Get That Six Pack Abs Look - 3 Vital Tips

Let's face it... building muscle is not the easiest thing to accomplish even despite regular hard workout schedules and trying every type of workout and supplement.

I struggled for years to gain any significant muscle mass, but over the years in my personal training business and with my own experimentation have found some important things that have helped make significant muscle gains possible even for hardgainers.

So, I'm going to give 3 important tips here so you can start building lean muscle mass faster and easier.

1. Make sure that 95% of the exercises you perform regularly in the gym are big multi-joint compound exercises. It doesn't matter if your goal is fat loss or building muscle... big multi-joint exercises should comprise 95% of the exercises you do in your workouts if you want to get lean, ripped, and powerful.

It's easiest to think of it in terms of the major movement patterns such as these (focus 95% of your workouts on these):


*upper body horizontal press (bench press, pushups, dips)

*upper body horizontal rows (1-arm dumbbell rows, seated cable rows, bent over barbell rows),

*upper body vertical pull (lat pulldowns, pullups, chinups),

*upper body vertical press (overhead dumbbell and barbell presses, barbell or kettlebell clean & presses)

*lower body squatting movements (front squats, back squats, overhead squats, bodyweight squats, etc)

*lower body deadlifting movements (regular deadlifts, sumo deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts)

*lower body single leg movements (lunges, step-ups, jump lunges, etc)

*abdominal and core exercises (these are important, but still are 2nd priority after all of the major upper body and lower body multi-joint movements... your abs and core will be worked from most major multi-joint exercises anyway)

The other 5% of your exercises can focus on single joint exercises (isolation exercises) such as bicep curls, tricep presses, calf presses, shoulder shrugs, shoulder lateral raises, pec flyes, etc, etc. However, these exercises are only accessory exercises to do after the main focus has been the multi-joint drills.

2. Train hard and intensely 3-4 days/week for 45-60 minutes per weight training workout. Keep your workouts to no longer than 60 minutes as training too much beyond this point can trigger excess catabolism. You want to stay anabolic, but you still need to train your body hard and intensely enough to trigger muscle growth.

Try a super-set style of workout program to maximize the intensity that you can train. My favorite combinations are opposing upper and lower body movement patterns that don't interfere with each other, such as squats coupled with pullups as a superset, or bench press coupled with deadlifts as a superset.

Don't underestimate the effectiveness of these types of upper/lower body supersets done with heavy weights and a high intensity. The first time in my life that I experienced significant muscle mass gains were when I started doing these types of workout combos regularly (although still mixing up my training variables).

These are mainstays of almost any effective workout program -- caloric intake can simply be adjusted whether your goal is fat burning or gaining muscle mass.

3. Eat clean with quality whole foods... REAL foods instead of highly processed over-hyped supplement powders and bars.

The quality of protein (and additional nutrition from vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants) are best assimilated by the body from real whole food such as eggs, meats, dairy (preferably raw), fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, etc. instead of from processed protein powders, chemical-laden bars, and meal replacements.

Forget about the hyped up workouts in the muscle mags that only work for pro bodybuilders or people on steroids. Forget about the over-hyped supplement "stacks" that pay the bills for almost every muscle mag... Instead, make these tips in this article part of your lifestyle, and you'll see muscle gains and a leaner, ripped body like you've never seen before!

If you want to get a lean chiseled body, check out these tips to Get That Six Pack Abs Look the right way.

Get That Six Pack Abs Look

How to build some muscle to get that six pack abs look.

Even if your goal isn't to get six pack abs you more than likely are going for the flat, fat free toned abs. For too many of us it's a dream that seems to be a never ending quest.

Keeping with our total body conditioning workouts here are 3 exercises you can easily do at home to help with that six pack abs look.

1) Mountain Climbers

Mountain Climbers should be performed in 30 seconds. How you can go about this is to lie on the floor with top push-up position. In this way, only your hands and feet are touching the floor. Then, brace your abs by flexing one of your knees and bringing it towards your chest. Return the knee to the starting position and repeat the same routine for the other knee. Do this in a swift tempo as though you are running or as though you are climbing a mountain for about 30 seconds.

2) Burpees

Stand up in a normal position as straight possible. Then slowly progress into a normal bodyweight squat. Once you reach the bottom, put your hans on the floor and throw your feet back so you are in the push-up position. Do a push-up( if your conditioning allows) return to starting position. Yeah you got it the old squat thrust from high school.

3) Kettlebell Swing

Stand up straight with your feet just slightly wider than your shoulders while holding one kettlebell(we are doing a two handed kettlebell swing). Flex at the hips as you swing the kettlebell between your legs. Then quickly and explosively flex your gluteus maximus (your largest muscles on your bottom) and swing the kettlebell up to chest level. Perform the kettlebell swing for about 10 reps.

For a more detailed explanation and video of how to do the kettlebell swing check out Kbells The kettlebell Training Page

After you have finished with the kettlebell Swing exercise, rest for about 20 to 30 seconds. Then start with the routine of Mountain Climbers again and perform the whole circuit as many times as you can in 4 minutes.

You can perform this circuit of these 3 exercises 2-3 times a week on top of your regular workout. Make this a regular workout and in a short amount of time(along with a healthy eating plan) and soon that six pack abs look will be yours.

Remember total body tconditioning workouts like I have just showed you are the fast track to that six pack abs look.