How To Get Six Pack Abs

H:

Yeah you’re a big boy. But that’s ok. Weight, body fat, strength, lung capacity, conditioning… these things all change when you make them change over time. It just takes dedication, maybe some inspiration, maybe some aspiration to achieve some goals.
First off, I would recommend aiming for a skill, sport, athletic ability, strength, etc. Have some type of goal, or something you’re interested in doing physically. Could be football, soccer, weightlifting, sprinting.. The sky is the limit. Don’t ever limit yourself mentally. Being 14 doesn’t bar you from any type of physical activity. Lifting weights will not stunt your growth, don’t believe the lies.
ANY workout would be fine. But you have to put in work. You have to sweat and breath. Whether it’s strength training, endurance training, cross training, circuit workouts…. it doesn’t matter what it is. Push yourself, take rest, repeat. Be consistent. Consistent effort = results. In anything.
What could you do? Well, depends. Does your family have some type of gym membership? If so, you could work out at the gym using weights. If not, there’s a lot of stuff you can do at home. You could bug your parents to get a pullup bar and and maybe a dumbbell or two, and you could do a bodyweight workout at home. You could do pullups, pushups, mountain climbers, planks, jumping lunges, bodyweight squats, squat jumps, burpees, sprinting, hill sprints, biking…
As far as the workout goes, there are a few places you could look:
* http://www.simplefit.org/workout.html This is a simple bodyweight workout program.
* CrossFit – This is a mixed workout that includes weight training and bodyweight exercises. See if you can find some of their simple bodyweight workouts. They have workouts where you try to do as many reps as you can in a time limit, or they have workouts where you do 100 of something as fast as you can and you just keep track of how long it took you.
* Circuit training – This is where you do ANY type of exercises, maybe pick 4-8 different exercises, do them all in a row. Once you’re done will all the exercises, take a short break, maybe 1-2 min tops. Then, do the circuit again 1-3 more times. Very tough if you’re a beginner, depending on the exercises. Burpees are pretty tough, but will benefit you greatly.
Like I said it really depends on the goal, if you want to focus more on a particular thing. If you want a good “build” and want a lot of strength, weight lifting can help more quickly, but with weight lifting you won’t necessarily lose weight without practicing calorie control and performing the exercises intensely. Weight lifting is often on the lower end of the calorie burn scale for most people, mainly due to the amount of rest periods you get in a relatively slow-paced weight lifting routine. Another tip to keep in mind is that the bodyweight workouts are nothing to scoff at. You can get a GREAT workout in and get some nice muscle development and fat loss with a bodyweight workout, they’re awesome. But whatever you do you have to put in the work and sweat and breath.
* Remember to warm up before.
* Remember to stretch after.
* Remember to take a few rest days during the week, and let your muscles recover from soreness before doing a hard workout again. Later on, even if you’re not feeling sore, still give your muscles 1-3 days of rest per week, depending.
* Weight loss is more about calorie control.
Calories in < calories out = weight loss
Calories out = BMR + exercise.
You can calculate your BMR online. You can also count calories online and measure your nutrition (http://caloriecount.com is a good one).
Good luck
(Dave’s right though. Weight loss is all about the calorie control. You can exercise a little and eat a lot and still be huge. A lot of girls eat like birds which explains why they’re lighter than their ideal weight, and they don’t even realize it because magazines make them think they need to be a twig to be attractive)

Dave:

At your age, you probably don’t have a lot of time to devote to an elaborate workout. If your neighborhood is relatively safe, you could start taking half-hour walks after school; once you get home, change into a T-shirt and shorts you’ve set aside specifically for working out and walk around your neighborhood for a while at a brisk pace.
If you’re not normally very active, you might want to start with a 10- or 15-minute walk and gradually build up to a longer one. Just pick a direction, walk quickly for 5-7 minutes, then turn around and walk back home the same way. Next week, try walking for 20 minutes; the week after that, go for the full 30. If you’ve got an iPod or similar device, make a playlist of faster songs and listen to them while you walk. This aerobic exercise will burn fat; to build muscle, you’ll need to do some resistance training. Get your hands on some free weights, if you can. If your school has a weight room, find out if students are allowed to use it outside of gym or weightlifting class. Perhaps take said weightlifting class if it’s available. Maybe see about a YMCA membership, if your family can afford it and you’re old enough to use the exercise equipment there.
As for a diet, stick to whole grains, protein chiefly in the form of fish, chicken, and beans, and whole fruits and vegetables whenever possible. I know, it’s hard to stick to a diet when you’re at the mercy of your family and/or the school cafeteria, but you might pitch it as a way to make the whole family healthier. Go for walks together after dinner, or get a family YMCA membership. If you just can’t make the food happen, try to at least limit your caloric intake to under 1800 calories a day. Also, don’t buy those 100-calorie packs; they’re a huge ripoff. Buy the regular product and read the nutrition label; the math is not that hard.