Q: I’m an 18-year-old male. I have a little bit of belly fat. I can see my top two abs when I tense. My question is, how can I get a six pack by spring break? What do I need to do? – Will

A: A six pack by spring break? Doable! Get ready to shed excess fat and build muscle—the two keys to a “fast track” six pack.

P.S. You probably already have a six pack underneath that “little bit of belly fat.” Especially if you can see definition in the top abs. Ready to bring it forth?

Attack the Flab Around Your Midsection

1. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). Interval cardio will burn more fat than steady state cardio (like running or cycling at a steady pace). And, you’ll build more muscle. Interval cardio consists of short bursts of high intensity exertion, followed by brief periods of “active” rest. This keeps the body off balance so it can’t adjust and hoard calories, and it also works multiple muscle groups. Best of all, not only will you burn more fat during a HIIT workout,  you’ll get EPOC, or excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. What does that mean? More calorie burn post-workout! Get the full scoop in our metabolic circuit post.

2. Eat Healthier. Skip the refined sugar (what’s that?), the fries and other junk food, and focus on maintaining a healthy, well-rounded diet. It’s important to incorporate lots of variety into your meals to make sure you get ample nutrients. We recommend eating 5-6 smaller meals throughout the day, instead of 2-3. This will enhance your metabolism, reduce unhealthy cravings, and deliver plenty of energy for your workouts. You’ll want to steer clear of carbonation, as well—soda and beer are the enemies of a washboard stomach!

3. Drink Green Tea. It’s a metabolism-booster and antioxidant with proven stomach fat-blasting benefits. Don’t like the taste? You can take Green Tea in extract form, on its own or as a compound supplement (get it at any grocery store). Read more about the benefits of green tea.

While you’re losing that little bit of excess fat, you can jump right into your ab muscle workouts! Lean muscle mass burns more calories, so your strength training will fuel your fat burn.

4 Moves for a Rock-Solid Stomach

1. Keep Your Abs Engaged. Your core region (lower back, abs and glutes) make up your “stabilizer” muscle group. This powerhouse is constantly at work when you’re doing ANY kind of workout, so take advantage of this! When you’re lifting weights, or doing anything that uses your stabilizer muscles, consciously tap into that strength—keep your abs tight and posture solid, and you’ll see big results.

2. Use Compound Movements.  When targeting your abs, compound exercises are better than isolated ones. Why not work multiple muscle groups at once? Some compound movements that work the whole ab region include Planks and the Bicycle Maneuver:

• For Planks, lie face down, forearms and toes pressed into the floor, and lift your hips up off the floor. Engage your abs, straighten your back and hold this position for as long as you can. Trust us, you’ll feel your entire ab region engaged! When you progress, you can also try a plank variation using an exercise ball.
  

• For Bicycle Maneuver, lie with your back on the floor, hands behind your head and elbows spread wide. Keeping your lower back pressed into the floor and abs contracted, crunch across the body—one elbow to the opposite knee. Alternate continuously. This will work more muscles than a standard crunch.

3. Eat Protein.  Protein will allow your body to rebuild muscle after your workouts. Great sources include lean meat, nuts, eggs, cheese and legumes. Another excellent source of protein is a protein shake, which can be one of your 5-6 daily meals. A whey or soy protein powder, when mixed with soy or skim milk, can give you roughly 20 grams of protein. Drink your protein shake at the right time for maximum results.

4. Get Plenty of Rest.  “Fast-track” doesn’t mean you need to work out every single day. If you work the same muscle group two days in a row, you’ll make it hard for your body to recover—which is when the actual muscle development takes place. If you are committed to working out every day, do cardio or active stretching on the days in between your strength training workouts. And make sure you get the right amount of sleep, too, because it’s prime muscle recovery time.

You’ve got a big goal, but it should be easy to get a six pack quickly if you follow these steps diligently. (It will require the same determination to keep that six pack when you return to school, of course!)

Get a six-pack your own way with a little push from 4-Hour Body.

More good reads:

• Are you training your core or your abs?
• Ab-blasting got you sore? How to prevent second-day soreness
• Is Final Phase Fat Loss the ticket to your six-pack?

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Want to burn fat faster, especially in those trouble spots? Then stop zoning out to the wheeze of the treadmill. It’s time to switch up your routine with metabolic circuits!

“Metabolic circuits are a lot of fun and can really benefit your health and fitness,” says Lori Incledon in her book Strength Training for Women. The fitness world is abuzz over metabolic training because it delivers a super-effective workout for muscle gain AND fat loss. Did we mention you can do a circuit in 30 minutes or less?

“Metabolic conditioning” or “metabolic training” refers to exercise designed to replicate the types of exertion used in sports—high energy, high engagement, total body movements. The “circuit” is simply the cycle of exercises you set up in your routine.

So why does metabolic training lead to increased muscle mass and fat burn?

Reason #1 – Metabolic Circuits Use Resistance Training

“Study after study show health benefits from resistance training,” Craig Ballantyne told The Nate Green Experience. “After all, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that a good superset lifting session works your muscles and cardio-vascular system a lot better than a 30-minute walk in the park.”

As in sports, you’ll be doing some serious muscle multitasking in your circuit. By using compound instead of isolated movements, you work multiple muscle groups for a balanced, full-body workout.

And with brief rest periods, active rest, or simply resting one muscle group while you work the other, you’re able to do even more strength training in a short amount of time.

Increasing your lean muscle mass will accelerate your calorie burn, but to get the full effects, “you need to lift heavy,” says Jade Teta, ND, CSCS. “Your muscles should be burning.” The idea of a metabolic circuit is to get close to muscle exhaustion fairly quickly, so you shouldn’t be able to do 12+ reps in a set. If you can only lift 2-3 reps of a heavy weight while maintaining control and flawless form, that’s fine.

Reason #2 – Metabolic Circuits Get Your Heart Rate High

By incorporating intense bursts of exertion at intervals—2 minutes of jumping jacks, say, or spinning on a bike as fast as you can—you’re getting your heart rate up for great cardiovascular benefits. Alternating between high intensity and low intensity (active rest) keeps your heart rate up, while allowing your body to rest between exercises.

As with the resistance component of your circuit, the goal is to emulate sports training, so focus on intensity over quantity. It’s not as important how long you jump rope, but that you do it as hard as you can. “You shouldn’t be able to talk,” Teta explains. So if you’re chatting with a pal or humming a tune, you aren’t making the most of your circuit.

Reason #3 – Metabolic Circuits Generate Afterburn

Varied, high intensity exercise is proven to create EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption), also known as “afterburn.” For one, you’re exerting energy at full capacity, which creates an oxygen debt. And two, the varied movements prevent your body from adjusting to your level of exertion and conserving oxygen (as it would in steady state exercise). So, metabolic circuits increase your energy expenditure during and after training, burning up calories to do so.

Are You Getting Full Metabolic Effects?

“There are four reliable ways to stimulate the maximum caloric burn both during and after the exercise session,” says Teta. “We call these the ‘Bs’ and the ‘Hs’, breathless, burning, heavy and heat. Each workout should work to generate all four of these components.”

In other words, when you finish your circuit you should be wobbly, sweating, striving to catch your breath, and clawing for your water bottle. Your muscles should be fatigued, and if you’re just starting out, you can probably expect a few days of soreness.

You should not be dizzy, faint, precariously wheezing, or on the verge of pulling a muscle. It’s especially important when doing metabolic training to eat right and stay hydrated. You should also prevent soreness with stretching and foam rolling, both before and after your circuit.

Keep Your Circuits Short and Sweet

In your eagerness to get started, be careful not to over-train. If you’re a beginner, ease your way in slowly. Diving into an intense workout could easily cause injury, which is NOT going to get you any closer to your fitness goals. Nor are extended soreness, pain, or an inability to walk for two weeks.

The beauty of metabolic circuits is that they’re designed to be short and sweet, so you don’t need to overdo it. The goal of lifting in your circuit is to expend maximum strength with control and correct form. You’re not going to be able to do that for very long.

To get the most from your metabolic circuits, don’t push yourself beyond your capacity, and always allow adequate rest between heavy workout days. 30 minutes, 2-3 (non-consecutive) days a week should be plenty. And, to start out, 10-20 minutes is just fine.

It only takes a short period of high energy, high effort, total-focus activity to get exceptional fitness results. So set up your metabolic circuit and start reaping the rewards!

Have you tried metabolic circuits? Can they replace cardio in your workout regimen, or do you do both?

Should You Use a Dumbbell or Body Bar in Your Circuit?

Protect Your Muscle Quality for Better Gain

Full Body Licious: 5 Big Fat Female Fitness Myths

A: Thanks for your question, Harrison. For starters, what kind of workouts have you been doing? While cardio is a good component of fitness, strength training should be your M.O. (Or you can combine cardio with weights, as in metabolic circuits.)

Even Scrawny Guys (and Gals) Can Build Muscle

If you’ve been working out for months without seeing much muscle gain, there’s a good chance you’re a “hardgainer”— someone with a long, lean physique. Hardgainers don’t build muscle as effortlessly as those with an athletic build.

There are three body types, according to Body Building Pro, and your training program should be tailored to yours. Which are you? A hardgainer falls into the “ectomorph” category, which means you have to work hard to build muscle. It is possible to bulk up: Brad Pitt, an ectomorph, has managed just fine.

You’ll have to work harder to bulk up, and you’ll probably have to settle for smaller, but ectomorphs need not abandon hope! Both Craig Ballantyne, the creator of Turbulence Training, and “self-professed pretty boy” trainer John Romaniello deliver tips for hardgainers on their websites.

Or, Vince DelMonte’s No-Nonsense Hardgainer Guide to Building Muscle might be the one for you. (Read our review)

If you’re looking for a freebie program to start out, flip through the Hardgainer Project X on Scribd.

Some Additional Muscle-Building Musts

1. Compound Exercises. When doing any kind of strength training, your best bet is compound exercises, not isolated ones. It just makes sense to work multiple muscle groups at once! Examples of compound exercises are planks, deadlifts, squats, pull-ups and push-ups.
2. Recovery Time. It’s just as important as lifting time! If you work the same muscle group two days in a row, you’ll make it hard for your body to recover—which is when the actual muscle development takes place. According to Jeff Anderson (the guy behind Hardgainer Project X), ectomorphs are often in a “hyper aroused” state and thus have a higher need for recovery time in order to facilitate body tissue repair. Be careful to avoid overtraining, then, and do everything you can to get ample quality sleep. (That means addressing sleep disorders and following a solid sleep schedule.)
3. Protein. Whatcha eating? You mentioned in a separate comment that you eat lots of eggs; they’re a great source of protein, as are lean meats, nuts, and of course protein shakes—choose one with soy protein, whey protein or both. Protein supplements can be a very effective way for ectomorphs to maximize muscle. Get the full scoop here.

If you’re having trouble gaining bulk due to lots of cardio activity, head here next.

3 Reasons Metabolic Circuits Burn More Fat

Can I Get a Six-Pack without Protein?

Hit a Fat-Burning Plateau? What to Do

A: I, too, have been on a mission to get bigger buns. A few years back I started doing more cardio, and I really trimmed down—in the booty department. I was, well, bummed.

Seeking that perky ballet booty, I shifted back to resistance training to get my bum back. After a while, I noticed that I was getting a little more than I bargained for: my quads and hamstrings bulked up, too. So I refined my approach, with some success.

Here’s one glute-shaping exercise that worked wonders for me.

Walking Lunge Series

• What you need: A bit of space to move forward. I do it in the hallway or at the gym.
• How-to: Lunge forward with your right leg, making a right angle with your knee when you dip. Push up and—with your weight balanced on that right leg—lift your left leg back and squeeze the left glute. Alternate sides as you move forward. When you reach the wall, turn around and repeat. Just do as many reps as you can!
• Helpful hints: Keep a strong core and straight posture. This helps with balance, and prevents you from arching your lower back by kicking too high. The important thing is not how high you lift your leg, but squeezing your glute as you lift. You can do this exercise with your hands on your hips or with dumbbells.
• Results: This lunge series is a fabulous way to build up your booty, but I must warn you: my quads always bulk up a little, too. It seems you just can’t work your glutes without the help of some surrounding muscles!

More Ways to Perk Up Your Backside

If you like exercise DVDs, I love the workouts in Kim Kardashian’s Ultimate Butt Body Sculpt and Elle Glam Fitness’ Total Toning Workout. Both of these are fairly intense workouts (with moderations, if you’re just starting out) and they’re fun. They use a lot of front, back and side lunges, squats and pliés, and leg lifts—all of which you can do without equipment.

As always, you should be using protein after your strength training workout. It’ll help build up those glute muscles you’ve worked so hard on.

Just like you can’t lose fat in a single targeted spot, it’s never easy to isolate a single muscle without adding a little bulk to corresponding muscles. Muscle groups are designed to work together—it’s what allows the human body to be strong and efficient.

However, you can put more focus on your backside by engaging your glutes in every exercise you do (squeeeeeze!).

If, in the end, you can’t get tight glutes without a little leg bulk, remember: no one ever complains about a dancer’s legs!

Related Posts:

• 5 Ways to Get Your Rear Back in Beach Gear
• Are You Committing These Gym Sins?
• Can Exercise Really Reduce Cellulite?!

My details:

Gender: M

Age: 23

Height: 5’11″

Weight: 200 lbs.

I started working out a few days back, burning 500 calories every day. My daily intake is around 1,500 calories. I’m doing weights also. – Raj

A: Unfortunately, the midsection is where most guys tend to put on the pounds. But there are lots of ways to send that fat packing!

Here are some of our favorite middle-fat-blasters:

Skip the Steady State Cardio – When it comes to trimming your midsection, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is a better use of your gym time. So bypass the stationary machines and triple your fat burn with routines like metabolic circuits.

Add Green Tea to Your Diet – The evidence supporting green tea’s fat-blasting properties is irrefutable. The only question is, should you sip a cup or take green tea extract?

Work That Core – Find out how to blast stomach fat and put a six-pack in its place!

Eat More Protein – Protein shakes are an efficient, easy way to get your protein, which boosts fat loss by helping you build lean muscle mass. Be sure to have a protein shake within 60 minutes of your resistance training workout for maximum muscle recovery.

Suppress Your Sweet Tooth – We all know sugar makes us gain weight, but the reasons may surprise you!

Double Up with Compound Exercises – We’re glad to hear you’re doing strength training on top of your cardio. Lifting weights is a good way to tone your chest, abs and back—not just your arms and shoulders. But in order to make the most of your lifting, you need to focus on getting full-body results.

A Note About Your Diet

Are you eating enough of the right foods? Nutrition is key to losing weight and staying healthy, and it’s about more than caloric intake. To begin with, try to cover all your bases: the government offers helpful dietary guidelines, and they’ll also tell you how much of each food group to eat based on your age, sex, height and activity level.

Next, calculate your caloric need. Remember, you only need to consume 300-500 less than your caloric need in order to lose excess fat. As a tall, young male, you probably need more than 1,500 calories a day, especially if you’re burning 500 of them! Eat too few calories and you’re just as likely to gain/keep weight because you’ll send your body into starvation mode. Your metabolism will slow down and your body will hoard fat.

What you want to do is keep your metabolism high. To do that, meet your caloric need, stay active throughout the day on top of exercise, and eat 5-6 small, healthy meals. One of those meals can be a nutritious protein shake. And whatever you do, don’t skip breakfast!

Sticking to Your New Fitness Routine

Since it sounds like you’ve just kicked your exercise regimen up a notch, we thought we’d give mindset a mention. Frame of mind is often overlooked in fitness, and yet it’s the most important aspect: staying on track is the only way to achieve and keep your results. Once you’ve geared your mind for weight loss, you’re ready to apply these tips from other experts about starting a new regimen and staying on track.

Good luck, and keep us posted on your progress! We want to hear what works for you and what doesn’t.

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