CB: Mike, you have a site, The Truth About Six Pack Abs. So... what the heck is the truth?

MG: Well, from what I see on a daily basis, one of the most common fitness goals people have is to get a flatter stomach and if possible, achieve some sort of a "six pack abs" appearance to their stomach. Unfortunately, most people struggle for years without ever achieving this goal. Instead, I see so many people waste so much of their time on worthless abdominal exercises, and falling for every gimmick product that comes onto their TV screen promising them a 6-pack in only 2 minutes a day while sitting on their couch.

To be honest, seeing so many people over the years waste their hard earned money on all of these worthless ab gadgets, machines, ab belts, and bogus fat loss pills was really getting under my skin.

That's why I developed my Truth about Six Pack Abs Program. Over the last couple years, this program I developed has gained popularity worldwide, and has now recently become the most popular abs program on the internet with tens of thousands of people in over 100 countries using my system.

So what's the truth? The truth is that people are looking in the wrong direction to achieve this goal... abdominal exercises are NOT the answer to six pack abs! Sounds counterintuitive I know. In fact, ab-specific exercises are the LEAST important training aspect in getting a six pack.

Most people think there must be some magical "underground" abs exercise that is going to finally get them their six-pack after years of struggling.

The fact is, the real solution to seeing a visible six-pack is bringing your body fat percentage down to a low enough level to where the abs become visible. Most people already have them hiding under there and don't know it. This is generally about 10% body fat or lower for men, and about 16-18% for women from my experience.

Heck, even my 7-year old nephew has a six pack... do you think he got that by doing "abs exercises"? No way! He has a six pack because his body fat percentage is extremely low since he's so active running around playing all day at his age.

So the most important aspect to getting visible abs is actually a properly designed full body training program, combined with good nutrition that can be maintained for life (instead of a short-term gimmick diet).

CB: For a beginner, how much focus needs to be on abs? What other exercises would you give them for fat loss?

MG: For beginners, I generally start them off with the most basic bodyweight exercises such as bw squats, bw lunges, bw step-ups, pushups, inverted body rows, along with basic dumbbell exercises like overhead presses, rows, etc. We also work on body stabilizing exercises like planks and side planks and a few stability ball exercises to make sure they've learned to properly engage their entire "core" area in stablizing the body.

CB: What type of cardio/interval training do you use for fat loss?

MG: The programs I design are almost entirely based on high intensity resistance training instead of cardio. In fact, my resistance training workouts get people sweating and huffing and puffing much more than any boring cardio workout ever will.

The bottom line based on research as well as my personal experience... cardio is NOT necessary for fat loss! In fact, some of the leanest people I know NEVER do traditional cardio. Personally, I haven't stepped foot on a treadmill, elliptical machine, or stationary bike in about 8 years and I maintain single digit body fat year round.

Now don't get me wrong about the cardio thing... in reality, I actually work on exercises that are much tougher and more intense than traditional cardio... I prefer wind sprints, hill sprints, swimming sprints, speed rope jumping, etc to complement my resistance training... all of which are more anaerobic in nature than aerobic.

This type of training stimulates a vastly higher metabolic response in the body than steady pace cardio.

Of course, most people can't just jump right into doing wind sprints without injury until they've gotten themselves into pretty good shape first. I use various resistance training methods and interval training for most people before they are ever ready to even attempt any type of sprinting.

CB: Tell us about your favorite bodyweight exercises and how you use them in a fat loss program.

MG: I like to combine bodyweight exercises and free weight exercises into what I call "tri-sets" or "quad-sets" (aka - mini circuits). Basically, I pick 3 or 4 exercises that don't work the same body movements (non-competing) and combine them into high intensity mini-circuits for my clients.

A great example would be:

1. mountain climbers for 20-30 seconds
2. dumbbell squat & presses (combination squat then press overhead)
3. stability ball leg curl-ins
4. stability ball plank holds (a little harder than a floor plank)

This type of circuit can be done without much rest at all between exercises and we would repeat the circuit several times before moving to a new circuit. This creates a high intensity fat burning workout that works almost every muscle in the entire body.

The 2nd part of the abdominals interview will come shortly and we'll cover the most important aspect... nutrition for fat loss!