How do I get six pack abs as quickly as possible?
I went from this….
To this…
In 3 months.
now like most men who hit the gym on the reg and are what I’d consider athletic but not super fit, it’s always the same thing… “I can’t seem to lose the belly fat, or love handles, no matter what. I cut out most of my carbs, eat 2x the protein and run like hell after my lifts.”
what gives?
well I’m by no means an expert and what I’m about to share is what worked for me, a guy who also felt like getting abs was hopeless.
follow these rules if you really want a 6 pack. If you don’t follow them, then I guess you just didn’t want them that badly.
- throw out the idea that it will take you x amount of time to get abs. Anyone giving you a number is selling you bs. Why? BecAuse we are all different, we metabolize food at different rates, our insulin sensitivity varies, and perhaps most importantly, we might store our fat in different places. ( I.e some people have visible abs at 12% some need to get to 10%). Truth is, to have abs and to sustain them, it’s about a lifestyle change. I know everyone says that, and everyone hates hearing it. But it’s not so black and white. You do NOT need to eat like a body builder( chicken and broccoli 24/7) to get ripped. Once you see that for yourself, you’ll actually see how easy it is to maintain a good physique.
- get an honest account for how much energy( calories) your body needs just to maintain its current weight. Your TDEE, or total daily energy expenditure, will be your baseline and from there you will be able to set up your plan to lose fat. You’ll need to use an online calculator, they’re free, and they are pretty good at giving you a ballpark number and even a good macro breakdown( how many carbs, proteins, fats to eat). Some even break it down based on your activity level, current body fat%, and how often/intense you lift weights or do cardio.
- Once you have your numbers/macros, spend the 12 bucks and get yourself a food scale and download a food tracker like myfitnesspal. This will accomplish a few things: 1- you’ll see what an actual portion of all that shit food you bought looks like( hint Americans will be shocked to see how little you get per serving) 2- you’ll be way more mindful of your eating, even if you don’t want to be. Sorry, it’s going to happen. 3- you will get to see how these foods make you feel. If you’re like me, you wanna know why one day you could lift the world on your shoulders and the next day felt like somehow gravity is playing a sick joke, and you can’t even move let alone lift weights. 4- you’ll also learn the hard truth about food and hunger. You’ll see that eating calorie dense crap food will leave you hungry, while eating healthy, Whole Foods, keeps you satisfied longer. and since you now have an accurate way to see your calorie allotment for the day, knowing going over this number means weight gain, I’m sure you’ll start to switch out the chips and Twinkie’s for more filling foods. You’ll also see that eating 2,000 calories from a cleaner diet, is quite a challenge at first! So…much….food!
- Stop killing yourself with low calories and more cardio. To be honest, I did ZERO cardio for this transformation. Seriously. Unless you’re trying to improve your cardio health (which is definitely important) cardio should be looked at more as a tool than a necessity. Now If you’re eating at a deficit and hit a plateau, but dropping more calories turns you into a walking zombie, then cardio can definitely help and should be implemented instead of eating like 300 calories a day.
- speaking of deficits, it’s important to note that more is not better! Unless you’re over 20% body fat, you’ll want to shoot for 1lb of weight loss per week (400–500 calories). Going too extreme signals danger to the body and causes it to go into emergency mode. The result? Skinny fat. You’ll look worse than you did before, and you’ll feel like poop. Your lifts will suffer, and that can also be discouraging. By going slow, and not giving yourself too extreme of a deficit your body will hold onto a lot more muscle mass, you’ll be more “filled out” and will have that beach body ripped look.
- ab exercises are okay, but don’t rely on them to get you to where you want to be. Truth is, if you’ve lifted weights for a while, you probably have pretty good abs already. Nearly every exercise you perform works your abs. Think about those breathes you take (or try to take) on that last rep of incline dumbbell press. Even more so on deadlifts and squats. If you are a total beginner, especially with a narrower frame, you definitely will want to incorporate Ab workouts. Abs respond well to anything, so go heavy for low reps on some days, and go Light and till failure on others. I like cables for these because you can adjust the weight easily. Just remember tho, unless that body fat goes, these are only going to help with strength, not aesthetics.
- weigh yourself once a week. That’s it. Do not weigh yourself daily and try and make sense of the .5 pound you gained even tho you ate at maintenance. Water weight can play tricks on us all.
- Cheat days are important if you’ve been at a deficit for a long time. It feels counter intuitive and almost scary shoving a doughnut ( or a dozen) in your mouth after months of disciplined eating. But sometimes it’s a necessary evil( ahem delight). If you’re at a deficit for too long, even a slow deficit, the metabolism will still slow down. Sure it won’t be as bad as the guy whose now skinny fat, but you’ll still get frustrated and confused when you hit that platuea and start to think nothing will work. Rev that metabolism up, take a day or a meal at the very least, and EAT at a surplus. This is anecdotal but when I was around 12% during this weight loss journey, it had been 2 months since I’d cheated on my diet. Well, when I finally did, I went crazy and ate as much as I could. It was horribly awesome, but what was even more awesome, was the next day I actually felt thinner and my weight was still the same. A few days after that (and continuing on my diet) I broke thru my plateau and saw my abs!
bottom line. Most people don’t have visible abs because it’s hard work! But really, it’s not that hard. I still eat whatever I want, but just by following the macros and tracking the food will make this journey WAAAAY easier.
