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Tom Venuto's Diet & Workout Tips for 6 Pack Abs

Looking for basic 6 pack abs diet and workout tips that really work? Burn The Fat creator Tom Venuto shares his top 7 diet tips, his ab workout, and additional workouts he does to get his bodyfat down to 3.7%. It's not as complicated as you think.

According to Tom, "After 18 years in the fitness business, “How do I get 6 pack abs” is still BY FAR the most frequently asked question I receive out of the 30,000+ emails that come into my office every month. No doubt, it's because abs are the one body part that most people are the most frustrated with. Although their questions are often phrased differently and each person’s situation seems unique, my answer to “how do I get great abs” is almost always the same… and you’re about to hear it...

It's a monumental error to think that 1,000 reps of ab work a day will make your abs finally "pop" when your diet is a disaster...

1000+ reps of daily ab work is an amazing feat of endurance, but that’s not how you get visible, 6 pack abs! If you were to do 1,000 reps of ab exercises every day, you would have outstanding development in your abdominal muscles and you would definitely have great muscular endurance. Unfortunately, if your abs are covered up with a layer of fat, you will never see them even if you do 10,000 reps a day!"

Tom's 7 Nutrition Secrets For 6 Pack Abs

You Condition and Strengthen Your Abs With Specific Ab Exercises...

But The Secret To Seeing Those 6 Pack Abs Is Reducing Your Body Fat! Here's how:

1. Eat about 15-20% below your calorie maintenance level. If you use a more aggressive calorie deficit of 25-30%, then do not keep calories too low for too long; increase calories to maintenance or maintenance +10-15% 1-2 days per week.

2. Spread your calories into 5-6 smaller meals instead of 2-3 big ones. Be very conscious of portion size. If you eat too much of anything (even "healthy" food), you can say goodbye to your abs. Period.

3. Eat a source of complete, high quality lean protein with each meal (egg whites, lean meat, fish, protein powder, etc)

4. Choose natural, complex carbs such as vegetables, oatmeal, yams, potatoes, beans, brown rice and whole grains. Start with aprox. 50% of your calories from natural carbs and reduce carbs slightly (esp. late in the day) if you are not losing fat.

5. Avoid refined, simple carbs that contain white flour or white sugar

6. Keep total fats low and saturated fats low. Aim for 20% of your total calories from fat (and no more than 30%). A little bit of "good fat" like flax oil, fish fat, nuts & seeds, etc is better than a no fat diet. Essential fatty acids actually assist the fat burning process.

7. Drink plenty of water - a gallon is a good ballpark to shoot for if you are physically active.

Tom's Cardio Tips for 6 Pack Abs

For health and weight maintenance, I would suggest 3 short cardio workouts per week, about 20-30 minutes per session. But for maximum fat loss, I recommend 4-7 days per week of cardio or other physical activity for 30-45 minutes (based on results), at a moderate pace. You can mix up the type of cardio you do, or choose the type you enjoy the most - stationary cycling, stairclimbing, elliptical machines, aerobic classes and other continuous activities are all excellent fat burners (it doesn't have to be indoors or on a cardio machine).

If time efficiency is a concern for you, you could do 2-3 of those cardio workouts as high intensity interval training and you'll achieve very good results even with briefer workouts. Even as little as 20-25 minutes per session can get great results IF your intensity level is high enough. Remember, seeing your abs is about low body fat. Low body fat is about burning calories and creating a calorie deficit. The calorie deficit is created by increasing the number of calories you burn and or decreasing the amount of calories you take in from food. Increasing intensity is one way to burn more calories in less time.

To reach the "ripped" 3.7% body fat level you see in my photos, I do cardio 7 days a week for 30-45 minutes per session, in addition to my 4 weight training workouts per week.

Tom's Killer 6 Pack Abs Workout

Personally, I only do about 15 minutes of ab work two times per week, with anywhere from two to four exercises for about 10-25 reps per exercise. Forget about thousands of reps of sit ups – it’s a waste of time. The reason my abs look the way they do is not from endless repetitions, but because I get my body fat down into the single digits with a highly specialized fat-burning diet program.

Here’s a recent ab routine that I've used (for bodybuilding/ ab-development purposes). I do this routine only twice a week and I change the exercises approximately every month so my body doesn't adapt. I prefer slightly higher rep range than other muscle groups, but as you can see, it is far from doing a thousand reps a day.

A1 Hanging leg raises3 sets, 15-20 reps

Superset to:

A2 Hanging knee ups (bent-knee leg raises)3 sets, 15-20 reps(no rest between supersetted exercises A1 & A2, 60 sec between supersets)

B1 Weighted swiss ball crunches (or weighted cable crunches)3 sets, 15-20 reps

Superset to:

B2 Incline Bench Reverse crunches3 sets, 15-20 reps(no rest between supersetted exercises B1 & B2, 60 sec between supersets)

Learn How To Manipulate Calories & Get Great Abs

Discover how Tom Venuto has taught thousands of people to get leaner faster than they ever thought possible... Even if you have less-than average genetics...

Even if you've never succeeded at weight loss before...

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