THE 10 MOST
DANGEROUS
MISTAKES GUYS
MAKE WHEN
TRYING TO GET SIX
PACK ABS
BY MIKE CHANG – SIX
PACK ABS COACH AND
ISSA CERTIFIED
PERSONAL TRAINER
By Mike Chang – SixPackShortcuts.com
Introduction
Hi, it's Mike Chang here from
SixPackShortcuts.com. I wanted to write
you to introduce myself, and to
congratulate you signing up for my Six
Pack Abs email newsletter.
I've spent YEARS in my quest to get
defined abs ‐ and I must have bought
every book, supplement, and ab gadget
out there in my quest. Of course most of
it didn't work, but I did discover a few
things that were absolutely GOLD for
getting a lean, defined midsection. This is
what eventually led me to get the six pack
abs I have today ‐ and in this newsletter I want to share those secrets
with you.
I'll be writing to you every couple of days to share new tips and
techniques for building abdominal muscle and leaning up your
midsection.
And we’ll start with today’s episode, where we’ll discuss:
"The 10 Most Dangerous Mistakes Men Make When Trying To Get Six
Pack Abs"
It’s critical that you learn about these mistakes, because over 95% of
men are making them in the gym. And they KILL your chances of getting
six pack abs (which is why it’s so rare to see guys with a six pack.)
But once you know what these mistakes are – and how to avoid them –
you’ll get your six pack abs faster and easier than you ever thought was
possible.
So let’s jump right into it...
By Mike Chang – SixPackShortcuts.com
Mistake #1 – Doing Lots Of Sit‐Ups And Crunches
Popular wisdom says that if you
want to get abs, the key is doing
lots of sit‐ups and crunches.
Unfortunately, in this case
popular wisdom is dead wrong.
Here’s why: sit‐ups, crunches, and
any other direct ab exercise can
only build the muscle your core –
they cannot burn the fat on your stomach. The idea of “spot reduction” –
or losing fat on only one part of your body – is a complete myth. It is
only possible lose fat over your ENTIRE body.
And if you still need to lose fat on your stomach, exercises like sit‐ups
and crunches will do NOTHING for you. All they will do is build the
muscle underneath your stomach – which will be completely hidden by
the layer of fat covering it.
In fact, they can actually make the problem WORSE. Because if you have
a lot of ab muscle beneath a thick layer of fat, it will actually make the fat
bulge out MORE.
Now, direct ab exercises DO have their place once you’ve lost the fat on
your stomach, and want to build up your ab muscles. But there are
MANY direct ab exercises that are FAR more effective than traditional
sit‐ups and crunches.
If you’re doing lots of sit‐ups and crunches right now, you are wasting
your time. If you still need to lose fat, you need to learn the total‐body
exercises that are much more effective for doing that. And if you are
already lean, then you need to learn the direct ab exercises that are
MUCH better for building core muscle than traditional sit‐ups and
crunches.
By Mike Chang – SixPackShortcuts.com
Mistake #2 – Doing Cardio
Doing steady‐state cardio for long
periods of time is another HUGE mistake
which I see many guys in the gym
making.
Here’s why:
Let’s suppose you went to the gym, and
rode the exercise bike at a light pace for
an HOUR.
How many calories do you think you’d
burn?
1500? 1200? 1000?
Actually, according the calorie calculator
at BodyBuilding.com, you would only
burn 229 calories.
This means that if you did an hour of this type of cardio, then ate a small
order of fries from McDonald’s (which is about 250 calories)...
You’d actually be on your way to GAINING weight.
The reality is, doing cardio simply does not burn enough calories to be
effective for fat loss. All those guys you see spending hours on elliptical
machines and treadmills are basically wasting their time.
But this begs the question...if long, slow cardio is NOT the answer for fat
loss, then what is?
It comes down to a combination of:
 Increasing your metabolism, so that you burn more calories each
day automatically whether you exercise or not.
 Reducing the calories you are eating (this does NOT have to suck
if you know the right way to do it)
By Mike Chang – SixPackShortcuts.com
 In some cases, adding in VERY short, high‐intensity cardio (by
very short, I mean it should only take 2‐5 minutes)
I’ll go into detail on all of these in later episodes. But for now, just
realize that long, slow cardio will not help you to get six pack abs.
And commit yourself to learning more effective fat loss techniques –
otherwise, you’re just setting yourself up for failure.
By Mike Chang – SixPackShortcuts.com
Mistake #3 – Going On A Diet
“What!?!” I can hear the fitness
‘gurus’ screaming now.
“Everyone knows that you need
to go on a diet to get six pack
abs!”
And everyone does know it –
everyone who DOESN’T have
abs, that is.
Guys with abs know that “going
on a diet” is a big mistake that
will prevent you from getting a
six pack. And here’s why:
“Going on a diet” means just temporarily changing your eating habits.
The idea is that you’ll restrict your calories for a few months, and lose
the weight...then go back to eating as normal once it’s lost.
This whole concept is fundamentally flawed and can never work.
Because if you only change your eating habits TEMPORARILY, then go
back to what you’re doing, it is inevitable that you are going to gain all
the weight that you lost back.
In fact, you will actually gain MORE weight back than you lost, and end
up fatter than you were originally. Because when you are dieting, you
are probably going to lose muscle. This will depress your metabolism –
so when you start eating “normally” again, you’ll gain weight even
faster.
Also – the failure rate on most diets is HORRIBLE. On every diet I’ve
ever heard of, over 90% of people who tried it ended up giving it up
within a month.
This is because most diets are too difficult to follow under real world
conditions. Theoretically, you would lose fat if you stuck to them...but
they’re so difficult to follow, that chances are over 90% that you will
give up and not lose any fat.
By Mike Chang – SixPackShortcuts.com
You know that this is true – think of all the people you know who have
tried to “go on a diet,” and think of how many of them actually
succeeded in losing fat.
So realize that by “going on a diet,” you have at least a 90% chance of
failing and gaining MORE fat than you had originally. You need to learn
healthy eating habits, which are designed to be EASY to stick to under
real world conditions. And you need to commit to PERMANENTLY
changing your eating habits – not just changing them for a few months.
By Mike Chang – SixPackShortcuts.com
Mistake #4 – Using Fat Burners And Diet Pills
All fat burning supplements and diet pills
are a waste of money. They don’t work to
get you six pack abs, and they are
incredibly bad for your body.
The main effect of a “fat burner” is not
actually to “burn fat” – it’s to suppress
your appetite. This means that your body
will not be getting the nutrients it needs to
exercise and maintain your muscle.
“Fat burners” also contain massive doses
of caffeine and other stimulants. These
stimulant drugs will make you feel
energized when you’re taking them. But
unfortunately, like any drug, your
tolerance to diet pills will build up quickly and you’ll need more and
more to feel the same “energized” effect.
As a result of this stimulant shock combined with appetite suppression,
your body goes into what I refer to as “survival mode.” This means that:
‐‐ Your body reduces the amount of calories it’s burning, because it does
not have enough available
‐‐ As a result of this your body holds onto fat more stubbornly – your
body feels that it needs to keep it to survive
‐‐ And your body will actually start breaking down your muscle tissue
for fuel, causing your metabolism to be depressed even MORE
Once you stop taking the “fat burner,” your appetite quickly goes back to
normal. But your depressed metabolism stays around for much longer...
This results in – you guessed it – gaining back MORE fat than you lost,
and ending up worse off than when you started.
Long story short, “fat burners” are a scam. There is no such thing as a
magic pill that will help you lose fat. You need to stop buying dangerous
By Mike Chang – SixPackShortcuts.com
diet pills ASAP – and to start learning the techniques and strategies that
REALLY work to lose fat.
By Mike Chang – SixPackShortcuts.com
Mistake #5 – Working Out TOO MUCH
You’ve probably heard about
professional bodybuilders who
go to the gym 7 days a week, or
who train for 2‐3 hours per
workout.
If you are doing lots of steroids
(and you have no life outside
the gym), this is a great idea.
But what you have to realize is
that most guys who are doing this are juiced – if you are not taking
megadoses of steroids training for this long is simply not beneficial.
Also related to this are guys who think that spending lots of time at the
gym is a good substitute for proper workouts design, and for workout
intensity.
The best thing for your muscles is going to be to give them a short,
intense workout. I NEVER work out for more than 30 minutes myself –
that’s all I need to deliver a heavy does of stimulation to my muscles.
And even more importantly – long, boring workouts are psychologically
grueling. If you are working out for 2‐3 hours, you’re soon going to
dread going to the gym. This makes it exponentially more likely you’ll
skip workouts, or quit altogether.
So remember – when it comes to exercise, quantity is NEVER a good
substitute for quality. You need to get a workout properly designed by a
professional trainer, and you need to learn how to perform it with good
form at a high intensity level. Once you can do this, you can easily get six
pack abs with workouts that are only 20‐30 minutes long.
By Mike Chang – SixPackShortcuts.com
Mistake #6 – Using Gimmick Ab Machines And
Contraptions
You’ve seen the late night infomercials:
“Get firm, sexy abs in just 10 minutes with
the Ab Lounge!”
“All you need is the Ab Rocker to get your
six pack!”
“The Shake Weight – that’s MY key to
getting six pack abs” (said by a paid fitness model who got his body
doing REAL workouts, not shake weight workouts)
Here’s what you need to know: There are no newly invented machines
or contraptions that will get you six pack abs, and by buying any
gimmick ab machine you are wasting your time and money.
The reason for this is simple: any type of ab machine can only work your
ab muscles, and nothing else. And as we’ve already established, unless
you are at a low body fat percentage already there is no point in
building up your ab muscles directly, since they will not be visible.
And not only this...even if you are already at a low body fat percentage,
gimmick ab machines are a very poor way to build up your ab muscle.
There are many more effective ways to train your abs, which require
either no equipment, or with very basic equipment.
You can see the evidence of this if you walk into any gym. 9 out of 10
guys using the ab lounger type gimmick machines are overfat and have
very poor physiques.
You need to realize that you are not going to get abs by purchasing any
type of contraption or device. You are going to get abs by LEARNING
and EDUCATING yourself about the best ways to develop your abs – this
is the only real way to get a six pack.
By Mike Chang – SixPackShortcuts.com
Mistake #7: Not Sleeping Enough
This is a mistake that I see even
advanced guys making. Everyone
knows that your exercise and eating
habits are important for getting six
pack abs. But what’s not as widely
known is that your SLEEPING habits
are just as important.
This is for a few reasons:
‐‐ Muscle is built while you sleep. If you
are not sleeping enough, then you will
not be getting the full benefits of your workouts because you’re not
giving your body a chance to heal and re‐build your muscle.
‐‐ Lack of sleep negatively affects your performance in the gym. This
indirectly leads to muscle loss and fat gain.
‐‐ Lack of sleep tremendously affects your MOTIVATION. If you are tired,
then it’s much more likely that you will skip your workouts.
‐‐ And most importantly – lack of sleep can lead to OVEREATING and
FAT GAIN.
The reason why lack of sleep can lead to overeating is that it affects the
hormones that control your appetite. This is how it works in a nutshell:
There are two hormones which are responsible for regulating your
appetite: grehlin and leptin. Leptin suppresses your appetite and
reduces your food cravings – while grehlin increases your appetite and
cravings.
When you don’t get enough sleep, your leptin levels plummet while your
grehlin levels skyrocket.
This means that when you are sleep deprived, you have MUCH less
conscious control over what you eat. You’ll have strong cravings for high
calorie, unhealthy food that will be extremely difficult to resist.
This used to happen to me ALL THE TIME back when I worked at an
office job. I was chronically sleep deprived, so I constantly had cravings
By Mike Chang – SixPackShortcuts.com
for high calorie food. And to make matters even worse, there wasn’t any
healthy food available...so I found myself constantly losing control over
my eating, and eating pizza, fries, donuts, and other foods that
destroyed my abs. I knew these foods were bad for me, but I’d end up
eating them anyways because I craved them and because it would be
much more inconvenient to get something healthy.
(I actually developed the Zero Willpower Eating System as my personal
solution to this problem...but more on that later.)
In later episodes we’ll go into some specific strategies for increasing the
quality and quantity of your sleep. But for now, just realize that your
sleep MATTERS when you’re trying to get abs – and that it matters a lot.
Just like you need an eating plan and an exercise plan to get abs, you
also need a SLEEPING plan.
By Mike Chang – SixPackShortcuts.com
Mistake #8: Excessive “Isolation” Exercises
Did you know that by doing tons of
bicep curls, you could actually be
HURTING your chances of getting six
pack abs?
This is another counter‐intuitive idea.
Most guys don’t realize that exercises
designed to isolate a small muscle
group (such as bicep curls, tricep
presses, etc.) can affect their ab
definition. But they can, and here’s
why:
As we mentioned before, you need to attain a low body fat percentage
for your abs to be visible. And to do that you need a high metabolism,
which is a product of having a large amount of fat‐free mass on your
body.
Exercises like bicep curls only build a tiny amount of muscle compared
to compound exercises like squats and dead lifts. Because of this,
someone who focuses mainly on isolation exercises will have a much
lower metabolism than someone who focuses mainly on compound
exercises.
As a result, the guy who focuses on compound exercises will be much
leaner, and will be many times more likely to have six pack abs.
What makes this mistake even more damaging is that beginners
typically avoid “hard” compound exercises such as the power clean and
military press. They reason that they’ll start off with the “easy” stuff like
the bicep curls, and then later progress to the “hard” stuff.
This is completely ass‐backwards – beginners need to be focusing on
compound exercises even MORE than advanced guys. And here’s why:
The purpose of isolation exercises is to SHAPE and SCULPT the details
of a muscle so that it is more aesthetically attractive. Because of this,
they can be very valuable for guys who are already lean and who
already have a good base of muscle from compound exercises.
By Mike Chang – SixPackShortcuts.com
However, for beginners there is no point in focusing on sculpting the
fine details in their muscles. This is because if your muscles are covered
in a layer of fat, the fine details of their shaping will not be visible. It’s
only once you attain a low body fat percentage that isolation exercises
can benefit you.
Also, you need to have a good base of muscle already to see benefits
from isolation exercises. If you are skinny and have very little muscle,
the fine details of your physique don’t matter. You just need to focus on
adding more muscle mass to your body, and not concern yourself so
much about where that muscle is. LATER, once you have more muscle to
shape, you can focus on the isolation exercises.
This is why beginners actually need to focus on the “hard” compound
exercises MORE than the advanced guy.
However, if you’re just starting off it’s also VERY important to realize
that compound exercises such as the squat and dead lift have a high risk
of injury if they are done incorrectly. You absolutely cannot just “wing
it” and start dead lifting without knowing what you are doing – this is a
surefire way to injure yourself.
You need to learn how to perform compound exercises like the clean
and jerk, squat, and dead lift from a qualified personal trainer. Then, you
need to practice these exercises on your own with LIGHT WEIGHT for a
few workouts before even attempting to do anything heavy.
If you invest in learning the proper form like this, compound exercises
can be VERY safe. And you’ll experience all the benefits of having them
in your routine – you’ll build muscle faster, lose fat faster, and have
much more functional strength and athleticism.
If you don’t know how to do compound exercises like the power clean,
squat, and dead lift, you’ve got learn how to do them ASAP. They are a
very important key to getting six pack abs.
By Mike Chang – SixPackShortcuts.com
Mistake #9: Getting Advice From People Who Don’t
Have Abs
I’m astounded by how many “ab
gurus” there are out there, WHO
DON’T HAVE ABS THEMSELVES.
It’s absolutely unbelievable...these
guys are making a living selling
their advice and coaching on how to
get abs. But they can’t even get a six
pack themselves, never mind for
anyone else.
You would not get financial advice
from a homeless person who has no
money. You would not get
relationship advice from someone
who has been divorced seven times.
So why would you get advice on
getting six pack abs from someone who does not have six pack abs?
It’s just common sense. Unless someone actually got six pack abs
themselves, they are not going to be able to give you any meaningful
advice on how you can get them.
I don’t care how many certifications the person has, or how many
degrees, or how good they are at intellectualizing about unimportant
details of exercise and nutrition. If they do not have abs themselves, you
need to discard their advice as invalid because it obviously isn’t
working.
This goes for your FRIENDS as well, because very often people who are
not in good shape themselves will love to give you advice. Judge the
value of the advice by the physique of the advice‐giver – if he’s out of
shape, then realize it will be very damaging to your body to follow his
advice.
By Mike Chang – SixPackShortcuts.com
From now on, you need to commit to ONLY following advice that comes
from qualified sources – from people who have used the advice they are
giving you to get six pack abs themselves.
This will be your general rule of thumb, but there are a few caveats to
this:
‐‐ First of all, the person must not be on steroids because you will not be
able to duplicate their results drug‐free. This means don’t follow any
workout plan you find in bodybuilding or fitness magazines. The guys in
these magazines are using so many performance enhancing drugs that
they will get ripped even with a poorly designed workout routine.
‐‐ Second, make sure the coach who you’re learning from
TRANSFORMED himself – that he wasn’t just born with great genetics. If
he could transform himself, he knows how to transform you as well.
‐‐ And finally, make sure that the coach you pick is a great TRAINER.
There are many guys who have great physiques, but who don’t enjoy
teaching others and who aren’t very good at it. You need to find
someone who both has a great physique, and who is also great at
teaching others how to get it.
By Mike Chang – SixPackShortcuts.com
Mistake #10: Not Getting HELP
This is the biggest mistake of
all, because it will prevent
you from EVER getting six
pack abs.
I know that as a guy, you
probably want to “do it on
your own.” That’s just our
nature – it’s very difficult for
us to admit that we could
benefit by learning from an
expert.
And trust me, I know how hard it can be to seek out help for getting in
shape firsthand.
In fact, let me tell you a little about myself, and how I got started in my
journey to get six pack abs...
I wasn’t always in the great shape you see me in today. This is
embarrassing for me to admit...but just six years ago I was downright
fat.
I weighed about 220 lbs, and had much less muscle than I do today. I
wasn’t working out at all, and I had no control over what I was eating.
I would try and pretend that I was OK with being overfat. I would make
jokes like “I don’t need a six pack – I have a KEG!” But deep down, I
really hated having a gut and I wanted to get rid of it.
But I just stuffed it down, and tried not to think about it. And I was able
to...that is, until this one party I went to opened my eyes...
I went to the party with Marisa, one of my female friends. And to be
honest, I was attracted to her as more than just a friend, although I
hadn’t worked up the nerve to tell her. She was beautiful and had a
great personality, and I wanted her more than anything in the world at
the time.
By Mike Chang – SixPackShortcuts.com
We were talking and it seemed like everything was going well. That is,
until everyone started going outside to the pool.
She urged me to go, but I hesitated at first. Because honestly, I was
embarrassed to let her and everyone else see me with my shirt off. But
she insisted, so we went.
And once she saw me with my shirt off, I could see an IMMEDIATE
change in the vibe...
I tried flirting with her, but she wasn’t having any of it. I could sense that
she was repulsed by my body – and I felt completely helpless, because
there was nothing that I could do about it.
And to make matters WORSE...later that night I saw her laughing and
flirting with this guy Alec – who had a great body, and a fantastic set of
abs.
I could see that Alec was getting a lot of attention from the other girls at
the party as well. They seemed like they were always finding some
excuse to touch him – and they were always giving him compliments on
how good he looked.
And not only this – I could tell that the GUYS at the party respected Alec
way more because of his abs as well. All the guys admiringly asked him
how he got such a ripped six pack...and because of his great physique he
was the center of attention in any group he was in.
Dejected, sitting by myself just staring at my gut hanging over my
swimming trunks, I thought: I want that. I wanted what Alec had – to
have the great set of six pack abs that made women instantly attracted
to me, and guys instantly respect me.
So I decided I was going to get six pack abs – no matter what.
It was the single best decision I ever made in my life.
But, it didn’t seem like it at first. I spent YEARS making no progress at
all, because I did not know how to train or eat in the right way. I was
reading lots of fitness books...but most of the advice I read there actually
made me WORSE, not better.
By Mike Chang – SixPackShortcuts.com
So I ended up blundering around with trial and error like this for a long
time. I was working out and trying to diet, but getting no results.
Things finally turned around for me when I discovered a few fitness
MENTORS that showed me that everything I was doing was wrong. They
showed me a much more effective way to work out, and an eating plan
that was easy to follow and which got me ripped.
This is when I really started to lose fat and gain muscle. Over the next
few years I completely transformed my body into what you see in my
pictures today... 205 lbs and a very lean 9% body fat.
I can’t express in words how much this improved my life. I’m now the
guy who gets all the attention from women, and who has guys admiring
and looking up to him. And I feel much better and more energetic since I
got in shape. I feel like with a body like this, I can conquer the world and
anything is possible to me.
I wanted everything else to feel this way as well – which is why I
became a personal trainer.
Eventually, as a trainer I realized that most guys had NO CLUE about the
proper way to train their abs. Most guys knew the basics of how to build
muscle and lose fat in the rest of their body...but the reason why so few
guys had six pack abs was that almost nobody knew the right way to get
them.
So I started specializing in ab training specifically. My clients started
referring to me as their “six pack ab coach.” I was the guy who you came
to get the abs you wanted, when everything else had failed you.
This is how I was making my living when Dan signed up to be one of my
clients. I put him through my ab training regimen, and he got GREAT
results...and he told me I had to come out with a video course so that
this knowledge would be available to everybody.
And that is how Six Pack Shortcuts was created, and why I am teaching
guys about ab training today.
And if you know that you want to get six pack abs, I encourage you to
give Six Pack Shortcuts a try. It’s the fastest way to burn belly fat and get
By Mike Chang – SixPackShortcuts.com
six pack abs. It’s worked for me and for hundreds of my clients, and I
know that it will work for you too.
You'll learn:
 The exercises which are MUCH more effective for getting abs than
traditional ab exercises
 The nutrition strategies that get you lean and ripped
 How to THINK like a guy with six pack abs, so you stay motivated
and fit year round.
Check out this video to learn more:
http://www.sixpackshortcuts.com/comingsoon.html
(copy and paste this link into your browser)
Mike Chang
ISSA Certified Personal Trainer
Your Six Pack Abs Coach
P.S. – If you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to check out my fitness blog. I
regularly post new tips and videos there that show you how to lose fat,
gain muscle, and get into great shape:
http://www.mikechangfitness.com/blog
(copy and paste this link into your browser)
P.P.S. – Also, be sure to add me to your contacts or “whitelist” me. This is
important because if you don’t, your email service may mistakenly put
some of the articles and videos I send you into the “junk” folder and you
won’t receive them. Add me to your contacts now to make sure you
don’t miss out.
P.P.P.S. – And finally, if this report helped you please SHARE it with your
friends. Forward it to them, post it on your Facebook wall, blog about it,
etc. Let’s spread the word about the RIGHT way to get abs!
By Mike Chang – SixPackShortcuts.com
What Six Pack Shortcuts Clients Are Saying
My biggest problem area on my body was my
gut. I’ve always dreamed of doing a
bodybuilding show but no matter what I did my
six pack would not show. I bought all kinds of
abs machines I saw on the infomercials but none
of them delivered what they promised.
The problem wasn’t that I didn’t have ab
muscles; it was the thick layer of fat that was
covering them. I saw the Six‐Pack Shortcuts
online one day and decided to give it a shot. I was very skeptical at first, but after
just 1 week I begin to see a difference. On the day of my show, my abs were so
ripped I couldn’t even believe it. Needless to say, the program is awesome. Give
it a shot for yourself it really works.
Michael Bui – 27, Houston TX
I been working out the past 3 years and was
never able to get my abs defined. I tried different
diets, fat burners, and did tons of cardio and it
never got my body fat low enough.
I was browsing online one day and came across
Mike's six pack site and told myself " what the
hell, I tried everything else I could think of" Well,
pictures don't lie, I lost a 5% body fat in this
program and I'm under 10% body fat the 1st
time in my life! I got to be honest, I feels dams good with my shirt off these days!
Sina G. – 29, Albany NY
I was in great shape in high school, but as time
went by, I got too busy to exercise. My waistline
expanded from a size 30, to a bloated size 38.
Every year, my gut just got a little bigger.
Thanks to Six Pack Shortcuts, I’m back down to
football playing shape and never felt better.
The most amazing thing is my waistline is exactly
the same as it was in high school ‐‐ down from a
size 38 back to a size 30!
Eric W. – San Francisco CA
By Mike Chang – SixPackShortcuts.com