I was wondering if it's possible to have a six pack without cutting calories. Currently I have fat covering up my six pack and I've had it for years. I started working out about two weeks ago and I know I have to take in more calories than normal to bulk up which is what I'm trying to do right now but in the process with the fat around my stomach go away to?

[Casey]

A good healthy, diet, cardio/HIIT could lower your body fat so that you could see your abs eventually, but you would need to be cutting to get there.

I'd suggest starting a routine, with HIIT/cardio, and just watch what foods your taking in.

Bulking, and cutting cant be done at once, for most people anyway, so youl need to decide which one you wanna do first, most likly bulking would be your best shot, and you could do that with minimal fat gain if you keep your diet in check.

[narcsarge]

If you currently have a layer of fat covering your abs, and you are bulking, then you will have to do some cutting to reveal those hard fought gains. Ab development should be done just as any other muscle. Diet will bring your BF% down and adding more muscle will be a great help. As your muscles grow your metabloism increases. Think of builiding muscle as changing your "motor" from a 4 cylinder engine to an 8 cylinder. And your diet is like using premium grade fuel. Calorie restriction can inhibit muscle growth. Eating high quality protein, good complex carbs, and good fats can help you build muscle and your training, if done correctly, will burn unwanted fat! Hope this makes sense.

[Casey]

^ I liked your explination narcsarge, to true.

Feed yourself as you would want to feed your car with premium leaded. And yourself good healthy foods, oats, lean meats, vegges, fruits, whole grain, ect.

[narcsarge]

Thank you sir!

[warin]

I have changed my diet dramatically I know longer eat red meat or pork, just chicken and fish. I don't eat anything fried anymore I'm eating oatmeal and whole wheat when I eat bread I've cut down on the pasta intake because I ate entirely to much of it. I hate fruit but so I don't eat any but I eat lots of vegetables I stay away from sweets. I'm currently supplementing with cytogainer 54 grams of protein and musclemilk on my off days, and hydroxycut hardcore to help burn the excess fat. I think my bodyfat is at most 20% right now but I guessing more around 15-18% I weight 188 and am 5'9 and most of the fat is on my stomach

[narcsarge]

Originally Posted by warin

I have changed my diet dramatically I know longer eat red meat or pork, just chicken and fish. I don't eat anything fried anymore I'm eating oatmeal and whole wheat when I eat bread I've cut down on the pasta intake because I ate entirely to much of it. I hate fruit but so I don't eat any but I eat lots of vegetables I stay away from sweets. I'm currently supplementing with cytogainer 54 grams of protein and musclemilk on my off days, and hydroxycut hardcore to help burn the excess fat. I think my bodyfat is at most 20% right now but I guessing more around 15-18% I weight 188 and am 5'9 and most of the fat is on my stomach

We are around the same size. 5'10" and 178lbs and my BF% is 18%. I wish there was an "easy" answer to shaving off the fat but there really isn't. Diet is the key! No magic pill or hydroxycut tab will do you any good if you are taking in more calories then you are burning.

[warin]

I really don't eat that much because I'm in the army I can't eat 6 meals a day like I would like to but here is a normal eating day for me. Wake up at 5:30 am go to pt where we do the stupidest exercises in my opinion because we don't use weight unless were doing push ups or chin ups which is the only part of the pt I like we normally do 50 jumping jacks 25 push ups 1-200 military presses with no weight 1-200 over head arm claps and then I go home eat some oat meal or a couple of hardboiled eggs then I go to work at lunch I eat spaghetti most of the time because were getting ready to move so there isn't much food in the house except the easy to make stuff. Then I go back to work around 14:30 or 15:00 I go to the gym and whatever I have planned that day I do legs monday chest tuesday back wednesday shoulders thursday bis/tris/traps/forearms/calvs on friday then a good 4-5 mile ruck march on saturday with a 60lbs ruck sack over hilly terrain and take sunday off completely when I get home from the gym after work for dinner I have a chicken breast it's pretty small maybe 5 or 6 oz with a most of a can of vegetables. After my work outs I drink one serving of annator-p70 and one serving of cytogainer then I sit in the sauna for 10-15 minutes. annator has 320 calories per serving and cyto gainer 570 calories per serving usually don't eat dinner til 1900 because I'm not hungry til then and I drink about 10-12 quarts of water a day. how good is this diet for my goal of bulking up I plan on starting to cut 2 months from when I get my r&r in the desert is that enough time to cut? because I want to look pretty chisled when I get back from the desert on r&r.

[narcsarge]

Up the protein if you can! Yes, you can grow in the military but remember, most of the special forces guys could walk past you and might say "Gee, he's tiny". The diet seems reasonable enough but not high quality. When you bulk that may not be that big of a deal but when you cut, then it will be a big deal. The more fat you have the harder it will be to get shredded in the time frame you are talking about.

[warin]

How do you cut? I only know how to bulk do you do the same routine but just lower the calorie intake? Or is there a specific way to cut maybe a website I could go to or something?

[narcsarge]

Originally Posted by warin

How do you cut? I only know how to bulk do you do the same routine but just lower the calorie intake? Or is there a specific way to cut maybe a website I could go to or something?

Use the search function on this site. Search "Cutting". You will find a vast array of "Cutting" advice. I, for one, have never "cut". I don't compete. I was 198 2 years ago and now I am 178. My goal is 165. I bet, if I get there, I will have a BF around 13%. Maybe I will see my abs then. If I can, it will be the first time in my 44 years that I have the size and the BF to show them.

[warin]

I don't know were similar in body size and type when I was 168 back in november my gut was almost flat and I had really strong abs but I still couldn't see them. but I pack on fat in the abs easy and its stubborn to lose it in that area so thats why I would have had to drop another 10-15 pounds from there to see the definition. is my diet gonna help my muscles grow in size and strength or do you think I'm gonna lose weight?

[narcsarge]

With all the PT you do in the service you will probably lose weight but build lean muscle. Very efficient muscle and good for endurance. To build muscle you have to increase the protein. To show you abs you have to work them as you would you bicepts. Add a weight to your crunches. That sort of thing.

[warin]

I get on the resisted ab crunch machine I really like this machine because it allows me to arch my back and really work the whole muscle group I'm currently crunching 131lbs 10 times doing 3 sets every other day and I try to put on more weight each time I do the exercise I started out only doing 100lbs so I'm very pleased so far with the strength gain of this machine tomorrow I'm going for 140 to 150 max on it.

[meriaiza]

Welcome.