Six pack by the summer?

lynchy101

Im 6 foot and 11 and a half stone.
At a guess my body fat percentage is around 15/16%.

I have some fat but not much.

I play rugby and don't really want to lose weight,but want to get rid of the fat on my midrift to see my abs.

I have just started eating more healthy but at a calorie deficit.

My question is,should I spend time losing the fat ,then put on muscle.

Or can I build muscle and lose fat at the same time?

Thanks in advance

Bottle_of_Smoke

I don't think it possible to keep your current weight/strength and have a six pack. Thats what bodybuilders have always told me anyway - even ones using steroids.

omen80

There's a saying..........."abs are made in the kitchen, not in the gym".
However, a good fat burning exercise is squats. Works up to 70% of your muscle mass and will be very beneficial for rugby too. A lot of people think cardio is enough but it's not. You need to keep strength training too. You don't see many long distance runners with six packs!

gears

To get a "proper 6 pack" you would need your body fat at around 5-6% so you would need to loose about 10% of your current total weight so imagine how you would look at 6 foot tall and weighing about 10 stone 3 or so, in my opinion it wouldn't look good and your rugby would definately suffer. Again in my opinion I think you should try to put on lean weight and aim for a total weight of maybe 13-13 1/2 stone then try to get your abs with a final weight close to 12-12 1/2 stone or less. My opinion is based on me also being 6 foot and these are the figures I used to aim for not for body building or anything just to look a bit better, stress used to, but it worked for me.

Samich

omen80 wrote: »

There's a saying..........."abs are made in the kitchen, not in the gym".
However, a good fat burning exercise is squats. Works up to 70% of your muscle mass and will be very beneficial for rugby too. A lot of people think cardio is enough but it's not. You need to keep strength training too. You don't see many long distance runners with six packs!

so squats are good for losing weight, they work the abs too? What would you recommend to someone that doesn't go to a gym?

omen80

Samich wrote: »

so squats are good for losing weight, they work the abs too? What would you recommend to someone that doesn't go to a gym?

You don't need to go to a gym to do squats. Check out Hindu squats on you tube, they are a good cardio workout as well as working out the big leg muscles.
Go for a run or a cycle, or even a brisk walk.
If you don't have a bench then do some push ups. They are an old-fashioned exercise but still one of the best.

I wouldn't really be bothered with the whole abs workout thing, but that's just me. They are one of the smallest muscle groups in the body. The main thing is to loose the fat that's covering them, and that takes cardio and eating right.

--Kaiser--

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

I don't think it possible to keep your current weight/strength and have a six pack. Thats what bodybuilders have always told me anyway - even ones using steroids.

Of course it's possible. I have gone up in weight (a little) and strength (significantly) while losing fat so that I had a six pack

concisemum

Try HIIT high intensity interval training builds lean muscle burns fat brilliantly and only takes 20 mins. Go on internet to get some ideas it really works my husband does it and went from a 34 waist to a 32.

wersal gummage

gears wrote: »

To get a "proper 6 pack" you would need your body fat at around 5-6% so you would need to loose about 10% of your current total weight so imagine how you would look at 6 foot tall and weighing about 10 stone 3 or so, in my opinion it wouldn't look good and your rugby would definately suffer. Again in my opinion I think you should try to put on lean weight and aim for a total weight of maybe 13-13 1/2 stone then try to get your abs with a final weight close to 12-12 1/2 stone or less. My opinion is based on me also being 6 foot and these are the figures I used to aim for not for body building or anything just to look a bit better, stress used to, but it worked for me.

I wouldn't agree that you need to get down to 5%. Anything below 10% would be really good going and I think you would see results at 10%.

As a matter of interest, what are the calculations you've done above in terms of the weight to lose ? Are they correct ?? Would be interested to see how you worked it out (my brain is too sore now to try it myself!). I'm 95KGs at 12.8% at the moment, just wondering, if your calculations stand up, what sort of weight I would need to lose to hit 10%.

Thanks.

Dotcomdolly

wersal gummage wrote: »

I wouldn't agree that you need to get down to 5%. Anything below 10% would be really good going and I think you would see results at 10%.

As a matter of interest, what are the calculations you've done above in terms of the weight to lose ? Are they correct ?? Would be interested to see how you worked it out (my brain is too sore now to try it myself!). I'm 95KGs at 12.8% at the moment, just wondering, if your calculations stand up, what sort of weight I would need to lose to hit 10%.

Thanks.

Calculator here
http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/ibw/

Transform

lynchy101 wrote: »

Im 6 foot and 11 and a half stone.
At a guess my body fat percentage is around 15/16%.

I have some fat but not much.

I play rugby and don't really want to lose weight,but want to get rid of the fat on my midrift to see my abs.

I have just started eating more healthy but at a calorie deficit.

My question is,should I spend time losing the fat ,then put on muscle.

Or can I build muscle and lose fat at the same time?

Thanks in advance

you have not posted your current training (in detail e.g. weights lifted, sets reps etc) and current diet in detail.

Thesheriff4

My advice would be to eat the same amount or more food but make better food choices, I definitely would not be at a calorie deficit if I wanted to increase muscle, cut out junk food, processed foods, packaged foods, bread, sweets, saturated fat. And make up the difference with good quality foods like chicken, eggs, veg (lots and lots of veg) lean beef, turkey,nuts, some good quality protein supplement for pre and post workouts and a casein for bedtime.
I liked some of the workout advice, my advice would be to focus on full body exercises like squats deadlifts and bench presses as they work lots of muscles at the same time plus they will work the abs/core muscles as stabilizers, they are great fat burning exercises and the promote growth hormone in the body all of which helps to lose fat but increase muscle.
Maybe once or twice a week do an ab workout but no more than that.

Gabbah

Thesheriff4 wrote: »

My advice would be to eat the same amount or more food but make better food choices, I definitely would not be at a calorie deficit if I wanted to increase muscle, cut out junk food, processed foods, packaged foods, bread, sweets, saturated fat. And make up the difference with good quality foods like chicken, eggs, veg (lots and lots of veg) lean beef, turkey,nuts, some good quality protein supplement for pre and post workouts and a casein for bedtime.
I liked some of the workout advice, my advice would be to focus on full body exercises like squats deadlifts and bench presses as they work lots of muscles at the same time plus they will work the abs/core muscles as stabilizers, they are great fat burning exercises and the promote growth hormone in the body all of which helps to lose fat but increase muscle.
Maybe once or twice a week do an ab workout but no more than that.

All good advice, except for the saturated fats. Saturated fats is good and needed to a certain point. You could try to what is called a body recomposition, which means that you both lose fat and gain muscle during a period of time. It can be setup very easily, something like this for example:

Mon - weight training, calorie surplus of 500 calories
Tue - no weight training, calorie deficit of 500 calories
Wed - weight training, calorie surplus of 500 calories
Thu - no weight training, calorie deficit of 500 calories
Fri - weight training, calorie surplus of 500 calories
Sat - no weight training, calorie deficit of 500 calories
Sun - no weight training, calorie deficit of 500 calories

Always keep protein high if you are serious and really want results. Minimum of 1g of protein/lb every day. Try to eat the majority of your calories and especially carbs AFTER your workouts.

marathonic

I've a similar bodyfat % to you and would also like to bulk up and have visible abs by summer.

Obviously, a cut and a bulk will be required to achieve your goals. Doing both at the same time is extremely difficult and slow.

As it's very difficult to track calories accurately due to snacking and portion sizing, my plan is as follows (in order of importance to me):

• Get at least 1g of protein per 1lb bodyweight
• Eat at maintenance
• Lift heavy compound weights
• Get enough sleep

My thoughts are that if I attempt to eat at maintenance, the chances of me achieving this are minimal – I’ll probably be a few hundred calories above or below. This means that, by the end of February, I’ll either have reduced bodyfat or increased muscle mass and can adjust my calories accordingly.

Also, I’ve read articles that state that it’s only possible to add 1lb of muscle every fortnight. For this reason, you should weigh yourself every fortnight (in the morning wearing the same amount of clothes) and, if you gain more than 2lb, reduce your calories as most of the gain will be fat.

Gabbah

marathonic wrote: »

I've a similar bodyfat % to you and would also like to bulk up and have visible abs by summer.

Obviously, a cut and a bulk will be required to achieve your goals. Doing both at the same time is extremely difficult and slow.

As it's very difficult to track calories accurately due to snacking and portion sizing, my plan is as follows (in order of importance to me):

• Get at least 1g of protein per 1lb bodyweight
• Eat at maintenance
• Lift heavy compound weights
• Get enough sleep

My thoughts are that if I attempt to eat at maintenance, the chances of me achieving this are minimal – I’ll probably be a few hundred calories above or below. This means that, by the end of February, I’ll either have reduced bodyfat or increased muscle mass and can adjust my calories accordingly.

Also, I’ve read articles that state that it’s only possible to add 1lb of muscle every fortnight. For this reason, you should weigh yourself every fortnight (in the morning wearing the same amount of clothes) and, if you gain more than 2lb, reduce your calories as most of the gain will be fat.

Doing both at the same time is possible and don't have to be a slow progress. However, it requires serious dedication, knowledge, consistensy and attention to the small details. But with the right setup it's a very sure and fast way.