The biceps come high up on the list of glamour muscles for most men. It's what you flex when you want to show off your muscles. Go into any gym and you'll see rows of men curling barbells in an attempt to build bulging biceps. Yet the biceps are among the smaller muscles in the body, and they aren't even the biggest muscles in your arms.

Your triceps make up about two thirds of your upper arm muscle mass and, as the name suggests, they are made up of three different muscles or 'heads'. The long head and lateral head combine to form the horseshoe shape at the top of your arm, while the medial head runs beneath the long head down to the elbow. Their job is to straighten your elbow, so they come into play every time you push something away from your body, such as when you do bench presses.
 

Call off the arms race: if you’re still obsessed with your biceps and triceps, you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage in the dating war. In fact, if your workouts are mainly focused on the muscles you see in the mirror – including your pecs and abs – you may as well start waving a white flag. 

Why? Because when it comes to attraction, a body that’s ready for action in the running, fighting, saving-cats-from-trees sense gives off visual vibes that you’re an evolutionarily viable catch. According to one study from the University of Windsor in Canada, for instance, how attractive men were rated by the opposite sex correlated almost perfectly with their shoulder width and upper-body taper – or how close they were to the V-shape that signals functional upper-body strength. Think classical statue, not Austrian bodybuilder – proportionally, Michelangelo’s David is close to the ideal masculine shape.

Any advice that you read on how to get a six-pack will tell you that one of if not the most important aspects of revealing your abs is to lower your body fat percentage, shedding the fat off of your stomach to reveal the hidden holy grail underneath. Dropping body fat percentages is easier said than done however, requiring discipline, knowledge and will power in abundance, but this is not to say it’s impossible, far from it actually. We’ve broken down the process of lowering your body fat percentage into ten easy steps, helping you to reach your goals without being overwhelmed by all the possible avenues that you could take to shed that excess weight.  

1. Overhaul that diet. Start adding more foods with a lower energy density. Think vegetables, fish and lean meats. Take anything that falls into the ‘junk food’ category and only consume these foods on a designated cheat day if you have to.

2. Try to drink a full glass of water with all of your meals, this will keep the body hydrated and keep you feeling slightly fuller. Your body needs to be well hydrated in order to burn fat at the necessary rate. Water should be your go-to drink. Skip any high-calorie beverages that have no nutritional value, specifically flavoured lattes and carbonated drinks.

3. Don’t let your guard down in a restaurant. Always scan the menu carefully in order to make the healthy choices. It’s easy to let slip when you order something that you are unsure about. Stick with foods that are steamed, baked, boiled or broiled over meals that are fried, braised or creamed.

4. Try to dedicate three days a week to high-intensity cardiovascular training. This can be applied to any form of cardio that you choose it doesn’t always have to be running. Try to vary it up as much as you can, try, spinning, skipping ropes, rowing or swimming. Start each workout with a light five-minute warm-up, then alternate back and forth from high to low intensity.

5. Keep eating. Snack on smaller meals that are spaced two to three hours apart. Balance each one of them out with carbohydrates and protein and start your eating as soon as you wake up. Skipping meals is actually counter-productive when trying to lose body fat, so eat healthy and eat often.

Find out how to turn your newly flat stomach into a washboard six-pack. 

6. Don’t neglect the weight room. It might not seem like hitting the weights is a viable use of your body fat burning time but it certainly is.  By adding 1.5kg worth of muscle to your body you have the potential to burn 1,050 extra calories a week, according to a study by the University of Michigan. Do multi-joint exercises like squats, deadlifts and bench presses; these will work more than one muscle group at a time prompting quicker gains.

7. Get a taste for spicier food. As is turns out capsaicin, the compound that gives chilli peppers that unique heat, can also help to fire up your metabolism. Eating just one tablespoon of chopped peppers can boost your body’s sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for your fight or flight response according to a study in the Journal of Nutritional Science and Vitaminology. This can result in a temporary metabolism spike of around 23%.

8. Drink milk. There is some evidence that calcium deficiency could slow metabolism. Research has shown that consuming calcium through dairy foods like low fat yoghurt or –fat-free-cheese could also contribute to reducing fat absorption from other food sources.

9. Increase your vitamin D levels. This doesn’t include sitting in the sun for hours on end. Vitamin D absorbed from food is essential for the preservation of muscle tissue. You can get 90% of your recommended daily intake from a 100g piece of salmon. So eat plenty of fish, eggs, milk and cereals to get your intake up. And sit in the sun if you like, it can’t hurt…

10. Get your fibre on. Research has shown that some fibre can fire up your fat burning by as much as 30%. These studies have found that those who are consuming the most amount of fibre are gaining less weight over a period of time. It’s best to aim for around 25g per day. 

The 27 foods that you should be eating if you want to lower your body fat percentage and get a six-pack. 

Kind of similar really. I was using different brands for different things but now this Super 7 range has all the stuff I’ve used over the years, put into one. Right now I'm trying to bulk up so I'm mostly using the Super 7 Gain Post Workout Deluxe. I’ll always have a shake straight after a workout, but the carb to protein ration changes depending what I’m training for at that point. 

I train four times a week and mix it up each time. I do chest one day, back one day, shoulders one day, and chest again. I do four exercises on each body part, then I might drop the set at the end and do a superset. I don’t have a personal trainer, however my friend Kenzie used to train me, so I’ve learnt everything from him really.

I would be lying if I said I didn’t go to the gym to look good, but now I've been doing it so long it's just part of my life and it feels strange if I miss a session. Having said that, I did think about doing the marathon last year, but it was too much time doing running training, which would have kept me out of the gym doing strength stuff. I'm really competitive so if I did it I'd want to really go for it, not just do it as a laugh. I would change my supplements to start losing weight and taking pre-workout boosters to keep my energy levels up on long runs and stop my body from eating into its muscle stores for fuel. My target time would be less than 4 hours.