Want Six Pack Abs Quickly? Avoid These 5 Common Mistakes
Having Six Pack Abs is the ultimate dream of most men today and we see countless hours in gym spent trying to achieve this goal. However, very few are able to achieve it. This is because of the 7 mistakes people make when trying to get 6 pack abs quickly. Let us have a look at each of them:
1) Starving your body:
There is a simple rule of fat loss. Expend more calories than what you are intaking. Some men take it to the extreme. While it is important to be in a caloric deficit, you need to understand that starving yourself is not the option.
When you deprive the body of the most essential nutrients, your body starts to break down. You will feel less energetic and lose strength quickly. This method is actually counterproductive to your goal and your body will go into starvation mode and try to save more and more fat.
What you really should be doing:
What you actually need to do is to lower your intake in such a way that you are in a caloric deficit of around 500-1000 calories per day. So, for example, if you are burning 3000 calories per day, you should reduce your intake to 2500 calories.
This will give you a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day or 3500 calories per week. In simple words, you would be losing 1 pound per week. Ideally, you should not be going faster than 1-2 pounds per week or you may kick starvation mode.
2) Working their Abs Daily:
Another common mistake that most people make in the gym is that of working their abs daily. They believe that muscles are built in the gym and hence, they should be spending as much time as possible working out the muscles they want the most.
What happens here is that your abs are not able to recover fully from the previous day workout and you get down to breaking the muscle again. Even if you feel that they are recovering, you should be giving them some time so that they grow too (in strength or in size, however small)
What you should be doing:
Muscles are not built in the gym, but in the kitchen and your bedroom (diet and sleep). If you want to work out as frequently as possible and feel that your abs recover faster than normal, you may do ab training every second day. 3 times a week is ideal for most people.
3) Working only the abs:
This is a common mistake that people new to the world of weightlifting commit. Their only dream is to have good looking six pack abs along with some biceps. So, they get into the gym and start doing crunches and bicep curls and nothing else.
They keep on it for 1 or 2 months and see some muscle gains in their biceps and some strength gains in the abs but are surprised to see that they are not able to progress anymore.
What you should be doing:
Unless you want to look weird and stop getting any gains, you should be working out all your muscle groups equally. Legs, back & triceps are just as important in your overall look and should get enough attention. If you skip the big 3 muscles (legs, back & chest), you will get stuck at a plateau. Focus on all the muscles equally.
4) Not resting enough:
Most newbies do not understand the connection between sleep and muscles. To them, both are unrelated. Hence, they do not pay any attention to getting enough hours of sleep.
What you should be doing:
As mentioned in point 2, muscles are not made in the gym but in kitchen and bedroom. When you workout your muscles in the gym, you are breaking them. If provided with proper nutrition and enough rest, your body rebuilds your muscles and adds something extra (growth) on the top so that your muscles are ready for the next round. If you do not eat enough food or rest enough, the body will not have enough nutrients or time to rebuild your muscles and you will not see any growth.
5) Not doing any cardio:
Most people who have been working out their abs for some time have defined and strong abs. They are just hidden by layers of fat. What should you be doing to remove those layers of fat? Unfortunately, most people do not think about this and continue doing more crunches in hopes of seeing those abs someday until they give up blaming genetics.
What you should be doing:
What you should actually be doing is working out sensibly. In order to remove the layers of fat covering your abs, you need to target them. The best way to remove them would be to go into calorie deficit and lose the excess fat.
You should be including cardio into your training routine. You will also need to improve your food habits. With a proper combination of the two, you will be able to reduce and finally remove those layers of fat and get those six pack abs you dreamed of.
Conclusion:
Building 6 pack abs is a dream worthwhile pursuing. Just make sure that you do not make the 5 mistakes people make when trying to get 6 pack abs quickly and you will see the desired results.