A perfect six-pack is a dream of many men. However, achieving it is not an easy task, especially when training at the gym is not your favourite way of spending time, and your diet leaves a lot to be desired. So how do you go about sculpting your abdomen?
The perfect six-pack: start with a diet!
A slim, sculpted figure is now the ideal that many men aspire to. Just look at the ads for men’s clothes, accessories and other items aimed at men – they feature tall, slim guys with broad shoulders and ideal abdominal muscles.
Achieving such a figure is only possible with a combination of natural physical conditions and hard work at the gym, as well as a proper diet. If you too dream of a perfect six-pack, first of all you need to take a look at your diet. The first step to improving the appearance of your abdominal muscles is to get rid of the fat layer, and this won’t work without introducing healthy eating habits. Here are the golden rules of a proper diet:
5 meals at fixed times,
vegetables and fruit should constitute 50% of each meal,
exclusion of fast food, stimulants, highly processed products from the diet,
proper hydration – at least 2 liters of water a day.
Of course, this is only a fraction of the necessary changes you need to make in your daily life. When implementing a new diet, it is always a good idea to consult a dietician, who will help you establish an individual menu, which will help you prepare balanced meals. You can also take advantage of the increasingly popular boxed diets, which allow you to significantly reduce your intake of fat and other ingredients that negatively affect your figure.
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Workout is the key to success!
It’s clear that diet alone can’t create a perfect six-pack. In order to do so, you need to train your abdominal muscles in a way that evenly activates their different parts. Remember that each workout must consist of a warm-up, proper part and stretching.
What’s more, when creating a training plan we should not focus solely on the abdomen, as this will lead to an uneven silhouette, and what’s more, it can cause pain, for example in the back. Exercises should involve as many muscles as possible, with particular emphasis on the abdominal region. The widely held belief that slapping on hundreds of sit-ups every day will give you a perfect tummy has nothing to do with the truth! Training must be balanced and be in correlation with diet.
How to start?
How do I go about training for the perfect six-pack? It depends on your body shape. If you’re a slim person, you’ll start working on sculpting muscle almost immediately
If your belly is hidden under a fold of fat, then you need to get rid of it first, using the so-called cardio training, which guarantees to speed up metabolism and burn fat tissue. At the beginning half an hour three times a week is enough. With time you should gradually extend it. What can we include in such a workout? Intensive swimming, running or cycling, for example, are excellent options.
Abdominal muscle sculpting
Once satisfactory fat burning effects appear, then exercises aimed at sculpting abdominal muscles should be included. Remember that they must involve all the parts located in their area, i.e. straight, oblique and transverse muscles
Exercises for a perfect six-pack are many, but it is enough to choose a few of them, and then perform them in 2 series at the beginning, with time increasing the number to 3-4 series, and in the long run diversifying them. Here are some sample exercises:
plank – this is one of the most popular exercises that involves all the abdominal muscles; when performing it, however, remember not to lift the hips too high – they should be placed on an equal level with the back;
lift your knees in a sit-up – sit on the floor, legs joined and straight at the knees; then slightly tilt your torso back and bend your joined legs at the knees and lift them above the ground – your body forms a V – then straighten your legs, keeping them above the ground and bend them again. At first, you can slightly support yourself with your arms, but over time, try to keep them folded over your chest;
scissors – lying on your back, raise your legs 45 degrees off the ground and swing your legs, alternating between one at the top and the other.
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Workouts are a great way to strengthen your body and maintain proper muscle tone. However, there are times when after a workout, especially an intense one, you feel discomfort, sometimes severe enough that you can’t lift yourself out of bed or climb the stairs. What to do then? How can you help yourself? Learn proven ways to treat post-workout muscle soreness!
Food
Relieve the symptoms of DOMS, or delayed post-workout muscle soreness, with foods rich in antioxidants, first of all watermelon, which contains citrulline. This non-protein amino acid helps reduce soreness and accelerate muscle recovery. Pineapples, ginger rhizome and cherry juice also have strong anti-inflammatory properties.
Curcumin and trance
The curcumin contained in the perennial herb has analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects. It also has strong antioxidant properties. Curcumin promotes faster muscle recovery after strenuous exercise. Analogous effects are shown by Omega-3 fats and cod liver oil.
Milk proteins
In 2017, a study was conducted that proved that milk-based protein nutrients remove pain caused by micro-damage to muscles and connective tissue, including from overly intense training. Protein nutrients in concentrate or isolate form contain 40 to as much as 90% milk proteins. Milk proteins consumed in the form of nutrients not only reduce DOMS symptoms, but also prevent them.
Warm baths and Epsom salt
You can also prevent the feeling of discomfort by providing warmth to your muscles immediately after your workout. You can apply a towel wetted in warm water to your body, use a thermos, or even better: indulge in a warming bath. If you opt for a bathtub, add a little Epsom salt to your bath, which relieves inflammation and pain caused by too much training. Such a bath will not only relieve pain, but also affect your mood.
Impact of cold
It turns out that cold compresses are equally helpful in removing post-workout muscle soreness. Cold compresses eliminate swelling and calm the nervous system. Use bags of ice or frozen products. However, avoid direct contact of ice with the skin. If your body is up to it, soak in a tub of cold water.
Massages
Self-massage is also good for soreness, reducing muscle pain and improving flexibility. All you need to do is put a roller under the sore area and perform longitudinal rolling. Or you can always use the services of a massage therapist to loosen up sore areas and get them working again. You will achieve the greatest effectiveness if you undergo a massage no later than two days after training.
Repeat workouts
Muscle soreness should not be a reason not to continue exercising. DOMS is a normal bodily response to stress that your body needs to adapt to. If you don’t abandon exercise and keep up the intensity, you can be sure that once the pains subside, they won’t return. However, if they are so severe that you can’t exercise as before, slow down a bit, reduce the load, or for 2-3 days do exercises aimed at developing other muscle parts.
Cooldown
After a workout, the body needs relaxation and relaxation exercises to even out breathing and calm the heart rate. Calm exercise after a workout will give your muscles an uninterrupted blood supply to remove lactic acid and prevent sourness. Instead of exercising, you can go for a walk or jog on a treadmill for 10 minutes at a brisk pace.