Example 1: Overfeeding

I first heard the term overfeeding in The Truth About Six Pack Abs by Mike Geary. This is the term that he uses to refer to taking one day a week to completely forget about your diet and basically eat whatever you want. Notice that I said basically. You still need to exercise some self control. This isn’t a free pass to go out and eat enough for three people.

Mike uses calories as a guideline. If you want to lose fat, you have to consume less calories than you expend. There is no way around it, that is just the basic science of it.

There is, however, more than one way to look at it. You can compare the calories that you eat to the calories you use on a daily basis, or you can look at your week as  a whole. For example, if you create a consistent caloric deficit six days a week and then splurge a little on the seventh day, you will still have a caloric deficit for the week as a whole. This is all assuming that you don’t go crazy on your overfeeding day.

For a more detailed explanation, check out Mike’s program. It’s got a lot of really great information in it.

Example 2: Treat Meals

I recently wrote a review of Jackie Warner’s book This Is Why You’re Fat. The full title of the book is This Is Why You’re Fat (And How to Get Thin Forever): Eat More, Cheat More, Lose More–and Keep the Weight Off. You can see just from the title that Jackie is a proponent of being a diet cheat.

Jackie’s approach is to allow yourself to have two “treat meals” on the weekend. That’s one treat meal on Saturday and one on Sunday. She gives a couple of guidelines that you should follow. The first one is that you only get to have your treat meals if you stick to your diet during the five preceding days. The second guideline is that you should keep each treat meal under 1,500 calories. Other than that, you can pretty much go nuts for those two meals.

Why You Should Be A Diet Cheat

There are two reasons why you should consider being a diet cheat. The first reason is psychological and the second reason is physiological.

The psychological reason is pretty simple. When you are on a diet (see note below), sometimes it can be difficult to stick with it, especially in the beginning. To make the adjustment easier, it is good to have a light at the end of the tunnel. If you know you have a cheat day coming, it is easier to stick with your diet. If you don’t have something like that built in, it becomes very tempting to just give up and go back to your old ways of eating.

The physiological reason has to do with the way your body reacts to a sustained caloric deficit. As you start consuming fewer calories than your body needs, your body will start drawing on your fat stores in order to sustain itself. Eventually, your body will think that you are starving and will respond by lowering your metabolism and increasing your appetite. This is the worst possible scenario for someone who wants to burn fat. Cheat days, with a higher caloric intake, can trick your body out of thinking that it is starving.

I think both of these points make sense. Physiologically, we are all pretty much made the same so the effects of going into starvation mode apply to us all. Psychologically, however, we are all a little different from each other. You have to evaluate yourself and decide if the psychological effects of having a cheat day will be positive or negative for you. If you are the type of person that will lose all self control if you allow yourself to cheat, then cheat days probably aren’t the way to go.

As always, give it a try and see how it works for you.

Note On Dieting: I do not believe in dieting. I do believe in having a good diet. Hopefully you see the difference. Eating well should be a way of life and not a temporary way to reach a fat loss goal. Eating healthily over time will result in sustained fat loss. That being said, I accept that eating in such a way as to create a daily caloric deficit (if done wisely) can speed up the fat loss process. However, this should only be done over the short term to bring your body into healthy body fat percentages.

The Mike Geary Approach

Mike Geary’s workout philosophy is pretty simple. The best way to to lose weight and get in shape is to focus on strength training. Here are a few points of Mike’s workout approach:

• Use free weights instead of machines
• Focus on multi-joint exercises
• Intensity is more important than duration
• Weight training is more important than cardio
• If you do cardio, stick with high intensity and short durations (i.e. wind sprints)
• Ab specific training should come at the end of your workout and only take up about 5 – 8 minutes

Workout Frequency and Duration

Many people believe that you need to workout for several hours every day if you want to get in great shape. Fortunately, that isn’t the case and it’s not what Mike Geary recommends in The Truth About Six Pack Abs.

If you workout too much, you will most likely be over training and you won’t get as much benefit from all your hard work as you otherwise would get. For most people, a 45 – 60 minute workout 3 – 4 times a week will be about right. Since we are all different, experiment to find out what works best for you.

Mike Geary Workouts

It would be dishonest of me to divulge the specifics of Mike Geary’s workouts. You’ll have to get your own copy of The Truth About Six Pack Abs program if you want all of the details, but I can give you a general idea of what to expect.

There are several different workouts in the program that are for different fitness levels. You start with what is appropriate for your current fitness level and then work your way up. Each workout is done for 4 – 6 weeks and then you either move on to the next level or change some variable(s) and stay at the same level.

Each workout has an A and B version and you will alternate between them. For example, if you workout on Mon/Wed/Fri, during the first week you will do A on Monday, B on Wednesday, and A on Friday. The next week you will switch it and do B/A/B.

You start each of Mike Geary’s workouts with a warm up. After the warm up you go in to the A or B portion which consist of multi-joint free weight exercises (all of the exercises are explained and demonstrated in his program). After the weight training portion, you finish up with some ab specific exercises and some stretching.

To Sum It Up

If you’re looking to lose weight, burn off your stomach fat, get a flat tummy or six pack abs, then this is the way to do it. Mike Geary is the expert when it comes to these things. The secret to looking and feeling your best is to burn off your excess body fat and the secret to burning off your excess body fat is to concentrate on hight intensity, multi-joint, free weight exercises.

Mike Geary is the man to teach you how to do it right and The Truth About Six Pack Abs is the program where he explains it all. Get your copy now and get started transforming your body today.

Don’t worry, this is completely normal. It will take some time for your body to get used to the exercises you are doing, especially if you’ve never done any consistent exercising before. Over time, your body will adapt and you will find that you have plenty of energy to finish your exercise routine.

Why Does This Happen?

Think of it like inertia. Have you ever tried to push something really heavy (like a car for example)? As you start to push on the back of the car, it feels heavy and it doesn’t want to move. As you continue to push, it starts to move ever so slightly. With less and less effort, the car starts to roll faster and faster. Before long, you are barely pushing at all and you have to run just to keep up with the car.

Your body is just like this car. It takes a lot of effort and energy to break through the inertia of your sedentary life style. If you stick with it though, soon enough you will start to build up some momentum and exercising will begin to feel natural. You may still have some low energy days here and there, but for the most part you will find that you have lots more energy than you had before.

What Should You Do About It?

This is all well and fine, but what are you supposed to do until you get to the point that momentum is carrying you along? Telling you to buckle down and stick with it until that day arrives isn’t a whole lot of help, so here are a few things you can do to help along the way:

• Get Enough Sleep – Make sure you get plenty of rest at night. Everyone is a little different, but most people need about 8 hours of sleep per night to function well. If you are exercising hard then you need your sleep even more than you would otherwise. It’s easy to ignore this tip, but it’s important so that’s why it’s at the top of the list.
• Drink Water – Make sure you stay hydrated during your workouts. If you start to get dehydrated then you can start to feel weak and lose your energy. Don’t overdo it though. Too much water is just as bad (or worse) as not enough.
• Start Slow And Build – If you’re just beginning, you don’t need to be working out like the guy who’s been going to the gym everyday for the last 12 years. Start with what you can handle and then push yourself a little harder each week. Your body will adjust easier to small incremental changes than it will to one large change.
• Workout In The Morning – Before you write me off, give it a try. If you are not used to getting up early, it may take a little while to get used to it but you will feel the difference once your body adjusts to it. Your body has much more energy after a full night of sleep than it will after a long hard day of work. It takes a few minutes to rub the sleep out of your eyes, but getting up early to exercise is a great way to start your day.

I hope some of this helps you inject some more energy into your workouts. Don’t get discouraged. Stick with it and working out will get easier and it will be worth it. If you have any other energy boosting suggestions, leave a comment and share it with the rest of us.

Our bodies build muscle in response to being pushed beyond their limit. When we workout, we tend to follow routines. It’s human nature and it just feels like the right thing to do, and if you are trying to maintain your current level of fitness then it is the right thing to do. In your routine, you may be pushing your body to new limits, but your body is built to adapt to routines and will quickly get used to the exercises you are doing. You will get to a point where you will stop improving.

If you want to keep improving and building stronger muscles, you have to break out of the routine and shake things up from time to time. If you are familiar with P90X then you have heard this principle referred to as muscle confusion. If you keep your muscles guessing, they can’t get used to what you are asking them to do and they will have to continue to grow in an effort to adapt.

A good way to keep your muscles guessing is to throw in something different from time to time. There are lots of ways to do this, but one good way is to be a little creative with your workouts. Try something different instead of doing the same old thing all of the time.

Let’s look at an example. Say you do regular dumbbell curls on the days that you workout your arms. The purpose of dumbbell curls is to workout your biceps, so all we need to do is find something else you can do that will give your biceps a good pump.

Alternative Bicep Workout

When I was in high school, my workout buddies and I used to come up with little exercise challenges to prove how manly we were. One of the things we used to do would work great as an alternative bicep workout. To do it you will need a preacher bar, eight of the same size weights (size of weights depends on your strength), and at least one workout partner (preferably two).

Put the eight weight plates on the preacher bar (four on each side). Do eight reps of preacher curls with all the weights on the bar. You can do this either standing or sitting at a preacher bench. When you get to the top of the eighth rep, pause in that position while your workout partner(s) remove one plate from either side of the bar. Make sure both plates are removed at the same time so the bar doesn’t tip to one side (this is why it is best to have 2 workout partners for this). The plates should be removed quickly and the next set of eight reps should be started immediately. Continue removing plates from the bar in this manner until your last set is completed using only the bar for a total of 5 sets. If you are feeling particularly studly, you can keep going and have your workout partner(s) add the weights back one at a time for a total of 9 sets.

This is just one example of something you can do to break out of your routine. With pretty much any exercise you currently do, there are alternative exercises you can try that will work the same muscle groups but also give your body something new to adapt to. Just make sure you don’t go to long without changing things up or you will start hitting plateaus.

I’d love to hear about any alternative exercises that you have tried. Tell me about them in a comment and we can all give it a try.

If you’ve never heard of The Fat Burning Kitchen, it is all about learning how to eat right to burn fat. Exercise can only take you so far. If you want great six pack abs, you have to get your body fat percentage down and in order to do that effectively, you have to eat right. The Fat Burning Kitchen will teach you exactly how to do it.

The Fat Burning Kitchen was written by Mike Geary, the author of The Truth About Six Pack Abs. If you are in the mood to help Mike celebrate his birthday, I recommend you also pick up a copy of The Truth About Six Pack Abs while you are at Mike’s website getting your half priced copy of The Fat Burning Kitchen.

For the 50% discount click this link:
50% Off The Fat Burning Kitchen

Mike’s other book can be found here:
The Truth About Six Pack Abs

They are both great books. I highly recommend you check them out.

So, how long does it take for your abs to recover after you work them out? That is the tough part of the question. There is no right answer that fits everyone and every situation. There are several factors that come into play. A couple of things to consider are how used to working out your body is and how intensely you workout your abs. If you are just starting to workout your abs, it will take you longer to recover than someone who has been working out for years. If you do an extremely intense ab workout, like the P90X Ab Ripper X routine, it will take you longer to recover than if you do a quick 2 minute ab routine.

You’re probably saying to yourself, “Thanks a lot, but this doesn’t answer my question. How am I supposed to know when I should workout my abs again?” Well, the best answer I can give you is to listen to your body. If you got a decent ab workout in, you should be a little sore the next day. This happens because you are breaking down your muscle tissue when you exercise. If you’ve done a good job of it, you’re going to feel it the next day. As you do the same exercises week after week, this soreness will be less severe (which may mean it’s time to step things up a notch). You can use this soreness to let you know when it’s time to workout your abs again. You don’t need to wait until the soreness is completely gone, but you should wait until it feels like it is starting to subside. Keep in mind that I’m not talking about massive amounts of pain here. The feeling in your muscles should tend more toward soreness than pain. If you are experiencing intense pain, it may be something you need to get checked out. In any case, you should be able to get a feel for it pretty quickly. Just allow your body to start feeling a little better before you go at it again.

For all you seasoned readers, how do you decide how often to workout your abs (or any other muscle group for that matter)? Leave a comment and give some advice to anyone who might be struggling to figure this out.

How To Get Six Pack Abs

1. Multi-Joint Full-Body Workouts – You need to do the right kinds of workouts. Getting a six pack isn’t about running on the treadmill and doing crunches. To get your abs to show through, you have to burn off your stomach fat. You might have the best six pack in the world, but if it’s covered by fat, you’ll never be able to see it. Doing the right types and combinations of full-body multi-joint exercises will increase your metabolism and stimulate the release of fat burning hormones. Master this and you can say, “Good-bye stomach fat, hello abs.”
2. REAL Nutrition – What is REAL nutrition? It’s learning to eat the right way. No more fad diets, starvation, or crazy diet pills. Having great abs is all about having low body fat. Exercise will help you burn it off, but you need to learn how to eat properly to keep your body fat down and give your body the nutrients it needs to naturally stay thin.
3. A Success Mindset – You might think it’s lame, but your mindset is important. It takes work to have a nice body and great abs. If you don’t want it more than you want to eat junk food everyday, you’ll never have the body you want. This key is the most difficult to master and the reason why so many people fail to reach their goals.

If you want to learn more about the three keys to getting flat sexy six pack abs, check out Mike Geary’s program, The Truth About Six Pack Abs or read my Review Of The Truth About Six Pack Abs. Mike goes into great detail on proper nutrition and exercise. He teaches you which exercises you should be doing (with pictures and descriptions) and gives you complete workouts to follow. He also gives you over 80 example meals that show you how to eat properly. Everything you need to know to get a flat sexy stomach is contained in Mike’s program. Check it out. I think you will be just as impressed as I was.

Think about this for a minute. Let’s say you have a goal this year to burn off some stomach fat and get ripped abs. Why do you want to do that? We all talk a lot about the health benefits of exercise, but I’m willing to bet (if you’re being honest) that a big part of why you exercise is that you want to look better. So, why do you want to look better? Well, for better or for worse, the way you look plays a big part in where you fit into society and how other people react to you. Most people don’t want to admit it, but it’s true. Whether it’s at a conscious or a subconscious level, people make decisions about you based in part on your physical appearance. However, there is a way around this. If your life experiences haven’t already revealed it to you, it’s time I let you in on the big secret. The way you feel about your physical appearance, and how that influences your confidence levels and actions, has more to do with the way you are perceived by others than does your actual physical appearance. In other words, if you act confidently (not cocky, there is a difference), you will be more attractive to other people; and according to the University of Florida study, exercise will help you improve your body image even if you don’t get the visible results you were hoping for.

Now, if you can feel better about yourself through some unintended psychological side effect, imagine how good you are going to feel about yourself once the inches and pounds start coming off. You are going to look great, your going to feel great, and other people are going to take notice. All you’ve got to do is get out there and start exercising. If you’re not already on an effective exercise program, give one of these in-home exercise programs a try.

Selecting A Personal Trainer

1. Cost – What you pay for a personal trainer should not be the most important aspect of your decision, but I mention it first because I realize that it will be a limiting factor for many people. Just make sure you find out up front what the personal trainer costs. Get it in writing to protect yourself so you don’t end up in an argument later over who said what.
    
2. Methodology – Each personal trainer will approach things a little differently. If you’ve never worked with a personal trainer before, it may be difficult to know what will work best for you. Think about your personality and goals and try to consider how you will respond to a particular personal trainer’s approach. Are you motivated or scared by someone screaming in your face that you still have five more reps to go? Does kind, positive reinforcement work best for you or do you find it dull and uninspiring? There is no right answer here. You’ll have to decide what will work best for you.
    
3. Flexibility – We all have different goals.  If your goals are to lose stomach fat and get a six pack, you need a personal trainer that will work with you toward that goal. You don’t want a personal trainer that only knows one way of doing things and prescribes the same workout routine to all clients. If the personal trainer only knows how to turn you into a beef cake but that’s not your goal, you had better find someone else.
    
4. Personality – If you can’t stand your personal trainer, you’re probably not going to get the results you want. You probably won’t stick with your workouts. Nobody wants to pay good money to hang out with someone they can’t stand. You need to at least be able to tolerate your personal trainer. It will be even better if you find someone that you respect and enjoy. The more things you can do to make your workouts enjoyable, the more likely you will be to stick with them and reach your goals.
    
5. Qualifications – Your personal trainer has to know what they are doing. You may not be experienced enough to know if they are leading you down the wrong path or not, so looking into their credentials is a good idea. There are many organizations that certify personal trainers. I’m not here to say which organization’s certification program is the best or that you need to find a personal trainer with a particular certification. It is important that the personal trainer has been trained though. Every personal trainer will probably tell you that their certification is the best, so as long as it comes from a reputable organization then you don’t need to worry about it too much.
    
6. Gender – You may or may not be concerned with the gender of your personal trainer. If you are, go with what makes you feel comfortable. As I said earlier, the more you can do to make your workouts comfortable and enjoyable, the better off you will be.
    
7. Schedule – Make sure the personal trainer’s schedule works with yours. This sounds obvious enough, but sometimes we forget about the obvious things. If you have to rearrange your life to work with a particular personal trainer, it’s probably not worth it.
    
8. Physique – Take a look at the personal trainer’s body. If your personal trainer is not in shape, chances are you won’t be getting in shape either. If the personal trainer is not in shape, either they don’t know what they are talking about, don’t believe what they preach, or they are too lazy to do what it takes to get in shape. Regardless of the reason, it will be difficult to respect a personal trainer that is out of shape.
    
9. References – Don’t be afraid to ask for references. If you ask the personal trainer for references, you can be fairly confident that you will only get positive comments. It will be better if you can get references without going through the personal trainer. For example, if the personal trainer is an employee at your gym, ask some of the other gym members if they have had any experiences with that trainer. Notice who the personal trainer’s clients are and ask some of them what they think. Better yet, if you have a friend or family member that has had a positive experience with a trainer, ask for the name of their personal trainer.
    
10. Trail Session – Ask for a trial session before you commit to a personal trainer. What better way to find out if the personal trainer is a good fit? If they will consent to a personal trial session, you should be able to find out everything that you need to know fairly quickly.

There are several things that you should consider when choosing a personal trainer, but the most important thing is that you feel comfortable. Don’t make your workouts any more difficult to stick with than they all ready are by attaching yourself to someone you don’t like. A good trainer can make a big difference in your life, so try to find a good one.

If you are having trouble finding a good personal trainer, or if you don’t think you can afford it, consider these in-home workout videos. The personal trainers in these programs are excellent and much more affordable.

If you need some really good workout clothes, shoes, or accessories then you should consider Under Armour. They make really top quality stuff. Remember, this deal only lasts through March so don’t procrastinate. Go to the Under Armour website now and get yourself some gear.