Now I had thought this conversation would have been had a billion times, but search after search only displayed cannot find and then this message: "Hi special43543 it appears that you have not posted on MAP in a few weeks. Was it something we said? Why not take a few moments to post a thread on your chosen style, reply to a thread or just get involved in a random conversation in the Off Topic section." I thought that was clever and funny, and actually haven't posted in a couple years probably. Anyway, back on topic, I know there is no reason to show your abs and stuff, but I still want to know. I am a pretty skinny dude, about 155lbs 5'10 and still have the body of a 14 yr old boy at almost 21. I don't really like lifting weighs much, but I have always liked working out my abs. I really hurts and I like it...or something of that nature. I have heard many times 90% of showing your abs is done in the kitchen, and I have also heard it will come easy if you cut some foods out of your diet that go directly to your stomach. My brother went on a "no bread" diet when he wanted abs. After about 3 months (combined with working out several times a week of course...) you could see the formation of his abs. I have been going through a lot lately with life (as most people do i suppose) and I just haven't been eating like I use to. I'm one of those guys who can eat tons and tons of food (almost literally) and not gain a thing. Now though I haven't been eating much, only just when I realize I haven't eaten anything and should probably eat something...and yes I know thats not healthy. Anyway, my question is what is the best diet for abs? Is it not eating bready foods? Only red meat? Eating lots of nuts and protein filled foods? Thanks for anyone who replies. I just don't want this to turn into a strength over tone conversation...
You just want to be on a weight loss diet, that means eating less calories per day than you are expending. You should try to eat 5-7 times a day, make small meals and get about 300-500 calories per meal. Try to consume one serving of lean protein and 2-3 servings of fruits or vegetables, and make sure that you are getting plenty of fats in your diet (animal fats ie.e eggs, milk, fat from meat, oils, flax seed and fish oil are a good place to start). Fats are what fill you up, so if you eat a low fat diet you are going to be uncomfortably hungry ALL THE TIME and will probably end up cheating on your diet. here's the bottom line with carbs. Most people eat (instead of 1 protein, 2-3 vegetables) 1 serving of protein, 1-2 servings of carbs and 1-2 servings of vegetables (if that). Carbs are more dense than vegetables, but are of a similar volume, so if you eat 2 servings of carbs, you are getting way more calories then if you had eaten veggies instead.
I have to disagree with you here. Fats are probably the least satiating of the macronutrients, or at least have a similar effect as low-moderate GI carbohydrates. There's an excellent review article from 2004 called "Clarifying concepts about macronutrients’ effects on satiation and satiety" (http://www.adajournal.org/article/S0002-8223(04)00572-3/abstract). Unfortunately I don't know of anywhere you can get the article for free, so i'll rip out some of the key points they cover. 1) Protein, carbohydrate, and fat exert hierarchical effects on satiety in the order of protein > carbohydrate > fat. 2) there is less clear consensus regarding the relative satiety values of carbohydrates and fats. The relative satiety values of these macronutrients (carbohydrates and fats) tend to vary depending on whether the macronutrients are studied in isolation or in foods. 3) The fact that high-fat foods are more energy dense, have a higher palatability, and have lower intrameal and intermeal satiety value helps explain why individuals tend to overconsume high-fat foods, a process termed passive over-consumption 4) under normal free-living conditions, fat contributes disproportionately to the energy density of the diet, and research has shown that when food is unrestricted, gains in body weight are greater when high fat foods are consumed as compared with low-fat foods
Good call mate . . . http://www.jacn.org/cgi/content/full/23/5/373/T2 http://www.mendosa.com/satiety.htm
So.. protein at least once a day, lots of vegetables, and a little bit of carbs if ever i am hungry? I shouldn't just stay away from bread all together? Pasta ok even if im not going to be doing a workout that day to burn the energy?
I think, to take a layman approach to the topic, what people are saying is that your abs will appear if you eat less calories than you burn each day. So eat a healthy diet, and train hard, and you will see weight drop and therefore better muscle definition (if you are doing the resistance/strength training to train the muscle in the first place.) As I keep arguing with pretty much everybody I ever meet who says you have to cut out x or y from your diet to lose weight - Rubbish. If you eat a healthy balanced diet (as described in earlier posts) and do a moderate amount of exercise, you will lose weight.
Protein and fruits/vegetables with every meal, and carbs after workouts - at least that's what I did when I was losing weight. Now I eat what I want a lot of the time.
Spot reduction and healthy eating is a good start to abdominal development but aerobic is a must to burn calories. Also how quickly or effectively your musclular system responds to training is largely based on genetics. Not to say that if you have bad genes your screwed, you may just have to work harder that some.
If you are talking about losing fat in a specific place, it's impossible. You don't just lose fat in certain places. It comes of everywhere or it comes off nowhere. Not really, I lost around 35-40 lbs without doing any steady state aerobic exercise at all - it was all weight lifting and interval training.
Fair enough, but thinner folks who are looking to touch up on stubborn reserves of fat need to perform some aerobic exercise to compliment their other training. Also although interval training doesn't technically qualify as an "aerobic" exercise, it has similar merits. If your'e thin already, you dont want to drop 30-40 pounds, you probably just want to streamline your physique. And for that aerobics is a must.
I really don't think so. The major benefit of steady state aerobic training with regards to fat loss is the massive calorie burn related to the exercise, so it just gives you an excellent calorie deficit to work with. You can achieve the same calorie deficit by eating less, and/or by doing other types of exercise. I disagree with the idea that aerobic exercise is a must, but it's pretty effective.
Cardiovascular training is the single most important aspect of martial arts training for the simple reason that as your cardio improves, all other forms of training can be taken further. if your too winded to continue sparring or lifting then its not worth overlooking aerobics. There is no substitute for prolonged cardio activity.
Now you've changed what you're talking about. You aren't talking about aerobic exercise anymore/you are mixing things up. However you have obfuscated things so much that I'm not really sure what you are talking about. Cardiovascular exercise is any kind of exercise that improves your cardiovascular system, which can be done with anaerobic or aerobic conditioning. Next we start talking about applicability to Martial Arts, which was never part of the discussion. If you want to start an additional discussion on that topic, I'll be more than happy to participate, but please stay on topic on this thread.
K sorry I git a bit off topic and my knowledge of certain definitions is not as sharp as yours. my point is that if you want to slim down your midsection and obtain that chiseled abdominal look, isolation exercise is not enough. Without aerobic exercise (or whatever you want to call it, running, skipping, climbing stairs, exercises that make you winded) you will simply build muscle under a layer of fat. Of course other exercises to some extent will allow a "calorie deficit' as you so intelligently put it. But are they really as effective as the type of exercise I'm referring to?
Here are some basics. Your body has 3 energy systems that it uses to do stuff. Lactic threshold - this energy system gives you juice for around 10 seconds, but you can be very very powerful while using your lactic threshold energy system. You can increase your lactic threshold with various exercises. Anaerobic - this energy system lasts for about 10 seconds to about 12 minutes. It's not as powerful as the lactic threshold, but is very powerful. Aerobic - this energy system takes over after 12 minutes. It won't provide you with much power, but it's sustainable for a long period of time, assuming you work it. A calorie deficit is where you take in less energy than you expend in a day. A calorie surplus is the opposite. The thing about aerobic exercise that makes it excellent for fat loss is that you can do LOTS of it. I can run for an hour because the aerobic energy system is very sustainable. That means I can burn up a CRAPLOAD of calories by running, skipping rope, climbing stairs. Similarly, doing anaerobic exercise (weight lifting, intervals) will burn lots of calories, but it's not sustainable, so you can't just do intervals for an hour and burn up a ton of calories. So let's say you can do anaerobic exercise into exhaustion and burn 750 calories. You can probably run or skip rope into exhaustion and burn 1200 calories, thus making it better for fat loss. Beyond that, let's say you need 2750 calories per day to maintain your weight, and you eat 3300 calories per day, and do a 1200 calorie run, which means you expended about 3950 calories that day and took in 2750. If you do interval training instead, you would be expending 3500 calories and taking in 3300. However, you could just knock off that extra 450 calories by eating less, and still have the same calorie deficit. Additionally, interval training will give your metabolism a boost. I really think what you are saying is spot on, but just needs a little qualification. If you've got any questions, feel free to post them and I'll be happy to answer.
