1. 7 UNDERGROUND
SHORTCUTS FOR
GETTING SIX
PACK ABS
BY MIKE CHANG
ISSA CERTIFIED
PERSONAL TRAINER
YOUR SIX PACK ABS
COACH
Copyright 2010 Mike Chang Fitness SixPackShortcuts.com
2. Introduction
I have a confession to make.
When I told some of my friends that I planned to name my online fitness course “Six
Pack Shortcuts,” a few of them actually laughed at the name.
One conversation that I remember particularly vividly was with my friend Alex. Alex
never used to work out in the past, but at the urging of a few friends and myself he
was about to begin an exercise program. Here’s what our conversation went like:
I told him about the Six Pack Shortcuts program, and he loved it...but he wasn’t too
excited about the name.
“Mike, you can’t call it Six Pack Shortcuts,” he said indignantly. “Everyone knows
that there are no shortcuts to getting six pack abs. Of course everyone wants them,
but the only way to get them is through obsessive dieting, working out constantly,
and sacrificing your lifestyle. That’s just reality. All those ‘shortcuts’ that they
promise you on the infomercials are just scams.”
“Well, you’re right about one thing,” I told him. “Most of the ‘shortcuts’ being
marketed for getting six pack abs ARE scams. And there’s definitely no magic pill
that you can take that gives you six pack abs instantly, with no effort.”
“But,” I continued, “From getting abs myself and also from training clients for so
many years, I know that there ARE many real shortcuts which you can use to get six
pack abs far faster than the average guy. This is because 90% of the effort that the
average guy puts into getting six pack abs is a complete waste. There is so much
misinformation out there, that if you just start doing the RIGHT things with your
eating and workouts, you’ll see dramatic results in your abs in as little as a few
months.”
“A few MONTHS?!?” he asked incredulously. “How can that be possible? I know guys
who have been trying for YEARS to get a six pack, and they STILL can’t see their
abs.”
“Well, as I said before it basically comes down to applying certain “shortcuts” to
getting six pack abs that most guys don’t know about. You leverage your workouts
and eating so that every little bit of effort produces BIG results. This is what we
designed the program around...there are over 30 different shortcuts that guys can
use to get more results in less time.”
“Can you share a few of them with me?” he asked?
“Sure. I can give you seven simple but VERY powerful ones – just by using these
you’ll have a big advantage over every other guy trying to get in shape.
Copyright 2010 Mike Chang Fitness SixPackShortcuts.com
3. Shortcut #1: Cut The Ineffective Forms Of Exercise From Your
Workout Routine
“Here’s a huge one,” I began. “I would estimate that
about 90% of the time that most guys are spending
doing exercise is essentially wasted. Nobody has
ever taught them the RIGHT way to work out – so
they spend hours upon hours doing things that have
been scientifically proven to do almost nothing for
your physique and abs.”
“Really?” Alex asked. “Like what?”
“Well, the biggest time‐waster in my opinion is long,
slow, steady state cardio. Guys have been taught
that they must jog on a treadmill or ride on a bike
for hours on end to lose weight – but in fact,
research has proven that cardio is actually
extremely ineffective for weight loss.”
“For example, if you were to ride a stationary bike
or use an elliptical machine at a light pace for an
hour, you’d only burn about 300 calories. That’s about as much calories as are in a
few handfuls of potato chips, or a big glass of orange juice. And you’d have to do it
for an HOUR to burn that much! Long, slow cardio just doesn’t burn very many
calories. It’s also incredibly boring, and wears out your body making it harder for
you to do workouts that are actually effective.”
“Then why do you see so many guys on treadmills at the gym?”
“It’s basically because nobody really knows what they’re doing, so everyone just
plays ‘follow the follower.’ Everyone figures that since long, slow cardio is so
popular, it MUST be the right way to exercise. After all, that many people can’t
possible be wrong...right?”
“But if you really look at the research – and the history of the fitness industry –
you’ll see this ‘follow the follower’ line of reasoning is completely flawed, and very
dangerous. And you can also verify this just by looking around your local gym...
you’ll see that most of the guys on treadmills have mediocre or poor physiques.”
“Wow...that will definitely save me a lot of time just knowing not to do cardio. Are
there any others like that you can tell me about?”
“Definitely,” I replied. “Have you ever seen guys who do big ‘circuits’ of weight
machines, and never touch the free weights?”
“Yeah,” Alex said. “You mean to say that these guys are wasting their time too?”
Copyright 2010 Mike Chang Fitness SixPackShortcuts.com
5. “But isn’t that true?” Alex said. “I mean, I
always thought that guys with six packs
basically spent their lives in the gym.”
“No, it’s just one of the most pervasive
fitness myths. ‘Marathon’ workouts are
actually not very good for getting six
pack abs at all, for three main reasons.”
“First of all, doing more sets of exercises
in the gym does not necessarily translate
into more muscle. Most guys dramatically over‐estimate the amount of stimulus
their muscles need to grow. In fact, doing too many sets of exercise can actually
cause you to LOSE muscle, because you break them down too much through
exercise, and never give them a chance to recover and rebuild themselves. I myself
maintain my abs with only 30 minute workouts – and I also recommend that most
time a client ever spend in the gym is 30 minutes.”
“Second, doing marathon workouts saps your intensity. It’s just not possible to go
all‐out for two hours straight – you begin going easy on your lifts, because you have
to just to get through such a long workouts. And since intensity of effort is exercise
more important to muscle growth than volume of exercise, you end up losing more
than you gain.”
“And finally, there’s a very important psychological reason why short workouts are
better – long gym sessions are psychologically grueling, and make it exponentially
more likely you’ll skip workouts or quit the program altogether. And if there’s one
thing that all guys with abs have in common, it’s consistency. If you dread going to
the gym, this is a major problem because it will interfere with you consistently
getting the workouts done.”
“That makes a lot of sense,” Alex replied thoughtfully.
Shortcut #3: Increase Your Metabolism To Lose Weight
“Here’s another huge one. Everyone
always tells you that the only way to lose
weight is to eat fewer calories. But what
if I told you that there was a way for you
to eat just as many calories as you are
right now, or even MORE, and still lose
weight?”
“I’d say you’re pulling my leg,” said Alex.
“Right – but then look at the way I eat
Copyright 2010 Mike Chang Fitness SixPackShortcuts.com
7. “What about for your diet?” Alex asked. “It’s so hard for me to eat healthy...I’m
always trying, but it seems like I can never really stick to it consistently.”
“Most people can’t,” I replied. “In
fact, about 95% of people who try
to go on diets fail to lose any
weight, and actually end up gaining
more fat than they originally had in
the end. So it’s not just you – it’s
just that we as humans have very
little willpower, which is why most
“conventional wisdom” diets have
95% failure rates.”
“So how can I lose weight then?”
“Well, it’s pretty simple – I believe
that you can control your behavior with pure willpower for about an hour a week.
After that, it just doesn’t work – willpower just doesn’t last that long. So you need
to do something highly leveraged in that hour that ensures you’ll eat healthy
for the rest of the week.”
“What could I possibly do in an hour that ensures I eat healthy for a whole week?”
“It’s surprisingly easy: just cook a week’s worth of healthy meals, and stock your
refrigerator with them. This will ensure that you’ll eat healthy for a whole week. If
you don’t, you’ll have to waste money on food, plus you’ll feel like an idiot for
cooking the food then not eating it. Plus, you’ll have a healthy meal in minutes
anytime you want it – you won’t eat unhealthy food because it’s more convenient.
Virtually 100% of my clients eat healthy for a week while doing this – even the ones
who struggled with conventional diets.”
“I can’t believe how simple that is,” Alex said. “But I see exactly how it works. I know
that if I spent the time and money to make a week’s worth of healthy food I’d
definitely eat them – I’d feel like I was crazy if I just cooked a bunch of food, and
threw it all away.”
“Right. And this little psychological trick is another important shortcut to getting a
six pack that most guys don’t know about. In fact, it’s one of the principles my Zero
Willpower Eating System is built around. Of course, there’s much more to it than
that – you have to know the right foods to eat, how to prepare them so they taste
great, and you need a system for cooking them with minimal time and effort. But
once you learn this, you’ll have a massive advantage because it’ll become far easier
for you to eat clean.”
Copyright 2010 Mike Chang Fitness SixPackShortcuts.com
8. Shortcut #5: FOCUS – Only Learn One Or Two Key Habits At A
Time
“Here’s another big one,” I continued.
“Getting six pack abs is mostly a matter
of establishing good eating and exercise
habits. In total, I would say that there are
12 key habits that are responsible for
about 90% of your results in your
physique.”
“That sounds like a lot,” Alex said. “How
can I learn all of those?”
“It is a lot – if you do it the way that most
‘fitness gurus’ teach, and try to learn all
12 at once. The vast majority of people
who try and do it this way fail – it’s just
not possible to actually implement that
many changes in your life at the same time.”
“So then how do you do it?” he asked.
“Easy – focus only on learning one, or at the most two key habits at a time. Only
move onto the next ones once you have the previous ones down solidly. Start
with the most important habit, then go to the second most important, and so
on until you’ve incorporated all 12 into your life.”
“That sounds a lot easier.”
“Definitely, because the hard part about establishing good habits is making the
initial change. The first few weeks are very hard, but once it’s become your routine
it’s very easy to maintain. This is another key principle that Six Pack Shortcuts is
built around – in each phase of the program, you’ll be focusing on implementing one
of two key habits into your life. This way, you don’t get overwhelmed and confused,
and your chances of success are far higher.”
Shortcut #6: Use A Multi‐Phase Plan To Focus On One Goal At A
Time
Alex looked at me quizzically. “But doesn’t that make things more complicated? I
mean, why not just follow one program the whole time that will let you achieve all
your goals?”
Copyright 2010 Mike Chang Fitness SixPackShortcuts.com
9. “That’s actually a good question, and it leads into
another key shortcut to getting six pack abs. And that
is, following a multi‐phase plan does not make things
harder. It actually makes things much EASIER and
SIMPLER, because you can focus on achieving one
single goal in each phase.”
“This is HUGE psychologically,” I continued. “For
example, it’s very hard to try and both gain muscle
and lose fat at the same time. Because if you’re doing
this, your weight will essentially remain the same.
Even if you’re making gains in terms of body
composition, you won’t be able to see results very
quickly and dramatically. You also won’t know
whether or not what you’re doing is even working for a few months.”
“But if you focus ONLY on gaining muscle, then you’ll know much faster. If your lifts
are going up, and you see more muscle mass in the mirror then what you’re doing is
working. The same with losing fat – if your measurements and weight are going
down, but all your lifts are staying the same then you know you’re on the right track.
Trying to measure and work on both at the same time is just too hard and
confusing.”
“There are also important physical reasons why focusing on one fitness goal at a
time is essential. If you’re trying to lose fat, you will have to eat less than normal.
You’ll still feel fine, but you probably won’t actually be able to make gains in
strength and muscle size. And vice versa.”
“Is that why you made Six Pack Shortcuts a four phase plan?”
“Right – it evolved into a four phase plan because that’s what got the best results for
my clients in the shortest time.”
“In Phase I, we focus on building your metabolism. We show you the exercises that
pack on total body muscle. This makes losing weight much easier in later phases,
and provides a solid base of muscle which we can sculpt the fine details into later.”
“In Phase II, we focus on burning your belly fat. You’ll get a simple eating and
exercise system that will make you lose fat fast. Especially when coupled with your
accelerated metabolism we built in Phase I, it’s by far the fastest and easiest way to
lose weight.”
“In Phase III, we focus on building your core muscle. We show you the total body
exercises that build a tastefully muscular, “fitness model” style six pack. And THIS is
also when you get my full arsenal of direct ab exercises – now that you’ve lost your
belly fat, this is when they really make a difference.”
Copyright 2010 Mike Chang Fitness SixPackShortcuts.com
