Ever stared in a mirror after months of hard training and wondered when you’ll see that sexy six pack of yours?

[I think NBA basketball players are unusually tall and look ridiculous in public places. Not Jameer Nelson. The guy is well put together but it might also help he's six feet tall and 190 pounds. Advantage: short guys!]

For the average Joe like you and me, we tend to screw things up royally when it comes to going after the vaunted six pack or flat stomach. But how?

Too much time training abs

For one, we spend way too much of our precious training time on ab exercises (bicep training ain’t far behind). Speaking directly from experience, I’d spend an entire training session, typically 60 minutes, doing hundreds of reps of various crunches, leg raises, and twisting exercises.

Fast forward to today, I use that time now on full body workouts that elicit a much better metabolic response and increase my fat-burning hormone levels throughout my body.

Michael Geary, nutrition specialist and author of The Truth About Six Pack Abs, talks at length about how losing stomach fat is one of the most important aspects to uncovering your abs. The range of movement and amount of work required in exercises like ab crunches is not enough to cause a significant metabolic response to burn fat.

You need to challenge your entire body and exercise proper nutrition to destroy that wall of fat that is blocking out your six pack abs.

Low Fat or Low Carb diet?

Neither. Don’t get fooled into this “low” or “high” fad diet business because I was a sucker for a long time when it came to fad diets.

Instead, go Medium Fat, Medium Carb, or have balance, and you’ll be lean enough to see your flat stomach and eventually your abs. More importantly, stay with nutrient dense foods in their natural state, or as unprocessed as possible.

Various studies have shown the damaging effects of heavily processed foods in our bodies including new research published in the journal BMC Cancer by Dr. David Christiani and others of the Harvard School of Public Health. This study reveals that children who eat processed meats like bacon, hot dogs and sausage are 74% more likely to develop leukemia than children who avoid such processed meat and eat more vegetables and tofu instead.

Absolutely crazy! I’m not making this stuff up. Click here for the study.

Unprocessed foods to help keep you in balance include vegetables, fruit, unrefined grains, nuts, seeds, olive oil, avocados, and many more.

Don’t ever let someone or some program tell you there is a limited list of so called “good foods”. There is a ton of possibilities and some programs do a better job then others in organizing this information for you.

Just as an example, Vince DelMonte’s Your Six Pack Quest program provides a variety of meal plans, including ones that focus on veggies entirely and others that are price sensitive if you can’t afford a full on organic plan.

Remember, keep the processed stuff out and you’ll quickly gain total control over how lean you want to get.

Slow and boring cardio

It’s important for people to realize that regular strength training using heavier resistance will not “bulk” you up. You need to be eating off a conveyor belt to bulk up but that’s not the point of this article or this site.

If you can’t find people wasting time doing countless ab crunches, then for sure you’ll find them wasting equally important time doing a slow cardio exercise or lifting really really light weights.

If weights aren’t your thing then bodyweight exercises are an awesome substitute as demonstrated by fitness expert Craig Ballantyne below.

Some of my most challenging workouts in the past year took place without even setting foot in a gym. Just me, outside at a park, cranking out planks, mountain climber push ups, and wind sprints in the fresh air and sun. And when you combine these types of exercises with variable intensity, or intervals, the metabolic and hormonal response you’ll get in your entire body (including your abs) will be impressive.

Mike Geary’s book The Truth About Six Pack Abs is currently the top selling abs program on the entire internet. But his nutrition guidelines and strategies is what sets him apart. Check out our review of this massive fat loss resource of eating habits, food choices, and so much more!