Word Count: 504 NF Difficulty: Beginner

Reader Homer asks:  I know you need to work on abs to get a nice 6 pack; can you give me an abs only workout plan that focus on upper abs, the middle section on the abs and finally lower abs (which are hard to work on) so I can get the nice 6 pack. Thanks again Steve!

Steve answers: Hey Homer.  As far as ab exercises go, I don’t do a lot of ab work.  Do you do deadlifts and squats?  Both of those exercises work your abs like crazy, and will really build your core.  A strong core (abs, obliques, and lower back) keeps you safe from injury and as a result you will certainly have a solid six pack.  My guess is that you already have abs, you just can’t see them because they’re hidden under body fat.  I realize that everybody wants a washboard stomach – it’s the reason there are hundreds of ab machines for sale, “as seen on tv!”, that are an absolute waste of time.  You could use every one of these machines for 10 hours a day, but if you’re stuffing your face with donuts while watching It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia reruns (which I highly recommend: it’s one of the funniest shows on TV), those abs will never see the light of day.

You can do 1000 situps a day, but unless you have a body fat percentage below 10%, you’ll never see them. If you REALLY want to get the fat out of there, you’re going to need to get down to like 5% body fat – which means cutting out all unnecessary calories from your diet, eating lots of vegetables and protein, staying away from added sugar and sodas, and exercising like crazy.  Going from 30% BF to 25% is much easier than going from 10% to 5%, so it will require your complete dedication.  Ryan Reynolds got down to like 4% for Blade Trinity, and then immediately added some pounds after filming because it’s close to impossible to maintain a body like that.  You need to find a happy medium.

Want a quick ab exercise that will help with those ‘lower abs’ you’re after? Stand straight up, contract your abs, and then jump and tuck your knees into your chest/stomach.  Try to keep as vertical as possible through this whole thing, and jump as high as you can.  For each set of 10, jump immediately for your next rep right after you land.  Do 3 sets of 10 at the end of your workouts, two or three times a week.

Want another? Do crunches on an exercise ball; this gives you an extra range of motion (beyond parallel like when you do crunches on the floor), give your abs extra work and giving you a more efficient workout in the same amount of time.  I guarantee crunches on a ball when you fully extend your back on the way down will have your stomach working much harder than just a normal crunch on the floor.

-Steve

Related post: The Truth About 6-Pack Abs

Post length: 1800 words NF Difficulty: Advanced

NF Reader Ryan asks: I wonder if you can help me design a workout/diet routine, since I have a feeling I’m in a relatively similar situation to you when you started your bulk up quest.

For starters, I’m working your typical 8-4 desk job.  I use the gym in my building at work, which is nice because it costs me nada, but sucky because it’s got limited equipment.  It’s got some treadmills; machines for chest press, bicep, triceps, ab crunch, pull downs, shoulder press, leg press; free weights; and some benches.  There’s also a squat station, but I have never really done squats in my life.  I’ve always stuck to leg presses since my knees/ankles are shit and I’d rather be in a sitting position if my knee gives out than standing with XXX pounds on my shoulders.  With respect to time, if I work out, I like to do it during lunch, because at the end of the day I just want to get the F out of here.  So, if I do that, I have an hour.

I’d say the main problem for me is admittedly my diet, and that’s because I’ve never really smartly combined diet and exercise before.  Food was always one thing and working out was completely separate, and never the two did meet.  I never eat breakfast, because I’m one of those ‘get up-shower-gtfo the door’ kind of people.  Ok, I eat a weak ass cereal bar when I get to work — but that’s basically nothing.  And I don’t eat “right” for dinner, because I despise the time and effort it takes to cook a decent meal haha.  So, tell me what I need to go get for groceries and I’ll begrudgingly follow suit.  Right now I probably weigh about 165, which is decent considering my height, but I want to add maybe 10-15 lbs-ish of muscle and tone up a bit to be more cut.  My metabolism (like yours) has always kept me in decent shape and not overweight, so that’s a bonus; but I’d like to get into a more solid routine and figured you could weigh in (no pun intended…. seriously).

Steve writes: Hey Ryan, thanks for the email; let’s break this down into two parts, diet and exercise.  We’ll start with diet, because that’s by far the most important thing:

Diet

As I tell most people, the most success I’ve found with tracking my weight has been by using the free account at dailyburn.com, so I’d recommend you sign up there, input your height, weight, and goal weight, and it will tell you how many calories you need to eat per day.  Then you divide that number by 5 or 6 (depending on how many meals you can eat per day), and you have how many calories, carbs, and grams of protein you need to eat with each meal.  First of all, you need to start with a great healthy breakfast.  Eggs and wheat toast, oatmeal and a protein shake, etc.  I don’t have much time in the morning either, so my mornings usually start with a giant shake that has 40 grams of protein and 60-70 grams of carbs in it to get my morning started.  Get that metabolism started and the muscle building as soon as you wake up!

I try to get 25-30 g of protein with each meal.  Here are the best sources of protein: eggs, milk, chicken, fish, lean ground beef, almonds, peanuts, and most legumes too.

Throw in some good carbs: vegetables are your best bet, wheat bread, brown rice, oatmeal, and sweet potatoes.  The more vegetables you can eat and the less refined carbs you can eat, the more ‘cut’ you’ll end up looking.  The most important meals are breakfast (read why here), the meal right after your workout (generally a shake with equal parts protein and carbs), and then the last one right an hour before bed (just protein, no carbs…don’t want them to turn to fat while you sleep).

If you can’t stuff your face with good food right after your gym workout, it’s a waste of time.  So either eat a good meal, or bring in a blend and some whey protein powder.  I do it in my office, and you get the occasional joke from a co-worker, but it’s usually coming from somebody who has a donut in their hand.  You win, trust me.

The reason you need to eat as often as possible (every 2-3 hours) is because after you work out, your body is constantly rebuilding the muscles you just broke down, so you want to supply your muscles with a constant supply of building material (protein).  Because you’re looking to bulk up, you’re going to want to eat carbs too, so that your body doesn’t run out of energy and use the protein for that instead of building muscle.  Vegetables are low on calories, high on fiber, really good for you, and can count for your carbohydrate intake.

You’ll probably put on a few pounds of fat as you put on 15 lbs of muscle.  I’d recommend bulking up (by eating like crazy in the manner listed above), and then we can make a few changes to your diet and exercise routine to burn off the fat and leave behind the muscle afterward (more sprints, more vegetables, less refined carbs).

Exercise

Okay, so you have a free gym at work, and you have an hour for lunch.  This sounds perfect, because I don’t like workouts to go more than 45 minutes AT THE MOST.  I’d start off with a quick 3-5 minute warm up (treadmill, jumping jacks, jumping rope) just to get the heart pumping and your muscles warmed up.

I’d try to stay away from the machines if possible (read why here), only because they don’t allow your muscles to have free range of motion, which is crucial. When you use free weights, you have to recruit extra muscle fibers to keep the weight steady, so you’re building extra muscle on top of muscle while you’re working out, sort of like a two for one.  I know you say you have knee problems, so I think sticking with the leg press is okay.  However, I would recommend trying out squats (read my article on squats) with just the bar on your back, practice good form (watch the video), and go down til your thighs are parallel to the floor, and you’ll be amazed how much you work practically every muscle in your body.

If you’re not ready for squats, try some lunges with just your body weight (or with dumbbells in your hand) to build up strength in your legs and knee ligaments.  After initially being scared of both exercises for years, I’ve finally come around on the squat and deadlift and now I can’t get away from them.  As long as you do them right, by starting with low low low weight and just work on getting the motion down, you can do them safely and still see gains.

For the rest of your exercise, you want to keep your exercises intense, with minimal rest between sets, and keep your number of reps in your sets in the 6-12 range for maximum size.

The weight bench and the free weights are going to be your friend.  If there’s a pull up bar there, even better.

To start I would recommend full body routines that will work every single muscle in your body, and then to eat like crazy.  Here is a sample full body workout routine that I do on Mondays:

Exercise Routine

For each exercises, aim for 4-5 sets, waiting 1 minute between reps (example: 12 reps at x weight, 1 minute rest, 10 reps at x + 5 weight, 1 minute rest, 8 reps at x+ 10 weight, 1 minute rest, 6 reps at x+15 weight, 1 minute rest, 12 reps at x weight).

Incline Dumbbell Chest Press (set bench at 35-45 degree angle, press dumbbells up and together) – 5 sets, 1 minute rest between sets.

Keep the rest between sets to just a minute, and obviously pick weights that work for you.  If you’re used to waiting 3 minutes between sets, you’re going to need to drop your weight BIG time.  After this your chest will burn, your shoulders will burn, and your triceps will burn.

Wide Grip Pull Ups (5 sets)

Do however many reps you can on the first set (stop at 12 if you can do more), then wait a minute and do the next set, etc.  By the 5th set you should be exhausted and probably only be able to do 1 or 2.  If you don’t have a pull up bar, I’d recommend a single arm dumbbell row (just alternate hands, increasing weight just like above for the Incline Dumbbell press, and don’t take any breaks.  By the time you finish the right side, the left side will have already waited 1 minute, so just rapid fire this one).

Squats, Lunges, or Leg Presses – 5 sets, 1 minute rest between sets

If you’re up for squats, try em out.  Even just the bar or 10 lb weights on each side is enough for you to feel it if you squat properly.  If you keep your butt back so that your knees don’t extend out over your toes, the pressure should be off your knees.  Squats really build up the strength of your core and abs, which will help with your quest to look shredded with six pack abs.

Romanian Deadlift

5 Sets, 1 minute rest between sets

This exercise is a little weird to explain, so here is a good instructional video.  Head over to the squat rack, grab the bar, put a slight bend in your legs, and then just bend over from your waist like a drinking bird, pushing your butt backwards and lowering the bar down to the middle of your shins.  This will work your butt, lower back, and hamstrings.

In 4 Exercises, you’ve worked every single muscle in your body, and you’re done in 35-40 minutes. Stretch for 5 minutes AFTER you workout to prevent injury, get the blood pumping into the muscles that are all tightened up, and then get the heck out of there.

You always want to keep your muscles guessing, so never do the same exercise two days in a row.  You can work that body part again after a few days, but hit it from a different angle with a different exercise to promote stronger growth.

Example: For chest, do dips between parallel bars (if your gym has them) or close grip bench press, chin ups instead of pull ups (palms facing you instead of away from you), regular deadlifts, and lunges.  The guys from 300 never did the same workout twice, and I think they turned out okay.

If you want to REALLY get dedicated, add 20 minutes of interval training/sprints on Tuesday and Thursday.  You’ll be surprised how crazy you can get in 20 minutes.  Read all about interval training here; you can burn fat and boost your metabolism in these 20 minutes, perfect for building lean muscle and shredding fat.  And if you’re dead set on looking shredded, cut back on soda and drinking and those pounds of fat will fly right off.

-Steve

Have a question for Steve? Email him at steve@nerdfitness.com and you might be featured in next week’s Mailbag.

In this new segment of Nerd Fitness, I’ll be compiling some of the best emails and questions I receive each week (or every two weeks) and showcase them here on the site.  This is an experiment, so I’d love to hear from you on how informative these emails are and if it’s something worth continuing.  Now, just a warning.  I might have changed the name of the person who asked this first question just because I haven’t got his permission to use his real name yet.

Optimus Prime asks:

Diet. Obviously the most important part, right?  How does a person go about figuring out the right amount of calories a day?

I weigh 194 lbs (down from 225), and I have learned to incorporate exercise into my everyday life.  It hasn’t been easy, but the reward has been great.  I feel/look much better.  I want to take this more seriously, and eat better as well.  I already make sure to eat a good healthy breakfast (boost the metabolism) and I eat a healthy lunch/dinner.  However, I really only eat 3 times a day.

I need to determine how many calories I should be taking in, and then I would assume spread them throughout the day?  My fear is am doing all of this exercise, and not fueling my body enough.  However, I am also worried that I could take in too many calories, compared to what I am burning.

Steve says:

Thanks for the question Optimus!  First of all, congratulations on dropping 30 freaking pounds!  Most people struggle with the exercise part, because it’s tough to put everything aside and make time every day for getting in shape.  The fact that you’ve done that already is the easy part.  Onto the diet!

First – Figure out your goal weight, but DON’T GET TOO CAUGHT UP IN THE NUMBERS!  If you’re exercising daily, then I’m going to guess you’re building muscle as well.  Even though the number on your scale might not be dropping, keep an eye on what you look like!  If you look better, who cares what the scale says!  Broader shoulders and a bigger chest can weigh the same as a beer gut.

Okay, let’s say you like how you look, but you still want to lose another 10 lbs.  If you’re doing it the healthy, safe way you can expect to lose 1-2 lbs. every week.  I’d say 5-7 weeks for 10 lbs is an obtainable goal.

Next, set up a free account at DailyBurn.com (formerly Gyminee). I’ve been using this website for about a year now and it has really helped me keep track of my diet.  After you input your height, weight, age, and goal weight, it will tell you exactly how many calories you need to eat to lose the weight and how long it should take.  It will even tell you how many grams of protein, carbs, and fat you should be eating every day as well.

It will give you a range in calories, and you’ll need to experiment within that range to find the right balance for you.  If you aren’t dropping weight, aim towards the lower end of the calorie spectrum that they recommend.  If the weight is coming off too quickly, eat more!  It’s a balancing act.

Once you figure out that calorie amount to eat every day, take a look at your daily schedule and figure out how many meals you can eat; the more often the better. Let’s say they want you to eat 1800 calories – if you can eat 6 meals a day (spaced apart every 2-3 hours), then you want to try and eat 300 calories or so in each meal.  The reason you want to eat 6 smaller meals rather than 3 larger ones is because you want your metabolism to work as often as possible, firing on all cylinders.

Then, keep track of everything you eat. DailyBurn makes it easy by having a massive database of food that already has all the nutrition information loaded in.  Whenever you eat an apple, or a handful of almonds, just put it into the site and it will tell you where you’re at that day for staying within your calorie and nutrient goals.  NF Tip: if you eat the same thing every day, save those things as your ‘favorites’ on DailyBurn.

Here are a few more tips to keep in mind:

• Try to get 20-30 grams of protein in each meal.  Lots of chicken, fish, eggs, almonds, lean ground beef, etc.  Protein shakes are great for the meals between the meals (which you can read about here).
• Cut as much sugar out of your diet when possible – this will go right to your waistline (or ass).  Sodas, sugary juices, candy, etc.  Get it out of your diet.
• Eat whole grains when possible – switch from white bread to wheat, from white rice to brown rice, etc.
• Eat all the fruits and vegetables you want!
• Some studies have shown that your metabolism slows down towards the end of the day, so try to cut back on the carbs you eat later on.  It seemed to work for Daniel Craig in Casino Royale and Ryan Reynolds in Blade Trinity.

To summarize: once you figure out your caloric intake over at DailyBurn, divide that number by 5 or 6 and figure out how many calories you should be eating every 3 hours.  Eat lots of protein (a high protein breakfast for sure), cut out the junk, lots of veggies and fruits, and try to eat your carbs earlier in the day.

For a related post, check out the 5 tips for weight loss article.

-Steve

Interested in having your email answered on Nerd Fitness?  Email steve@nerdfitness.com!