Still in search of that elusive six-pack, huh? It’s in there somewhere, probably hiding behind that layer of blubber you keep meaning to shed. Come on now, you know it’s the truth! And you know by now that getting a great looking six-pack takes more than just doing the right exercises – you have to have a sensible eating plan. If you need to lose a few pounds, reduce your intake over the course of the day, and (wait for it … very important tip coming up) … skip breakfast!

To shed some fat, start skipping breakfast!

I know “breakfast’s the most important meal of the day” – well, I’ve heard it (and read it) often enough anyway. Truth is, there’s just one little problem with that old saying. It’s a load of bull! Someone, at some stage, decided that was the truth (probably to get the kids to eat their toast or cornflakes!), and started saying it … frequently. People listened to it, believed it, and started repeating it … just as frequently. It started to spread virally, as fast as a funny video of a couple of playful kittens on YouTube, and before you could say “Er, hold on … are you absolutely sure??”, it had become accepted as part of the undeniable truth about diet.

The real truth is that for countless thousands of years humans have performed perfectly well with barely enough to eat. And they stayed in great shape. They had to, to survive. They would get up, grab a snack of whatever they could find (roots, seeds, fruit, whatever), and go about their business. At some stage, if they were in luck and if they were fast enough, they would find and catch something more substantial, and that would constitute the main meal, probably quite late in the day.

Lion cubs don’t eat breakfast!

Same goes for other big mammals. A lion, for example, will spend quite some time patrolling its territory and stalking its prey. Eventually, if all goes well, there’ll be a kill and the whole pride will eat. Then they’ll sleep it off and take it easy for a while. At no stage does the mother lioness remind her cubs that it’s essential to eat in the morning! And yet somehow they survive. Amazing!

So let’s put that old idea to bed once and for all. If you want to start shedding some unwanted fat, skip breakfast. Well, technically it’ll still be breakfast when you eat, but it will be much later. So enjoy your main meal, and make your last intake about, let’s say, 8 or 9 o’clock in the evening. Then don’t have anything else. Nothing. No snacks. No supper. Nothing.

Give your digestion a well-earned rest

Get up in the morning and just have a glass of warm water, preferably with a tablespoon of cider vinegar and a tablespoon of honey added. That’s it till about midday! It will feel strange for a while, but you’ll get used to it surprisingly quickly, and you’ll also find that your energy level will be much higher in the early part of the day. The sluggishness you might be used to is linked to the carbs you’re filling up with in the morning, and you don’t need them, or anything else, that early in the day. What you need is to let your gut rest, and your body recover.

Eat sparingly for the next few hours, maybe a light meal or two, then in the evening; have a full meal, something filling and satisfying. You’ve been in fat-burning mode for a long time by now, and it’s time to stoke up on a proper meal including plenty of protein and carbs.

We expect a lot from our digestive system, and we hammer it unmercifully. It deserves a good rest, and regularly. If you treat it right you’ll feel much fitter, and you’ll be gradually burning fat for hours, every day. You will, effectively, be on a fast that will last about 12-16 hours every single day, and that will do more for you than 100 extra sit-ups every day, I can guarantee.

Okay, now for some more ab exercises. You might want to take a look at the article I wrote on this subject back in January. This is a continuation of it, and here’s another stack of ab exercises to play around with and maybe add to your routine.

A few more ab exercises …

(Note: Most of these exercises can be done at home just as well as in the gym, and don’t require any special equipment, or very little.)  

1 – Elbow to knee – lie back, hands behind your head, raise your shoulders and chest a little, draw one knee up towards your opposite shoulder, at the same time twist so that your elbow tries to meet your knee – then change to the other side. Keep alternating, until the pain becomes too much to bear (or till you’ve done about 10, if you’re a wimp!).

2 – Barbell floor wiper – lie on your back holding a light barbell overhead (even an empty bar is fine) – keeping your legs fairly straight, raise them high then lower to one side, then up again and down to the other side. Do the movement slowly and deliberately – you want to feel the muscles working, and you want to make sure you don’t hurt your back too, with any sudden movement!

3 – Gym ball reverse V-up – take a press-up position, but with your shins on a gym ball. Draw the ball towards you by raising your backside up high, making an inverted V with your body. This can be tricky, and calls for plenty of muscle control and balance.

4 – Wall chair – stand about 18 inches from a wall and squat down so that your back is against the wall and your legs are bent at 90 degrees. Reach your hands out in front of you, or just rest them gently on your thighs, and start to breathe in a very controlled manner. Try to hold the position for as long as possible. Go for 30 seconds at first, but when you feel up to it, do a minute or two at a time.

5 – Cycling – turn imaginary pedals with your raised feet, while lying on your back. You only need to raise your feet about 12 or 18 inches off the floor, otherwise it becomes too easy.

6 – Leg raises, in reverse – lie on the floor (or on a bench, if you’re in the gym), and raise your legs to vertical. Grab the bench for support, or some furniture that’s not likely to move, and start to lower your legs back to the starting position (horizontal). If you’re new to this, you’ll probably have to do it fairly quickly. As you get stronger in the abs, the movement will be more controlled. 

7 – Sledgehammers  – if you’ve got one, or access to one, use a heavy sledgehammer to repeatedly beat a huge old truck tyre, or just pound the sledgehammer into sand on the beach, or into a mound of soil in the garden.

8 – Two-point plank – take up the plank position, then raise your left leg off the floor and reach forward with your right arm – hold the position – then change to the other side. Go for 10 seconds on each side, and repeat 5 times.

9 – Hanging leg raises – hang from a pull-up bar and raise your legs till they become horizontal, keeping them straight. You might not be able to raise them more than about half-way when you start this exercise, and that’s okay. The important thing is to do the exercise, even if you only raise your legs by 45 degrees, or even less.

10 – Rope pull-downs – If your gym has a rope machine you can put it on a high setting (HORRIFYINGLY DIFFICULT sounds about right!) and start tugging on that ol’ rope. Keep going as long as you can. Imagine you’re climbing up the rope to get out of a burning building … or to get aboard a ship in a storm, after spending five days adrift in an open boat … or to rescue a damsel in distress, if you’re feeling romantic … or gallant! Always look for ways to engage yourself mentally, and make your workout fun and more effective. When you have to stop tugging on that rope, give yourself a minute’s rest, maybe two, and then go for it again.

Remember, I’m not suggesting you do all these exercises at one session, it’s just a selection to choose from. The more exercises you’re aware of, the more variation you can introduce to your workouts. And the more you can vary them, the less tedious they’ll become. Hey, you might even start enjoying them, who knows?!

 

Hey – did you catch Part 1 of this article on getting a six-pack?
If not, check it out now!