Here's how to get visible abs in a week

The days are getting longer, the mercury's rising - is it too late to start thinking about a spring six-pack?

Well, it will be hard. Very hard. But it may not be impossible. Here's your plan.

If you have a lot to lose, at this late hour, your best bet is to focus on eliminating water retention. While we're normally strong proponents of carbs, a few days (and we mean a few days only) of deprivation will help you on your way to a shrink-wrapped torso, says PT James Alexander-Ellis. “Start basing your meals around protein and leafy greens, but make sure you add salt,” he advises.

“The kidneys excrete more sodium with a low carb intake.” You’ll also want to up your water intake to three or four litres a day: “This flushes excess fluid from the body, reducing bloating.”

As for your workouts, your buzz-term here is ‘carb depletion’. This is the kind of training bodybuilders do pre-show, essentially burning out their glycogen stores.

To shed that padding around your middle, Alexander-Ellis suggests high reps of bodyweight moves like burpees, dips and squats, supersetting body parts so no second is squandered.

Then follow up with a few sprint intervals to drop that excess baggage just in time for take-off.

A version of this story originally appeared on Menshealth.co.uk

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