Need help with abs

[Joey007]

Muscle mass is the same thing as putting on muscle right? Also isnt bulking mainly if you plan to compete in bodybuilding because I want to get big but not too big. And after I get my abs I would be able to keep them and get muslce at the same time and be able to keep both? Also I heard it takes alot of time to be able to see your abs so just how long would it take and do I also have to ab exercises too along with the cardio and full body wokrout? Finally I never really ate healthy but I am starting to eat a little healthier by doing small things so what type of food do I have to eat and what type do I have to avoid?

not necessarily, people who tend to bulk are individuals, who are like *skinny* or have decided to build muscle other than cut, as once they have the muscle mass, they can cut easily...if you were bulking, you'd b saying that you want to gain some weight, healthy weight or lean muscle mass. 1 lb of LBM burns 50 calories.

seeing your abs depends on your body fat %, if your bf % isn't around 10% or so. Being able to see the lines of the 6pack/8pack is associated with bf% really. Yes it does take alot of time to see your abs because of your body fat %, some people who are like 20% + or so, have to eat/work hard to lose the fat. as 3500 calories is equivalent to a lb of fat.

If i were you, you should exercise your core "abs" 2-3 times a week, its a muscle group and shouldn't be over trained.

& one main thing you need to note is... ""What you eat is the essential step in seeing your abs, thats what i learned thru the months i've been training." that is why abs are hard to get, just eating a few fatty foods can hinder your development of your mid section.

and another note, you should split your meals to 6-7 times a day.
& like i said, avoid saturated fats / trans fat, junk food, simple foods like sweets/etc. if you want abs bad, you cannot cheat, u must stick with eating healthy. healthy. lol and i cannot stop stressing that. eating right is extremely important.

and last,

it takes most people at most 1-2 weeks to lose 1-2% of body fat with strict dieting. and 3500 calories is equivalent to 1 lb of fat. That is where your calorie deficit comes in & working out. every set that you do in the gym burns around 28-40 calories.

I'd believe that you will reach your desired bf% in a month or 1 month 1/2, if you follow a strict diet of, fruits/vegetables/fish/meat, a balanced diet. no sweets/pizzas/cakes/fastfood/friedfoods/oilyfoods
high in protein/carbs/dietary fiber

 

[TH1]

For my core abs what types of exercises should i do for them and can I do those exercises when I do my full body workout and muscle mass and muscle are the same right?

 

[Joey007]

For my core abs what types of exercises should i do for them and can I do those exercises when I do my full body workout and muscle mass and muscle are the same right?

visit this website

lists 10 of the best ab exercises.
If i were you, choose only 2-3 of the ones listed, workout your abs 2-3 times a week is sufficient as it is a muscle group. If i were you, i'd workout my abs after cardio. Make sure to contract, suck in your stomach, while working ur abs, you will feel more burn. imo.

Yes you can do those exercies on the days your doing full body workouts, but make sure to space out the days, like: sample::

day 1: full body + abs
day 2: HIIT
day 3: full body
day 4: HIIT + abs
day 5: full body
day 6: rest, no workout
day 7: HIIT + abs

 

[TH1]

I went on that website and chose the bicylce exercise and vertical leg crunch but when I do exercise my abs do I do both exercises on that day or only one? Also for HIIT when I do it some people say to just run for 1 minute fast and 1 minute slow while others say to rune at my fastest for a minute then walk or jog for a minute but which way is best?

 

[Joey007]

yes both on same day lol, pick one more and also you need to work your obliques, do side bridges.

2-3 ab workouts + oblique workout on the same day.

 

[Joey007]

I went on that website and chose the bicylce exercise and vertical leg crunch but when I do exercise my abs do I do both exercises on that day or only one? Also for HIIT when I do it some people say to just run for 1 minute fast and 1 minute slow while others say to rune at my fastest for a minute then walk or jog for a minute but which way is best?

for the HIIT, do what i do, :]

30 seconds @ 90-100% your heart rate speed. sprint as fast as you can basically.
then take 45 sec - 1 minute or so of joggin @ 60-70% your heart rate speed.

repeat.
up to 10 minutes of HIIT is good :] if u want go up to 15 minutes.

also remember to do HIIT on empty stomach, thus utilizing your body's fat storage as fuel.

 

[TH1]

I did the HIIT cardio and after it I felt good but tired also after I get my abs then I would put on more muscle but to do that I would have to eat around an extra 300 calories but after I would get bigger and then I wouldnt be able to see my abs as much so wouldnt I just have to keep on going back and forth between cutting and bulking?

 

[Joey007]

I did the HIIT cardio and after it I felt good but tired also after I get my abs then I would put on more muscle but to do that I would have to eat around an extra 300 calories but after I would get bigger and then I wouldnt be able to see my abs as much so wouldnt I just have to keep on going back and forth between cutting and bulking?

lol, tell me if this isn't what your aiming for

:] haha

---
yes, around a surplus of 500-1000 calories, to build muscle mass. that is the bulking phase.

remember, its based on body fat %, if your body fat % is low, like 7-9% you will definitely see your ab lines. look at that site. you know what i mean. you can be both buff *big* and also be able to have the ab definition.

the reason people bulk is they want to shape their bodies, like some people have small arms, they want to bulk it up. thus building muscle, to give their arms volume :] , and after they finish bulking, they basically cut, thus creating definition and toneness.

 

[TH1]

So say after I got my abs and then I bulked up a bit then cut down a little and then I got my body the way I want it I had both my abs and I had some muscle what would I have to do to keep both my abs and muscles? Like how many calories would I have to eat to keep both and what other stuff would I have to do to keep both of them? Also I know that you have to eat good to get abs but if I didnt eat that good i ate a little less unhealthy foods but still ate some and then did HIIT and ab workouts 3 times a week would I still be able to get abs or does the food really make the difference?

 

[Joey007]

So say after I got my abs and then I bulked up a bit then cut down a little and then I got my body the way I want it I had both my abs and I had some muscle what would I have to do to keep both my abs and muscles? Like how many calories would I have to eat to keep both and what other stuff would I have to do to keep both of them? Also I know that you have to eat good to get abs but if I didnt eat that good i ate a little less unhealthy foods but still ate some and then did HIIT and ab workouts 3 times a week would I still be able to get abs or does the food really make the difference?

eh, thats called maintenance calories, which you already know, the daily calories needs to maintain your current weight,

once you reached the stage where you do not wish to bulk/cut, want to stay where you are, you just basically eat around that amount of calories a day to maintain, but of course u need to continue working out to keep your body toned :]

yes dude, food is very important. if you eat a cheese cake tonight, u might as well be screwing urself over because of the amount of fats in that cheesecake, just and another rule, no high carb foods after 6 pm. Try to eat foods that contain little to none saturated and foods that have minimal fat, you should start taking fish oil, it has really helped me lose the extra bf % :] fish oil also promotes lean muscle and raises your BMR by up to 400 thus burning more calories in a day.

last of all, strict diet. again and again :] i've been in ur shoes a few months ago. now i understand, but if you do want to cheat. like eat something sweet once a while. its okay, just not frequent. once every two weeks is ok. not everyday. :] u need to clean urself up of dirty fat, and go with the good fats

 

[TH1]

Ok I finally understand the whole cutting and bulking also alot of the foods I eat has fat in it so how much saturated fat and fat is considered little and ok to have and how many grams of saturated fat and fat should I eat a day? Also should I be drinking more milk to help or should I not be taking it and I take a meal replacement drink known as Ensure I usually take it with one of my meals as extra but do you know if it is good or not and if I should be taking it? Finally do you have any websites that tell what foods are ok to eat and what ones arent?

 

[Joey007]

well, you should'nt feel mind boggled about what to eat or not.
its common sense really.

Why eat a bag of potato chips that are probably 200 calories, loaded with 5 gs of saturated fat or what not, when you can have an apple which is about 70-80 calories. think about it.

& about the amount of protein/fats/etc that you should be taking.

about 60% carbs, 17% fat and 22% protein, in a day. this is just an example. If you looking to cut (lose body fat), eat food that contain 0 to at most 3-4 g of saturated fat. keep away from hamburgers, fried foods, etc. that contain high saturated fats.

Protein & carbs are your main concern, for fats, i'd suggest you keep it to a mininum though you must have fat to burn fat. its best you purchase "fish oil" capsules and take those. These are the healthiest fats around. Omega-8 fatty acids. best for cutting and promoting lean muscle growth. Once you lose the body fat, it converts to lean muscle basically.

And for me, everytime i purchase something from the grocery, like canned foods etc, I look at the nutrition sticker and see if it contains protein/dietaryfiber/carbs, these i worry about most, having high amounts of protein is great as well as dietary fiber and carbs. I'd keep my fat intake to a minimum when eating foods that are processed. Best to eat meat/vegetables, as they contain healthy fat.

Ensure, i believe acts as a meal replacement for you, but make sure to track the amount of calories your taking. Drink it if your regular meal doesn't meet your filling, but make sure to count how much calories togther. you dont want to exceed the calories that you have deficited from your daily caloric needs. Also drink non-fat milk as it contains 0 g of fat/sfat and 9 g of protein and 90 g of calories, its healthy.

refer to this http://www.fitness.com/forum/showpost.php?p=104969&postcount=2

for more info about food intake.

thanks to Cynic for gathering the info.

 

[TH1]

Thanks all this was really useful but is 2% milk ok because my parents only buy 2% milk and nothing else same thing for fish oil capsules I dont think they would buy me those

 

[Joey007]

Thanks all this was really useful but is 2% milk ok because my parents only buy 2% milk and nothing else same thing for fish oil capsules I dont think they would buy me those

2% is fine, milk fat is good fat. :] but its still fat LOL, but still u have to eat fat to burn fat :]so, 2-3 glasses of milk in a day is sufficient. make sure to count the calories. and keep your fat intake low. you dont have to consume fish oil capsules, go ahead and purchase "nuts" from the grocery market, they include essential fats. like the Omegas. great for snackin :] like Plantar's nuts.

 

[TH1]

For the 60% carbs,17% fat and 22% protein for that do you mean it should be my % daily value like the one that is on the nutrition sticker?

 

[Joey007]

For the 60% carbs,17% fat and 22% protein for that do you mean it should be my % daily value like the one that is on the nutrition sticker?

heres a exerpt i got from a website, which I forgot to mention to you, its essential to cutting.



Remember these are just diets that have been proven to work. You can always manipulate any ratio of Protein/Carbs/Fat to fit your needs as long as you stay in a caloric defecit.

To figure your caloric needs the best method is calculate and track 3-5 days of meals. Once you've figured what you need to maintain your bodyweight now you can figure what you need to cut. You are better to start out slow and drop cals as needed so that you have room to tweak as you go. As progress slows, you've left yourself room to drop cals as needed. Now that you have your maintainance number drop your cals by 200-300 and figure out your ratios.

The above is by far the best method to find your maintenance. However, if your not sure how to go about do this then you can always play around with some standard numbers. Remember these are for the average person so you may need to play around with it to find out what you need.

Cut - 10-13 cals per lb of bodyweight
Maintain: 13-15 cals per lb of bodyweight
Bulk: 15-18 cals per lb of bodyweight

Once you know how many cals you need to start cutting, now you can figure out your P/C/F ratio. Some of these ratios of Protein/Carbs/Fat many have successfully used are: 40/40/20, 50/20/30, 20/60/20 or Isocaloric 33/33/33 to name a few.

Each Gram of Protein = 4 cals
Each Gram of Carbs = 4 cals
Each Gram of Fat = 9 cals

To figure this out is alot more simple than you think. For example, to follow a 40/40/20 ratio for a 200lb person.
40%
Approx: 2400 cals needed to cut

Now do the math:

2400 cals 40/40/20
40% of 2400 = 960 cals need to come from Protein
40% of 2400 = 960 cals need to come from Carbs
20% of 2400 = 480 cals need to come from Fat

Now that we know where the calories need to come from, its time to figure grams.

960 divided by 4 = 240G of Protein
960 divided by 4 = 240G of Carbs
480 divided by 9 = 53G of Fat

Then divide this up by 5 to 6 meals a day add in 3-4 servings of Green fibrous veggies and your done. Be sure that most of your fat comes from EFA's (Essential Fatty Acids - see below)