One of the biggest myths in the fitness industry is how to get ripped abs. Television commercials, magazine articles, and internet resources will lead you to believe that doing endless ab work or trying a new piece of exercise equipment will uncover those muscles underneath the belly fat. They will even try to convince you that a magic pill will melt your fat away in a hurry. Don’t be fooled by this false advertising.

Far too frequently I see people in the gym spending close to an hour on the mat doing ab work. They believe that by doing this direct ab work for extended periods of time will allow them to target the fat. Unfortunately, you can’t target where you lose fat, and belly fat is one of the hardest areas to get rid of. Doing endless amounts of sit-ups will do almost nothing for your quest for abs. It may help define them a bit, but what good is definition if you can’t see it through the stomach fat anyway?

Fat burners have gained popularity because many people believe they are magical pills. Most fat burners have the same products in them. One of the ingredients is an appetite suppressant and the other part of the ingredients creates a thermogenic effect in the body. When researched, these pills show little effects in actual fat loss results. They also have many side effects and can be dangerous for your heart and liver. So, what does it take to uncover these hidden abs?

You should start with a low calorie diet and limit your carbohydrate intake. Not only do carbs make up the majority of most peoples’ diets, but they also cause our bodies to store more fluid. If you have a layer of water between your muscles and your skin, it will be much more difficult to uncover those abs. Even though diet will make up about 80% of your results for ripped abs, cardio can still play an important role as well, but not just any cardio. If you want results in a hurry, a type of cardio called “High Intensity Interval Training” will help. An example of high intensity interval training would be 20 minutes on the treadmill alternating one minute of running and one minute of walking. Doing this allows blood to flow in hard to target areas of the body and burn fat at a quicker rate. Combine high intensity interval training with a lean diet and those abs will no longer be trying to hide from you.

-Tom