The MH team put their bellies on the line to find out if a fast-track six-pack is feasible. What did that really feel like? Here are their testimonials:

“Whoever said cheats never,   prosper was lying to get ahead. I secretly did everything short of surgery to turn my beer barrel into a six-pack. But, like an STD-free porn star, I can now come clean.

I used to be fairly sporty. Then I joined Men’s Health and quickly published a second edition of my chin. Whoever said there’s no such thing as a free lunch had never seen my social calendar. Or my rapidly expanding gut. Although no gymslip of a lad, I’d sucked myself into believing I was quite trim until I saw the ‘before’ pics. I was even more shocked to see my ridiculous training schedule. I got a good ab workout just laughing at it.

“But I dug deep into my commitment reserves. It was out with lavish lunches and in with the painful crunches. It was a hard, constant battle, but vanity won out over temptation. I had no bad carbs after breakfast, just protein, and fresh fruit and veg. Crucially, I also gave up alcohol almost completely.

“And yes, I had help: six sessions with a brilliant personal trainer called Dave Green (www.aipt.co.uk), a course of 12 very effective `vacunauf sessions (www.hypoxitraining.com), which involved wearing a suit of bubblewrap under vacuum suction while walking on a treadmill and health tips from Nutria.co. The combination saw me lose three inches off my waist. So, if ‘whoever’ says you can’t get a six-pack in six weeks, they’re wrong.”

THE BEGINNER

“Edging towards a mid-thirties paunch and blessed (thanks, Dad) with a face prone to ‘jowling’, recent pictures hadn’t been pleasant viewing. I also had a general feeling of ‘heaviness’… that sensation when your gut spills out over the top of your trousers as you sit down. The time had come to stop putting it off and start sweating it off.

“Buoyed by the challenge, the first week went well. I’d been warned to go easy as I hadn’t been a regular gym-goers for some time… having what my fellow six-packers termed ‘motivation issues’.

“My focus was getting my overall weight and body-fat down, then building abdominal definition through sit-ups, crunches and hyper extensions. And that meant CV work: lots of it. I spent most lunchtimes on the treadmill, using interval training to get my heart rate into the fat-burning zone.

“I cut out most booze, cheese, paid attention to what I ate after exercising and discovered the energy-boosting benefits of breakfast.

“After three weeks I started to see a difference. Clothes got looser; the CV work got a little easier. There were setbacks: vodka, lime and sodas are the new slimming drink, and I couldn’t resist a curry. I skipped the gym more than once because I was too knackered, but I made sure I was back the next day.

“Six weeks on, I feel so much better. Okay, my abs need more work- I have more of a two-pack than a six-pack. But I have tons more energy, I’ve kicked most of the junk food, and I no longer shudder when I see my mug in photographs.”

As your life changes, so does your running gait – so pay attention to it and react to any changes to avoid injury

You might think that once you’ve had your feet analysed at a specialist running shop, you’re set up for life, but you’d be wrong. Your body goes through stresses, strains and changes over time, and the way your foot hits the floor when you first start running doesn’t remain constant. These are some of the most common reasons for gait changes:

YOU BECOME EFFICIENT

“With any task that you repeat, you become more efficient as your brain learns the action; so if you run repeatedly you should become more efficient in the muscles you use,” says Sam Wilde, physiotherapist at Pure Sports Medicine (www. puresportsmed.com). For example, the first time you run after a layoff, you’ll find it tough. You’ll find it less so the second time, and even less still the third time. This doesn’t mean that you’ve become fitter in that short time frame, but that your brain has recruited the correct muscles more efficiently. You may need to switch to a running shoe that has fewer support features.

YOU’RE PREGNANT

During pregnancy your ligaments are softened through the production of a hormone called relaxin, so that the pelvis can let the baby through. Those ligaments won’t stiffen up while the mother is still breast feeding, so if you run during this time, the pelvis will not be as sturdy, changing the way you run, and could potentially cause injury. See a personal trainer who specialises in post-natal exercise to help you return to running safely, and get your gait checked again (your shoe size may have changed, too).

YOU GET INJURED

If you become injured, you may develop a different way of running in order to adapt to it. For example, some runners start off with a neutral gait but then develop a weakness in the arch through under-use, an issue with the back or any one of a number or reasons, and end up overpronating (where the ankle bends inwards), says Wilde. The arch may be strengthened back up over time, but it’s just as important to provide the correct support to counteract the changed movement of the foot.

YOU GET OLDER

There’s no getting away from it. As you get older your body changes and your joints stiffen up, which will have a bearing on the way you run, says Wilde. To have more energy, you can check for testosterone supplements. Learn more about testosterone injections. “As people get to the age of so and beyond, although it is difficult to pinpoint exactly where the changes may take place, it’s likely that there will be changes in the movement of one or more of the hips, the back, the ankles and the knees – any of which will then have an influence on what your foot does when it hits the floor.”

Hamstrings and core muscles benefit from this upper-body stretch. Standing with feet shoulder-width apart, bend at the waist until you can touch the floor. ‘Walk’ your hands forward slowly as far as you can, before shaking it out and repeating once. If it hurts at first, try just placing your fingertips on the ground – as you become more supple, this can progress to the full hand.

Give your IT band a gentle awakening with this glute-strengthening move. While standing, slowly straighten your leg straight out in front of you, reaching out towards your toes with the opposite arm. Repeat seven times on each leg. These stretches can also help cleanse the colon. For more information visit gnet.org/colon-cleansing-a-fast-fix-for-clogged-bowels/

RW ONLINE POLL HOW DO YOU WARM UP?

Big PB always just out of reach? Your warm up might be to blame.

The running community has had its doubts about common warm-up stretches for years. When the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine reviewed 23 studies in 2oo4, not one supported the idea that static stretching – pushing muscles beyond their normal range of motion without significantly increasing blood flow to the area – helped performance.

In fact, a 2008 study at the University of Nevada found that static stretching actually reduced the force that could later be generated by an athlete’s legs, impeding performance and making injury more likely.

Yet static stretching was favoured by almost a quarter of runners in a recent RW online poll, and they’re in illustrious company. Chartered physiotherapist Will Amor

Lengthen quads by jogging forwards at a very slow pace. On each foot strike, bend the opposite leg further back than usual, bringing your heel up towards your glutes. says, “I have noticed that very few runners warm up appropriately prior to racing ­even at very high levels.”

“A well-planned warm-up should raise your core temperature, and also increase elasticity in muscles, tendons and ligaments,” explains performance analyst Mitchell Phillips, (strideuk.com).

More than half of RW poll respondents kicked off their session with easy runs, a tactic that raises body temperature but doesn’t quite fulfill the second requirement. Your body has dual needs, and requires a dual-tactic approach. As Phillips says, “Always loosen the body up first, with dynamic stretches for mobility. Then go into easy running.”

Use these dynamic stretches; after stretching, run at a pace slow enough to hold a conversation and end your warm-up with 10 minutes of gradually intensified running.

To loosen up hip flexors and extensors, hold on to a wall and swing your leg both in front and behind you seven times. Don’t go too fast, or you risk overextension. Repeat with the opposite limb, before doing six reps on each leg extending your leg straight out to the side.