Home Abdominal Workouts for Six Pack Abs

Here’s a six pack abs workout for women from Certified Turbulence Trainer, Mike Whitfield.

Wow, yesterday was one of the busiest days I’ve had in a while.  I trained people from 6 AM to noon.  The first two people I trained have been clients of mine for a while.  As a matter of fact, there’s one girl named Amber that I started to train five years ago.  She actually saved her first workout from me and showed it to me recently.

I’m going to be honest with you – I was a little embarrassed.  I saw some stability ball crunches on there and most of the exercises didn’t have her lifting heavy at all.  Oh dear, luckily I’ve learned better since then and she has as well.  As a matter of fact, right now, she is the leanest she has been since joining the gym.  I’m going to lay out a sample 6 pack ab workout she does so that you can find out how women can get 6 pack abs, too.

By the way, Amber works a full time job and she helps run her husband’s car business.  I don’t know the exact details, but I just know that people leave his place with their car being much faster and louder.  That’s what I plan to do for you.  If you use this type of 6 pack workout consistently, your body will be leaner and your abs will start to pop out.  I’m glad I typed that out for you.  I didn’t want you to think, “I’m going to leave the gym much faster and louder?  That’s…. weird.”

The Mistakes on How to Get 6 Pack Abs for Women

Mistake # 1 – You’re not using enough resistance training.  Hitting the treadmill for an hour followed by crunches and bench dips are not going to get you a 6 pack.  You’re also not going to bulk up by lifting weights.  By lifting heavy and using non-competing supersets and circuits, you will literally transform your physique as well as carve out your 6 pack abs.  I like to use a mixture of dumbbells and bodyweight exercises with women.

The Fix – Use total body workouts that use big, compound movements like lunges and rows that literally spike your metabolism for hours, burning tons of calories and layers of fat around your belly.

Mistake # 2 – You do a lot more cardio then you should, and that actually can do even more harm.  Too much cardio can increase the hormone called cortisol, which leads to belly fat.  When you have too much cortisol in your body, you’re pretty much ASKING your body to store belly fat.  Don’t worry, I have a fix for that.  I’m going to put it next to the words “The Fix” like I did above.  It just looks cool, that’s why.

The Fix – Say goodbye to long cardio and hello to interval training and metabolic workout finishers.  Intervals and finishers are much shorter in length, more effective and they have a longer afterburn, which is a key to losing belly fat to show of your 6 pack abs.

Mistake # 3 – You rely on the 100-calorie snacks instead of eating whole, natural foods.  I saw 100-calorie Ding Dongs the other day in the grocery store.  Seriously?  Who falls for that?  Don’t even get me started on the “organic” macaroni and cheese.  The truth is that in order for your body to perform its best, it needs quality fuel.  You need a nutrition program packed full of fruit, vegetables and other unprocessed foods.  I know you heard this before, but if you heard and applied it, you wouldn’t be here.

The Fix – Throw away the 100-calorie snacks and junk from the house and office.  Design your nutrition plan of attack and stick to it, including the cheat meals.  Stick to whole, natural foods 90% of the time.  I promise, it’s that simple.

Bonus Fix – Ever since Amber has started a facebook group in which she and other friends post their workouts and nutrition, her results have gone through the roof.  That means social support goes a long way.  Start a blog or a group (or join one) and invite anyone else that wants the same goals you do, like 6 pack abs.

The Workout

 This is a 6 pack ab workout for women, which might take you out of your comfort zone.  You will be using heavy metabolic resistance training and ending it with a metabolic finisher.  It will challenge you, but the reward of a 6 pack will be worth it.  “You mean, it happens after just one workout?  It’s that good?”.   That would be awesome, but no.  You have to stick to this type of workout and stick to your nutrition to see results.  But, this type of workout will get you there FASTER.

After a solid warm-up, do the following superset 3 times, resting for 1 minute between supersets.

1A) DB Reverse Lunge (8 ea leg)

1B) Close-Grip Push-ups (1 short of failure)

 

Then, do the following superset 3 times, resting for 1 minute between supersets

2A) DB Row (8 ea)

2B) Stability Ball Leg Curl (15)

 

Then, do the following circuit 3 times, resting for 1 minute between circuits

3A) Lunge Jumps (10 ea)

3B) Stability Ball Jackknife (12)

3C) Inverted Row (10)

 

The Metabolic Workout Finisher

Do any cardiovascular activity that you can sustain for only 2 minutes.  Then, immediately do a plank for 1 minute.  Rest 30 secs.  Do this 4 times.

This 6 pack workout for women isn’t easy and it will challenge you physically.  There’s not a single crunch or sit-up because those are silly.  What works are exercises like the stability ball jackknife and the plank, especially after doing two minutes of high intensity intervals.  Ah ha ha ha… ahh HA (dramatic pause) HA (dramatic pause) HA!  Ok, too much is too much.

With a solid nutrition program and not being afraid to challenge yourself with the resistance training and finishers, you’ll be on your way to 6 pack abs and a new physique in no time.

 

Finish Strong,

Mike (AKA “Mikey”) Whitfield

Certified Turbulence Trainer

Can you get six pack abs in just 30 minutes?  Sure, and I’ll show you how.  But let me tell you what inspired me to write this.  On Thursday, for some reason, several of my clients were at the gym at the same time on their own.  It was pretty cool to see several people working so hard and writing down their progress on their workout logs.  But was more gratifying is seeing people that came into the gym before them and still being there after my clients left.  I can almost see them thinking, “wait a second, that’s not fair”.  Sure it is.  “Nuh-uh”, they say.  “Uh-huh”, I say.  “No way”, they think.  “Way”, I think.  Yeah OK, this could go on for a while.  Let’s move on…

Let’s compare and see how you can use a 30-minute six pack abs workout.  We’ll have client A, and let’s call her, “Alice”.  We’ll have client B, and let’s call her “Beatrice”.  Why “Beatrice”?  I don’t know.  I’ve never met a Beatrice, and through this article I finally can.  It wasn’t originally on my bucket list, but now it is.  Looky there… and now it’s crossed off.

Wow.  Anyway, Alice hops on the treadmill for 10-15 minutes to “warm-up” and then proceeds to randomly do sets of crunches, tricep pushdowns, leg extensions, those silly inner/outer thigh machines and even more crunches.  In between sets she talks to her friend Sally about Kim Kardashian filing for divorce.  It probably went a little something like this:, “Oh Sally, girrrrrl, guess what I saw on Entertainment Tonight?  Kim Kardashian filed for divorce.  I’ve been telling you in the last 17 workouts that they weren’t going to last.  Mmmmm hhhmmm.”  Ha-ha, silly Alice.

The next thing you know, an hour and a half goes by, she has barely broken a sweat and her clothes continue to feel tight.  She only has about 10 lbs of fat to lose before she sees her six pack, but she gets frustrated and gives up after numerous silly workouts and Kardashian talks with Sally.

Beatrice, however, knows how to do a 30-minute six pack abs workout because she’s an awesome Mom of 3 kids and doesn’t have a lot of time.  How do I know she’s an awesome Mom?  Because her name is Beatrice – any woman with this name is a legend to moms.  She consistently does 3-4 30-minute workouts per week and she covets the six-pack.  Her diet is nothing special.  She eats whole, natural foods 90% of the time with the occasional reward meal.  Whenever she hit a plateau, she just simply adjusted her nutrition and never gave up.

It’s that simple.

Here is a sample workout program she does.  Feel free to use this yourself.  Print this and take it with you to the gym.  Tell your gym buddies that you want to be like Beatrice, but you have to say something cool like, “I’m going to rock the six-pack like my girl Beat-Beat”.  That’s like… a cool nickname for Beatrice.

What about the warm-up? (you probably didn’t think this, but you’re welcome).  For one thing, Beatrice won’t be hopping on the treadmill for 15 minutes.  Instead, she gets blood flowing much faster and wakes up the nervous system using a variety of bodyweight exercises.  So instead, she does this circuit twice, resting for 30 secs between circuits:

Six Pack Abs – The Warm-up

1) Jumping Jacks (20)

2) Prisoner Squats (12)

3) Arm Crosses (15)

3) Push-ups (10)

4) Plank (20 secs)

5) Waiters Bow (10)

6) Band Pulls (15)

7) Leg Swings (12 ea leg)

 

30-Minute Six Pack Abs Workout

1A) Deadlift (8)

1B) DB Incline Chest Press (8)

Rest 1 minute and repeat 2 more times

 

2A) DB Row (6 ea arm)

2B) Stability Ball Leg Curl (12)

Rest 1 minute and repeat 2 more times

 

3A) Decline Push-ups (keep those abs embraced) (15)

3B) Ab Wheel or Stability Ball Rollout (10)

Rest 1 minute and repeat 2 more times

 

Metabolic Workout Finisher

 

Do the following superset resting only when needed.  In the first superset, you will perform 8 reps.  In the next superset, you will perform 7 reps.  Continue in this fashion until you complete 1 rep of each exercise.

4A) Burpee (8, 7, etc down to 1)

4B) Inverted Row (8, 7, etc down to 1)

Let’s grab our lab coats and analyze this 30-minute six pack abs workout…. or we can just analyze it wearing normal clothes.  Whatever.

Beatrice was able to warm up in just a few minutes by incorporating a bodyweight circuit instead of hopping on the treadmill.   This better prepares her body for the main workout, and it’s much shorter.  Hey, even the warm-up burns more calories than hitting the treadmill.  Bonus points…

The main workout hits all major muscle groups, burning more calories both during the workout and after, especially compared to the silly chaos that Alice was doing.  The first superset is the toughest when you go from a deadlift to a chest press.  Good times, but remember, this workout is short.  You can do this.  The rest periods are short as well (1 minute), so conversations are held to … well… pretty much nothing.  Remember, you’re there to burn calories and get out so you can hang with the kids.

The workout finisher is a fast paced “afterburner” if you will, designed to set your body up to burn calories for hours and hours to blast belly fat.  A burpee supersetted with an inverted row hits so much muscle at one time, burning tons of calories.  Also, you’re doing a lot of volume in very little time with little rest, setting up your body to be a fat burning machine well after the workout is over.

Alright kids, you know the drill.  Let’s gather around in a big circle and discuss what we learned:

1) Beatrice is a cool name after all

2) You can achieve six pack abs with 30-minute workouts as long as you stick to a solid nutrition program

3) Use big, “calorie-expensive” moves to burn a lot of calories in a little bit of time, and use the right intensity

Boom goes the 30-minute dynamite.

Finish Strong,
Mike Whitfield
Certified Turbulence Trainer