6 Pack Abs
 

All of my life I've had a gut, and just now I'm getting to the point where its the smallest I can ever remember it being. I was wonder what exercises it'd take to get that classic 6 pack abs that every girl loves to see.

Re: 6 Pack Abs
 

I think we need to take a step back and see the underlying problem here, it's the fat deposits around the midsection that are stopping you from having a '6-pack'. Yes, cruches and leg-lifts are HELPFUL at shaping the ab muscles, but in the end you need to lose the last bit of fat to see the '6-pack'.

Mr.X

I know, I'm working away at that, slowly but surely.
Why not tone the muscles now, so as the fat melts away I have some nice abs underneath?

As you wish, I would recommend using heavy weight on the midsection creating the most muscle-fiber breakdown. (just like any other muscle, if you're trying to build bigger biceps you don't do 300 reps, you do 4-6 heavy reps, the same concept applies for abs) Pack on some weight and keep the reps to a low 8-12 for maximum results. There is no real difference between toning and building, the bigger the muscle the more 'toned' it would be because of the mature shaping.

Mr.X

I have always kept my six pack in an insulated cooler :) and that is probably where it will stay.

aiming at a 6 packs and genetics
 

Well i have dieted many times and i would have to say that you can lose your gut and lovehandes with hard work and very good diet, i think that low carb is the best for this.

BUt the 6 packs question is always the same, i guess that would depend on genetics, i have done the hight protein diet in 1998 went from a massive 205 pounds to 174 pounds, i was pertty thin then but still no 6 packs.

I dont see how i could have lost 10 more pounds i add done every trick in the book to get there.

This ended my quest for the 6 packs.

Right now after 1 and a half of CKD i was able to lose my lovehanles and feel good about myself again, no more gut, but has for the 6 packs i dont think i will perue this goal anymore.

Good luck and remember that its not worth getting sick over this, you have lost a good amount of weight has it is and 145 pounds , i dont know your height but thats pertty skinny if you ask me.







Good l

1 and a half of what? And I'm not about to give up before I even start :P

BTW, I'm 5'9. 100 + 5*9 = 145lbs
Just using the calculations everyone else has told me to use.

Good luck to you
 

Well thats a great attitude sir, so good luck to you and i hope you reach your goal.

Ho BTW i have been doing ketogenic dieting for 1 month and a half thats what i meant sorry.

So keep us posted and post your pics when you do get your 6 pacs.

Appologies i didnt mean to discourage you or anything its just that a 6 packs is really hard to have.

I really went overboard with that once and i want to avoid this to anyone, i didnt do it for the ladies because i have my girlfriend but still wanted to achieve the extra cool abs look.

So you are saying unless I am genetically programmed for six packs… I could not achieve them? I hope that is not so… I want those six packs… I was under the impression that it was the type and the way the exercises are done, along with getting the body fat down there... with of course a lot of other variables that gets you were you want to be...

Six Packs...
 

They seem to look great on a guy, but I don't think they look right on a women somehow.

You see a great deal of the top female stars or photo's of top models and there is not a wiff of a six pack in sight. They just have nice flat tummies, but they are slightly rounded and you see the pudgy navel on them. Most guys that I have spoke to find that sexy, but they think a six pack on a woman looks out of place.

I guess if your going for the sculpted body building look that some of the women professional body builders achieve and that is what you feel is right then it's ok.

The only thing I want to achieve is my pre pregnancy tummy and a stronger toned body than I had when I was younger when I was quite skinny, but no muscle or toning. I'll be happy if my tmmy looks like a "Victoria's Secret" catalogue model's tummy.

I agree a full blown 6-pack doesn't look all that great on a female, but what I want is just a trace of it there... I think then it looks good... Just enough to see slightly the muscles that make the 6-pack... I think that looks sexy... IMHO... Not so defined to look masculine... :D
I don't know... I haven't seen "Victoria's Secret" catalogue for a bit, but the catalogues I have looked at, the models look sick in my opinion, not enough muscles... they look anorexic to me... but I would think it is just want each individual likes... their tummys are flat for sure... ;) :)

i agree, I only watched about 5 minutes of the Victoria's Secret special on TV. I just dont find a bag of bones very sexy. I dont understand how they are suppsoed to be lingerie models when they dont fill out what they are wearing.

But then again I imagine that the Victoria's Secret models dont find fat guys very sexy either so that kinda evens things out :)

LOL!!!!
 

Big Dog...I never even seen a Victoria Secret catalogue! I just hear people raving about the model's in it. I do know that the majority of women who are slim and in good shape though don't have the 6 pack, but a nicely proportioned tummy....which I would kill for after having five children and am determined to see once again. However, what I think looks really horrible is a six pack on a woman and a dark dark tan also, it seems to make their tummy look like a shrivelled prune from what I have seen at the gym. The creases look darker and it just does nothing for me...a trace is nice :)

Yup... I want a nice soft (looking) sexy six-pack... and my white skin... teehee :D

Now you don't suppose I have to be geneticly programed for that as realdeal suggests do you?

P.S. Blue... I too have had 5 children, but I do beleive we can do it... ;)

Here is what I want my six-pack to look like... :D

All the best in striving for that...
 

I'm not sure I'll get to that level, having been stretched beyond recognition and all.

My before and after shots have been updated today. I am amazed by the difference in just a week.

Before and After Shots

I have been so rushed today I did not get cardio doen, or even get my breakfast. in fact it is now 3.15pm and I have had nothing all day. Grocery shopping is the pits. I did manage to get some flax oil and it was actually mixed in a 1:1 ratio with safflower oil as luck had it so this was good. Also managed to find some glutamine tablets too. Lucky me...

Think I'd better eat here...

glutamine powder is much more economical than the tablets

Any is better than none, but... the powder is better because it is easier to get the 5g or more you need per dose that way... ;)

I would just say: GO FOR IT! It's a nice goal to make I think.... something not directly based on the scale. Good luck getting there.... I'm aiming for the same thing!

We can do it!
Alex :wave:

Glutamine
 

Powder is over priced for what it is and the cannisters were small with hardly any powder in them. Would not last as long as the tablets and yet they wanted double the price.. The tablets are enough to do what I want them to do really...I read an article saying you could overdose on the stuff anyway and I'm not that interested in having assive amounts of Growth Hormone floating around. There are always consequences for having too much of things in your body I find half the time and I just want to assist basically so the tablets are more than adequate. Got to be more in a tablet than a small cup of cottage cheese that's for sure. That would have been another way of getting it except I don't feel like eating the stuff all the time after my workout.

So I am sure with a tablet at the right time before bed will more than do the right job it says it will. I guess glutamine is glutamine in whatever form you get it. The smaller the dose the better at the moment when they know nothing about long term effects.

Well, I hope you get some replys to that because what I have learned you really can't overdose on the stuff... here is a link to a little info on the subject... there is ton's more!
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...light=glutamine

Also you get more in the powder than in the tablets... most say 1 tsp is 5 grams, wereas 1 tablet is usually only 500 mg... big differance... so the powder is much more economical... IMHO...

And Growth Hormone is desirable because it helps you lose weight... being a women, it would be hard to get to many muscles even if you were a bodybuilder, you'd have to work very VERY hard to do that... it is just they way we are... :D

Growth Hormone
 

Well my concerns are more around over producing growth hormone really. Or should I say anymore than what I really need. there are side effects to that and they stack up if you go overboard. It affects bone and other development. Over a prolonged period and at large volumes you even develop acromegally or similar symptoms to it I'd imagine. I guess that is just physical side-effects---and once you develop thickening of extremeties and thickening of facial features. they would not go after ceasing whatever it is you took to cause them.
Other side-effects of too much Glutamine/GH?

See here:

Side Effects

I know there is nothing to support the theories of this guy...but caution in my opinion is the best policy. I always think that there is a good reason for leaving the body to make it's own level of hormones, or a reason why women should only have a certain level when compared to a man or compared to women who take supplements to boost their levels. Who knows what the long term effects are, but I would not want to even interfere with Growth hormone as it is a hormone that is produced in varying amounts by the pituitary in response to other hormones and is generally increased in those who are active anyway due to a miriad of hormonal increases that take place due to exertion. For example all the sex hormones increase with increased activity and damage to muscle. The process may be longer, but that is why it is advisable to work certain parts of the body on alternate days and give the body rest to recupe by itself.

Men may make more when they are body building, but then men by design are meant to stack on mass anyway and women are not. That's due to increased levels of the anabolic steroids (sex steroids) and hormones such as androstenedione and testosterone though.

Basically until they do more studies, I would be happy sticking with a minimal low dose in the form of a tablet. It was one of the reasons I did not buy the powder. I would rather control what I am taking and know it never exceeded more than so many mg's at a time at the moment. No harm in taking two tablets if one does not work, but with spoonfuls of stuff that is possibly more potent it would make me nervous. I have studied GH a great deal in conjunction with steroid hormones and feel it best to be cautious where they are concerned. The body has a neat way of making more of certain hormones under certain conditions through a process known as negative feedback, and I am only taking what I feel is a small boost on top of that. I would not like to dabble in larger or more potent quantities as it would interfere with what my body needs to be doing repair wise.

Well... I have read good and bad about just about everything... LC is a good example, but if I believed all I read, well I wouldn't do anything, water is not even safe... but if you feel safer in not taking a large amount of glutamine or anything else for that matter, then you are better off waiting until you feel more secure in it... in my opinion at least... I wish you success... :)

Well..
 

I think there are distinct differences between doing a low carb diet and then tinkering with hormones levels directly. I don't mind doing things that help my health...and basically low carb diet is no different to caveman diet and it never hurt them. But it's different when you play around with hormones.

My son has a medical condition that can sometimes predispose him to over production of GH androstenedione and testosterone if it is not controlled well so that's one of the reasons I have studied that and the possible side-effects of such or long term effects. Besdies the impracticality of having a 7 yo in puberty or pubertal behaviour in toddler hood due to elevated sex hormones, it at been nothing short of hard work really controlling things the way they should be for him with corticosteroids and walking the fine line between that and overdose with steroids which stunt growth. One cannot win, but I have seen what hormone imbalances can cause for him and I don't think that it stops in adulthood. Just like an overdose of his med's would cause just as much bone loss in an adult as it can him, so can over production of other hormones cause other side-effects if the levels are higher than what the body would normally produce.

Sometimes the symptoms are not always evident right away. Something like Huntingtons desease would take years to crop up for example. But once it does, there is no repairing the effects of it---it is done.

I don't think anyone should play around with it. Like I said the body has this wonderful way of naturally increasing these hormones all of it's own accord. For example GH is secreted in large amounts when we exert ourselves and at night in deep sleep. It is secreted in a pulsatile manner and the pituitary knows just what amount is needed to be released in volume for the amount of damage done to make good repair. Unless you have Addisons and cannot make GH then I really would not be taking supplement at all that can increase it or HGH itself. As I said it is one of the reasons why a full day rest and two at the weeked is good for body builders. First they have the surge of cortisol and GH and testosterone comes with that. These are released in higher amounts than a non active person--and always in an appropriate amount for the purpose. To take more not knowing what the potential hazards could be years from now is quite risky.

I am quite happy to leave the level my body makes the stuff at and have it increase the level beyond what it would be if I were as inactive as I were before engaging in the BFL program. I know it has increased because of my sex drive increased too and my continual ability to repair and recuperate after a workout without the supplements. I always feel right before the next session and I think as long as you make sure your body has the right nutrients, you will be fine. I believe we should take a good multi vitamin because when dieting and exercising we don't always get all the nutrients that we need. In ensuring that there is enough there for the body to utilize in repair is good enough in my opinion. But no one would take 5 grams of glutamine in in an average days eating normal food.

After thinking things through actually 9and this thread has helped me) I may give them a miss and just stick with cottage cheese. :)

Waste of $11 but nevermind..I may save a few neurons. ;)

I found some interesting information on Human Growth Hormone... some of this I already knew, but some I didn't... and I am sure there is more out there... seems there always is ;) http://www.growthhormoneclinic.com/ I knew as we grow older we don't have as much as when we were younger, I guess not so much that we don't have it, it is harder to get to or to be released... The Protein Power Plan trys to increase the GH so it is easier to lose weight...

I would like very much to hear more about this... do you think you could come to my journal to further discuss this... I NEED more hGH... so I am trying to make my body produce more... you are 10 years younger than myself, so you should have more floating around than I do!

I am sorry to hear about your son... truely...

I didn't know glutamine tinkered with hormones directly, any more than cottage cheese???

HGH
 

Well with HGH the ONLY reason that it is produced less as we get older is because many people become less active. It is very much a hormone I would imagine that if governed by activity and agility is something you don't need much of if your a couch potato.

I have read many studies about how it declines in old age and get's lower, but to be honest I have always looked at this logically and thought that as people grow older they have less interest in sport, they let themselves go and they don't do as muchbas they did when young. they then start to put weight on around the middle and this as you know is a dead ringer for lack of GH--weight gain. But if you read studies around Gh and the increase that occurs in people who do sport, it has been proven to increase when we exert ourselves. This is kind of really common sense then because we need it then to help us in recovery.
So I think the old saying:

"Use it or lose it" is basically the one that sums this up and many other hormones that decline for older people. I think that we have a choice in what happens in middle age and beyond and right now advil, I can bet you ten to one you have higher levels of GH than other women of your age simply because you are very active and think of it this way---maybe that GH level is even higher than in previous years where you were not so active in your 20's or 30's. I mean I am 40 yo this year---but I am engaging in more activity than I ever did in my life. I can tell you I feel fitter than I did in my 20's!!! Honestly. Now that in itself has got to tell you something. When you start to feel fitter and healthier than you did in your youth--imagine what is happening metabolically to provide this feeling. Natural surges of hormones which are more in place with how your body would make them.

I don't want to put people off taking it. But I think it is important to realise that we also increase our levels naturally in doing an intense workout schedule.

Strayed well off the beaten track here haven't we! LOL! Hopefully anyone enquiring about GH from now on could be pointed to this thread.

I must go..I need to get my lower body workout done early today as I will be out tonight on xmas works do. I'll pop over and read your journal this afternoon when the kids are settled and I have recovered some.

Take care

Anne-Marie

Linda-
Great ab photo. I want it.

Dan said that you have to be under 10% BF to see those lower two packs. I guess I'll never see those bottom two!! LOL

Lisa

Thanks LMari, but maybe I won't either... LOL I don't want to be under 10% BF... but I can get as close as I can... right? :D ...

Men and women are different when it comes to six packs. For men, it's usually ~7% body fat but I think with women it's usually ~13%.

Here's the article where i saw that:
article

Alex