The only thing that is going to get you cut is DIET and working your ass off. I don't care if you do 1000 crunches a day, if you eat like crap, you are not going to get a cut mid section. I quit drinking cokes and sweet tea and dropped 17 lbs. I started taking this http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/tl/ripex.html and eating right and have since dropped 8 more lbs. Here is some good info. http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/phano47.htm
Some have mentioned a cardio version of HIT, I do the weight lifting version of HIT (High Intensity Training). It's VERY contradictory to what all the muscle magazines and others tell you. I can't go into all the details here, so check out http://www.highintensity.net My routine - work out one day a week for 30-35 mins and bust my tail in the gym doing complex lifts (using more than just one muscle group). Cardio 1-2 times a week with that. I have put on MUCH more muscle that I could have guessed with this workout, but when you workout once a week you know that you have to make it count and you push yourself hard. You tear down your muscles and then give them 6 days to recover. And, as others have said - you need to consume less calories then you use during the day to help with fat loss. The muscle building will help a lot, but so will watching what you eat. Good luck!
A couple of quick points regarding diet and exercise: 1) High protein diets -- essential when using resistance training to support visceral lipolysis and reduce catabolism. Muscle metabolism via a resistance pathway burns more fat that cardio can achieve, over time. The thermic value of protein metabolism -- the organism burns 10 calories digesting a gram of carbs while burning 25 calories when digesting a gram of protein. This can account for 10% of BMR. There are obvious benefits related to the conversion of protein into adipose storage; i.e, Atkins diet. 2) Cardio vs. resistance training -- Cardio is essential for health; I've participated in marathons and tri's, but it's catabolic by its very nature and offers very small lipolytic benefits beyond the 60mins post exercise. IMHO, the catabolic negatives outweight the metabolic positives. Yes, it's critical for cardiovascular health, but offers little in terms of fat-burning efficiency. Weight training produces a thermogenic effect with a half-life measured in hours, not minutes.
I wasted a little bit of my time reviewing the marketing schtick for the NavySeals Crap listed here.. For the first item, the commentary says the author is a graduate of the Naval Academy, who was then "ordered" to BUDS....well folks that aint how it works.... You have to qualify, and then apply for the program....It takes a while, you don't get "orders" to show up for BUDS...Jesus...Fucking A To get in shape, cut down on the calories on a per meal basis. Eat more meals, but eat less calories per meal. Eat foods that are nutritionally dense but low in fat. On the other side, you have to step up the intensity of the exercise program. It isn't enough to "throw in" cardio. The cardio has to be executed in a specific manner so that you can train your body to make the enzymes that burn fat. The bottom line, is that you have to do what amounts to aerobic "wind sprints". You can do this using a treadmill and alternating fast walking or jogging with running at a tempo sufficient to get you into oxygen debt. Assuming you are good to go, you would alternate 3 min running with 2 min recovery at a slow walk. Reducing the recovery time and speeding up the running cycle would get you where you want to go eventually (about 3 months give or take)
it's all perspective. if you just call them handles, that's what they will be, ugly unwanted handles. if you call them "love" handles, then they can be cool to you and everybody else....
Starve yourself for a month. Look at all the people that go on hungers strikes - they look like sticks at the end of them no matter what they looked like before. nitro
agree nitro. our choices are the cheapest and relatively easiest way to get rid of those unwanted handles....
Jia, But while I stand by what I said, the damage that you would do to your body by going on a hunger strike would be tremendous. Eating habits imo should be a philosophy, not a fad diet. Eating small portions of healthy balanced foods and an active lifestyle is probably 90% of the way. nitro
I have gained 1.5 lbs by sitting in the jacuzzi 10 minutes a day after my work out (and what an energy drain it is)