gettin abs to show

[magicman]

23 years old
active all day as im a carpenter
I want to tighten up and remove the tiny bit of fat covering my abs and am wondering if i cut carbs to 30 g per day will this do the trick and am wondering how long before i start burning the fat but not lose any muscle
heres my diet
7.00-5 scrambled egg whites 1 whole egg 1 centuriom multi vit,2 cod liver oil caps
10.00-tinned tuna in brine 180g
1.00-skinless whole chicken breast in salad
4.00-hour weights 30 mins cardio
pwo-2 scoops whey mixed in water-2g carb
6.00-2 cups broc,2 cup cauliflower,swede and carrot,salmon steak or chicken or white fish
8.30-tinned tuna or
4 scrambled egg whites
i drink 3 litres of water per day
eat no junk except a few beers on the weekend
in the gym 3 days per week every other day
also does any 1 no any more foods that are low or have no carbs in at all
any advice will be appreciated thankyou

[smalls]

What are your currently eating?

Jumping straight into that diet is a horrible idea IMO.

You have fiber in 2 meals? And maybe 10-12 grams? You have no carbs, but no very little fat as well. There is no need to start a diet without both right from the beginning. Once you stop losing weight on the above diet where do you go from there? Add healthy fats. And unless your goal is specifically a ketogenic diet add some carbs to breakfast and PWO and decrease as needed from there. Progressively add cardio both steady state and HIIT and your good.

[jAy_Dub]

smalls is right on.

[andrew_lane]

Also I'm not sure what type of carpenter you are (work on-site, whatever) but be prepared to take the energy hit if you drop all the carbs out of your diet. When I was working as a roofer there was no way I could have put in 12 hours on a no carb diet. Just something to keep in mind.

I'm not sure where you are at location-wise but its the middle of winter here so you likely have a few months before everyone is going to see your stomach again. I would work into it slowly if you are really concerned about loosing muscle mass. What worked best for me was to keep my calorie and carb intake way up and start swimming on a regular basis, but that could have something to do with me being an ectomorph.

[Joey4645]

Do abs hard every other day, Once you get your bf% to 10 they should be somewhat visible.

I do this routine for abs every other day

leg raise 4 sets 15-12-12-10 reps
reverse curl 4 sets same reps
decline crunches 4 sets to failure
side bends 4 sets 12-10-8-8 reps

[Torrok]

Do abs hard every other day, Once you get your bf% to 10 they should be somewhat visible.

I do this routine for abs every other day

leg raise 4 sets 15-12-12-10 reps
reverse curl 4 sets same reps
decline crunches 4 sets to failure
side bends 4 sets 12-10-8-8 reps

no, doing ab work will not get your abs to show.

best way to get abs IMO:
-eat below maintanence calories(sp)
-eat clean, eat lean proteins, eat strictly foods such as: http://whfoods.org/foodstoc.php
-lift HEAVY, do compound lifts such as: squats, deadlifts, bench, front squats, bent rows, dips, RDL's, OH press, chin-ups

[chrito]

do more cardio..cardio will burn fats and abs come out

[VikingWarlord]

do more cardio..cardio will burn fats and abs come out

Prepare to be barbecued.

[Unreal]

Or cardio will burn muscle, cause your metabolism to crash, lower your muscle mass, and make it so you store more fat.

Abs is diet. Lift heavy to preserve muscle and eat correctly to shed fat.

[Torrok]

Or cardio will burn muscle, cause your metabolism to crash, lower your muscle mass, and make it so you store more fat.

Abs is diet. Lift heavy to preserve muscle and eat correctly to shed fat.

i agree 100%
nicely put

[CrazyK]

Solid diet and some light cardio for 20 minutes after training and you'll be fine. With the work your doing you'll be burning plenty of cals throughout the day so no need to over do any cardio work.

[VikingWarlord]

Or cardio will burn muscle, cause your metabolism to crash, lower your muscle mass, and make it so you store more fat.

Abs is diet. Lift heavy to preserve muscle and eat correctly to shed fat.

We should be completely accurate and recommend some sort of HIIT. Obviously it shouldn't be relied upon as the main source of calorie expenditure, but it helps a pantload.

[tpagels0]

i was wantin the same thing dude...im 19, 170 lbs, and 5'11'' had a little fat covering up my stomach......i started swimming 2x a week about 1/2 mile+ which took place of all my cardio, and hit the abs 5-6 days a week spending 10 min daily on cable crunches, decile crunches, hanging leg lifts, all sorts of radom ****. ive been eating everything in sight and after doing this for a month now im startin to see more deffinition for sure. this worked for me but im sure it wouldnt work for people who had a lot to cut off there abs, try it out

[RhodeHouse]

Give up the "abs" thing guys. Girls don't care. Take some pride in yourself and get stronger.

[bossman009]

i was wantin the same thing dude...im 19, 170 lbs, and 5'11'' had a little fat covering up my stomach......i started swimming 2x a week about 1/2 mile+ which took place of all my cardio, and hit the abs 5-6 days a week spending 10 min daily on cable crunches, decile crunches, hanging leg lifts, all sorts of radom ****. ive been eating everything in sight and after doing this for a month now im startin to see more deffinition for sure. this worked for me but im sure it wouldnt work for people who had a lot to cut off there abs, try it out

Lmao 5-6 times a week working abs?

I'll tell my story.. I was 185 back in like grade 11 or 12.. Im 6 foot and had the same problem, wanted my abs to show but had fat covering it.. I bought this stupid ab machine from wal mart.. I used that every day.. didn't do ****..

Then in the summer of grade 12.. I started doing crazy cardio and my went went down to 150 and I was at 10% bodyfat.. My abs were visible.. but the problem was.. my abs were small as #&$! because I did not work out properly back then and did like 200 reps of sit ups.. Now im doing Starting Strength and my weight is at 170 after bulking since august 1st till now and I plan to continue bulking till i hit 200..

My advice is stop worrying about your abs.. get your weight up atleast over 200 pounds with a proper routine and when you eventually cut.. your abs will be stronger/bigger and look better when you do lower your bodyfat percentage.. all those different types of exercises you're doing for your abs- your just wasting your time

Also to make you're abs grow you dont even need to do any sit ups really, they get hit enough when you squat and from other exercises in Rippetoes starting strength im sure.. some say if you feel the need to.. do some decline weighted sit ups and between 8-12 reps if anything..

[RhodeHouse]

Lmao 5-6 times a week working abs?

I'll tell my story.. I was 185 back in like grade 11 or 12.. Im 6 foot and had the same problem, wanted my abs to show but had fat covering it.. I bought this stupid ab machine from wal mart.. I used that every day.. didn't do ****..

Then in the summer of grade 12.. I started doing crazy cardio and my went went down to 150 and I was at 10% bodyfat.. My abs were visible.. but the problem was.. my abs were small as #&$! because I did not work out properly back then and did like 200 reps of sit ups.. Now im doing Starting Strength and my weight is at 170 after bulking since august 1st till now and I plan to continue bulking till i hit 200..

My advice is stop worrying about your abs.. get your weight up atleast over 200 pounds with a proper routine and when you eventually cut.. your abs will be stronger/bigger and look better when you do lower your bodyfat percentage.. all those different types of exercises you're doing for your abs- your just wasting your time

Also to make you're abs grow you dont even need to do any sit ups really, they get hit enough when you squat and from other exercises in Rippetoes starting strength im sure.. some say if you feel the need to.. do some decline weighted sit ups and between 8-12 reps if anything..

Great advice.

[AJ_H]

whatever about the abs but please almighty work on the lower back as well if your going to do 100 sets of sit-ups every day...unless of course you want to look like the hump back of Notredam.

[NuclearArms]

Give up the "abs" thing guys. Girls don't care. Take some pride in yourself and get stronger.

Amen! A scrawny dude with abs is still a scrawny dude...

[Dkalban]

Amen! A scrawny dude with abs is still a scrawny dude...

I agree with this. Sure Im lightweight, but ive never had abs. But Im gonna wait for them as I bulk to 200+lbs while strengthening them so when I diet down to get them those muthas will be huge.

[tpagels0]

[QUOTE=bossman009;2067496]LMAO 5-6 times a week working abs?
all those different types of exercises you're doing for your abs- your just wasting your time
QUOTE]
--thats what i said, i gotta keep the stomach tight bro---
i got the time at the end of my workout so to hell with it
i also said it aint gonna work for everyone so im not surprised it didnt work for you, no need to critisize

[Puddle_Pirate]

what is probably an estimation of the least BF% to have in order for the abs to show?
not like it applies to me - i'm @ around 4% - but was just curious....?

[Unreal]

You should start seeing abs around 10%

[nzk]

Or cardio will burn muscle, cause your metabolism to crash, lower your muscle mass, and make it so you store more fat.

Abs is diet. Lift heavy to preserve muscle and eat correctly to shed fat.

please explain the bold portion...how and why does this happen?

[Unreal]

If you burn off lean body mass, crash your leptin/hormone levels, and send your body into a survival mode you will just land up looking like a marathon runner. Skinny and no muscle, or even just what we refer to as skinny fat. You lose weight you just look flabby. My old roommate barely eats, does a bunch of cardio and has lost about 30lbs. He does look smaller but not fitter at all. He still looks pudgy and fat because he is probably dropping just as much muscle as fat.

Read Built's article "How to do cardio if you must".

[Lean-N-Mean]

Amen! A scrawny dude with abs is still a scrawny dude...

I personally can attest to that. my "normal" weight is around 165, but I didn't like my abs, so I went on a crazy cardio fueled 1500cal/day marathon for a month or 2. By the end I weighed 149 had decently defined abs but most of my muscle mass had evaporate as well. So I decided never again and proceeded to put the weight back on plus some. I look and feel much better at 175 than I ever did at 149. I am in the 5th day of a ketogenic diet and thus far am really enjoying the results. Fat just seems to be melting right off, IMHO of course. I am looking forward to tomorrow though to my carbo load.