OKAY i started at 230lbs and im 6ft.5 , inches tall, half an inch off of 6"1". i am 18 and ive been going to the gym since last august, so ive been going to the gym for 6 and a half months. i am now 165 lbs, 14.2% bodyfat, and have a BMI of 22

i am in the skinny fat zone. How can i get a 6 pack now? I do not have enough muscle mass, but i have been puting so much effort into doing cardio and going to the gym. How can i get a 6 pack without having to increase the cardio to 90+ minutes along with my weight training? I need a solution. I have put so much time into getting to this weight, and i thought i would have a 6 pack by now, but i do not.

Please scott, or anybody, give me advice.

EDIT: Changed Font Size (the text was filling half of the page) - crood -

James,

I think you have fallen victim to too much cardio and cardio of the wrong type. Your body adapts so eventually the long sessions of cardio end-up just eating valueable muscle and not touching the fat. Cardio should be short and intense. You need to do the following:

1) Perform intense weight training sessions of no more than 45-60 minutes. You can do either full body or muscle splits. You want to focus on volume and intensity not the amount of weight you are lifting. You can increase intensity by decreasing rest time between sets to 30 seconds, doing supersets, doing drop sets, or doing giant sets. Get in and get out in 60 minutes or less.

2) You want to focus on HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) cardio. Things like wind sprints or sprinting in general. Any type of cardio where you do an interval of high intensity (like running) followed by an interval of low intensity (like jogging). For instance, 1 minute of full out running followed by 2 minutes of jogging repeated 5 to 7 times. You should do no more than 15-20 minutes of HIIT and only 2-3 days a week. HIIT preserves muscle and burns a higher amount of calories and body fat than long steady state cardio. Cardio can be done post workout or in the morning before your workouts - never just before your workouts as you will burn the glucose you need to fuel your workouts not the fat you want to lose.

3) You need to fine tune your meal plan to make sure your macros are in order. I would eat 1.2 to 1.5g of protein per pound of lean mass, 1g of carbs per pound of body weight, and the remainder of your daily calories required filled with healthy fats. If you have not calculated your calorie requirements and meal plan with macro breakdowns, it is like driving a car at night with a blindfold on. The MEAL PLAN tab on the MS.com home page can help you calculate your calories and formulate a meal plan if you have not done this already.

4) You need to be eating a clean and nutritious diet - no junk food, processed foods, sugars, and other packaged stuff. All your food should need to be prepared by you and should include tons of fresh vegetables, whole fruits, lean proteins, and healthy fats. Without a nutritious diet, you are taking one step forward and one step back in relation to fat loss and muscle growth.

John

Anyone else have advice? I need more advice that will help me get a 6 pack.

I have a full fleged 5 day workout split. I usually workout for 45 minutes to an hour. I also did HIIT but stopped when i started overdoing it. I usually just go on a 20-30 minute bike ride each day and do weight training but i may start implementing HIIT like i did in january. I think i need to get my macros in check but i doubt that i am screwing up enough for it to have any effect on my resutls........ i just want to get a 6 pack. These tips are kind of basic, i thought i asked for a solution....

i know all of the healthy fats, carbs,adn lean proteins

i need to get out of the skinny fat zone

To be honest @jayeye90 John has pretty much got you covered with all you need. You are being a bit disrespectful don't you think?

You asked for advice, you got advice, and now you are basically disregarding it, saying they are just basic?? You make it sound like someone is going to come along and tell you to do just one thing, and then suddenly you will get a six pack almost as easily as clicking your fingers? It doesn't work that way.

If you have your macros in check, could you please post them? Are you eating in a surplus or deficit of your BMR?

The bottom line for a six pack - a lot of it comes down to diet, and you need to be a low body fat % to get those abs to show. What is your current BF%?

What is your current split like? Reps? Sets?

And if you are doing 20-30 minutes of cardio EVERY day, that, like John said, is probably going to be counter-productive.

Jordan

Try to be more respectfull to people giving you advice and loosing their time trying to help you...

James,

A solution requires a strategy and tactics to execute on that strategy. That is what I provided you. There is no magic calorie number, workout routine, or meal plan I can give you that will give you a six pack. Everyone is unique and everyone's insulin response and glucose sensitivity is unique. Insulin is THE hormone that cause fat storage. The only way to control your insulin so you don't store any calories as fat is to control your carb counts, eat carbs at the appropriate times, and turn up the intensity of your workouts supplemented with the right type of cardio. The rest is up to you. I am sorry if you feel my information is "basic" and you may know all this stuff already but the fact remains I am almost 3 times your age and I am leaner than you. I am sharing with you the tips that have helped me achieve what you are looking to do. If this doesn't help you, I don't know what else can :-)

John

@jayeye90 John gave you the exact advice that will help you get your 6 pack. I've been following that advice for about 2 weeks and i've already noticed a difference. Figure out your macros because nutrition is the hardest part but if you get it right it'll make the process a lot harder. There isn't really any other advice other than what John said. Good luck!

You have an answer from one of the most knowledgable guys on this forum....follow Johns advice and you will see results!!!! In the world of fitness 6 1/2 months is nothing. From your last post you say you need to get your macros in check. Remember your desired results are a combination of gym and kitchen...mainly the kitchen. The gym is the easy part, the other as you are discovering is much harder!!,

I would eat 1.2 to 1.5g of protein per pound of lean mass, 1g of carbs per pound of body weight, and the remainder of your daily calories required filled with healthy fats. <--- how do i get the exact # i need for my stats?? im 166lbs , almost 6-1. BMI is 22, BF% is 14

I AM NOT BEING DISRESPECTFUL AT ALL. YOUR ADVICE WAS BASIC. Now, if you have any more HELPFUL advice i can use to get my macros balanceed ( which i dont know how to do) and doing HIIT ( which i previously did), then i would love to see what you want to share

i do a Incline Bench Dumbbell Fly - 4 sets of 10-8-6-15 reps 

Pec Deck Flyes - 4 sets of 10-8-6-15 reps

Dumbbell Shoulder Press - 4 sets of 10-8-6-15 reps

Side Lateral Raises - 4 sets of 10-8-6-15 reps

100 pushups, 10 sets, 10 reps each

THAT I MY CHEST DAY, SO I HAVE A GOOD SPLIT, I HIT BACK, LEGS, CHEST, AND BICEPS/TRICEPS AND HAVE 2 ABB DAYS. So i am working out right, but my macros are probably

300grams healthy carbs, ie-fruits like rasberry,blue and blackberries, veggies like spinach ,oats,brownrice, sweet potato, etc

170-200gs of protein, ie-whey,salmon, tuna,,chicken,yogurt,pot roast, etc

idk how many fats, i try to have 1/2 an avocado daily with 5-6 almonds a day, but i may need more fats...... so i hope you guys can help me get my macros in check

James,

If you just came out and asked in the first place how to calculate/fine tune your macros, your question would have been answered easier. It is evident you DON'T have your macros in check and you DON'T know how to calculate them as 300g of carbs is 1200 calories and is 60% of what your daily calorie intake should be (see calculations below) which is too high for fat loss. That is fine and a different question from your initial post :-) Getting a 6 pack is 90% meal plan and carb manipulation and 10% ab exercises. Now that we have that more clarified, here is how you do it and what you need to do:

First off, to calculate your daily caloric needs you multiply your bodyweight x 15. In your case this would be 166Lbs x 15 = 2,500 calories (I rounded up). To lose body fat and make lean gains, you need to be at a 250-500 calorie deficit each day. To speed up body fat loss, we will use a 500 calorie deficit. This means you will need to eat 2,000 (2,500 - 500) calories per day to lose body fat and make lean gains. 300g of carbs is too much carbs based on a target of 2000 calories/day to facilitate fat loss.

You are at 14% body fat which means your lean mass is 166Lbs x .86 = 143 Lbs. Your macros should then be:

143Lbs x 1.5g = 215g of Protein. Protein is always calculated against LEAN mass not total weight as only lean tissue (muscle) is a large consumer of protein

166Lbs x 1g = 166g of Carbs. 1g/Lb of body weight

53g of healthy Fats. The remaining calories filled by fat

I got to these numbers as Carbs and Protein both have 4 calories/gram. So, (215g + 166g) x 4 = 1524 total calories. The remainder must be filled with healthy fats so 2,000 - 1524 = 476 calories. Fats have 9 calories/gram so 476/9 = 53 grams.

Start with these macros and give it time - at least 8 weeks - and see how your body fat levels respond. If you are losing body fat and your energy levels are fine, you have found the right ratio to lose fat and lean out. Belly fat is especially stubborn as it contains Alpha fat cells which take longer for the body to burn off. It could take a good 6-8 months to get rid of it completely.

If you find you are not losing body fat and your energy levels are low, lower the carbs and up the fats. Make sure you remember it is not a 1:1 replacement as fat has 9 calories and carbs have 4. The key is to keep your protein levels and total calories the same but replace carbs with fat. This forces the body to use more fat for fuel since your carbs are lower. Again, it will take a couple of weeks for your body to adjust to using more fat than glucose for fuel. As long as your carbs stay in the 100g/day range, you will not go into Ketosis. Ketosis occurs when your body runs soley on fatty acids (ketone bodies) as your carbs are too low to provide enough energy. This produces rapid fat loss but is very hard for most people to endure as it can take quite a bit of time until your body fully adjusts to running on fatty acids produced by the liver versus glucose from your insulin response. The term is called the "Keto Flu" as you will feel very weak, your mind will be in a fog, and your workouts will be very hard until this energy adaptation occurs - it could take 2-4 weeks.

My only concern is at almost 6'1", you are fairly tall. Losing additional body fat will bring your weight down even further as a lean gains program does not produce substantial muscle growth to offset fat loss. You will gain some muscle but you will lose more fat than muscle built such that you may go from 166Lbs to 150Lbs or less. If you are OK with that, then you will have a nice lean base to then add muscle. Lean gains is still the same only instead of a 250-500 calorie deficit you will want a 250-500 calorie surplus each day such that you slowly build lean muscle versus muscle and fat. You create the calorie surplus by upping your carbs and fats together as well as adjusting your protein based on your new lean mass figure. It is best to embark on lean gains to build muscle when you are at 10% BF or lower. This ensures that 99% of what you gain will be all muscle.

Hope that helps and gives you what you need to get you on your way.

John

Ok I have read your questions and Johns answers and he has covered you 100%. Excellent answers and to the point. I would have given you the same advice, and so would Scott.

Now by saying that Johns advice is "BASIC" or "NOT HELPFUL" thats a problem to me, because John is spending his valuable time and expertise to help you out and you are basically spitting at his face, and you also disagree about being disrespectful to him.

So I will ask you again to be more patient with your training journey and be more respectful to John and other members of this forum, or I will have to delete the post.

Also keep in mind that you cant possibly judge our advice and say that it is not good because if it wasnt, we would be asking YOU for advice, not the other way around. Its great to be passionate about your goals and critique everything you read/see but you need to be smart about it as well :)

Kostas

There is nothing wrong with the advice, its pretty good actually. We all start from the basic actually.. and the word BASIC is the best FUNDAMENTAL in all aspect. You should give it try first before seeking for another advice, who knows that the BASIC you are saying is the one that you are looking for. Now, if the first advice won't work, you can ask for another advice. It just a matter of trial and error method. You should experimenting yourself to find out which one will suit you.

These guys are the BEST people I know here. They gave me a good advice.. I listen, I learned from them and I got a good result. Seriously!

They say, strength, hardwork and effort is what we need to reach our goal in weight lifting or any fitness activities. Hmmm yes we need those , but they are just a second to be prioritized. What most important is our BEHAVIOR! The succes of our goal always relies on our attitudes. As I can see, you have a good workout routine and meal plan. That's good! But you should be more PATIENT with your behavior. That's the one missing to complete the whole aspect of yourself to be successful in your goal.

@jayeye90

John has given you yet another great advise and even sat down to do your homework and calculated all your macro values for you. You really should be good to go now.

Also keep in mind that you have to recalculate your macros every month. To adjust them to your current weight and bodyfat levels. Our bodies change and so do their needs, and if you keep eating for a macroplan that covered you at a higher or lower amount of bodyweight / bodyfat your results will be 'off' as well.

Unfortunately as everyone pointed out already, there is no "shortcut", and even if those answers appear to you as being "basic", sometimes that is exactly where the truth lies.. in the basics.. if you don't get those right and on spot, the higher goals won't be reached.

And often that is a trial and error process, we all have been through already. Everyone reacts differently. Keep strict book and write down everything you eat and all exercises you do.. if things don't turn out the way you like.. adjust "one" thing, and give it about 4 weeks and see if it changes to a better, if not proceed on with the next thing.

On top of that, being skinny fat.. well congratulations! you made a huge step down in weight, you should be happy.

Now all you got to do is to figure your right macros, the right amount of cardio (HIT much better in that case than long periods of regular cardio), and the right exercises for your core. I personally found that the core needs a lot volume, and weight. It's used to being used in our daily lives. So many exercises will give abs that are a bit more defined, but by no means capable of showing through unless you got down to 10 % bodyfat or lower.

Half a year of gym is not much either, your body just starts to adjust, and right now you had been in a caloric deficit for a longer time, and probably lost more muscles on the way as well which makes you appear more "flappy", plus all the cardio. What you have there is the so called stubborn belly fat. And that is really only to get away with correct macros, maybe even IF (intermitted fasting) if other ways don't seem to work on your body, and the rest will come over the course of the future with discipline and consistancy, your body will adapt if you stick to the plan.

So combine all the info you got here, there are no better tips or magic tricks, and for certain no short cuts :) and you are on the right way.

Fat loss starts in the kitchen!