Coach Charles Poliquin, who has trained over 600 Olympic athletes, says: “When I begin working with new clients, I tell them to eat only those foods that fit into this guideline. If you have any doubts about putting a certain food in your mouth, ask yourself this question: ‘Would a caveman have had access to this food?’ If the answer is no, don’t eat it!”

His advice comes from the book The Paleo Diet, written by Dr. Loren Cordain.

This has to be the most simple yet effective eating guideline I’ve come across. It restricts your choices to foods that are healthy, and eliminates the junk that keeps you fat.

So, if you’re confused about how to eat, remember this dead simple advice: if it does not fly, swim, or run and it’s not green, don’t eat it!

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Never heard of Pavel Tsatsouline? Pavel’s a former physical training instructor for the Soviet Special Forces and he has been spreading the unique training methods of the USSR into the US since 1998. He’s written 15 books (mostly on strength training) and has worked with the US Marine Corps, the National Nuclear Security Administration, and the US Secret Service.

Luckily for us, he’s also written a book on abs training, titled Bullet-Proof Abs. With his publisher’s permission, I am thrilled to reproduce another of his best tricks: The Stretch Crunch.

The Stretch Crunch

Recall that crunches are worthless because the movement is too subtle to generate sufficient tension in the abs. It is a different ball game if you double the range of motion of the crunch by placing some sort of a pad under your lower back and glutes.

Dr. Fred Hatfield, the first man to squat over 1,000 pounds in competition, swears by these ‘pre-stretch crunches’. Stretching the abs amplified the intensity of their contraction and made the movement harder to confuse with head bobbing and spine yanking. Another plus is strengthening the abdominals in a stretched position—where they are often called to perform in sports. Last but not least, performing at least some of your abdominal strength training in the stretched position helps your posture: you prevent the abs from shortening and giving you a hump.

Now it should not surprise you that Russians, Olympic champions, health superstar Academician Amosov, and my aunt Inna, have been doggedly performing extreme stretch situps over a stool or some gymnastic apparatus for decades, totally uninfluenced by Western paranoia over this movement.

The stretch crunch is not a beginner exercise. A person with weak abs will just jerk on his spine with his hip flexors, even worse than in a conventional crunch. The best tool for stretch crunches is the Swiss ball, an inflatable ball two feet or so in diameter and a $30 price tag. Unlike a rigid pad, the Swiss ball follows the curves of your back and opens up the spaces between vertebrae.

Sit on the ball a bit lower than its top, so your lower back would hit the high point when you lie back. (Fig. 42) Plant your feet slightly wider than your shoulders. You may hook them underneath your couch or have your training partner hold them down, especially if you use additional resistance.

Fold your hands on your chest—eventually with a weight—inhale and wrap yourself around the ball. (Fig. 43) Do not jam your back in one spot; sort of ‘make your spine longer’ and wrap it around the deceptively innocent looking ball. You should not experience any discomfort in your lower back if you do the drill right. Make sure to keep your entire midsection tight, your feet secure, and not move too fast—it is hard to stay on the ball!

Incidentally, because of lack of stability the Swiss ball crunch overloads the obliques more than other kinds of situps or crunches. You will feel it! At your own risk, try this drill with your feet close together for an even more brutal love handle muscle workout! When you have reached the bottom exhale with relief and let your spine stretch even longer.

Inhale, and roll back up, one vertebra at a time starting with your neck. (Fig. 44) Tucking your butt under will help. Once you have reached the top, exhale, inhale, and start over.

I’ve been using this exercise ever since I found out about it and it’s defined my six pack through and through. I highly recommend you use it (3 sets of 4-6 reps should be good to begin with). As Pavel pointed out, it’s not for beginners, so leave it for later if your lower back hurts when you crunch, or if you can’t do 20 crunches with your arms crossed over your chest yet.

For more Russian secrets for six pack abs, check out Pavel Tsatsouline’s book, Bullet-Proof Abs.

For a free (32-page PDF) course on super-strong abs by Pavel, head over to this page and enter your first name and email address in the form to your right.

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Luckily for us, he’s also written a book on abs training, titled Bullet-Proof Abs. With his publisher’s permission, I am thrilled to reproduce one of his best tricks: the scissor sit-up.

Scissor sit-up

Try an experiment. Sit in a chair with your hands on your knees and flex your abs as hard as possible. (Fig. 37)

Now put your fists inside your knees and do the same while squeezing your fists hard with your knees. (Fig. 38) You will see that your abs contract much stronger when you are trying to close your legs. Martial artists have been taking advantage of this phenomenon for centuries with strong stances like Okinawan karate’s sanchin-dachi.

This neat phenomenon, later rediscovered by the East Germans, enables us to design a state of the art situp.

Lie down on a bench with your knees bent to relieve your back. (Fig. 39) Follow every direction given for the regular situps, plus pinch the bench with your knees. Keep the muscles surrounding your knees tight.

Can you feel your abs contract harder when you pinch the bench? In my abs programs, I use this trick with the squeeze crunch, where you squeeze a stability ball between your knees while your crunch.

For more Russian secrets for six pack abs, check out Pavel Tsatsouline’s book, Bullet-Proof Abs. For a free (32-page PDF) course on super-strong abs by Pavel, head over to this page and enter your first name and email address in the form to your right.

Get The Full Version of The Six Pack Abs Workouts

In this clip, you’ll find out which abs training zone helps you get six pack abs the fastest. You’ll also discover exactly how it does that, and why it’s superior to other training zones.

Win a free copy of the full presentation

Congratulations to David Rios, who won a copy of the full presentation by answering last post’s question.

To win a copy for yourself (a $27 value), simply comment below and tell me why you’d like to get six pack abs. I’ll email the best comment’s author (make sure to enter a valid email address).

Looking forward to hear from ya,

-CJ

Get The Full Version of The Six Pack Abs Workouts

Video Giveaway

I plan to sell the full video with a summary checklist for $27. If you’d like to win a free copy, post a comment below telling me why and how you think this video on abs training would help you get six pack abs.

I’ll contact the author of the best comment with instructions on how to download the video and the checklist. Make sure you use a valid email address with your comment.

Talk soon,

CJ

It recaps how fat loss works and what you need to do to lose fat. This applies 100 % to you if you’re looking to get six pack abs, but you still have some fat covering your abs. Enjoy.

You can watch more of Steve’s videos at his YouTube channel.

Steve also has a weight loss membership site where he answers all your questions.

Since my goal is to help you get six pack abs quickly and easily, I needed a way to synthesize the science behind abs training into easy-to-use-and-understand methods.

So, I’ve come up with abs training zones that integrate strength (low-rep) and hypertrophy (mid-rep) type training for faster results.

I plan to call them the Six Pack “Sweet Spot” Training Zones.

I’ll organize a free webinar shortly covering:

• Why training zones help you get six pack abs faster
• Why having stronger abs will help you get a six pack fast
• Why hypertrophy-type training helps you get chiseled abs
• How strength and hypertrophy-type abs training interact to help you get six pack abs

Now, I’d need you to help with this webinar.

1. What questions do you have about abs training that you would like me to answer during the webinar?
2. What’s the best time for you to attend to that webinar?
3. What do you think of the name Six Pack “Sweet Spot” Training Zones? Can you suggest another?

Answer by commenting below. I look forward to reading your comments.

P.S. If you don’t get my emails already, sign up below to be emailed when the webinar’s ready.

In fact, this book is so popular, it ranks #1 on ClickBank’s list. That means it’s the best-selling abs book on the Internet, period. Is it worth your money? In this review, you’ll find out what the book is about and how to avoid a big mistake in the book’s abs training programs.

The Truth About Abs’ Big Secret

Here’s what it’s all about… Right at the beginning of the book, and throughout its 149 pages, author Mike Geary hammers this point home: to get well-defined abs, abs exercises are not your best option. What he recommends is eating well and exercising hard.

To this end, his book has a section on:

1. nutrition (pg. 7-51) that includes varied meal plans for 12 different days;
2. abs training (pg. 52-79) that shows and explains 26 abs exercises organized into an 8-level program;
3. weightlifting (pg. 84-130) that shows and explains 24 weightlifting exercises organized into a 7-level weightlifting program.

The remainer of the book (pg. 131-149) contains various lean-body tips (on stress, sleep, hydration, organic foods, and more).

Big Mistake in The Truth About Abs

Here’s the #1 problem with The Truth About Abs: if you follow its 8-level abs program, as you get more experienced, you’ll do progressively longer sets. Here’s its level 8 program:

Level 8
Hanging leg raises – 4 x 10
Hanging knee raises – 1 x 12
Decline board leg thrusts – 1 x 15
Lying leg thrusts – 1 x 15
Ab scissors – 1 x 20
Stability ball plank holds – 1 x 80-90 seconds
Floor side plank holds – 1 x 40-50 seconds each side
Ab wheel – 2 x 10
Ab bicycles – 1 x 30
Alternating ab crunches – 1 x 20
Weighted cable rope crunches – 1 x 15

As you can see, if you follow this program, you won’t do sets of less than 10 repetitions. Instead, you’ll do long sets of 12, 15, or more repetitions. And long sets means light weights.

By not training your abs heavy (in the 4-6 repetition range), you miss out on strength and definition. Here’s why: in the long run, stronger abs will handle more weight during the longer sets. If your long sets are heavier, your abs will get stronger and better-defined.

To do long sets with heavy weights, you first need to train your abs in short, heavy sets. Over time, as you train them, your abs will get used to lifting heavy weights, and you’ll be able lift the same weights for longer sets.

Here’s the problem: Mike Geary has you train your abs in long sets exclusively. Since you’ll never train them in short, heavy sets, your abs will never get strong, and they won’t be as defined in the long run. By not training your abs heavy, The Truth About Abs leaves out an important part the equation.

(In my rock-hard abs manual and workouts, I made sure to include heavy abs training, of course.)

How to Fix The Truth About Abs

Still, if you’d like to check out The Truth About Abs, forward me a copy of your purchase confirmation email at Carl@sixpackabsexercises.com and I’ll send you my special report titled: “How to Fix The Truth About Abs” (a $19.99 value) for free.

In this special report, you’ll find out how to rearrange the workouts Mike Geary suggests in The Truth About Abs to include heavy abs training. By combining Mike’s workouts with heavy abs training, you’ll build strength and muscle that will help define your abs.

Click here to find out more about The Truth About Abs.

To get six pack abs, you need to develop your abs (using abs exercises) and you need to lose stomach fat. Abs exercises won’t help you lose stomach fat. To lose stomach fat, you need to expend more energy than you eat. To expend more energy than you eat, do interval training and lift weights.

Mistake #2: You perform only easy abs exercises

Can you do more than 20 sit-ups in a row? If you can, it’s time you either upgrade your sit-ups, or pick harder exercises. Bodybuilders and exercise scientists have known for a long time that the best repetition range to build muscle (including abdominal muscles) is 8-12. In other words, if you can do more than 12 repetitions of your favorite abs exercise, it’s too easy. Upgrade it.

Mistake #3: You pause between repetitions

When you work out your abs, do you pause between repetitions? Since many abs exercises are done on the floor, rookies often rest their upper back and head on the ground between each repetition. This relaxes their abs, and basically defeats the whole purpose of training them. When you work out your abs, do not rest your upper back and head on the floor between repetitions. That will force your abs to stay tight throughout the exercise, and will help them grow into a six pack.

Get The Full Version of The Six Pack Abs Workouts

1. Download The Program

   Here’s the link: http://www.sixpackabsexercises.com/program/BeginnerWeeks1-4.zip.

2. Unzip and Open The Program

3. Pick The First Exercise: the Hip Trust

   You’ll get this:

   

   White Bubble

   

   In the white bubble you’ll find the number of sets, the number of repetitions, and the length of the rest period between sets. In this case, you would do 15 Hip Trusts, rest for 1:30 minute, and do 15 more Hip Trusts.

   Just below are the key points. Pretty self-explanatory.

   The last item is the training log:

   

   You use the training log to record the difficulty of each set (read my how to make your abs exercises harder blog post for more info). You also mark down how many repetitions you did on each set.

   It’s useful to track your progress, but some people think it’s a hassle. You decide, but I suggest you use it. When you track your progress, you know where you were, and where you’re going. You know if your improving or not, and that tells you whether you should keep doing what you’re doing or change something.

   Here’s how it works. Let’s say today is the first day I train. I’ll write the date (March 1st or 4/1), “S” for “side” in the box that corresponds to “arm position”, and “6″ in the box next to “# Reps”.

   That means I did a set of 6 repetitions with my arms next to my sides. Here’s what it would look like:

   

   You’ll notice I put “S” and “4″ for “Set 2″. That would mean I did 4 repetitions with my arms next to my sides on the second set.

   This rounds up this fast start guide.

   I’ve done my job, now do your and get to work!

   Get The Full 36-Week Version of The Six Pack Abs Workouts

   

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