How to Get Six Pack Abs

HOW TO GET

SIX PACK ABS

A Simple Guide
for Ordinary Guys

FIRST EDITION

Brad Newton

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

Copyright © 2022 Brad Newton Fitness.

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This book is for educational purposes and is intended for healthy adults,
ages 18 and over. This book should be used solely for information and
educational purposes and does not constitute medical advice. Please
consult a medical or health professional before you begin any exercise,
nutrition, or supplementation program or if you have questions about
your health.

There might be risks associated with participating in activities or using

products mentioned in this book for people in poor health or with
pre-existing physical or mental health conditions.

The author of this instructional book is not responsible in any manner

whatsoever for any adverse effects arising directly or indirectly
because of the information provided in this book. If not practiced safely
and with caution, working out can be dangerous to you and others. It is
important to consult with a professional fitness instructor before
beginning training. It is also important to consult with a physician prior
to training due to the intense and strenuous nature of the techniques
outlined in this book.

Cover designed by Mr.TK

Published by Brad Newton Fitness

Visit the author’s website:

www.bradnewtonfitness.com

03
Section 1 05
My Journey 05
My Experience Bulking And Cutting For A Six Pack 09

Section 2 14
Four Principles Of Getting A Six Pack 14
1. Reduce Your Overall Body Fat Percentage 15
2. Doing The Correct Exercises 18
3. Hitting Your Daily Calorie And Macronutrient Targets 22
4. Patience 27

Section 3 30
Nutrition 30
Flexible Dieting For Six Pack Abs 31
The “Secret” To Fat Loss For Six Pack Abs 33
Flexible Dieting And Body Composition 35
Flexible Dieting And Food Choices 36
Diet Breaks 38

Section 4 40
Training 40
Ab Training Guidelines Summary 41
Ab Workout Routine 43
How To Perform The Ab Routine 44

Section 5 49
Cardio Routine: Bulking & Cutting 49
Cutting Phase Cardio 50
Bulking Phase Cardio 51

Section 6 52
Supplementation 52

Section 7 55
The Journey Begins 55

Section 8 58
Frequently Asked Questions 58
Q1. How Long Does It Take To Get Six Pack Abs? 59
Q2. How To Get Lower Abs To Show 62
Q3. Should I Bulk Or Cut First? 63

Section 9 64
Ultimate Body Transformation 64

Disclaimer 67

04
 SECTION 1
MY JOURNEY
How to Get Six Pack Abs

Getting a six pack is considered the epitome of a fitness

transformation. It’s the visual representation of all the hard work and
dedication you’ve put into your training. And for years, I struggled to
figure out exactly how to achieve such ambition.

For most of my 20s, I followed many of the six pack myths currently
plaguing blog posts, popular fitness magazines, and peddled by fitness
influencers. It left me frustrated and spinning my wheels where I slowly
started to convince myself that I was “genetically cursed.”

If you look at my physique below, I lived my entire 20s as a “skinny

fat” guy with no six pack (or any muscle definition for that matter.)

Check out my skinny fat transformation on YouTube if you are

interested in my entire transformation story that led me to compete
(and win) several bodybuilding competitions.

Below, I’ve listed some of the silly fallacies that I bought into that kept
me stuck in a rut for years. To achieve a six pack, I believed I had to:

Focus only on “clean eating” (i.e., abs are made in the kitchen,
not the gym)

Remove all carbs

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

Focus on only reducing my body fat percentage

Take special “fat burning” supplements

Quit my night shift job (because I believed my body was storing

everything as fat after 8 pm)

Only focus on ab-specific exercises (i.e., crunches, air bicycles)

“Spot reduce” the fat covering my abs

Stupidly, I even purchased several six pack programs with often

convincing headlines—usually geared toward selling me a fat burning
supplement or other garbage. Some used marketing verbiage such as:
“you can get a six pack in [insert number of days] if you buy [insert
name of program here]”

After years of wasting time and money on fitness magazines, silly

ab-workout routines, and buying into fat burners shilled by
substance-enhanced fitness influencers, I finally had enough and
decided to study the simple science of training and nutrition. I wanted
to see if an ordinary guy like me with average genetics could get
completely shredded, using principles grounded in science.

Below, was my ultimate transformation.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

I achieved this transformation 100% naturally without using steroids

or performance enhancing drugs. Also, I didn’t have to quit my
corporate night shift job either. If you are a guy just kickstarting your
own journey and starting where I started, I know how intimidating this
transformation may seem.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through exactly what I did to achieve this
six-pack transformation and share with you the struggles I faced and
how I overcame them.

Unfortunately, almost every piece of advice on “how to get a six

pack” is incomplete. The principles of getting a six pack are shockingly
simple but requires that you apply several principles at the same time.
If you skip or overlook any of the following points, you’ll spin your wheels
the same way I did.

The four principles are;

Reduce your overall body fat percentage;

Doing the correct exercises;

Reaching your daily calorie and macronutrient targets and;

Patience

To re-iterate, it’s vitally important that you implement all four

principles if you want to achieve a six-pack transformation—especially
patience! If you only implement the first three principles but can’t stick
it out for more than a few weeks, you are guaranteed to fail.

We’ll discuss these principles in more detail later in the guide. For
now, let me share with you my journey of precisely how I achieved my
six-pack transformation.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

MY EXPERIENCE BULKING AND CUTTING FOR A SIX PACK

To demonstrate a realistic journey of bulking and cutting to achieve

a six-pack transformation, I want to share with you my own
transformation timeline.

To clarify, bulking simply means eating at a calorie surplus and lifting

heavy weights—performing targeted ab exercises—to build more
muscle mass. Fat gain is an inevitable part of the bulking process. On
the flipside, cutting means eating at a calorie deficit to reduce fat
stores while maintaining the muscle you’ve created during the bulk.

Later in this guide, I’ll be explaining the process of how to bulk and
cut when discussing Principle 3 and how to reach your daily calorie and
macronutrient targets.

Below, you’ll see a photo timeline of what I looked like at various body
fat percentages while bulking and cutting. Starting with my first 3
month cut to reduce my overall body fat percentage from 13.3% in
September 2014 down to 11.2% in December 2014.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

I vividly recall how disappointed I was when I was taking the

December 2014 “after” photo. After 3 months of eating in a calorie
deficit to reduce my overall body fat percentage, I was staring into the
mirror and asking myself: “where’s the six pack?”

Admittedly, I was going through a breakup at the time while working

a night shift roster and still “figuring out” how to execute a proper bulk
and cut cycle, along with learning how to hit my calorie and
macronutrient targets—particularly the protein macro.

During my first cut, I also failed to undertake the correct exercises of

heavy compound lifting and ab-specific exercises. Instead, I opted for
excessive cardio (several hours per day) and failing to consume
enough protein conducive to the amount of activity I was undertaking.

I was only consuming an average of 70 grams of protein per day

when I should have been consuming around 150 grams of protein per
day. It is only in hindsight that I’ve learned that not consuming enough
protein each day during a cutting cycle—while training—will mean
excessive muscle loss.

These factors contributed to my lacklustre results. But I vowed not to

give up and to wait until after Christmas to bulk again—following the
principles I share in this guide—to execute a proper bulk from 11.2% in
March 2015 until I reached 16.1% in February 2016.

See photo timeline below:

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

During my 11-month bulk, I ensured I was doing the correct

exercises—compound lifting and ab-specific training—and meeting my
daily calorie and macronutrient requirements using flexible meal plans.

To track my lifting progress in the gym, I used the smartphone app

FitNotes. This app helped ensure I was progressively overloading each
muscle group—including ab-specific training—week after week.

It’s also psychologically difficult while bulking to watch your body fat
percentage increase, feeling heavy, and consciously forcing yourself to
trust the process. This is the main reason why I believe patience is an
under-rated quality that must be embraced, especially when bulking
for 11 months!

Your bulks and cuts won’t necessarily be long like mine. Given that
I’m just an ordinary guy with average genetics, not taking any steroids
or performance enhancing drugs to “speed up” the process, while also,
at the time, working a gruelling night shift roster.

I also had regular DEXA scans done to accurately determine my

body fat percentage during my transformation. Refer to the DEXA scan
summary table below and compare it to the photo timeline.

On a side note, a DEXA scan is a simple and relatively accurate way

to determine your body fat percentage. It’s essentially a full body x-ray
machine that scans your body composition to determine how much fat
and muscle you have on your body. It costs around $60 per scan.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

This is what it looks like.

If you live near a practitioner that offers DEXA scans then I

recommend getting one done. It’s not necessary to get a DEXA scan
done however check out this article where I share the alternative body
fat percentage measurement methods you can use.

After reaching 16.1% body fat in February 2016, I decided to reduce my

overall body fat percentage by using cutting flexible meal plans while
undertaking the same compound exercises and ab-specific exercises
discussed later in this guide.

This 11-month cut cycle was extremely challenging at times due to

the stress of working a night shift roster and being tired all-the-time!
There were many days where I doubted the process, feeling hungry
during night shift, eating “lunch” at 2 am, and somehow mustering the
faith to keep going.

I eventually leaned out and went on to compete and win first place
in my first bodybuilding competition. If you’re curious how I prepared for
my first amateur bodybuilding competition, check out this article here.

In the beginning, I never intended to compete. All I cared about was

trying to lose belly fat to look and feel good about myself. I was also
trying to break through my limiting belief of having “bad genetics.”

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

I share this story because I believe if you diligently apply the four
major principles for building a six pack, you’ll also achieve a full body
transformation in the process. It’s very achievable but requires a lot of
patience and trust in the process.

There are no secrets, short cuts, or a mysterious set of exercises

necessary for building a six pack and achieving a full body
transformation. It requires a combination of principles where, failing to
execute patience, for example, will break the whole process.

On the flipside, grinding away in the gym and kitchen for years (i.e.,
being patient and persistent) but failing to stick to your daily calorie
and macro targets, will mean you’ll be spinning your wheels—looking
the same in the mirror year after year.

Moreover, executing the “perfect” training plan comprised of

well-programmed compound lifts and ab-specific exercises, months
on end, with no consideration to reducing your overall body fat
percentage, will leave you confused and frustrated at your lack of six
pack and overall muscular definition.

13
 SECTION 2
FOUR
PRINCIPLES
OF GETTING A
SIX PACK
How to Get Six Pack Abs

REDUCE YOUR OVERALL BODY FAT PERCENTAGE

If your overall body fat percentage is too high then you won’t see any of
your muscle definition, especially your abs. You need to reduce your overall
body fat percentage which will cut into the fat stores covering your abs.

The most effective way of reducing your body fat percentage is setting
your daily target calorie allowance and macronutrient targets to start a
cutting phase to maximise fat loss (Principle 3.)

By doing this, your abs will start to become visible at around 12 to 15%
body fat (for guys) and 17 to 20% (for women.)

However, your abs will only become visible at low body fat percentages if
you’ve developed them enough by doing the correct exercises (Principle 2.)

If your abs are rather under-developed, you may need to drop your body
fat percentage even further to reveal them.

In 2014, I suffered the frustration of not doing the correct exercises and
only focusing on reducing my overall body fat percentage, only to have very
under-developed ab muscles.

Referencing the before and after photo below, I can never forget how
disappointed I was when I took the “after” photo after 3 months of hitting my
daily target calories and macros for fat loss.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

Had I focused on deploying the correct exercises while reducing my

overall body fat percentage, I could have developed my ab muscles
enough to see them at a low body fat percentage.

Below, I’ve provided body fat percentage charts to help you visualise
how the look of someone’s physique changes by simply reducing
overall body fat percentage.

I suggest using the body fat percentage tables to estimate your

current body fat percentage while you are in a cutting phase to
maximise fat loss. These charts are a guide only.

Most people, including myself, have fallen into the trap of trying to
reduce body fat percentage by spot reducing belly fat with endless
crunches and ab exercises. This was one of the mistakes I made in my
late teenage years and early 20s.

According to research, exercising a muscle group will increase blood

flow in the area and increase the breakdown of fat cells into useable
energy (lipolysis) however, it is not enough to noticeably reduce visible
fat over your abs.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

Similarly, in a 2011 study from the Journal of Strength and

Conditioning Research, it was found that 6 weeks of targeted ab
training, 5 days per week, had no effect on reducing belly fat.
Essentially, this means that no amount of ab-specific training can spot
reduce the fat covering your abs.

In summary, it’s imperative that you reduce your overall body fat
percentage by setting your daily target calorie allowance and
macronutrient targets (Principle 3,) and by doing the correct exercises
(Principle 2.) These two principles must be given equal priority.

We will discuss them later in this guide. Let’s look at the next
important principle.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

02 DOING THE CORRECT EXERCISES

Although reducing your overall body fat percentage through calorie

and macronutrient control is responsible for revealing your abs, your
training will be responsible for how developed your abs and midsection
will be once your abs are revealed.

After my disappointing transformation of not seeing any abs (see

earlier photo,) I immediately switched my calorie and macro targets to
start a bulk while rigorously deploying the correct exercises I share later
in this guide.

On a side note, a “bulk” means eating more calories than what your
body needs everyday—or eating at a calorie surplus—to maximise
building muscle. Therefore, your body fat percentage and body weight
will increase for the duration of the bulk. This is normal.

At the end of my 11-month bulk, I switched my calorie and macro

targets to revert to a cut once again to reveal—for the first time—a six
pack that made me proud.

Below, you’ll see the smile on my face where I’m absolutely chuffed
with the results.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

I can assure you that you’ll also be excited when you see your own
six pack for the first time! It’s important to note that I did the same
exercises during my bulk and cut to achieve my own six pack
transformation.

Your abs and core muscles are like any other muscle group where
they need to be progressively overloaded with both heavy compound
weight training and ab-specific exercises.

HEAVY COMPOUND WEIGHT TRAINING

In practical terms, “heavy” means lifting weights at 80% or more of

your one-rep maximum and “compound” refers to any exercise that
works multiple muscle groups simultaneously (i.e., bench press, deadlift,
squat, pull-ups).

Progressive overload, in simple terms, means forcing your muscles

to grow by adding slightly more reps or weight to your major lifts, week
after week. At first, it might be difficult to see how deadlifting, squats,
and bench press, are effective “ab exercises” but, according to
research, these exercises train your core more effectively than
traditional ab exercises.

Furthermore, for a six pack to look impressive, it needs to be framed

against the backdrop of a physique that is well-developed and
proportioned. This well-developed and proportioned physique can only
be achieved when implementing compound exercises that target all
major muscles groups—not just your abs!

Below is an example of my incline bench press—a compound exercise.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

My six-pack transformation was achieved by incorporating the

following heavy compound exercises—using the push-pull-legs training
template—at the beginning of each of my weightlifting sessions;

Squat
Deadlift
Bench Press
Overhead Press
Pull-ups

On a side note, “push pull legs” is a weightlifting training template

that divides and conquers your muscles into groups where each group
is trained separately — allowing other muscle groups to have the rest
they deserve. Click here to read the article to learn more about this
simple beginner weightlifting routine.

Although compound weightlifting is essential for overall core

development, I also found it important to include ab-specific exercises
—both weighted and unweighted—into my routine.

Let’s look at the ab-specific exercises that I incorporated.

AB-SPECIFIC EXERCISES

After finishing my compound exercises, I would usually incorporate a

maximum of 15 to 20 minutes of ab-specific exercises, performed as a
circuit, to “finish off” my work-out for the day.

The following are a list of ab-specific exercises that helped me

develop my own six pack and core. I’ll be expanding upon some of
them later in this guide.

Ab Wheel Roll-out
Captain’s Chair Leg Raise
Hanging Leg Raise
Cable Crunch
Bicycle Crunch
Decline Crunch

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

My ab-specific training program was not that complicated. I picked

three exercises from the list above—trained each ab exercise to
failure—and ensured one of those exercises was weighted. That’s all
there is to it. No gimmicks. No secrets.

My favourite weighted ab exercise was either the cable crunch,

decline crunch, or hanging leg raise using a dumbbell. Don’t worry, I’ll
explain these exercises later in this guide.

My favourite unweighted ab exercise is the ab wheel roll-out. You can

purchase one of these little wheels off Amazon and I highly recommend
it. It travels with me everywhere!

Always ensure that you give your abs and core 24 to 48 hours rest
before training them again. Like any other muscle group, your abs need
rest for proper recovery and growth.

To summarise, abs are not just “made in the kitchen” through

adhering to your daily calorie and macronutrient targets to reduce your
overall body fat percentage—you must directly train them. And the
most effective way of doing this is combining both compound weight
training and ab-specific exercises into your routine.

In the next section, we will focus on how to structure your daily calorie
and macronutrient targets to ensure the effort you are investing in your
training will help you achieve a six-pack transformation.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

03 HITTING YOUR DAILY CALORIE AND MACRONUTRIENT TARGETS

To reduce your overall body fat percentage, you must set your daily
calorie and macronutrient targets to be in a calorie deficit—where you
consume fewer calories than what your body needs.

If you want to improve your body composition—or lose fat and

maintain or even build muscle— then not only do you need to eat the
right number of calories per day, but you also need to pay attention to
how your daily calorie requirements break down into your
macronutrient goals of protein, carb, and fat.

Macronutrients, or “macros”, is a type of nutrient the body requires in

large amounts. The primary macronutrients are protein, carbohydrate,
and fat.

If you are just trying to see the number drop on the scale—or simple
weight loss—then what you eat matters very little.

However, if you eat too little protein while in a calorie deficit then
you’ll lose more muscle than if you keep your protein levels high. If you
eat too few carbohydrates while in a calorie deficit then muscle repair
will be hindered. If you completely cut out dietary fat then your
testosterone levels will plummet.

When people are only focused on severely restricting their calorie

intake and ignoring their protein, carb, and fat intake—their
macronutrient targets—while doing excessive cardio and very little
strength training—leads to the inevitable skinny fat problem (watch my
skinny fat transformation story here.)

If you want your bulking or cutting ambitions for a six-pack

transformation to be successful—and avoid the dreaded skinny fat
look—then you need to eat enough protein and carbohydrate to
preserve muscle and enhance training performance, and enough
dietary fat to maintain healthy levels of hormone function.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

In summary, what you eat matters if you are trying to lose fat and not
muscle—not just simply “losing weight.”

If the idea of tracking your calories and macros frightens you then I
suggest start with tracking your protein intake. When discussing body
composition, protein is by far the most important macronutrient.

The science is extremely clear on why you should increase your

protein intake if your ambition is to get shredded and achieve a six
pack.

You’ll gain muscle and shred fat faster.

You’ll maintain muscle more effectively while in a calorie deficit to
lose fat.
You’ll recover faster from your workouts.

In other words, if you are in a calorie deficit to reduce your overall

body fat percentage (i.e., cutting), intaking higher amounts of protein
will keep you satiated for longer. Personally, drinking a protein shake
helped me immensely whenever I started to feel a bit hungry from
being in a calorie deficit.

Not only is a high protein diet beneficial for satiety but it will also help
you maintain muscle on your frame—and your abs—when you are in a
calorie deficit for fat loss.

To determine your daily calorie target for cutting and bulking, along
with your macronutrient requirements, feel free to use my macronutrient
calculator (click link.) After obtaining your daily calorie and macro
targets, use a flexible meal planning template to help you structure your
meals to hit those targets each day.

Alternatively, you can plug the “four numbers” of target calories,

protein, carb, and fat, obtained from the macronutrient calculator, into
apps like MyNetDiary or MyFitnessPal. These apps can help ensure you
are reaching your target calories and macronutrient goals.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

HOW MUCH PROTEIN SHOULD YOU AIM FOR EVERY DAY?

To build muscle and a six pack, most people should aim for 1.6 – 2.4
grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day. Below is a table
to help you determine your own protein requirements.

Optimal Daily Protein Intake for Muscle Gain

Body weight (lb) Body weight (kg) Lower end (g) Higher end (g)
100 45 73 109
125 57 91 136
150 68 109 163
175 79 127 191
200 91 145 218
225 102 163 245
250 113 181 272
275 125 200 299
300 136 218 327

Source: Examine.com

For me, my current body weight is around 94 kilograms therefore,

interpolating from the table, I would aim to get anywhere from 150 to 220
grams of protein per day.

To keep it simple, I usually aim for the middle of the range (180 grams
approximately.) I’m not too worried if I only get 150 grams per day or 200
grams—provided I’m somewhere in the range.

I’m aware that as an absolute beginner, this amount of protein seems

daunting. It was to me when I first started my transformation.

One of the biggest struggles I faced when I started my transformation

journey and learning how to track my macros, was trying to hit my
protein macronutrient target. I just couldn’t figure out how to consistently
consume that much protein every day while juggling a night shift roster.

It was a real struggle because I wasn’t informed on good sources of

protein and was not strategic in how to intake such a large amount
of protein.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

Before I give you practical advice on how to hit your protein target
for the day, I want to share the reason why you must keep your protein
levels high while in a calorie deficit to reduce your overall body fat
percentage.

The research is clear, if your primary objective is to shred fat without

losing your muscle mass then a high-protein diet is far superior for
losing fat faster and maintaining muscle.

In another study by McMaster University, to maximise building

muscle, a protein intake of between 0.6 to 0.8 grams per pound of body
weight per day is necessary.

If you are still not convinced that your protein intake needs to be
significantly higher as a new trainee in the gym—or if you are calorie
restricted to lose fat—then check out the Optimal Protein Intake Guide
on Examine.com.

Let’s look at what 30 grams of protein looks like for various sources
of protein.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

Personally, when I am constructing my flexible meal plans for either

cutting or bulking, I’ll start by assigning 30 grams of whey protein pre-
and post-workout. That means I’ll be getting 60 grams of protein
around my weightlifting workout leaving the remaining protein balance
to my prepared meals and high protein snacks.

I always strive to have a protein source in every main meal, and

usually 30 to 40 grams of protein per main meal. Using the graphic
above, 30 grams of protein translates to 100 grams of chicken breast, or
100 grams of tuna steak, 150 grams of salmon, 150 grams of tilapia, etc.

I have come across people that believed that 100 grams of chicken
contains 100 grams of protein. Or that by simply “eating more nuts”
instantly translates to “I’m getting enough protein!”

Let’s look at high protein snacks.

Typically, outside of my main meals, I’ll plan to have 2 to 3 high

protein snacks that I’ll have whenever I’m starting to feel hungry from
being in a calorie deficit.

Personally, my high protein snacks usually consist of a Quest protein

bar (20 grams of protein), a can of tuna or salmon, and several
hardboiled eggs. Sometimes I’ll have another 30-gram whey protein
shake.

Spend some time researching “high protein snacks” and consider

incorporating them into your flexible meal plan (or MyNetDiary) to help
you meet your daily protein obligations. It will take some time but
persevere! I can assure you that meeting your daily protein
requirement will eventually become second nature. Trust the
process :-)

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

04 PATIENCE

There’s no chance you could ever achieve a six-pack transformation if

you reduce your overall body fat percentage, do the correct exercises,
and hit your daily calorie target and macros… for 30 days!

One of the most difficult “muscles” to train within a new trainee is

patience. I believe the origin of impatience that many people have going
into a fitness program comes from the fitness industry overpromising
quick, effort-free “short cuts” to shredding in unhealthy and impractical
amounts of time.

These promises are usually made on covers of fitness magazines, diet

books, by fitness influencers on the ‘gram or TikTok, and the like, as a
gateway to take your money in exchange for garbage advice.

Which magazine headline sells better: “Get shredded in 18 months with

diet, training, and patience” or “28-day abs! Fast, effective, foolproof!”
(with a red arrow pointing to a trenbolone-jacked cover model)?

On a quick side note, the honest

edition of any popular fitness
magazine would look like this.

Case in point, reset your expectations

like I did back in 2014 and stop
consuming fitness magazines—or
listening to anyone offering you a
“free ride” to getting shredded. It
doesn’t exist. Most guys can achieve
a six-pack transformation in 12 to 18
months of consistent training, dieting,
and patience.

In the next section, I’ll share realistic expectations of what it takes to

lose fat, build muscle, and get stronger, without steroids, in a timeframe
that is practical and sustainable.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

REALISTIC FAT LOSS (CUTTING) EXPECTATIONS

When you set your daily calorie and macro targets to maximise fat
loss—to reduce your overall body fat percentage—you should expect to
lose 0.5 to 1% of your body weight per week, or around 1-to-2 pounds of
weight per week. This is considered safe, healthy, and realistic.

In a 12-week period, you should expect to lose 12 to 24 pounds

of weight.

As you can see, if you are sitting at 20% body fat and wish to cut
down to reveal a six pack (for guys, this is around 10 to 13% body fat,) it’s
going to take a lot longer than “30 days” to get shredded. A claim that
many fitness influencers are not afraid to sell to you.

The speed of weight loss (or fat loss) is heavily influenced by your
starting body fat percentage.

Which means, for men over 25% body fat and women over 35%, you'll
be able to lose 2 to 4 pounds of weight per week (even more if you are
extremely obese.)

The more fat you need to lose, the faster you can safely lose it.

On the other end of the scale, if you are already very lean and wish
to get leaner (for men around 12% body fat and women around 20%
body fat,) expect to lose 0.5 to 1 pound of fat per week. Over a 12-week
period, expect to lose 6 to 12 pounds of fat per week.

Fat loss becomes progressively slower the leaner you become.

Therefore, if you want your lower abs to really pop out, you need to
become more patient as you become leaner.

Refer to the FAQ section where I will show you how to calculate how
long it will take for you to get six pack abs based on your current body
fat percentage.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

REALISTIC MUSCLE BUILDING (BULKING) EXPECTATIONS

It’s extremely important to understand that while you are bulking to

build muscle, you will gain some fat and your overall body fat
percentage will increase. This is inevitable. In a perfect world, during a
bulk you would only put on muscle! But this is simply not true.

If you eat more calories than your target calories for bulking, then
you will gain more fat than muscle. If you eat precisely at your target
calories for bulking, you will gain more muscle than fat.

Based on studies, the following table is a good guide for determining

how much weight you can gain per month based on your level of
training experience.

Weight Gain Guide (Per Month)

Beginner Intermediate Advanced
1% of body weight 0.5% of body weight 0.25% of body weight

As you can see, a beginner has the potential to build more muscle
than an Intermediate or Advanced lifter. Typically, the first 6 to 12
months of proper training is where a new trainee can see a rapid
increase in strength and muscle building before strength and muscle
gain begin to slow down.

29
 SECTION 3
NUTRITION
How to Get Six Pack Abs

FLEXIBLE DIETING FOR SIX PACK ABS

One of the biggest mistakes I made in my quest to achieve six pack

abs was believing the common saying of: “abs are made in the
kitchen.” In other words, diet being regarded as the most important
factor for achieving a six pack.

The saying should be: “abs are built in the gym and revealed in the
kitchen.” As we’ve established, your diet and your training regimen are
equally important.

Undertaking compound lifting and ab-specific exercises builds your

abs while maintaining a calorie deficit to reduce your body fat
percentage reveals them.

In this section of the guide, I’ll share some fundamental principles

around dieting for six pack abs, specifically, flexible dieting.

Years ago, I bought into dieting ideologies that if I wanted to lose fat
and build a six pack—as a night shift worker—I had to say goodbye to
grains, sugar, fruit, dairy, all processed food, etc.

For a while, I was a “clean eater” which believed that, if I only ate raw
vegan cheesecake and avocado smoothies to reduce “inflammation”
in my body, I would get shredded.

One of the biggest dietary myths I bought into was the myth of
“avoiding carbs after 8 pm” because I believed it would all store as fat.
As a night shift worker, this common myth really screwed with me!
There were times where I believed I had to quit my night shift job and
work a “normal job” to be in the running to achieve a six-pack
transformation.

Then I read a statement considered to be blasphemy in the world of

dieting and weight loss.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

For fat loss to occur, the quantity of food you eat is more important
than the quality of food.

In other words, the nutritional value of food has very little to do with
the effect it has on your goals of reducing your body fat or gaining
muscle (i.e., body composition goals).

Of course, eating nutritious food is essential for overall health but

there is no superfood, Himalayan goji berry, or special supplement that
directly influences weight loss or weight gain.

Welcome to the world of flexible dieting, IIFYM, or If It Fits Your Macros.

Flexible dieting is a lifestyle approach to eating where you can

achieve a six-pack transformation by eating the foods you
enjoy—provided they “fit” within your macros—any time of the day, 7 days
a week. As a night shift worker, this was a real game changer for me.

A “macro” is short for “macronutrient,” which is defined as any of the

nutritional components of the diet that are required in relatively large
amounts: protein, carbohydrate, fat, and minerals such as calcium, zinc,
iron, magnesium, and phosphorous.

The macros that I started paying attention to, and tracking using
flexible meal planning templates are protein, carbohydrate, and fat. At
first, it was a bit frustrating trying to track these three numbers
daily—especially around night shift—but within a month or so it became
second nature.

Unlike traditional restrictive diets, flexible dieting was perfect for me as

a night shift worker as it allowed me to pick and choose the food I enjoy
throughout the night—matching them closely to my macronutrient
targets of protein, carb, and fat—and slowly watching the fat drop off.

Once I determined my daily calorie target and macros using my

macronutrient calculator, I would allocate 80% of my daily calories to
unprocessed, nutrient-dense food. The remaining 20% of my calorie
allowance was given to my favourite indulgences such as Quest bars
and Halo Top ice cream.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

In the next section, I’ll explain the basic science of why the quantity of
food is more important than quality when it comes to weight loss and
weight gain.

THE “SECRET” TO FAT LOSS FOR SIX PACK ABS

Flexible dieting works because of a rather simple, yet “boring”

physiological concept of energy balance—or the balance of calories
consumed through eating and drinking vs calories burned through
exercise or training. You may have heard of it summarised as “energy in
vs energy out.”

Below is a table that summarises the relationship between the

amount of energy you eat and the amount you burn when it comes to
weight loss and weight gain.

Energy Balance
Energy IN = Energy OUT Weight remains the same
Energy IN > Energy OUT Weight gain
Energy IN < Energy OUT Weight loss

When it comes to weight loss (or fat loss), it’s just a numbers game
and making this simple physiological concept of energy balance work
for your body composition ambitions.

Contrary to mainstream dieting advice it doesn’t matter what you eat,

if you maintain a moderate calorie deficit or “negative energy balance”
by eating less energy than you burn (i.e., Energy IN < Energy OUT), you will
lose weight. In the fitness world, this is also known as “cutting” or
“shredding.”

When you maintain a moderate calorie surplus or “positive energy

balance” by eating more energy than you burn (i.e., Energy IN > Energy
OUT), you will gain weight. Also referred to as “bulking” or “gaining mass.”

33
How to Get Six Pack Abs

Therefore, eating a calorie surplus of the “cleanest” foods in the

world can cause weight gain while maintaining a calorie deficit on a
“vending machine” diet of garbage food will cause weight loss.

As mentioned in the previous section, what most “clean eaters” are

not aware of is that nutritional value of food has very little to do with
your body composition. Of course, eating nutritious food is great for
health but eating healthy and getting shredded are not the same
goals. I fell into the same trap believing that if I removed all processed
food, refined sugar, dairy, and become a “clean eater,” that I would get
shredded. I was wrong (and very confused.)

Which draws down the simple conclusion that when it comes to

simple weight loss and weight gain—a calorie is a calorie.

This was demonstrated by Professor Mark Haub who was able to lose
27 pounds over two months on a diet consisting of protein shakes,
Twinkies, Oreos, Doritos, and Little Debbie snacks. He calculated he
would need to eat about 1,800 calories—his calorie target— per day to
lose weight without starving himself.

Of course, he doesn’t recommend eating garbage food to lose

weight. However, he wanted to demonstrate that when it comes to
weight loss—calories are king, and that quantity of calories matters
more than the type of food you eat.

When it comes to optimising body composition—or the proportion of

muscle and fat on your body—a calorie is not a calorie. To build muscle
and achieve a six pack, you’ll need to eat a certain amount of protein
each day.

Let’s discuss the importance of tracking your macronutrients to

achieve an optimal body composition.

34
How to Get Six Pack Abs

FLEXIBLE DIETING AND BODY COMPOSITION

If you want to improve your body composition—or lose fat and

maintain or even build muscle— then not only do you need to eat the
right number of calories per day, but you also need to pay attention to
how your daily calorie requirements break down into your
macronutrient goals of protein, carb, and fat.

If you are just trying to see the number drop on the scale—or simple
weight loss—then what you eat matters very little—think of the Professor
Mark Haub experiment.

However, if you eat too little protein while in a calorie deficit then
you’ll lose more muscle than if you keep your protein levels high. If you
eat too few carbohydrates while in a calorie deficit then muscle repair
will be hindered. If you completely cut out dietary fat then your
testosterone levels will plummet.

When people are only focused on severely restricting their calorie

intake and ignoring their protein, carb, and fat intake—their
macronutrient targets—while doing excessive cardio and very little
strength training—leads to the inevitable skinny fat problem (watch my
skinny fat transformation story here.)

If you want your bulking or cutting ambitions to be successful—and

avoid the dreaded skinny fat look—then you need to eat enough
protein and carbohydrate to preserve muscle and enhance training
performance, and enough dietary fat to maintain healthy levels of
hormone function.

In summary, what you eat matters if you are trying to lose fat and
not muscle—not just simply “losing weight.”

35
How to Get Six Pack Abs

FLEXIBLE DIETING AND FOOD CHOICES

As you’ve learned, you don’t gain weight by eating the “wrong” food
or lose weight by “eating clean.” Weight gain occurs by eating too
much food and to lose weight, you need to eat less food than your
body requires to maintain its current weight.

The more you become familiar with the ideologies of flexible dieting
or IIFYM, the more you’ll realise that it is more of a lifestyle than a “diet”
per se.

Flexible dieting is the most effective way to lose weight when

implemented correctly. There are people who abuse the concepts of
flexible dieting by eating as much junk food as possible while hitting
their calorie and macro targets. Although it “works” it’s not very satiating
and you’ll end up developing nutrient deficiencies and other health
related complications.

This is how I like to implement the power of flexible dieting in my own

life to meet my own calorie and macro requirements.

Aim to get at least 80 to 90% of your total daily calorie allowance

from nutrient dense food—or food that is minimally processed
and nutritious—and the remaining 10 to 20% from your favourite
indulgences.

Simply leverage the power of flexible dieting by eating healthy food

that you like every day and working them into your flexible meal plan,
while hitting your calorie and macro requirements.

Unless you have specific health requirements—you can include

chicken, beef, seafood, legumes, pasta, rice, oatmeal, in any sized
portion you wish. Flexible dieting is not concerned with whether you are
vegan or vegetarian, prefer intermittent fasting or keto.

36
How to Get Six Pack Abs

It only cares that provided you set your daily calorie target and
macros for the goal you are trying to achieve—either to bulk or
cut—then all you need to do is pick and choose food that meets your
calorie and macro targets every day.

And of course, integrating your favourite “cheat food” into your

flexible meal plan will make your journey to either get shredded or build
muscle, so much more enjoyable. Personally, I like to incorporate lattes
(with sugar), Halo Top ice cream, and Quest Bars. Just ensure you
determine the macronutrient breakdown of the cheat food you wish to
incorporate.

I use the food database in either MyNetDiary or MyFitnessPal to

determine the macronutrient values of various food items. You can also
use either of these great apps to help track and monitor your daily
calorie and macro targets by scanning barcodes and entering
portion sizes.

You can budget these “cheat food calories” however you want
throughout the week—eating small 100 to 200 calorie cheat snacks
every day or a giant cheat meal once or twice per week. Feel free to
“save up” your discretionary calories for “pizza night” on the weekend.
The choice is yours!

37
How to Get Six Pack Abs

DIET BREAKS

It’s exciting to be able to quantify how long it will take for you to
reach a certain body fat percentage to see visible abs. Your adherence
to tracking your calorie and macronutrient intake will ultimately
determine whether you achieve a six-pack transformation. The longer
you diet in a calorie deficit for fat loss to get leaner, the harder it is to
stick to your daily calorie and macronutrient targets.

Many of those Instagram influencers you look up to that flaunt their

“shiny” six pack abs will very rarely share with you the “cost” of getting
extremely lean—usually below 10% body fat for guys. This includes
progressively feeling more hungry, irritable, experiencing a reduced sex
drive, significant performance reduction in the gym, etc.

For me, when I was approaching 13 to 15% body fat during my cut, I
felt it was necessary to incorporate a diet break to help reverse some
of the negative “side effects” of getting lean.

There is no strict rule on when you should incorporate a diet break

but typically, they become a handy tool to implement as you get
progressively lean. Personally, my diet breaks are a maximum of
1-week every 4 to 6 weeks. As I’m approaching 10% body fat, the diet
breaks become more frequent. Typically, I’ll need a 1-week diet break
every 2 to 3 weeks.

To implement a diet break, you’ll increase your calorie intake to eat

at-maintenance, giving you flexibility to eat slightly more during the
diet break.

A diet break doesn’t mean eat everything and anything you want. It’s
a controlled increase in your calories (usually around 500 to 700
calories or so) for around 5 to 7 days. You must track your calorie and
macronutrient intake while on a diet break.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

One of the biggest mistakes people make when implementing a diet

break is completely abandoning the tracking of their calories and
macros—eating anything and everything—and undoing all their hard
work from the previous weeks of adherence. Once again, you must
track your diet break to ensure you are not exceeding your
maintenance level of calories.

Personally, when I’m on a diet break, I’ll usually increase my carb

intake by 500 calories due to feeling “fuller” from a higher carb intake.
Some people prefer to increase their fat intake or to use that 500 to 700
calorie “bonus” to incorporate an extra cheat meal. The choice is yours!
As mentioned, there is no strict set of protocols for diet breaks.

39
SECTION 4
TRAINING
How to Get Six Pack Abs

AB TRAINING GUIDELINES SUMMARY

Below, I’ve listed the exact set of guidelines I implemented to achieve

my own six pack transformation.

The ab workout routine has been designed to target your entire

abdominal and core region.

Here are some guidelines to follow when doing the ab workout routine.

Allow at least 24- to 48-hours rest between ab-specific training

sessions.

Incorporate the ab workout routine at the end of your compound

lifting session (i.e., finish “Chest Day” with an ab-specific workout
routine).

Allow 15 to 20 minutes to complete the entire ab workout routine.

Don’t skip the weighted ab exercises.

Aim to do 1 to 2 ab-specific workout sessions per week.

Complete the ab workout routine as a circuit, with 2 minutes rest

between each circuit (i.e., do the first ab exercise, followed by the
next exercise in the table, until you reach the bottom of the table)

Aim to progressively overload the weighted ab exercises over

time—either by increasing the reps or increasing the weight of the
given ab exercise, week after week.

If you are an absolute beginner (less than 6 months training

experience) then I suggest sticking with one ab-specific training
session per week for the first few months. After which, increase to two to
three sessions per week.

It’s up to you if you wish to only do ab-specific training sessions on

their own day or after your main workout. The choice is yours!

41
How to Get Six Pack Abs

Below is an example of a 3-day per week training template for abs.

You are free to select any day of the week to do your workouts,
provided you aim to get at least 24- to 48-hours of rest between each
ab-specific workout. Don’t do ab training sessions on back-to-back
days. Proper rest is just as important as proper training.

MON TUE WED THUR FRI SAT SUN

Chest Day Back Day Leg Day
+ Rest + Rest + Rest Rest
Abs Abs Abs

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

AB WORKOUT ROUTINE

EXERCISE SETS REPS TRAINING NOTES

Start with a very low weight to
get used to the exercise before
adding weight. Think about
Cable Crunch 3 10 - 12
trying to bring your chin to your
(Weighted)
knees. You must be able to feel
your abs working.

Start with Captain’s Chair Knee

Raises. As you become stronger,
I suggest progressing to
straightening your legs to
Captain’s Chair 3 AMRAP* perform the movement. If your
Knee Raises gym does not have a Captain’s
Chair, I suggest hanging knee
raises and as you become
stronger, progress to hanging
leg raises.

Lay flat on your back on a mat

Bicycle Crunch 3 AMRAP* and hands behind your head.
You’ll twist your body to touch
your elbow to the opposite knee.

This exercise is optional due to

Ab Wheel 3 AMRAP* its difficulty for beginners to
Roll-out execute. But I suggest trying it
(Optional) and slowly incorporate it into
your ab circuit.

You’ll need to buy an ab wheel if

your gym doesn’t have one. You
can buy one here. Otherwise,
skip this ab exercise.

* AMRAP—As many reps as possible (i.e., until failure)

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

HOW TO PERFORM THE AB ROUTINE

Personally, I performed the above ab exercises as a continuous

circuit—one after the other with no rest until the end where I would take
a 2-to-3-minute rest before starting the circuit again.

In other words, you’ll start by doing one set of Cable Crunch for 10 to
12 reps, followed by one set of Captain’s Chair Knee Raises until failure,
followed by one set of Bicycle Crunch until failure, then one set of Ab
Wheel Roll-out until failure.

Then 2 to 3 minutes rest.

After your rest, you’ll start all over again from the top and repeat this
cycle for a total of 3 circuits. This means by the end of your ab
work-out, you would have performed 3 sets of each ab exercise.

Sometimes the gym is busy and it’s not always easy to “flow” from
one exercise to another due to the lack of exercise equipment (i.e., like
the Captain’s Chair or Cable Crunch.)

In these cases, I would suggest not performing your ab routine as a

circuit and just perform each exercise separately, with 90 seconds rest
between each ab exercise.

If you have lower back issues or wish to do an alternative ab

exercise, I suggest the following.

Hanging leg raises (until failure, 3 sets)

Decline Sit-up on Bench (10 to 12 reps, 3 sets)

44
How to Get Six Pack Abs

HOW TO PERFORM THE AB ROUTINE

EXERCISE 1 – CABLE CRUNCH (WEIGHTED)

The weighted cable crunch was one exercise that helped me build a
well-defined six pack. As mentioned earlier, one of the most effective
ways to train your abs is to train them like any other exercise—by
gradually adding weight (or reps) over time—also known as
progressive overload.

Personally, I use a rope attachment to a cable machine and while

kneeling several feet from the weight stack, flexing my abs, and
bringing my elbows toward my thighs. When you curl your torso, your
face will almost touch the floor. Slow and controlled. Keeping your abs
engaged the entire time.

Remember to select a weight that will help you achieve 10 to 12 reps

per set. Your ambition, week after week, is to add slightly more weight
(i.e., progressive overload), to remain within the 10 to 12 rep range. Once
you reach 12 reps, add 5- to 10-pounds for your next set. Rinse
and repeat.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

EXERCISE 2 – CAPTAIN’S CHAIR KNEE RAISES

The effectiveness of any lower ab exercise is dependent on how well

you perform it. If you fail to move into a posterior pelvic tilt position, the
exercise will become a hip flexor dominant movement.

The captain’s chair knee raise requires that you stand in the chair
frame and place your forearms on the padded armrests. You’ll then flex
your core and tilt your pelvis upwards—think about it as raising your
pelvis and curving it toward your belly button. By consciously thinking
about “raising your pelvis” will prevent your hip flexors dominating the
movement and will target your lower abs.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

EXERCISE 3 – BICYCLE CRUNCH

According to the American Council of Exercise, the bicycle crunch

has shown to elicit a high activation of the obliques when compared to
other oblique exercises. Personally, I implemented these into my regular
ab routine and would always do them until failure.

47
How to Get Six Pack Abs

EXERCISE 4 – AB WHEEL ROLL-OUT (OPTIONAL)

The ab wheel roll-out primarily targets the two most important

muscles of the core—the rectus abdominis (the “six pack”) and the
transverse abdominis. The transverse abdominis is considered the
deepest muscle that makes up your core.

The ab wheel roll-out is one of my favourite ab exercises and one of

the most challenging ab exercises you can perform. I always start my
ab workout circuit routine with the ab wheel roll-out.

If you’ve never done the ab wheel roll-out before then start by rolling
out “halfway” (or as far as you can), before pulling yourself back to the
start position. Avoid bending your elbows when pulling the
wheel back!

I highly recommend that you get yourself into the habit of initiating
posterior pelvic tilt before rolling out. This ensures you are correctly
activating your lower abs and protecting your lower back.

48
 SECTION 5
CARDIO ROUTINE:
BULKING & CUTTING
How to Get Six Pack Abs

CUTTING PHASE CARDIO

Cardio is not necessary for cutting (which surprises many people).

Personally, I only introduce cardio into my regimen for cutting if I am
trying to get into single digits of body fat. The best way to include
cardio while you are in a cutting phase is to do as little as required to
reach your desired rate of weight loss, remain fit and happy, and no
more.

If you are not able to include cardio into your regimen during a cut
then don’t despair. Provided you are hitting your daily calorie and
macronutrient targets—without cardio—you will still lose fat.

However, implementing 2 to 3 hours of low intensity cardio per week

can help speed up fat loss. Here are several methods that I like to
deploy when I’m implementing cardio during my cutting phases—and
typically after my weightlifting sessions, or on separate days.

High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). This allows you to keep your

cardio sessions short and intense. Personally, I incorporate no more
than 15 to 20 minutes of HIIT per session, 2 to 3 times per week, during
my cutting phase. Alternatively, I may opt for low intensity cardio
(next method.)

Low-Intensity Steady-state Cardio (LISS). This may consist of 40 to

60 minutes per session of rowing, assault bike, jogging, skip rope,
rucking, or walking. I would aim to get 2 to 3 hours per week of LISS
(absolute maximum). I usually program low intensity cardio on my
“rest days” from weightlifting to minimise fatigue and allow most of
my energy to be invested into weightlifting. Sometimes I incorporate
LISS (over HIIT) if I need to catch up on podcasts :-)

If you are just beginning your cutting phase and relatively new to
cardio, I suggest incorporating two easy cardio workouts per week of
30 to 40 minutes per session. It’s a good place to start which will help
boost your calorie expenditure and maintain good health.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

Try to implement your cardio and weightlifting sessions on separate

days. If you can only do them on the same day, separate them by at
least 8 hours (if you are doing a split gym session.) If you can only do
them in the same gym session, then do your cardio workout after your
weightlifting session.

If you are an absolute beginner, then I only suggest trying to add

small amounts of HIIT into your routine during a cutting phase.
Personally, I would start with low intensity cardio and slowly build-up to
HIIT due to the physiological stress HIIT can cause on your body. If you
don’t incorporate HIIT then it’s not a problem, the research shows that
it’s no more effective for weight loss than low intensity cardio.

BULKING PHASE CARDIO

I recommend incorporating cardio, but you’ll need to dial it back if

you want to consistently maintain a calorie surplus during a bulk. There
are reasons for implementing cardio that go beyond the vanity goals of
“building muscle.” Such as:

Maintaining a healthy heart

Reduced risk of many types of diseases
Improved insulin sensitivity

And so on.

Many aspiring bodybuilding folks are too focused on building out all
their muscle groups and getting completely shredded—while
completely shunning cardio as the villain to their ambitions.

Your heart is another muscle—the cardiac muscle—which needs to

be “trained” with aerobic or anaerobic exercise. However, too much
cardio during a bulk can seriously impact your ability to gain muscle
and strength.

I suggest no more than 1 to 2 hours per week of low intensity

cardio—at a maximum of 30 to 40 minutes per session.

51
 SECTION 6
SUPPLEMENTATION
How to Get Six Pack Abs

You don’t need to take sports supplements to achieve a six-pack

transformation, provided you correctly have setup your daily target
calories and macros, along with proper training.

Unfortunately, most supplement companies produce supplements

filled with junk ingredients, proprietary blends, and alluring packaging,
to convince you to spend your hard-earned cash.

So, while there are no workout supplements that can directly help
you build a six pack, there are two supplements that I’ve consistently
taken over the years to assist in meeting my training goals.

Personally, I am a busy guy that struggles to get all my protein needs

from whole food (i.e., chicken, beef, seafood). Therefore, taking whey
protein powder to meet my daily protein intake requirement has been
essential in my workout recovery.

I’ll usually take 20 to 30 grams of Optimum Nutrition whey protein,

twice per day, with either oat or almond milk. This will help me reach
around 50% of my protein target for the day. The rest of my protein
intake will come from whole food sources.

Secondly, I’ll add 1 teaspoon of Optimum Nutrition creatine

monohydrate to my protein shake every day.

Creatine monohydrate is the most researched supplement in the

sports supplement world. It’s found naturally in the body and in food like
red meat.

Hundreds of studies on supplementing with creatine have

determined that it will help you build muscle and strength, improve
anaerobic endurance, and reduce muscle soreness and damage.

Therefore, if you have good kidney function then I highly recommend

that you supplement with creatine monohydrate. Ignore all other
variants of creatine as almost all scientific studies have been
conducted on creatine monohydrate.

53
How to Get Six Pack Abs

I should quickly mention that I am not paid or sponsored by

Optimum Nutrition. There are many decent brands on the market that
offer great whey protein and creatine products. You should try different
brands to see what is right for you and your budget.

If you are interested in Optimum Nutrition, then check out the two
that I personally like (below).

54
 SECTION 7
THE JOURNEY
BEGINS
How to Get Six Pack Abs

You’ve reached the end of the guide but the beginning of the
journey! I suggest following the steps below to help you kick-start your
six-pack transformation journey.

Step 1 Take a picture of your physique so you can look back on it.

Step 2 Determine whether you should bulk or cut first (not sure? See
FAQ section)

Step 3 Use the macronutrient calculator on my site to determine your

daily calorie target and protein, carbohydrate, and fat macros.
Aim to be within ± 150 calories of your target.

Step 4 Plug these numbers into either a flexible meal plan or use a
smartphone app such as MyNetDiary or MyFitnessPal.
Personally, I use MyNetDiary.

Step 5 Download FitNotes onto your phone to track your lifting

progress in the gym to ensure you are consistently getting
stronger with both compound and ab-specific exercises.

Step 6 Be patient and trust the process. You’ll get there :-)

On a final note, I totally appreciate how overwhelming this process

may be if you are just starting this journey. Don’t be hard on yourself if
you have bad days and feel like giving up. This is completely normal.

If you have a day where you binge eat or over-eat your target
calories. Stay calm and keep moving forward… pick yourself up the next
day. When I was undertaking this journey as a night shift worker, I had
many bad days where I was so fatigued that I over-ate on many
occasions.

Your will-power muscle will become stronger over time, and you will
get better at tracking your macronutrient targets, executing the
exercises in the gym, etc. Just be patient and continue to treat this
transformation as a journey to learn about your body and what it is
capable of.

In 12 weeks from now, you’ll be looking in the mirror and feeling an

incredible sense of accomplishment. You’ll be stronger, leaner, more
educated and carry yourself with more zest in your everyday life.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

My ambition has been to help you reach your fitness goals. Feel free
to email me [email protected] to share your story or your
transformation. I’d love to hear from you!

If you want to continue your fitness journey with me, join me over at
my website www.bradnewtonfitness.com

All the best with your journey.

Brad

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 SECTION 8
FREQUENTLY
ASKED
QUESTIONS
How to Get Six Pack Abs

Q1 HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO GET SIX PACK ABS?

Anatomically, everybody has a six pack. It’s a question of whether you

can “see” it or not. And the time it takes to be able to see your six pack
comes down to how long it takes to lower your body fat percentage.

In addition, how well you execute the correct training of your ab and
core muscles with exercises that make your abs stand out.

There is a “six pack formula” you can use to determine roughly how
long it will take you to reach your goal body fat percentage. Let’s look
at it.

STEP 1 DETERMINE YOUR LEAN BODYWEIGHT

This is how much you would weigh if you had zero fat on your frame.

You will need to estimate your current body fat percentage by

referencing the body fat charts below. You’ll also need to determine
your current bodyweight. You can use kilograms or pounds using the
formula below.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

For example, if my current body fat percentage was 20% (using the
charts above) and my current bodyweight was 105 kg, the formula to
determine my fat mass would be:

Fat Mass = (Estimated Body Fat Percentage ÷ 100) x Current Bodyweight

= 0.2 X 105
= 21 kg

This means I would be carrying 21 kg of fat mass. Now I need to use this
number to determine my lean bodyweight.

To calculate my lean bodyweight, the calculation is:

Lean Bodyweight = Current Bodyweight – Fat Mass

= 105 – 21
= 84 kilograms

This means my lean bodyweight is 84 kg.

STEP 2 DETERMINE YOUR GOAL BODY FAT PERCENTAGE

Look at the body fat charts and determine how lean and how visible
you would like your six pack. For now, be conservative to build
momentum and then re-assess for a leaner body fat percentage
goal later.

In this example, just say I wanted to lean down from 20% down to 12%.
Let’s look at the next calculation.

STEP 3 DETERMINE YOUR GOAL BODY FAT PERCENTAGE

Start with dividing your goal body fat percentage of 12% by 100.
12 ÷ 100 = 0.12

Then use the following formula:

Lean Bodyweight ÷ (1 – Ideal Body Fat Percentage)

= 84 ÷ (1 – 0.12)
= 95.45 kg

We have now calculated what my approximate bodyweight would

be to achieve 12% body fat.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

STEP 4 CALCULATE HOW MUCH FAT TO LOSE

Current Bodyweight – 95.45

= 105 – 95.45
= 9.55 kg

In this case, I would hypothetically need to lose around 10 kg of body

fat to reveal my abs at a goal body fat percentage of around 12%.

The questions now become:

1. How much fat can I safely lose per week?

2. How long will it take to lose 10 kg of body fat?

This is where most people get impatient and try to rush the fat loss
process. This lack of patience combined with excessive cardio, little
protein intake, no weightlifting, and severe calorie restriction, leads to
the inevitable skinny fat problem.

There is a limit to how much fat you can lose per week before you
start losing more muscle than fat.

According to a study by Helmes et al., you should expect to lose 0.5

to 1% of your bodyweight per week. I would be conservative and aim to
lose 0.5% of your current bodyweight per week.

To summarise the calculations.

Weight to Lose = Current Bodyweight – “Goal” Six Pack Bodyweight

= 105 – 95.45
= 9.55 kg
Goal Weight Loss = 0.5% of 9.55
= 0.05 x 9.55
= 0.47 kg per week
Time to a Visible Six Pack = 9.55 ÷ 0.47
= 21 weeks

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

In other words, to safely lose as much fat per week without losing
muscle, I would set my goal of losing around 0.5% of my current body
weight per week.

My hypothetical bodyweight of 105 kg with 9.55 kg of fat that I need

to lose—at 0.5% per week—would mean it will take around 21 weeks to
achieve.

Of course, this is an approximation, and the calculation doesn’t

account for water weight or muscle mass changes. However, this series
of calculations will help you set realistic expectations.

Q2 HOW TO GET LOWER ABS TO SHOW

As part of your ab workout routine, you must incorporate exercises

that target your lower abs. You cannot have a well-defined six pack if
you are not directly training them.

For many people, you will also need to deal with stubborn fat which
can obscure your lower abs even when your upper abs are well
defined.

The way that I removed my own stubborn lower belly fat was
remaining in a calorie deficit longer. I also started incorporating 20 to
30 minutes of fasted low intensity cardio, 2 to 3 times per week. For the
most part, once you start approaching single digits of body fat (as a
guy), it becomes more of a patience game than anything else.

From the training side, any exercise which involves bringing your
pelvis toward your chest—such as the Captain’s Chair Leg Raise or
Hanging Leg Raise—will help target your lower abs.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

Q3 SHOULD I BULK OR CUT FIRST?

This is quite easily one of the most common questions I receive. This
question usually comes from people that are struggling with a “skinny
fat” physique (a problem I once had—watch my skinny fat
transformation story here.)

The answer is relatively straightforward. Ask yourself these two

questions.

1. What is your main goal right now?

2. What is your current approximate body fat percentage?

If your main goal is to gain more size, more strength, and set
personal bests in the gym, then provided your body fat percentage is
hovering around 10 to 13% (for guys,) I would suggest start with a
bulking phase. If your body fat percentage is over 20% (for guys) then
start with a cutting phase until you reach 10 to 13% then re-assess.

If your main goal is to get shredded, see a six pack and muscle
definition—maybe due to an upcoming wedding or special event—then
I’d suggest start with the cutting phase.

Keep in mind that most people will usually need 2 to 3 proper

bulk/cut cycles to completely realise their physique dreams. No matter
whether you choose to bulk, cut, or do a “body recomposition,” you’ll
eventually reach the end goal of a strong, lean, and muscular physique.

Don’t overthink this process. Deciding on whether you should bulk or

cut first is negligible. It’s more important to focus on hitting your daily
calorie target and macronutrient needs, learning how to lift in the gym,
being patient, and trusting the process. If you apply these ingredients,
your body will transform.

Not sure what your current body fat percentage is? Use the body fat
percentage charts (for men and women) provided in this guide.

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 SECTION 9
ULTIMATE BODY
TRANSFORMATION
How to Get Six Pack Abs

I’ve done my best to give you everything you need to know about
nutrition and training to help you achieve the six-pack transformation
of your dreams.

I also understand that you might also want to achieve a complete

full-body transformation to become the best version of yourself—and
not just achieve a “six-pack.”

After achieving my own transformation, I wanted to create a

complete transformation program for beginner guys that are wanting
a simple, science-based program to rapidly shred fat, build muscle,
and get stronger.

Welcome to the birth of Ultimate Body Transformation.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

In this beginner program, you’ll be given everything you need to get

into the best shape of your life, without obsessing over food or
spending hours toiling away in the gym.

You’ll receive lifetime access to.

10+ hours of classroom video tutorials

3 comprehensive PDF training guides
1 flexible meal planning guide
Exercise workout tutorials
Progress tracking software

Not only will this program save you money and time, but it will
completely change your life. This is the program I wish I had when I first
started my journey in my early 20s.

To learn more, check out the program here:

www.bradnewtonfitness.com/ultimate-body-transformation

Add coupon code SIXPACK20 at checkout for 20% off lifetime

enrolment.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

DISCLAIMER
This program and its curriculum were designed, written, researched,
and presented by Brad Newton. The principles and strategies discussed
in this program are designed to help students progress toward their
health and fitness goals. The strategies within this course are not
specifically tailored to suit any injuries, health issues or any other
challenges that could be aggravated by the implementation of
nutrition or training strategies taught by Brad Newton. If you are an
individual with such problems please seek the help of a GP, Personal
Trainer, or similar health professional. The video and audio content
contained in this program are recommendations only and are not
intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis,
or treatment. Although in depth principles and strategies are given,
users of this specific program should not rely exclusively on information
provided in this course for their own health needs as it is branded as a
set of "guidelines” aimed at a broad-spectrum audience. All specific
medical questions should be presented to your own health care
professional.

As referenced throughout this program and collated at the end of

the program as scientific references; most of the concepts, principles
and strategies are clinically proven and referenced. Brad Newton
should not be held liable for the interpretations or use of the program
material provided. Brad Newton makes no warranties or
representations, express or implied, as to the accuracy or
completeness, timeliness or usefulness of any opinions, advice, services,
or other information contained, or referenced to, in this program. Brad
Newton does not assume any risk for your use of this information as
such materials or content may not contain the most recent
information. This resource is not individually tailored. It is a guideline
which has emerged via a combination of personal experience,
experience working with others, and scientific literature. Accordingly, the
program material and supplementary learning aids are Copyright 2022,
to Brad Newton. Therefore, no part of this program; video or audio,
including supplementary materials, in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or any other means be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or be broadcast, sold, or
transmitted without the prior permission of the publisher, Brad Newton.

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How to Get Six Pack Abs

Please note the following:

any and all exercise that you do as a result of what you read in this
PDF shall be performed solely at your own risk.

any and all meal plans that you follow or adhere to as a result of
what you read in this PDF shall be used solely at your own risk; and

any and all foods or beverages that you consume as a result of

what you read in this PDF shall be consumed solely at your
own risk.

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