Should Dairy Be Cut Out Of An 8 Pack Abs Diet?
One question that you may find yourself asking as you go about your 8 pack abs diet routine is whether dairy products should be cut out of the picture.
Many people hold this belief that dairy products are very high in fat and calories and will quickly cause them to gain weight, moving them away from reaching their fat loss goals.
But is this really the case?
Will dairy harm your efforts or is it something that you can include in your diet and still see the results that you desire?
Let’s take a closer look at the low-down on dairy so you can get a better idea of whether this food can be included in your 8 pack abs diet plan or not.
Dairy And Protein
The initial thing to keep in mind regarding dairy products is that when chosen correctly, these can actually be an excellent source of protein.
Protein is the most important nutrient to be taking in when aiming for fast fat loss results, so you definitely don’t want to be shorting yourself of this.
If you’re sick of eating chicken breasts and egg whites day after day, diary can provide a nice change of pace and give your diet more variety.
Dairy And Fat Loss
The important point that you’ll definitely want to note about dairy is the role it plays in fat loss. Many studies have indicated that dairy can actually help enhance belly fat loss when included in the diet on a regular basis.
Those who consume dairy find they lose more fat from this region than those who don’t include it in their plan, so this is a very important reason to consider adding it in there.
Dairy And Calcium
The third reason to think about adding dairy to your diet is due to the fact that it’s a powerful source of calcium as well. Many people, especially women tend to fall short with their calcium intake so dairy can help them get this back up to where it needs to be.
Calcium is going to be important for not only keeping the bones nice and strong but also for promoting proper muscular contractions as well.
Choosing Correctly
So what dairy products will be the best choices? Ideally you want to aim for dairy products that are lower in fat and calories so that they don’t cause the fat gain that you dread.
Top choices include skim milk, low-fat or fat free Greek yogurt, low-fat cottage cheese, along with low fat or fat free hard cheese.
These will all give you high quality protein and help you move one step closer to your goals. Be sure to avoid the other dairy products that could potentially cause fat gain such as whole milk, ice cream, regular cream, high fat hard cheese, as well as many soft cheeses and you’ll be right on track.
So there you have everything that you need to know about dairy on an 8 pack ab diet. Do you currently eat dairy with your diet?
Why Cheat On Your 8 Pack Abs Diet?
When someone starts up on a diet plan to help them get 8 pack abs, the first thing they figure is that they have to stick to it 100% all the time. They’re either on or off and if they want to get results, they had better always be ‘on’.
These types of people often have a very black and white thinking pattern and feel that if they aren’t perfect, they’ll never achieve the results that they desire thus they do everything in their power to never be swayed from their diet plan and to never miss out on one of their carefully planned meals.
But, in some cases doing the exact opposite can move you further ahead. That’s right – a cheat meal can, at times, be the most productive thing that you could possibly do to get closer to an 8 pack so it’s something that you have to start considering.
Cheat meals should actually be worked right into your diet plan so that you treat them as just another part of the program.
Let’s take a look at why cheat meals are so important.
Psychological Relief
The very first reason for a cheat meal is obvious – it helps you out big-time on the mental front.
Let’s face it, intense diets are not the most enjoyable thing to partake in. You’re feeling restricted with not only your food selection, but how much food you get to eat as well.
This can really wear on your mind and a cheat meal will provide some sense of temporary relief. In addition to that, it’s your chance to give into whatever food craving is currently calling your name.
Hormonal Restoration
The second reason having a cheat meal incorporated into your diet is a must is because it’s going to help to restore all the fat burning and hunger hormones in the body.
Whenever you go on a very low calorie diet, your body is going to try and fight you. There are a number of hormones that go into regulating your energy levels, your hunger levels, and your metabolic rate.
When dieting, all of these factors will shift. You’ll feel very drained of energy, your hunger will shoot through the roof, and your metabolism will plummet like a rock dropped off a tall building.
Essentially, these hormones are going to make your life miserable and try and get you to start eating more food.
A cheat meal resets these hormones so you start bypassing all of these negative side effects. When it’s you up against these hormones, let me tell you, you’re unlikely to win. A cheat meal is going to make you feel 100 times better when you move back onto your diet, making it that much easier to stick with.
Glycogen Re-Saturation
Finally, the last reason a cheat meal is very beneficial is because it can help to re-saturate your muscle glycogen stores.
If you’re using a lower carb approach, there’s a good chance that your muscles are becoming glycogen depleted. As this occurs, fatigue will be more likely to kick in during your workouts and you’ll also be at a higher risk of lean muscle mass loss.
Since your body doesn’t have its preferred source of fuel to turn to (muscle glycogen), it has to find an alternative source of fuel. Due to the fact fat can’t be used during intense physical activity, protein is the only choice.
It gets this protein from your muscle tissue.
By having your cheat meal, provided it is higher in carbs, you’ll help to re-saturate this muscle glycogen so you feel better and perform better next workout.
So there you have all the reasons why a cheat meal is a must on an 8 pack abs diet. What do you typically do for your cheat meals?
How Often Should You Be Working Your Abs?
One question that comes up time and time again as people go about their workout training program is how often they should work their abdominal muscles.
Should you be working them daily in order to quickly get 8 pack abs? Or, should you treat them just like any other muscle group in the body, hitting them two to three times per week instead?
Let’s take a look at the main points to note about the workout frequency with your abdominal muscles.
Exercises Targeting The Abs
The very first thing that you need to come to realize is that your abs are going to be worked each and every time you pick up a weight in the gym, regardless of whether or not you’re lying on an ab mat.
But how can this be?
Remember, your abdominal muscles work as core stabilizers. This means that any time you’re in a standing position and moving the body around, the abs are going to be contracting, helping you maintain your balance.
So whether you’re doing a squat, a lunge, or a shoulder press, you will be working your ab muscles.
For this reason, you will really be hitting the abs multiple times per week, however many people don’t even realize this.
The Need For Direct Ab Work
So that leads to the question, how often do you need to do direct ab work where you’re lying on the floor performing a variety of different ab crunches or other exercises that are directly targeted towards the abdominal muscles?
The answer to this question is… never.
If the truth is told, if you are working hard in your other weight lifting sessions, that’s all the stimulation you really need to give the abs. If you’re lifting heavy weights, you can be sure they will be contracting maximally and the need for additional work just won’t be necessary.
But for the few people who do want to do some direct ab work and those who really want to be sure their core is as strong as possible for performance related reasons, twice per week is sufficient.
If you’re hitting the abs hard, making sure to focus on each contraction taking place as you do it, then working the abs twice per week like you would with any other muscle will be ideal.
The Overall Picture
At the same time, make sure that you keep the overall picture in mind. If you want to get an 8 pack of abs, more important than workout frequency is going to be your overall body fat levels.
Direct ab work burns very few calories overall, so performing it is going to do very little to enhance your fat burning.
For that, you’re best off focusing on major lifts for the bigger muscle groups and then getting your diet perfected.
If you do that, then you will be on track to success.
So there you have the answer to the ab workout frequency debate. Ab workouts really aren’t all they’re cracked up to be when going about this goal so don’t get too overly concerned with doing multiple workouts per week.
How often do you prefer to work your abs – if at all?
3 Foods That Are Destroying Your Chances Of Getting An Eight Pack
If you’re on a mission to get eight pack abs, then one thing that you absolutely must be doing without question is looking at your diet. To say that you can get eight pack abs without watching what you eat is like saying that you can fly around the world in a day – it just isn’t going to happen. Apart from a very few incredibly genetically lucky individuals who have 8 pack abs naturally (which accounts for about 0.3% of the population), the vast majority of us will have to work incredibly hard to see success.
You’ll have to diet, you’ll have to work out with intensity, and you’ll have to do this day in and day out for weeks, if not months depending on where you’re starting from.
By getting your diet in place though, you’re taking one giant leap forward to success as diet is the number one factor that will account for your results.
Unfortunately, many people let a few specific foods slip into their plan that completely throw them off track. These foods have the potential to ruin any otherwise good diet plan, so have a look over them and make sure they aren’t in the picture in your menu.
Fruit Juice
Think fruit juice is healthy? You definitely need to think again. While real fruit juice may be created from 100% pure fruit, the fact remains that this fruit juice is very high in calories and extremely high in sugar.
Essentially, you’re putting a sugar bomb into your system whenever you down a glass that’s waiting to go off, causing a huge blood sugar spike followed by crash.
This entire process is going to set off a flood of insulin into your body that will encourage the uptake of all that sugar to your body fat cells.
For a lean body, fruit juice should not be in the picture.
Energy Bars
The second food to nix from your diet are energy bars. You might think these are a smart option when you need a quick boost, but again, you should think again.
Sure, you’ll get a fast boost from them, but shortly after, you’ll hit an energy slump that’s ten times worse than the one you just came out of.
And when you hit that, you’ll be running as fast as you can towards the pantry in search of another snack.
Hunger with low blood sugar levels and hunger due to a need for calories are two entirely different things and the chances of you dealing with the first type of hunger successfully are slim to none.
Restaurant Meals
Finally, last but not least, we have restaurant meals. If the truth is told, it’s very, very hard to dine out healthfully. If you become a menu sleuth, looking up the nutritional stats online and then also making adjustments to the healthiest items you can find on the menu (which will be rare), then maybe you’ll get a dish that somewhat follows your diet plan.
Restaurant meals simply contain too much food, too much added fat, and too much added sugar. If your goal is simply to lose weight, then yes, you’ll likely to be able to find something to accommodate to your plan.
But if your goal is to get an 8-pack, you don’t have a margin for error. Restaurant meals should be avoided as you simply don’t have enough control over what’s going into the food before it reaches your plate.
So there you have the top three foods that could quickly take you off the path of progress and onto a major set-back. Are there any others you can think of?
5 Workout Quick-Fixes To Fast 8 Pack Abs
If you’ve set the goal to achieve ‘8-pack ab status’, a lofty goal no doubt, then it’s time to take a hard look at the current workout routine you’re using.
If you really do want to sport a full eight pack of abs, you have to get serious and mean business each time you step foot in the gym. Unless you’re training with a certain level of tenacity, you’re going to be chasing a dream.
Eight pack abs are not something that’ll come easily to those who put in a half-effort, so each workout needs to be done to the limit.
Let’s have a look at five quick-fixes that you can make to your current workout to start moving closer to 8-pack success.
Superset Compound Exercises
You’ve likely heard of a ‘superset’ technique before. This is where you’re going to take two exercises and pair them immediately back to back.
But, when aiming for an 8 pack, everything needs to be done with intensity. In order to achieve this, superset compound exercises with your routine.
Consider a bench press supersetted with a squat.
How do you think that’ll compare with a bicep curl supesetted with a tricep extension? The difference should be obvious.
Remember, the more muscles you work in any given instant, the more calories you’re burning and the more metabolic that workout will be. Start supersetting compound exercises and you’ll be in for some serious results.
Say So-Long To Bodypart Splits
Second, the next quick tip is to kiss those body part splits good-bye. Far too many people are still hung up on this old, traditional approach, but if you really want to jumpstart your success, move to a full body or an upper/lower split.
These simply evoke more fat burning per workout session and will also stimulate a greater anabolic stimulus as well. Both of those combined mean you move closer to your goal.
Time Your Rest
Another key tip to start doing in your workout sessions is to make sure that you time your rest. Most people know the importance of resting a certain amount based on the current goal of that workout.
But how many actually hold themselves accountable?
If you’re walking over to get a drink from the fountain or chat up the woman at the front desk between your sets, the chances that your rest break goes overtime are going to be incredibly high.
If you want to see fast success with getting a six pack, your rest periods need to be timed accurately. Invest in a good stopwatch timer and have this taken care of.
Focus On The Fibers
Another key thing that you can do to boost your chances of landing an 8 pack is to start focusing on the actual muscle fibers with each rep you perform.
Think about them squeezing, moving through the contraction and relaxation cycle. By focusing on this rather than simply getting through the exercise, you’ll feel the body working to a much higher extent and will put in more effort with each rep performed.
At the end of the day, this can make the difference between a good workout and a truly great one.
Know When To Rest
Finally, last but not least, know when to back-off. As important as it is that you approach each session with a high level of intensity, you must make sure that you’re realizing when it’s time to give the body a break.
Push yourself past the point where you just aren’t recovering and you’ll be moving backwards rather than forwards. Your body does require time to recover and get stronger so make sure you’re giving it that.
If you find your workouts are dragging and strength is dropping, that’s your clear sign it’s time to take a day away from the gym completely.
So be sure that you that you keep these quick tips in mind next time you head into the gym. Many people don’t realize that getting an 8 pack is about much more than what you do on the crunch mats. In fact, the crunch mats don’t even need to be a part of an 8-pack routine.
But, that’s a topic for another day. Until then, pay heed to this advice and you’ll be moving closer to your goals.
3 Supplements For 8 Pack Abs
If you’re currently on a mission to get 8 pack abs, chances are you’re wondering what supplements there are on the market that could potentially help you reach this goal. You realize that having a good diet in place is important, but beyond there, isn’t there something that could provide a little help?
If you don’t have to go about the process of trying to obtain 8 pack abs alone, you’d rather not so any beneficial supplement you’re definitely interested in hearing about.
The great news is that there are in fact supplements that can speed up your results to get 8 pack abs, but you must make sure you’re taking them properly. Fail to do so and you’ll just end up not only blowing money, but blowing time as well.
Let’s go over three supplements that could foreseeably get you faster results when used properly.
Caffeine
The first supplement to consider using in your quest for an 8 pack is caffeine. This may sound too simple to really boost your progress, but don’t underestimate. Since downing a cup of coffee before a workout may not be the best of ideas unless you have no problem with cramping, a caffeine supplement makes it easy to get a quick boost.
Caffeine will not only amp up your energy levels so you work harder in the gym, but it’ll also increase the rate of fat oxidation that takes place in the body, offering clear benefits there as well.
Yohimbe
Second on our list of supplements to consider is yohimbe. Yohimbe tends to be especially helpful for those looking to get off stubborn body fat, which let’s face it, when seeking an 8 pack, that fat covering those abs is going to be mighty stubborn.
Using yohimbe before doing faster cardio first thing in the morning is a good practice to get into as it can enhance fatty acid mobilization from these stubborn areas of the body and help get you leaner quickly.
Ephedrine
Finally, the third supplement to consider, which is only legal in certain areas of the world is ephedrine. Ephedrine has gotten a fairly bad rap due to a few individuals misusing it and suffering quite severe consequences. But, when used properly, most tolerate it quite well and it will definitely enhance energy, boost your metabolism, and will also offer strong appetite suppressing benefits.
Pairing ephedrine with caffeine is the best idea as this is the common ‘stack’ that’s utilized. Note that many people add aspirin to this stack, but that’s not necessary.
Just be sure that you do speak with your doctor before using ephedrine due to the potential side effects it could cause before going ahead with it and always start with the lowest dosage to see how your body responds first. Safety will be a must with any supplement you’re using.
So there you have three good supplement that can help to boost your success. Note that all of these supplements will only help if that diet and workout are in place however, so focus on getting those in line first and then consider adding any of the above.
Do you have any favourite supplements you’d like to share?
