I'd like a six pack. Help me please.

[ShelfLife]

Richie's comments are spot on here, mate - your diet is half the exercise done.

In addition to what he's mentioned - reduce you alcohol intake (ideally it should be eliminated all-together but that is very hard to achieve and unrealistic in many cases) - perhaps limit it to weekends and special occasions. Cut out sugars (especially processed ones) and most importantly - trans fats - WokkieD posted an excellent link on that in the 'not being fat' thread.

There are a few exercise you can do on the pull-up bar which can help you strenghten your core/abs (did help me quite a bit)

- leg pulls-ups - hang down from the bar 'loose' for about 5-6 seconds and then slowly start bending your knees towards your chest, then hold for another 5-6 seconds. Release down slowly. Do 5 reps of 3 - 3 times a week - you'll see a difference soon. It's mighty hard at first! If it's too difficult at first - try 3 reps of 3 - 5 times a week.

- leg raises - same as above but instead of bending your knees towards your chest - keep your legs straight and lift up (ending up at roughly 90 degrees relative to your back)

The pull-up bar is a wonderfull tool, mate - I'd suggest investigating those (there are others too). And remeber - drink plenty of water - 2-3 litres/day minimum - you don't want any unecessary water retention in your body.

Nice one. I will give that a try. I have a pull up bar at home. Now I just need to get it out of its box...

 

[ShelfLife]

Fabulous. Cheers mate.

 

[Danners9]

Top tips chaps. Thank you. Whilst much of it is what I expected, its nice to have confirmation from more seasoned campaigners. I think I'm going to start with reducing the amount of crap I eat and then look to incorporate more cardio into my workout sessions. I'm not much of a drinker anyway, so alcohol reduction shouldn't be much of an issue. It will be more a case of cutting out the fizzies, sweets and fatty stuff.

This definitely helps, unfortunately. Fizzy drinks are so full of sugar, it just sticks to you.

I have a real weakness for sweets and cake. Just means I have to go to the gym more often. Playing football in 35+ degree heat burns off a lot though.

Work bought me one of these for my birthday, http://www.nike.com/fuelband/, a few of us have them in the office. I know it's probably a gimmick, the calorie and step counter is useful though and the competition aspect keeps me interested and motivated. You can set a target for each day and it records your movement in 'fuel points'. Mine is 2000 a day, most days it is attainable - just. I work behind a desk, after all. On days I play football, the fuel points are 4000 or more. 4600 is my record so far.

 

[ArcspacE]

Good site offering basic calorie count option - also 'grades' most foods

http://caloriecount.about.com/

 

[Steed Train]

Don't even bother mate - it will be shedloads of work then you'll get bored and lose it all in 4 weeks.

Only superfreaky gym obsessives have visible abs.

Birds don't like it anyway, it's a sign of extreme body consciousness, gym obsession which is unnatural but due to media pressure, men think it is reasonably normal to have a six pack.

It isn't.

Man speaks sense, I spent about two years going to the gym solidly, just started getting the makings of the six pack, avoiding beer, eating obsessively then it dawned on me. Surely its better to look reasonable and fit clothes well and live a life I actually enjoy.

Only people I know with six packs are juicers or the obsessive types who post pictures of themselves to other men on bodybuilding websites....its not gay....

 

[Park Lane James]

Stupid question but what are dead lifts? Is it just squats whilst carrying weights?

ArcspacE posted the pic, but deep squats (with a barbell on your shoulders) will do wonders for your strength. Doing a lot of compound movements will help 'fill you out' a bit as well, great for your core and obliques.

 

[Richie]

This is how I learnt to deadlift. Remember, the most important thing is to keep your back straight.

Setup: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Syt7A23YnpA
Back angle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql-N9hAuxNs

As with anything, don't try and be billy-big-gonad*s and lift big weight with bad form. I see so many people bench pressing weight that is much too heavy for them and either they don;t touch the bar to their chest on each rep, or have their spotter carrying some of the weight for them. When it comes to spotting someone on any exercise, as soon as the spotter has to touch the bar the set should be over. If you can only do one rep without help then lower the weight.

 

[BAE]

This is how I learnt to deadlift. Remember, the most important thing is to keep your back straight.

Setup: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Syt7A23YnpA
Back angle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql-N9hAuxNs

As with anything, don't try and be billy-big-gonad*s and lift big weight with bad form. I see so many people bench pressing weight that is much too heavy for them and either they don;t touch the bar to their chest on each rep, or have their spotter carrying some of the weight for them. When it comes to spotting someone on any exercise, as soon as the spotter has to touch the bar the set should be over. If you can only do one rep without help then lower the weight.

Are you supposed to touch the bar to your chest on each rep?

 

[Jammy]

I've managed to lose a stone in 6 weeks just counting calories and cutting down on booze, with about 1 hour of fairly light exercise a week.

 

[Jammy]

I used the myfitnesspal app - you tell it how much you want to lose a week and it works out a daily calorie intake. Really helped me as it's turned it into a 'game', and has lots of good visual aids to show how you're doing on a daily/weekly basis. Also uses a barcode scanner so you can scan in food you buy at the supermarket (and is also linked to the net so can find a lot of food you input into the search engine).

 

[Richie]

Are you supposed to touch the bar to your chest on each rep?

on flat bench press, yes