How to Get Six Pack Abs by Understanding Basal Metabolism

Basal Metabolism measures the amount of energy your body requires at rest. By altering your diet and exercise plans to increase your Basal Metabolism, you can burn more calories even while resting--resulting in six pack abs that could never be achieved by abdominal exercises alone.

Instructions

1. Eat a healthy diet, filled with fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins. Drink plenty of water and eliminate high-calorie and low-nutrition beverages like soft drinks. Diet is critical to elevating your Basal Metabolic Rate, because no amount of crunches can show off six-pack abs if your stomach is covered in a layer of fat.

2. Lift weights for your entire body--not just your abdominals. Gaining muscle mass throughout your entire body will increase your Basal Metabolic Rate and make you look slimmer because a pound of muscle burns more calories, even at rest, than a pound of fat, but takes up less space in your body.

3. Do aerobic exercise several times a week. Vary your routine and your intensity so that your body doesn't adjust to the exercise and hit a plateau. Cardiovascular exercise will help you burn more calories, even for a little while after you've stopped exercising, thereby increasing your Basal Metabolic Rate.

4. Perform abdominal exercises with weights. While you can't "spot train" any area of your body, using weights with ab exercises will strengthen your stomach muscles and increase your overall muscle mass. This combination raises your Basal Metabolism, burns fat and, eventually, reveals the toned six-pack you've worked hard to achieve.

5. Be consistent with a healthy diet, strength training, cardiovascular exercise, and ab-specific weight lifting, and over time you should begin to see your Basal Metabolism increase and your six-pack abs emerge. Just be patient; the time this process takes depends largely on your initial level of fitness.