Summer Six-Pack Program
When you’re talking about cars or job applicants, efficiency is a good thing. When you’re talking about working out so you can see your abs, it’s a bad one. The problem is, the more efficient your body becomes performing any exercise, the fewer calories it burns doing it. So with this program, our goal is to make your body more inefficient (like a trip to the DMV, only a lot more fun) so that it burns more calories and stimulates muscle. While it’s not the most “efficient” training, it is the fastest route to abs. Go figure.
Related: The 30-Minute Abs Workout
How it works: The best way to throw the body off and fight efficiency is to keep changing up your workouts to prevent adaptation. You’ll need to train three days a week for four weeks with the following routines: a high-rep workout to build your work capacity and burn loads of calories; a barbell- based strength day to maximally stimulate muscle; and a blend of strongman and circuit training to challenge muscles you haven’t worked before along with your heart. This three-pronged attack will confuse your metabolism and trick your body into burning more fat (accompanied by a sound diet), and you should see results within a month. It’s inefficiency at its most effective.
Directions: Perform each workout once per week, resting a day between sessions. Exercises marked “A” and “B” are alternated—perform one set of A, rest as needed, then B, and rest again. Repeat until all sets are done for the pair. The remaining exercises are done as straight sets. On Day III, perform the exercises as a big circuit. Do one set of each exercise without rest in between. Then rest as needed and repeat the circuit until 30 minutes have elapsed. During Days I and III, strive to complete the whole session in less time each week or lift more total weight. On Day II, choose a weight for each exercise with which you can perform six to seven reps.
Related: The Best Bodyweight Abs Exercises
Day 1
1. Pullup
Sets: As many as needed
Reps: 50 Total
Hang from a pullup bar with your hands outside shoulder width and palms facing away from you. Pull yourself up until your chin is over the bar. Do 50 total reps as quickly as possible, resting as needed.
Related: Rookie Mistakes: The Pullup
2A. Walking Lunge
Sets: 10
Reps: 10 to 1
Hold a pair of dumbbells and step forward with one leg. Lower your body until your front thigh is parallel to the floor and your rear knee nearly touches the floor. Step forward and repeat on the other leg. Continue lunging forward. Perform 10 reps your first set, then nine your second, and so on down to one rep.
Related: The Best Yoga Poses to Work Out Your Abs
2B. Dip
Sets: 10
Reps: 1 to 10
Suspend yourself over parallel bars and lower your body until your upper arms are parallel to the floor. Press yourself back up. Perform one rep the first set, two reps the second, and continue adding reps up to 10.
Related: 30 Minutes to 3-D Shoulders
3. Alligator Walk
Sets: 4
Reps: As far as you can.
Get into a pushup position with your hands at shoulder width. Your body should form a straight line. Keeping your core tight, take small steps with your hands and feet so you move across the floor like an alligator. Go until you feel your shoulders are about to give out.
Related: Get Big Quick: Skinny-Guy Rules To Gaining Muscle
Day 2
1A. Front Squat
Sets: 4
Reps: 5
Cross your arms and grasp the bar. Raise your elbows until your upper arms are parallel to the floor. Take the bar out of the rack and let it rest on the front of your shoulders. Set your feet at shoulder width and squat as low as you can without losing the arch in your lower back.
Related: Build Your Legs
1B. Weighted Chinup
Sets: 4
Reps: 5
Hang from a chinup bar with hands shoulder-width apart and palms facing you. Pull yourself up until your chin is over the bar. Wear a weighted dip belt for extra resistance—unless sets of five reps are challenging enough with your body weight.
Related: The 30 Best Ab Exercises of All Time
2A. Incline Bench Press
Sets: 4
Reps: 5
Set an adjustable bench to a 30- to 45-degree angle and lie back on it. Grasp the bar just outside shoulder width and pull it out of the rack. Lower the bar to the upper part of your chest and then press it back up.
Related: The Bench-Press Workout
2B. Single-Leg RDL
Sets: 4
Reps: 5
Hold a dumbbell in one hand and stand on the opposite leg. Bend your hips back and lower your torso until you feel your lower back is about to lose its arch. Squeeze your glutes and extend your hips to come up.
Related: Top 10 Muscle Building Foods
3A. Medicine Ball Slam
Sets: 4
Reps: Work for 30 seconds
Hold a medicine ball overhead with both hands. Reach back until you feel a stretch in your abs and then throw the ball straight down into the floor as hard as you can. Catch it on the rebound and begin the next rep.
Related: The New Rules For Getting Ripped
3B. Russian Twist
Sets: 4
Reps: Work for 30 Seconds
Sit on the floor with your legs in front of you and your knees bent 90 degrees. Hold a weight or medicine ball in front of you with your arms extended. Rotate as far as you can to the right and then to the left.
Related: The 7% Body-Fat Diet
Day 3
1. Dumbbell Farmer’s Walk
Reps: Walk 60 feet
Pick up a very heavy pair of dumbbells and walk. Keep your chest out and shoulders back and squeeze the dumbbells hard to maintain control.
Related: Protein: A Guide to Maximum Muscle
2. One-Arm Dumbbell Snatch
Reps: 3 (each side)
Hold a dumbbell in one hand and stand with feet shoulder-width apart. Keep your torso as upright as possible and bend your hips and knees until the weight hangs between your legs—maintain the arch in your lower back. Jump, extending your hips explosively, and raise the weight straight up your body. When it gets to your chest, flip your wrist and “catch” the bell overhead with your arm extended.
Related: 14 Tips To Make Getting Ripped Easier
3. Dumbbell Push Press
Reps: 5
Hold a dumbbell in each hand at shoulder level and stand with feet shoulder-width apart. Dip your knees quickly and use the momentum to explosively press the weights overhead.
Related: 9 Things Any Ripped Guy Can Teach You
4. Turkish Getup
Reps: 2 (each side)
Lie on your back on the floor holding a dumbbell with your left hand over your chest, perpendicular to the floor. Bend your left knee 90 degrees. Brace your abs and raise your torso off the floor. Use your right hand for support. Now use your left foot to raise your hips off the floor. Sweep your right leg back and rest on your right knee. Come up to a standing position and then reverse the motion to return to the floor.
Related: 10 Workouts For a Strong Back and Abs
5. Plate Push
Rep: Walk 60 feet
Place a 25-pound weight plate on the floor (you may have to rest it on a towel so it slides more easily), or go outside and place it on grass. Get behind the plate and push it, keeping your hips as low to the ground as possible.
Related: The 21-Day Shred Diet & Exercise Program
* Repeat the same sequence for the next three weeks. The only changes happen on Day 2, where you gradually up your reps for the barbell exercises.
Week 2, Day 2: For the barbell exercises, perform 4 sets of 6 reps.
Week 3, Day 2: For the barbell exercises, perform 4 sets of 7 reps.
Week 4, Day 2: For the barbell exercises, perform 4 sets of 8 reps.
More from Men’sFitness.com:
The 4 Principles of Muscle Gain >>>
14 Tips to Make Getting Ripped Easier >>>
3 Workouts To Maintain Your Body This Summer >>>
