I would like to wish you a Happy Easter Weekend. Hopefully you will get the chance to share this weekend with friends and family. I know that this time of year many people are painting eggs, and eating lots of chocolate shaped eggs as well. Hey that's all good and great, but in 6-7 weeks it's going to be time to hit the beach and show off the body we've spent hours in working out for.
I have been working with a way to make sure that if you are not yet where you want to be when it comes to having a flat, toned, sexy midsection that there's still hope left.
Recently I was able to talk to internationally well known abs expert Mike Gentry and he shared with me workout tips on how to get toned abs. While I knew a lot of the information already, there was some other things he stressed that really made me think. I wanted to share with you the conversation we had so you can see for yourself what I'm talking about.
So here is the interview him and I had. Please read through it completely and challenge yourself to incorporate 3 tips that he gave in his interview. They are really powerful and work when you implement them into your fitness routine.
Interview with Mike Geary, International Fitness Expert, and author of
The Truth about Six Pack Abs
GD: Welcome Mike Geary to 4everToned's Fitness Journal. For those who
do not know you, please tell us a few things about yourself.
MG: Thanks for having me, Geo. Well, to go back a little, I have been
heavily involved in fitness and sports for about 15 years now, ever
since I was a teenager. Being involved in sports in high school got me
interested in strength training and conditioning. At that point, once I
started feeling more energetic, getting stronger, and looking better, I
was instantly hooked for life. I'm 30 now and still addicted to the way
living a healthy and fit lifestyle makes me feel energetic, confident,
strong, and youthful on a daily basis. I decided earlier in my 20's that
I wanted to make the commitment to help other people experience the
excitement of being fit and getting in the best shape of their lives,
especially since we've reached an epidemic of obesity, heart disease,
diabetes, cancer, depression, etc. That's why I became a fitness
professional. It just gives me so much satisfaction to help others, who have
struggled for years to get in good shape, and show them that it can be done,
and it can be fun in the process. I've expanded over the years from
just reaching local individuals with personal training, into being able to
help people all over the globe achieve their fitness goals with the
reach of the internet. I only hope that my passion for fitness inspires
people to take action and improve how they look and feel for life.
GD: Now Mike, there's so many things out there as to what works and
what does not work, if you had to pick 3 things that work time and time
again to get flat abs what would that be?
MG: The first and most important thing to get control of in order to
get flat abs is cleaning up your diet. Exercise is important, but your
diet is king when it comes to losing body fat so that you can see your
abs. There's so much confusion these days about what a healthy diet that
promotes fat loss really is...after all, we are bombarded by
conflicting messages in the media about what is healthy and what is not, and you
have all of these gimmicky diet books about low carb, low fat, high
protein, vegetarian, fasting, atkins, south beach, liquid diets, and
hundreds more. There's so much conflicting info, that the average consumer
doesn't even know where to start when it comes to eating for fat loss.
The second thing that works time and time again, is to focus on the
intensity of your workouts and focus on working the body as a whole in
order to get the best metabolic response to lose that stubborn body fat.
In order to really get lean, the workouts should have a high intensity,
with short rest periods, working the largest muscle groups of the body,
instead of trying to isolate specific small muscles like the biceps,
triceps, or calves.
For the third thing, let's talk about actually training the abs
specifically. When it comes to training the abs, if you want real results, I
always recommend forgetting about the crunches and situps for the most
part. They are ok for someone that is really deconditioned, but most
people need a much better stimulus for their abs than crunches. Crunches
are one of the abs exercises that actually provide the least amount of
resistance, and remember that resistance is what develops and tones the
muscles. I provide a ton of great abs exercises in my book, but one of
THE highest resistance exercises for the abs, is hanging leg raises
(but NOT the way you see most people at the gym doing them). The key to
doing these and actually working the hell out of your abs is to curl your
pelvis up as you raise your legs. Almost nobody ever does this right!
To be honest, 99% of people cannot do this at first, but I provide some
strategies in my book as to how to progress to doing these correctly.
GD: What are people doing wrong when it comes to developing the coveted
"6 pack abs"?
MG: Well Geo, I know this sounds funny to most people, but the MAIN
thing that people are doing wrong to get those 6 pack abs is...are you
ready for this? They spend entirely too much time focusing on training
their abs! Sounds crazy, but it's true. Remember, having a visible six
pack of abs is all about getting down to a low body fat percentage. In
order to do that, your workouts must focus on stimulating a fat burning
hormonal environment in your body, and increasing your metabolic rate.
That just does not happen when you focus too much time training a small
muscle group like the abs. Instead, you must use the majority of your
time focusing on training the largest muscle groups of the body like the
legs, back, and chest. That's what stimulates your metabolism and the
fat burning hormones that will get you truly lean and sporting a sixxer!
GD: Which exercises are the top exercises that people need to do if
they are to get maximum defintion with their midsection?
MG: When it comes to developing the abs themselves, I again refer to
any kinds of hanging abs exercises, as well as some good floor exercises
like lying leg thrusts (all described and illustrated in my book).
However, maximum definition in the midsection comes from losing bodyfat,
and the most effective exercises featured in my program for that goal are
various forms of swings and snatches (unique dumbbell or kettlebell
exercises that almost nobody ever does in normal gyms), squats, deadlifts,
lunges, step-ups, clean & presses, mountain climbers, sprinting, and
other full body exercises and calisthenics.
GD: When it comes to diet Mike, people really have tried millions of
ways to get one thing...and that is fat loss. What recommendations have
you used to successfully help your clients lose fat and keep it off?
MG: I have included a fully comprehensive discussion of this topic in
my book, which accounts for almost half of the book, but I'll try to
make some nice simple generalizations to get people started on the right
path immediately. The most important thing is that your diet is as
natural and unprocessed as possible. It almost always comes back to the
overprocessing of food that makes it unhealthy, and makes it totally wreck
your metabolism and hormone balance in your body. For example, why eat
refined grains, when you can eat whole grains. Why eat refined sugar,
when you can get natural sources of sugar combined into a high nutrient
whole food like fruit. Why eat highly processed, refined, and
hydrogenated vegetable oils (these are THE worst thing in the modern diet), when
you can eat natural sources of healthy fats like nuts, avocados, fish,
eggs, coconut milk, organically raised meat, and so forth. The point is
to not fall for some gimmick like low carbs, low fat, high protein, or
any other combination that has you focusing on one macronutrient vs.
another. Your body needs all macronutrients to thrive and obtain a
variety of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, etc. Trying to cut an entire
food group out just works against what your body needs. I get into much
more detail on this vitally important topic towards losing body fat for
life in my book.
GD: Thank you very much Mike for sharing with us all of this great
information. For more info on Mike Geary and his internationally popular
Truth about Six Pack Abs book, please be sure to visit
http://truthaboutabs.com/index/20219 right now. Remember 6-7 weeks from
now, summer will be here, and if you wait until then, I'm afraid to
tell you, but it will be too late!
