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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A growing national concern: job-related weight gain. Not to mention cubicle-induced achiness, lethargy and dehydration. But you don’t need to quit your office job to stay healthy. Workplace wellness is gaining momentum, and there’s plenty you can do to reverse your cubicle woes.

Here are 8 ways to power through your workday and greet the evening with energy to spare:

1. Unplug the Coffee Pot

Coffee is a logical office prop—it helps us face the morning, and gives us an excuse to take a midday break. But let’s be honest: it stops perking us up after a few cups. Yet it never seems to stop causing muscle tension, anxiety or irritability. After you’ve had one cup, switch to green tea (and reap its fat-blasting benefits) or lean on natural energy boosters. I speak from experience: once you curb caffeine, you may never need a massage again.

2. Put Your Glutes to Work

There’s a theory that sitting for hours will cause your bum to flatten and hips to spread. Not sure if this has been scientifically proven, but most of us with desk jobs would probably testify to its truth! Use focused glute exercises to keep your backside in shape. Another perk of having strong glutes: because they’re part of your “core,” they’ll give you better posture at your desk.

3. Pack Your (Lunch) Bags

It’s no secret that eating breakfast will help you lose weight, but make sure it’s a healthy breakfast! To energize your day, steer clear of the fast food drive-thru on your way to work. It takes just a few minutes to pack a cooler with fresh breakfast, lunch and snacks. If you do go out for lunch with the gang, follow Core Performance’s “7 Rules for Eating Clean When You Eat Out.”

4. Stay Sane Through the Night Shift

It’s hard to follow a fitness regimen when you work an atypical schedule. But there’s hope for swing shift and night shift workers: try our tips for getting healthy midnight meals and regular exercise—plus plenty of sleep!

5. Fire Your Office Chair

Ever realize you’ve been hunched at your desk for hours, neck craned forward as you peer into your computer? Do you spend an entire commute slumped over the steering wheel with one elbow cocked up on the arm rest? Add a heavy bag or briefcase to the mix and you have a recipe for postural disaster.

When you get tired of looking like the office vulture, get to work on strengthening your core. Strong core muscles (back, abdominals, glutes) keep you upright effortlessly and let you carry heavy loads with balance. And the great thing is you can work your core at work: just trade your office chair for a balance ball.

Not keen on rolling a ball into work? Keep one in your home office or in front of the TV. “Sitting on an exercise ball, your body is constantly making small adjustments with the postural muscles, abdominals, gluteals and leg muscles,” explains Wendy Bumgardner. “It is ‘active sitting’ rather than the slumping and poor posture we develop even in ergonomic desk chairs.” Get the right sized balance ball here.

6. Keep a Water Bottle at Your Desk

Drinking water keeps you mentally alert and physically agile; it also makes you less likely to sip too much coffee or reach for those snacks squirreled away in your desk. Heading to the water cooler once an hour is a great excuse to move your legs (see #8). If you don’t have an office water cooler, bring a jug of your own.

7. Stay Fit on Business Trips

Don’t forsake fitness when you’re traveling! It’s tough to focus on exercise when you’ve got a packed agenda in a foreign city. But there are plenty of things you can do to stay active, from easy workouts in your hotel room (pack your resistance bands) to renting a bike or simply walking instead of taking a cab. Make sure to read Fit Bottomed Girls’ list of fitness items to pack.

Even better, cover your cardio and resistance training right at the airport! The gutsy Tone It Up girls put together a serious (but hilarious) travel workout that you can watch here.

8. Avoid the Sedentary Trap

Many professionals confess that exercise helps them deal with job stress and long commutes. And while a daily gym or jogging session is great, you need more than an hour of activity to stay fit—especially if you work up to 10-hour days on your rump, like many Americans.

“If you think your once-a-day training session counteracts the hours you spend sitting, think again,” warns Tia Albright.

It’s easier than you think to steal extra training time: commute to work via foot or bicycle a few days a week. Take the stairs instead of the elevator and walk around the block on your lunch break. And for heaven’s sake, don’t trample the grass just to shave a minute off your trip into the building!

In the office, keep moving: get up to refill your water bottle on the hour and have face-to-face conversations instead of emailing your coworkers. For more tips on staying active beyond the gym’s walls, Active.com has a great guide.

And finally, if your workplace has a corporate wellness program, take advantage!

If you really can’t change your work habits, maybe it’s time for a change of scenery? Read IdealShape’s Pink Slip Weight Loss.

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How Important is Sleep to Physical Fitness?

We have a long, complicated relationship. It provided me with my first job in high school. It got me through late night study sessions in college.

But where is it getting me now?

Sometimes I wonder if my daily coffee-green tea-Coca Cola lineup could be the cause of my achiness and stiff joints. Is it behind the muscle tension that creeps up my back, shoulders and neck? Caffeine notoriously dehydrates, so with all the water I drink, am I barely breaking even? Am I a true “night owl,” or is it the caffeine that keeps me up ’til 2 a.m.?

And those days when my eyeballs feel like they’re bouncing around inside my skull… they always seem to coincide with the days I’ve made myself more than one iced latte.

As part of my campaign to become a discerning eater, I think it’s time to take a good look at how what I eat — even my beloved caffeine — affects my body.

While coffee can be healthy, what if having it in excess is causing all this achiness, muscle tension and dehydration?

And one thing it’s definitely not doing anymore?

Waking me up.

So Starting Now…

You thought I was going to say I’ll nix caffeine, didn’t you? Get real. I’m addicted, and we all know that breaking up with food cold turkey is a recipe for disaster. But I’m going all the way down to one cup.

Starting today, Monday the 19th, I’m test-driving this change for one week. I feel groggy today after a caffeine-filled weekend, so it’s going to be tough. But I need to find out:

1. Will I feel better, healthier, and have better workouts after I cut back on caffeine?
2. Can it even be done?

I just finished my second iced latte as I sat down to write this, knowing it will be my last second-cup for a week — maybe longer.

I have to admit I’m scared. Not only is caffeine a mental and physical stimulant, but it’s a metabolism-booster. Will I be able to reap its rewards with one cup? Or will I start to gain weight, drool through my workouts, and sleep 12 hours a night?

One Cup, Day Two: Reality Sets In>>

A: Sandy, I’ve been thinking about that lately, too! The weather just warmed up here in Utah and I pulled out my summer shorts—only to find they don’t look so great on me right now… Despite all the naysayers, I have found a few things that work for cellulite, including exercise, and I’ll be doing them along with you!

What Causes Cellulite?

Unfortunately, you can’t get rid of cellulite by simply shedding fat. It’s not the existence of subcutaneous fat but the way it’s distributed that causes this dimpling of the skin. According to Wikipedia, 80-90% of females have cellulite. (Guys get it, too, just not as often, and they don’t seem to care all that much).

Many dermatologists insist there’s nothing you can do about cellulite: it’s in the genes, they say. Still others claim that metabolism, hormones and stress play a part.

In the end, little has been concluded scientifically about cellulite’s causes or cures. Nonetheless, there’s plenty of advice out there for banishing it—from creams (I’ve had minimal luck), to body wraps, to massaging the skin with a boar-bristled brush (not pleasant, I’ve found, even if it does work).

If you’re lucky enough to see results from these “quick fixes,” it’s surely fleeting. Which is why I’m glad you asked about exercise.

Exercise: A Cure for Cellulite?

While experts aren’t explicitly saying that exercise gets rid of cellulite, Mayo Clinic asserts that an inactive lifestyle can cause it. They also say excess fat will make cellulite more noticeable. What I draw from that?

1. Even if you can’t control how your body distributes fat under the skin, shedding excess fat helps.
2. Firmer legs and buns can make cellulite look less apparent.

So Let’s Get Moving!

High-intensity cardio like power-walking is a great start for keeping legs trim, but to add firmness, you’ll want to start doing resistance exercises, too.

Squats, lunges, pliés and stair-climbing will firm up your inner thighs, outer thighs and glutes. These movements build muscle, which means double fat burn! For extra inner thigh toning, you can also do side leg lifts (inwards and outwards) with a resistance band or body bar.

If you’d like to start with a guided workout, one of my favorites is The Firm® Hips, Thighs and Abs DVD. It’s a quick 30 minute routine with a “Firm Box” (I just use an aerobic step) that delivers great leg and glute tone. It also has the best ab workout I’ve ever done. For those who get the tummy and “love handle” cellulite, a thorough core workout can be a godsend!

In addition to exercise, here’s what many people do to help improve tone and firmness:

• Foam rolling: If massage helps to smooth out cellulite dimples, then foam rolling surely will too. Plus, it feels much better than a bristle brush massage! Read more about foam rolling and watch a demonstration here.
• Protein: It facilitates muscle tone and development, so have a shake, bar or other protein source after every strength training workout. Get tips for maximizing protein’s benefits here.
• Supplements: Natural substances like green tea and resveratrol help the body metabolize fat more efficiently, and can be taken in supplement form. I’ve used both with very noticeable results.
• Water: Staying hydrated will preserve the skin’s elasticity, making it less likely to dimple and dent around fatty spots. So drink up!

(Many of the products I’ve mentioned, like the foam roller, exercise bands and metabolism-boosting supplements, can be found at IdealShape.)

While exercise can help reduce the appearance of cellulite (not to mention improve your health, strength and figure), remember this: The women who are considered to have the most beautiful bodies in the world have cellulite. This was revealed in an article about the dozens of layers of makeup applied to Victoria’s Secret models’ buns for a runway show. If 90% of us ladies—including the world’s top models—have cellulite and stretch marks, they can’t be that bad, right?

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Are You Calculating Your Body Fat % Right?

Q:

A: There are many ways to calculate your body fat percentage. This test from Health Central is a good place to start: enter your stats and a few measurements and it will calculate your body fat percentage with a very narrow margin of error.

Health Central says 18% body fat is in the healthy normal range for Asian men, 15% for Caucasian men, and 12% for African-American men. And for the ladies: 25% is healthy for Asian women, 22% for Caucasian women, and 19% for African-American women. According to this site, Asians tend to have a slightly higher percent body fat than African-Americans and Caucasians, because their bones are less dense. So, Jon, if this test gives you 15%, you’re definitely in the healthy range.

If you’re worried about the rolls, keep in mind that a little bit of extra flesh is normal when you bend forward or sit down. There’s gotta be a little give!

Furthermore, if your abdomen is flat when standing, then the folds and lingering lines could have more to do with the elasticity of your skin than with fat. When your skin loses elasticity, it doesn’t contract as much when you sit or bend, and it doesn’t bounce right back when you stand back up—the fold lines stick around for a while. This happens with age, certain skin types, and dehydration. Drinking plenty of water and using moisturizer can improve skin elasticity.

And, of course, keep working on that taut stomach with nutrition and exercise. A few recommendations:

AB-FRIENDLY FOODS

For starters, go easy on starchy carbs, carbonated beverages, and sodium. Instead, drink lots of water and look into the fat-blasting benefits of green tea, which you can easily get in supplement form.

To lose a few extra pounds, Core Performance’s Joe Kita swears by incorporating fiber into your diet. “Fiber’s bulk naturally fills you up, so you eat less,” he explains. Another great way to scale back the munchies—while shedding excess fat and increasing abdominal muscle—is a weight loss protein shake. IdealShape has a great one; be sure to read up on its nutritious ingredients.

You can also check out MSN Health’s flat ab food fixes. And finally, remember that your eating habits are just as important as what you eat. This post will tell you when and how much to eat to keep your stomach slim.

EXERCISE FOR A TONED TUMMY

If you’re trying to lose excess fat, you should absolutely be doing interval cardio and metabolic circuit training. Find out why they’re better than steady state cardio for whittling down stubborn fat.

Next, check out these solid tips for driving away that last bit of belly fat, and putting a six pack in its place.

And finally, don’t forget to track your results!

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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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Which Fruit Ingredient Can Help You Lose Weight?

MSNBC Today recently praised green tea as one of the most effective ways to target trouble spots – those bulgy areas you can’t seem to discard, no matter how much you exercise and eat right. Of course, we already knew that it is a proven way to shed pounds. It’s particularly great because it comes with a slew of natural health benefits. In addition to whittling away the pounds, green tea is loaded with antioxidants – it kills bacteria and suppresses free radicals to keep your immune system strong. Research has even found it to help prevent heart disease and some types of cancer.

It isn’t just the caffeine in green tea that makes it effective for weight loss (and it actually contains less caffeine than coffee, black tea and Red Bull). While the little caffeine boost does play a role in speeding up metabolism and increasing your energy level, green tea also contains catechins which further break down the fat. Best of all, the results last: as long as you keep sipping, the excess pounds will stay off.

Some wonder if having their metabolism work at a faster rate will lead to feeling hungry sooner or eating more. But adding to its long list of benefits, green tea is an appetite suppressant!

Getting the Most from Green Tea

It doesn’t matter whether you drink a cup of green tea or take the extract in pill or powder form. But you will have to drink quite a few cups to get the same effect as one capsule or powder dose. So unless you really love the taste, a weight loss supplement with green tea extract might be the best option. Plus you’ll get all the other weight loss facilitating ingredients from the supplement. Just be sure to choose one with at least 300mg of a high quality green tea extract.

The Journal of Nutrition recently confirmed green tea’s weight loss potential. The results of their study: over a 12-week period, those who drank four cups (or its equivalent) of green tea every day saw eight times the weight loss results of those who drank other caffeinated beverages. Participants reported shedding pounds from their trouble spots especially.

But don’t think four daily cups of tea are your golden ticket to health and weight loss. Green tea performs best with (not in place of) a complete fitness program. The subjects of the above study were exercising regularly while consuming the beverage. In addition to adding green tea to your diet, your fitness plan should include a regular workout program and healthy eating habits.

Detoxifying and fat-blasting? It almost sounds too good to be true. But green tea has proved itself to be an effective tool for losing weight and staying healthy. So enjoy!

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