There are no shortcut methods or miracles happening which can lead you to getting those sexy looking six abs overnight. Like anything else on earth, losing fat and building muscles take its own course of time. The holy grail of a proper weight training program and well toned physical conditioning is to capitalize on your muscles while shedding those extra calories off your body. To do this, it is very essential to follow three stringent steps, firstly, perform your cardio exercises routinely, secondly pay proper attention to a healthy dietary regime and thirdly do your abdominal workouts well. However, in many cases it has been found that despite meeting all the above important guidelines, the results are not satisfactory leading to depression or deviation from the goal by the individual. This happens when there is lack of execution of the pre-set goals in a proper manner. That’s the issue targeted in this article where a complete comprehensive list of mistakes to-avoid have been listed down for your easy reference to enable you to accomplish your dream of getting those six pack abs by crossing those hurdles which might come in your path.
Fasting by not eating enough
To pack on your muscles, it is very important to create an anabolic environment which means that you have to eat enough in order to maintain a balanced and ideal body weight. Nutrition is the key component which acts as a guiding force in acquiring a six-pack body. Your daily dietary nutritional count should include a good chunk of proteins to build those muscles, enough carbohydrates and lots of fibrous veggies which assist in avoiding muscle cramping. By fasting or not taking in the right amount of nutrition required for the body to work efficiently, in an attempt to lose weight at a faster pace, you are doing more harm than good to your own self as this reduces the rate of metabolism which means that your body would learn to adjust and stick on to every bit of energy it possibly can. The mantra is to have quality food, avoid unsaturated fats and have 4 to 6 meals in small helpings at regular intervals of 2 to 3 hours so as to keep your metabolism rate high and insulin levels low, thereby allowing your body to use the excess fat as energy rather than storing it within.
Eating excessively
Just as starving is bad for the achievement of your six pack goals, similarly overeating is not advisable too. Not knowing how much to eat or how much you actually eat throughout the day by underestimating your diet can lead to grave disasters and major hindrances on your path to successfully getting those washboard abs. Your daily nutrition count should definitely comprise of all food groups, including proteins, fats, carbohydrates and minerals, but the calorie count is still very significant and thus has to be assessed. You just cannot go on munching on any amount of low-calorie foods justifying it as fat-free or low on fat. Calorie count lets you scour nutrition labels which is very important for you to judge the right quantum of food that you are taking in on a daily basis. Be cautious and do not repeat the mistake done by others.
No breakfast
Another very commonly committed mistake by people wanting to build those six abs is to skip the most important meal of the day, the breakfast. Bunking your meals in an attempt to limit the amount of calorie intake is nothing but foolishness. The worst decision is to go empty stomach first thing in the morning. Think logically, all your calories get burnt throughout the day in performing different activities, on top of that you try to shift the first meal of the day to further down the day time. This leads to less amount of energy in your body and giving rise to raised temptation for having a sumptuous and large lunch, without getting enough time to burn all those extra calories taken in. The result, more calorie intake, less energy to work and more storage of fat. Even crash dieting, for that matter, lets you lose fat only to a certain point, beyond which your body starts losing muscle mass and water weight. Your aim should be to have a well balanced diet as a lot of energy intake is required to build those sexy abdominal six-pack muscles.
Consuming excess refined carbohydrates or insufficient quantities of protein
Carbohydrates, needless to say, are vital components of your daily nutrition, but you should be able to differentiate between good carbohydrates and bad carbohydrates. Consuming foods which are enticing, easy to munch and snack on have less than ideal effect on your appetite like biscuits, muffins, cakes, potato chips crackers, sugary drinks, etc., and should be curtailed substantially. Instead, eat good carbohydrates like oatmeal, yams, sweet potatoes, pasta, brown rice and wholemeal bread. Even the fat intake should be restricted between 20% to 30% as every gram of fat contains 9 calories, irrespective of its nature or form. Also, not having the sufficient amount of protein can also hold back your dream of attaining those attractive-looking six packs. This does not mean that you need to gulp down tins of protein drinks day in day out. The best is to replace some of those refined carbohydrates and fats with a modest rise in the quantum of your protein intake. This will lead to enhancement of your muscles while getting rid of those excess body fats as you exercise your muscles to get your way through.
Insufficient weight training
The best resort to capitalize on your fat loss and protect your muscles and bones from going down with it is to place stimulatory stress on them. For this, intense weight training workouts, at least thrice a week is a must. A large chunk of people, especially women, refrain from training with weights as they are afraid that their muscles might bulge out too much. This is a misconception though. As a matter of fact, weight training is extremely vital to achieve washboard abs. Not only do they assist in getting a beautifully shaped body, but they even aid in shedding off weight at a much faster pace. Even men should try working out with larger and heavier weights instead of repeating exercises with lighter weights in order to enhance the speed of their muscle build-up.
Nothing but abs exercises
No doubt intense abdominal training sessions are of prime importance in order to strengthen the ab muscles but if you wish to display those tightly packed six abs, it is equally essential to burn those extra fats around the abdomen for which you need to work a lot on increasing your metabolism, keep a watch on your diet and do your cardio exercises consistently. Just burning fat from one particular region of your body is not enough, you need to burn fat overall. Indulging in doing 100 crunches non-stop is a total waste of time and energy. All these repetitions are not benefiting your body in any manner. Remember, variety is the spice of life.The best alternative is to do around 20 crunches in a row, and then add weights or switch to other ab training routine programs to get the maximum benefit out of your exercise program.
Exercising on an empty stomach and not refilling it after exercise
When your body is hungry for want of fuel during an exercise or just after an exercise when its metabolism has been revved up, unless you replenish it with some energy components to work on, it will lead to the decomposition of your muscles for want of glucose to satisfy the body hormone cortisol. The idea is to provide just enough amount of carbohydrates for the hormone cortisol to utilize and not let it react negatively. However, the food intake count at this hour should not be enough so as to let your body sip into a negative energy balance by too much of energy supply. At this juncture, it is sufficient to refuel the body with a piece of toast or a chocolate drink but do not make the mistake of keeping it bereft of it completely, i.e. without any energy supply.
Over training yourself and setting unreachable goals
The widely believed concept that vigorous and non-stop training sessions can help you get those six-pack abs at a faster pace is a myth. In fact muscles require time to recover and bulge up after a rigorous exercise session, so it is very important to put them to rest and provide them with enough space and time to grow. Over training your body muscles only leads to unforeseen accidents which should be kept at bay. Also, setting unrealistic and unachievable goals can only result in drifting you away from your success story of possessing a six pack body in less than a month. It is good to dream big but your dreams should show up a shape, with time, by reflecting signs of progress. So, to succeed and come out with flying colors, set smaller and reachable goals for the time being and build them up gradually.
Comparing yourself with others and being impatient
The gravest mistake that one does is to compare his results with somebody else’s. Two different individuals react differently in any given situation, so how can their bodies show similar results. It is baseless and irrelevant to compare one’s efforts and results with others. By doing so you would only be torturing yourself mentally as well as physically. Every success story has a painful experience to reveal. So, if you want to make it big and achieve your dreams, work hard on it, be determined, have patience and do not lose hope at any cost. Give yourself and your body some time to burn down the fat and build the muscles by getting started on your mission and halting only when you have achieved it. Keep your spirits high and do not let anything come in your way of acquiring a sexy washboard ab muscles.