To have a flat stomach with abs that are sharply sculpted and defined into what is called a six pack is the goal of many men and women these days. Simply losing weight is no longer enough, nor is just muscle building in general. That goal is not easy to attain, though, and there are no quick fixes or cheats to doing it right. You just have to be determined, consistent and committed not only to your program but also to long term maintenance. The program is quite basic, consisting of losing fat and building muscles by way of proper workouts and the right diet.

Flattening the stomach to build abs requires weight loss. In fact, you will have to trim down your body fat to just ten percent to be able to sculpt out and define those abs well. That weight loss should consist of fat loss and you need to do cardio workouts three times a week to burn off all your excess fat. In each cardio session your heart rate should be elevated to the maximum level and kept at that fat burning zone for half an hour to an hour. It does not really matter what kind of cardio workout you choose, whether indoors or outdoors, including aerobics, jogging, cycling or swimming. Each session will raise your metabolism enough to enable your body to continue burning fat for the remainder of your day. This is why it is best to do cardio workouts in the morning in order to have more hours of raised metabolism to burn fat.

In tandem with burning off fat through cardio workouts you also need to do muscle building workouts that are specifically designed to strengthen and tighten stomach muscles. Pilates workouts have body core exercises that do exactly this. Abdominal crunches, reverse crunches and oblique crunches are likewise very effective when done with the proper techniques.

Your cardio and strength training workouts will only be truly effective if accompanied by the right diet, though. You should be eating less calories than you are burning off in order to lose fat, but not too few as to lower your metabolism. Cut out all unhealthy fats, simple carbohydrates like sugar and starch, and dairy products that cause bloating and gas. Make sure your diet contains adequate lean complete proteins supplemented by high fiber complex carbohydrates and healthy unsaturated fats. Your daily intake should therefore be made up of lean meat, chicken, fish, whole grains, vegetables and fruits divided into six light meals eaten through the day, with the last meal ending three hours before bedtime.

You can successfully create sharply defined six pack abs through the right combination of cardio workouts, stomach tightening and strengthening workouts and the right diet.

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