Fat Loss for Visible Abs --
Workouts, Nutrition, and Lifestyle for Success Fat Loss for
Visible Abs -- Workouts, Nutrition, and Lifestyle for Success
Craig Ballantyne, Men's Health Training Advisor interviews Mike
Geary
Craig Ballantyne: Mike, let's start off with some background
on the types of people you train, and your training background.
Mike Geary: Craig, I've been a Certified Personal Trainer for
almost a decade now, and in recent years, I've become certified
as a Nutrition Specialist as well. As for the types of people
I train... I've trained everybody from skinny teenagers looking
to add some bulk to their frame, to middle-aged housewives and
businessmen looking to lose body fat, to senior citizens looking
to get stronger and leaner in their golden years.
Craig Ballantyne: You have a site, The
Truth About Abs. So...what the heck is the truth?
Mike Geary: Well Craig, from what I see on a daily basis, one
of the most common fitness goals people have is to get a flatter
stomach and if possible, achieve some sort of a "six pack
abs" appearance to their midsection. Unfortunately, most
people struggle for years without ever achieving this goal.
Instead, I see so many people waste so much of their time on
worthless abs exercises, and falling for every gimmick product
that comes onto their TV screen promising them a 6-pack in only
2 minutes a day while sitting on their couch.
To be honest, seeing so many people over the years waste their
hard earned money on all of these worthless ab gadgets, machines,
and bogus fat loss pills was really getting under my skin.
That's why I developed my Truth about Six Pack Abs Program.
Over the last couple years, this program I developed has gained
popularity worldwide, and has now recently become the most popular
abs program on the internet with 10's of thousands of people
in over 100 countries using my system.
So what's the truth? The truth is that people are looking in
the wrong direction to achieve this goal... abs exercises are
NOT the answer to six pack abs! Sounds counterintuitive I know.
In fact, ab-specific exercises are the LEAST important training
aspect in getting a six pack.
Most people think there must be some magical "underground"
abs exercise that is going to finally get them their six-pack
after years of struggling.
The fact is, the real solution to seeing a visible six-pack
is bringing your body fat % down to a low enough level to where
the abs become visible. Most people already have them hiding
under there and don't know it. This is generally about 10% body
fat or lower for men, and about 16-18% for women from my experience.
Heck, even my 7-year old nephew has a six pack... do you think
he got that by doing "abs exercises"? No way! He has
a six pack because his body fat % is extremely low since he's
so active running around playing all day at his age.
So the most important aspect to getting visible abs is actually
a properly designed full body training program, combined with
good nutrition that can be maintained for life (instead of a
short-term gimmick diet).
Craig Ballantyne: For a beginner, how much focus needs to be
on abs? What other exercises would you give them for fat loss?
Mike Geary: For beginners, I generally start them off with
the most basic bodyweight exercises such as bw squats, bw lunges,
bw step-ups, pushups, inverted body rows, along with basic dumbbell
exercises like overhead presses, rows, etc. We also work on
body stabilizing exercises like planks and side planks and a
few stability ball exercises to make sure they've learned to
properly engage their entire "core" area in stablizing
the body.
Craig Ballantyne: What type of cardio/interval training do
you use for fat loss?
Mike Geary:The programs I design are almost entirely based
on high intensity resistance training instead of cardio. In
fact, my resistance training workouts get people sweating and
huffing and puffing much more than any boring cardio workout
ever will.
The bottom line based on research as well as my personal experience...
cardio is NOT necessary for fat loss! In fact, some of the leanest
people I know NEVER do traditional cardio. Personally, I haven't
stepped foot on a treadmill, elliptical machine, or stationary
bike in about 8 years and I maintain single digit body fat year
round.
Now don't get me wrong about the cardio thing... in reality,
I actually work on exercises that are much tougher and more
intense than traditional cardio... I prefer wind sprints, hill
sprints, swimming sprints, speed rope jumping, etc to complement
my resistance training... all of which are more anaerobic in
nature than aerobic.
This type of training stimulates a vastly higher metabolic
response in the body than steady pace cardio.
Of course, most people can't just jump right into doing wind
sprints without injury until they've gotten themselves into
pretty good shape first. I use various resistance training methods
and interval training for most people before they are ever ready
to even attempt any type of sprinting.
Craig Ballantyne: Tell us about your favorite bodyweight exercises
and how you use them in a fat loss program.
Mike Geary: I like to combine bodyweight exercises and free
weight exercises into what I call "tri-sets" or "quad-sets"
(aka - mini circuits). Basically, I pick 3 or 4 exercises that
don't work the same body movements (non-competing) and combine
them into high intensity mini-circuits for my clients.
A great example would be:
1. mountain climbers for 20-30 seconds
2. dumbbell squat & presses (combination squat then press
overhead)
3. stability ball leg curl-ins
4. stability ball plank holds (a little harder than a floor
plank)
This type of circuit can be done without much rest at all between
exercises and we would repeat the circuit several times before
moving to a new circuit. This creates a high intensity fat burning
workout that works almost every muscle in the entire body.
Craig Ballantyne: Let's turn to nutrition. What is your fat
loss nutrition philosophy?
Mike Geary: I could talk about nutrition for hours and it's
such a controversial subject, so I'll keep this brief...
It doesn't have to be as complicated as the "diet gurus"
make it out to be. It can be a lot simpler...
1. whole, unprocessed organic foods, as close to their natural
state as possible
2. High nutrient density food choices instead of nutrient deficient
processed foods
3. Fruits and vegetables (lots of vegetables) as your main source
of carbohydrates instead of so much reliance on grains as is
so prominent in our food supply these days
4. Moderate amounts of high quality protein at each meal
5. High fiber intake to help appetite control and glycemic control
(maintaining more balanced blood sugar)
6. Don't neglect healthy fat intake from nuts, seeds, organic
eggs, wild fish or fish oil, virgin coconut oil and olive oils,
avocados, etc (helps appetite control and hormonal balance)
Once you gain control over the aspects listed above, everything
else usually works itself out in your diet... you no longer
crave sweets or junk food because your body finally has all
of the nutrients it needs. Another important thing that this
style of eating does is that it tends to bring people naturally
back to the proper amount of calories they need each day without
having to attempt to count calories or anything like that.
Craig Ballantyne: How do you address "lifestyle"
with your clients to help them lose fat?
Mike Geary: One of the most important things I try to instill
in my clients is that this has to become part of their lifestyle
if it is ever going to work long-term. They need to make their
health and fitness a priority in their life, and they must enjoy
it...whether it's because they actually enjoy the actual exercise
and healthy eating, or because they enjoy the feeling of strength
or energy or confidence that it gives them.
Craig Ballantyne: Give us some of your unique fat loss stories.
For example, have you ever made one small change to a client's
program that helped them get through a plateau? Or has a client
ever responded to one form of training that surprised you? Stuff
like that...
Mike Geary: I had one client a couple years ago... a guy in
his early 30's...a classic case in reality. He'd been doing
the same routine for years... about an hour of cardio 5 days/week
while reading the newspaper, and then he'd finish it off with
a few weight machines.
He finally came to me because his body was actually getting
worse despite his long workouts. I asked him to put his trust
in me, and asked if he'd be willing to try something drastically
different...
I asked if he would fully give up his cardio for 6 weeks and
follow one of my free weight training routines instead. I actually
insisted that he didn't do any cardio at all during this experimental
6 weeks of change...only weights would be allowed. This was
hard for him at first as he was so accustomed to just doing
all of this boring cardio because it was easy. But easy workouts
don't create a better body!
The results were incredible... I think his strength improved
about 30-40 lbs on almost all of his lifts during that 6 weeks
while simulataneously losing about 15 lbs of body weight, and
his beer belly shrunk down considerably to the point where he
had to go out and buy some new pants with smaller waists.
Another story... As far as clients getting new results from
just a small tweak...
A few people that have been stuck at a fat loss plateau have
come to me and I gave them a simple nutrition trick to try.
This simple change was to start basing their last full meal
of the day around just meats with lots of veggies and salad...
basically, no starches with dinner, just meat and veggies.
As simple as that sounds, I've seen many people break their
fat loss plateau just by implementing that into their diet.
So many people think that their meals need to be based on starch
like pasta or rice, but I think it's so much easier to lose
fat when your meals are based around meat and vegetables instead
of starch.
I could go on, but I hope that gives your readers some useful
ideas for now.
Craig Ballantyne: Thanks Mike!
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