Showing posts with label gym. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gym. Show all posts

Get a six-pack in four weeks

This workout can get you the body you want in four weeks





Sculpting a decent four-pack requires tenacity, but it's carving out your lower abs to complete "the six" that really takes some dedication. And not just in the gym. You can’t out-train a bad diet. Forget what you think you need to do to pack muscle on your midriff and combine this simple nutritional rules with workout routine to get great definition in just four weeks.

Diet

Use this 10 simple nutritional tenets to supercharge your core musculature. Employ these dietary changes and you’ll spark up your metabolic rate and get your mid-section functioning correctly.
1. Avoid refined and processed foods wherever possible.
2. Try to eat six times a day – around every three hours.
3. With every meal, use a portion of protein as your base. Think eggs, fish, chicken, and other lean meats.
4. Between meals snack on nuts, seeds, avocado, olives, or small bags of snap peas.
5. For breakfast and your second meal, make sure you get some starchy carbs – oatmeal, rye, or sprouted bread – and a piece of fruit.
6. For lunch, sweet or regular potato, brown rice and quinoa are all excellent options.
7. For your evening meal, try to get some veg – but avoid root veg and any starchy carbs.
8. Drink lots of water.
9. Every 10 days give yourself one cheat meal. It can be anything you want. This might seem strict, but if you’re trying to reveal your abs in just four weeks such gastronomic sacrifices are necessary.
10. Consume a post-workout shake as soon as possible after your workout. Aim for around 40-50g carbs and 20-30g protein. “This stabilises your hormonal system to enable tissue regeneration and keeps blood sugar stable,” explains Learney.

Three steps to full-body agility

Expand your chest

Scapular retraction


Sit in a chair with your hands on your hips and your feet flat on the floor. Raise your chest towards the ceiling, looking straight ahead. Squeeze your shoulder blades together, feeling the stretch in your chest. Hold for 10-15 secs. That’s 1 rep. Do 10 reps.

Target legs and torso

Back lunge and twist

Stand with your feet together, then step back with your right leg and bend your left knee to 90 degrees. Twist your torso to the left, extending your arms horizontally. Repeat with your left leg, twisting your trunk to the right. Do 10 reps with each leg.

Hit core and calves

The inchworm

Start in a press-up position. Walk your feet towards your hands until the stretch in your legs starts to feel uncomfortable. Keeping your feet still, slowly walk your hands forward until you’re back in press-up position. Do this 5-10 times.

The time-saving weight-free workout

Get fitter with no gym time. This circuit uses only your bodyweight to work your body from head to toe. Do each exercise for 20sec on, 10 sec off, then repeat eight times. Rest for 1min between circuits.

Push plank

Muscles worked: arms, shoulders, core
Kneel with your forearms on the floor, then drive forwards, bending
your elbows and raising your forearms. Finish in the position shown. Return.


Torso rotation


Muscles worked: core, hips
Crouch with your palms on the floor. Twist your hips, taking your knees to either side. You'll carve a core more stable than a banker's income.

Box press-up


Muscles worked: arms, chest
Kneel, place your hands on a box and perfrom a press-up. This works your whole upper body – plus the Ikea crate storing your spare linen.

Spider rock

Muscles worked: core
Sit on the floor and grab your shins. Rock back, then return to the start. Bringing your torso into your legs. The tension chisels out your abs.

The table


Muscles worked: glutes, back
Sit on the floor, legs bent, arms straight and fingers facing forwards. Drive your hips up to add strength to your glutes and back. Lower again.

Lunge


Muscles worked: legs, glutes
Stand with your arms bent then step forwards. Lower until your knee is bent to 90 degrees. Repeat with the other leg for explosive power.
Get constantly evolving workout and nutrition plans personalised for your specific needs and training goals.

Six-pack shopping list















Onions

£1.05 for 1 pack - 0.81 €
The brown skin and external layers of onions are rich in fibre and could be used as a functional ingredient which would help to reduce the risk of suffering from cardiovascular disease, colon cancer, type-2 diabetes and obesity.

Spinach

£2 for 520g - 1.54 €

Popeye's secret weapon.

Mushrooms

£1.75 for 700g -1.35 €
For a perfect muscle-building dish, try tuna steak with wild mushroom recipe.

Romaine lettuce

£1.25 for 2 - 0.96 €
Lettuce is a good source of folic acid, which enhances your circulation – the perfect aid to muscle repair.

Avocado

£6.00 for 6 - 4.60 €
Griddle chicken breasts, shred the meat and stuff it into wraps with
slices of avocado, sweetcorn, chilli, tomato and coriander.

Cauliflower

£1.17 for 1 - 0.90 €
Get the most out of this nutritious vegetable.


Sweet potato

47p for 1 - 0.36 €

The two juggernauts of the energy world square up and go head-to- head in this comparison between regular and sweet potato.

Courgettes

36p for 1 - 0.28 €
When people replaced half the meat and rice in their meal for watery veg, they consumed 86 fewer calories and felt just as full.

Vine tomatoes

£1.50 for 1 pack - 1.15 €
Tomatoes protect you against prostate cancer and damage free
radicals.

Butternut squash

£1.20 for 1 - 0.93 €
Butternut squash is high in zinc. Research shows that zinc activates the synthesis of BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) – a substance that keeps nerve cells alive and wards off depression.

Carrots

77p for 600g (about 8-10 carrots) - 0.60 €
The orangey compound beta-carotene fights harmful free radicals that are created when you're exposed to the winter sun.  30mg of beta- carotene a day – the equivalent of 375g of carrots – cut the risk of sun damage.

Green olives

79p for 1 jar - 0.60 € 
The natural oil in olives is rich in the "good" monounsaturated fats. Men with more "good" oil in their diets had higher testosterone levels and a stronger sex drive.

Brussels sprouts

£1 for 500g 0.77 €
The isothiocyanates found in Brussels sprouts can lower your risk of ballder cancer by us much as 29%.

Broccoli

97p for 1 head - 0.73 €
Fight cancer, fortify your heart and battle blood pressure.

Celery

83p for 1 heart - 0.65 €
Celery stalks are rich in androsterone. 

Peppers

£1.65 for 3 - 1.27 €
The compound luteolin found in peppers reduced age-related inflammation in the brain and related memory deficits by directly inhibiting the release of inflammatory molecules in the brain.

Red chillies

65p for 1 pack - 0.50 €
The thermogenic (body-heating) properties of chillies are even more  powerful when combined with green tea. Wash down your curry with a glass of the green stuff to burn more fat.

Red cabbage

55p for 1 - 0.47 €
The cyanidin prevalent in red cabbage helps your eyes regenerate rhodopsin – a pigment in your eyes that helps them acclimate to sudden changes in light.

Apples

£1.50 for a bag - 1.15 € 
Avoid the biscuits and have an apple instead. The sugars will take the edge off your sweet craving, and the fibre will sustain you and your willpower.

Asparagus

£1.50 for 1 bundle - 1.15 €

How to get more asparagus in your diet?? 

Spring onions

72p for 1 bunch - 0.55 €

Spring onion is an essential ingredient in this delicious lobster tagliolini recipe. 

Cucumber

40p for half - 0.31 €
This sandwich staple is full of vitamin C to boost fat oxidation. Here are four ways to get more of it in your diet.

Spices

68p for 1 jar - 0.52 € 
Follow our A-Z of spices for flavoursome health benefits.

Chicken breasts

£5 for 500g - 3.85 €
Never want for a poultry recipe again with our 23 ways to eat chicken.

Chicken sausages

£1.50 for 8 - 1.15 € 
For an average 12st (168lb/76kg) man to bulk up, you need to eat about 2.2g of protein per pound of bodyweight each day. So load your plate up with these beauties.

Minced beef

£4 for 900g - 3 €
Try this Browns Bar & Brasserie burger for a tasty and healthy alternative bite.

Turkey breasts

£3 for 350g - 2.30 €
Make this low-fat turkey bolognese by swapping mince for turkey and cut saturated fat by 50%.

King prawns

£2.50 for 250g - 1.93 € 
When people ate 300g of prawns a day, their levels of triglycerides decreased by 13%.

Salmon

£4 for 2 fillets, 3 € 
Get the most from this versatile fish, packed with 'good' oils and all- important Omega 3.

Eggs

£2.88 for 12 large - 2.10 €
Learn how eggs protect your eyesight, curb your hunger, and aid grooming. 

Beef rump steak

£6.60 for 500g- 5 €
Make this delicious Thai beef salad for a meal that's perfect for both your wallet and your waistline.

Tuna

£3.80 for 4x185g tins - 3 € 
Boost your tan, fight jet-lag and cleanse your liver with these four health-boosting tuna recipes.

Walnuts

£1.02 for 100g - 0.79 € 
Walnuts contain twice as many antioxidants as other nuts and can reduce your chance of heart disease, diabetes and cancer. 

Beef jerky

£2.09 for 50g - 1.60 €
As an alternative to a protein shake, have 50g of beef jerky and a handful of grapes. Beef jerky has 25g of protein per 50g and grapes give you a carbohydrate boost that can help prevent muscle breakdown.

Coconut milk

£1 for 400ml - 0.77 € 
Use coconut milk in this recipe for coconut fish curry to give yourself   an energy-boosting, muscle-building meal.

Coconut oil

£6.40 for 260ml - 5 €
Coconut oil has anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties. It's also the most heat-resistant cooking fat, meaning it won't oxidise during cooking and leave you with a wok full of transfats.

Olive oil

£2.19 for 500ml - 1.70 €
The oleic acid and hydroxytyrosol present in a particularly high concentration in olive oil may help prevent the development of acute pancreatitis.

Vinegar

44p for 1 pint - 0.34 €
Can reduce the accumulation of body fat and weight gain by 10%, according to research in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.


Total spend per week

£75.99 - 58.50 €