The Truth Behind Abs

I saw an intriguing tweet the other day which seems to be a popular phrase circling the internet at the moment amongst fitness forums. It essentially says that abs on a skinny guy doesn't count. It was at least a saying that I hadn’t heard until now and I realised how true this was. Abs are perhaps the most sought after part of a man's physique, and the part which many women look for on a guy too over any other feature. But how easy is it to achieve a chiseled core? I for one have had major trouble finding my six pack when the rest of my body seems to progress. My chest, shoulders, legs, back, and arms have all grown bigger, more pronounced and defined, but although my abs are visible and I have a strong core, I still have those couple percentages extra in body fat that keep me from looking as good as I want to look. Now that could be down to the fact I'm relatively new to the regime of a fitness junkie, as I didn't start getting into shape until just about over a year ago. But I'm quite sure that depending on where you start, it's definitely possible to achieve a decent washboard stomach in a shorter period of time.

So why is it so hard for a bodybuilder? And why is it that skinny guys seem to achieve it with ease? Well the truth may seem simple and the clue is right there in the difference between those trying to put on mass and those who, well, don’t. Considering the obsession with abs that this generation of health conscious people has, it's surprising how confused we can be about the illustrious six pack. Some articles will tell you that direct abs exercises like crunches or planks, for example, will build a rock solid core. Other publications will say you first have to melt away the fat on top of your abs. That is after all why 'skinny' guys have abs - because their body fat is so low. But really it's a combination of the two that will get you the abs you want - direct, and indirect.

A high intensity workout that kicks your metabolism into overdrive will initiate the fat burning process and decrease the body fat around your middle, as well as the rest of your body. That's what makes your muscles pop and more defined after a cutting phase, for instance. Doing such workouts can achieve a higher metabolic rate for up to 48 hours after exercise. Combine this with an abs routine that directly targets your core and makes the abdominal muscles burn, and the six pack will come in time. It's just a case of sticking at the high intensity workout like HIIT cardio so that your body fat gets lower and lower. This of course, however, depends much on your diet too, as generally speaking burning more calories than you consume means your body has no choice but to shred the fat.

Unfortunately for us bodybuilders though, eating less calories than you burn is counter productive - building is in the word bodybuilding for a reason - it's not called bodylosing! And eating less than you burn means muscle loss as well as fat loss. So how can you achieve abs while bulking? Well, I've actually yet to see an effective plan that will achieve both. And that's basically down to the biology of our bodies. Neither can really work at once. That's why the cutting phase you hear bodybuilders talk about is a phase. Because it's a part of a bigger plan where the rest of the time you're packing in calories - building your body, growing, gaining weight - all to get to your desired size. So how come bodybuilders aren't fat? At least many of them. That's because the ones that aren't pay just as much, if not more attention to their diet than their actual workout regime. This is where consuming the right amount of macronutrients, which I've stressed the importance of before, will make or break your success. You'll find that you can easily eat 3000 or more calories a day and yet still eat less of the bad nutrients, if you can call them that, such as saturated fat for example, than the average person.

All of these factors contribute to how quickly and how defined you will see your own abs. Because they are there. Everybody has them. Just as everyone has a brain. It's just about how you use your brain to get achieve the results you want. A strict diet, strict regimen, and a strict overall lifestyle is what will get you those abs. And that's why a set of them always look better on a muscular physique more than a skinny one, because you have to work harder to get them. So don't be despondent if you're working out every day and yet still don't have as impressive a set of abs as the guys you see on the beach. Instead of analysing the appearance of your core, ask yourself if the guy you're comparing yourself to has the chest, the arms, the legs and the shoulders that you have. You'll get the abs you want, but don't worry about it until you're the build and size that you’re after. That's my advice on getting abs. As long as you’re paying as much attention to the food you put in your mouth as the work you put in at the gym, abs wont be far away when you shift your focus from your brawn to your belly. And aren’t abs just way more impressive with a big chest and shoulders to match? Just something to think about.

What's Right For Me? A Thoughtful Tip On How To Get Fit

There are of course many ways to achieve your dream physique, from simple cardio like long-distance running and team sports such as football or rugby, to disciplined martial arts practice or the tried and tested formula of lift, eat, sleep, repeat. There is no one right way though, at least not for everybody - that depends on your fitness goals. Perhaps you want to torch the belly fat away, maybe you want to put on mass for a buffer body, or you may just want to improve your cardiovascular fitness for the benefit of your health rather than just a bigger chest or more chiseled abs.

When beginning your fitness journey, choosing which path is for you can be a difficult decision, especially when you hear or read conflicting arguments claiming which activity is best to get to where you want to be. I too was confused when I started paying attention to my own health. I used to be one of the awkward academic ones who would accidentally on purpose forget my kit for P.E. I didn’t ever join a club or do any extra-curricular activities. For me, school was a place where in the six hour day I’d disappear into the shadows of more capable sportsmen and just keep my head down until the 3.15 home-time! Now though, I can cast as a big a shadow as any of my secondary school friends. Fitness changes you in every way, and now I stand tall with confidence which I never had before. You may presume that getting in shape will only change your exterior, but you’ll actually find that you gain a lot of self-respect and become a lot more confident on the inside too. 

All of this came in time though - time in which I spent a great deal just trying to figure out what exactly to do to get myself in shape. It started when I was about 15 and my older brother saw just how timid I was. He was a Royal Marine, so was having none of that! He took me to a local muay thai boxing gym and my life changed from that point on. It was the best thing my brother could have done for me. That gym wasn’t necessarily the start of my fitness addiction, as it was more of a causal once-a-week thing I did, but I certainly recognise it as what had spurred me on into the life I now lead - as something that made me appreciate fitness rather than shy away from it. I continued to practice muay thai for about 5 years, but never got into the cycle of a six-days-a-week workout that I’m now used to.

Now, I own more than a thousand pound’s worth of equipment in my parent’s garage! It started with a simple punch bag and speed rope to compliment the fitness I did at boxing, and slowly escalated until you couldn’t really call it a garage anymore but rather a home gym. I now own an agility ladder, resistance bands, a pull-up bar, a bench and an olympic weight set, and most recently have bought myself a huge set of dumbbells amounting to nearly 400 kilos. It’s fair to say working out is now an addiction for me. It’s almost too much equipment to know what to do with! But lifting weights, bodybuilding, getting bigger and stronger, that’s what my regime is all about now. There’s nothing like the pump you get from pushing 10 more pounds from the previous week or pulling another rep or two before failure. Some other fitness freaks may disagree, but as the boxing might suggest, it hasn’t always been that way for me either - I’ve tried out various ways to get fit, and the obsession began with Insanity, another home fitness programme.

For 30 gruelling days I challenged my body, and mind, more than I ever have before. With that programme, it wasn’t just about the workouts, it was about eating the right food and following a strict schedule - learning how to be disciplined and push yourself through plateaus, or say no to biscuits with your tea or even the standard two teaspoons of sugar! In fact, caffeine altogether, which I’ve since learnt to steer away from given its energy-boosting effects and subsequent disturbance of your sleeping pattern.

In essence, my point is that you need to identify what it is about yourself you want to change. Why is it you’re wanting to get fit? Is it simply because you can’t run a few paces before losing your breath and so want to improve your stamina? Or is it that you’re not happy with your weight and want to slim down? Or, it could even be the opposite. After boxing, Insanity and nothing but high intensity cardio, I found myself feeling like Captain America before he was injected with that super serum! I ended up disappointed with my scrawny body shape and so decided instead to bulk out and gain more mass, and maybe that’s what you want to do too. It’s no good saying you want to get fit and then immediately pay for a gym membership and go swimming the very next day or just hit the treadmill for a couple of hours. Think hard about what getting fit is all about for you, and then you can make the right decision about what type of routine will help you get there.

Macronutrients: What They Are And Why They're Important

I’m surprised by how little the coverage is of macronutrients in the pages of health and fitness magazines, given that it is one of the most critical things to learn about when it comes to your eating. Fortunately, it’s very easy to understand. Made up of carbohydrates, protein and fats, macronutrients are simply the primary food groups that need to make up your daily food intake if you are to eat a fully-balanced and nutritious diet.

It’s a simple concept, but one which I believe is imperative. You can have the cleanest, most minimally processed diet in the world, work harder than everybody else in the gym, but still if you’re not getting enough of any one of these macronutrients you will be inhibiting your results. If carbs dominate your every meal but your plate is short of protein, your body simply wont have enough amino acids to repair itself. And yet if you’re eating three chicken breasts a day but not fuelling yourself with things like potatoes, oats, or rice, your workouts will be a complete bust because you simply wont have the energy you need to push through those last few reps. Fats are also essential in a daily diet. Now, I’m not talking cupcakes and chocolate brownies, but unsaturated fats which you can get from nuts, seeds, oils and fish, or oily fish, all provide energy as well as certain vitamins. They also help reduce cholesterol and fight against inflammation.

Depending on your own body type, the amount of macronutrients you need will differ from everybody else. No two people are the same, and just as you wouldn’t expect a 200lbs bodybuilder to eat the same ratios as a welterweight boxer trying to cut down for the weigh-in, you will have your personal goals to meet too.

Much of what I have learnt in fitness and nutrition has come from BeachBody’s home workout programmes, and particularly Body Beast, the bulking programme devised by two-time Mr Israel and world renowned bodybuilder Sagi Kalev. Now I don’t claim to be a health or fitness expert myself at all, but his approach to macronutrients comes from his 26-years of experience, and I stick by his opinion religiously. You too can find your personal, accurate nutrient needs online with calculations concerning your own weight and body fat percentage. It sinks my heart when I see someone trying to lose weight but is eating, for example, way more fruit than what they should be allotted. Yes, fruit is good for you, but it can still do more harm than good if you overload yourself with all that sugar, even if it is natural - you wouldn’t eat jars of honey in one go so don’t eat punnets of strawberries either! Same applies to every other food group. So make sure you get this right and you will succeed!

Down To The Specifics

On this drab September day as I drive home from the supermarket, I notice a couple, each with an ice cream in their hand, and not only was I perplexed as to why they were eating such a thing on a grey day like today, but I was also puzzled at how this far into my blog I haven’t yet shared the specifics on what I actually eat on a daily basis. Having just been for my grocery shop, I thought now would be a good time to shed some light on this.

Although my palate may seem as drab as the dreariness of today’s weather, given that I tend to eat the same food day to day, it’s the easiest, most cost-efficient way of eating what you need, not necessarily what you want. If there’s one thing I’ve tried to make clear about nutrition up to this point, it’s that food should be seen as the sustenance that it is, not a pastime! Having said this though, I think my palate is actually rather vibrant both in the rich colour of the foods I buy, and the downright tastiness of how they turn out cooked into one hearty meal. It is possible to cook a plate of food that’s both nutritious and absent of anything artificial, no matter how much those sweet-craving tastebuds may try and fool you!

Granted this isn’t my full weekly shop, I tend to go to the supermarket intermittently throughout the week to keep my food fresh, as a lot of what I buy is fruit, vegetables and meat which of course is the last thing you would want to eat past its use by date! So I buy my groceries here and there rather than in one bulk.

Here you can see I literally have a mixed bag, which as I said before is crucial because you want to get your nutrients from as many food groups as possible. And don’t twist my words here, you know what I mean - chocolates and biscuits are not food groups! Protein, carbohydrates, unsaturated fats, fruit, vegetables and some dairy are all important and reduce the risk of you depriving your body of any one of these essential nutrients.

For me the milk is one of the most important ingredients I buy, as it is very versatile by being able to go with many of the meals I eat. It can be mixed with the shakes I have post-workout, and put in with porridge for breakfast as a more appetising alternative to water (which, personally, I hate with my oatmeal) and of course, it’s common to just drink milk on its own. It’s a convenient way of both hydrating and providing your body with the calories and nutrients it needs - this is also why I go for the semi-skimmed milk because I can meet my own calorie needs. Feel free to choose the milk you most enjoy, however, or if you don’t like milk or are lactose intolerant there are of course alternatives such as almond milk for instance, which even I have additionally to the dairy milk (as in cow’s milk, not the Cadbury bars!). The yogurt accounts for much the same, but unlike milk it’s of course more for eating than drinking, so it mixes well with fruit for a nice, light snack, with which I usually have the raisins you can also see in the picture (the green packet).

Aside from the dairy, today I also bought some red potatoes, kidney beans, 100 percent orange juice, a ribeye steak, onions, peppers, and Dove care body wash for men, because smelling as fresh as your food tastes is just as important for maintaining a healthy body and mind! That, or I just forgot to take it out of the bag before I took a picture of what was just supposed to be my groceries!

The kidney beans are also quite flexible in their usability, and so I find myself cooking these for various meals from a tuna salad sandwich to a hearty autumn / winter turkey chilli - with which I’d also have the peppers and onions I bought today too. The ribeye steak is more of a treat as I only have red meat on occasion, instead favouring poultry or fish which is more beneficial to your health. With this I tend to have some delicious roasted red potatoes which I season with a dash of sea salt, pepper and herbs and spices. Lastly, the orange juice I buy is 100 percent juice. I have this over squash for the obvious reason of it being untouched by added sugars. I tend to have this in the morning with my oatmeal.

There is no magic pill or specific ingredient you’ve never heard of - much of the food I buy is as simple as you’d imagine a healthy diet to look like. The difference is the unnatural foods you must cut out if you are to see these nutritious meals take effect and get you the results you want from a healthier lifestyle. The less processed an item of food is between it having been picked from a tree, out of the ground, or from the sea, and put onto your local supermarket shelves, the better. If your diet is packed full of purely whole foods with nothing artificial added, you’d have to try really hard to go wrong! Just take notice of how often you eat your food (every two to three hours is best), and eat five to six small / medium meals a day depending on your individual needs as far as calories are concerned and the target weight / goals you have. Just stay focused, keep motivated, and carry on moving forward, and the results will come in time.

A Personal Feat and The Greatest Incentive

Yesterday a good friend of mine asked a favour of me - a favour, as it turns out, that was not in the same selfless manor in which most favours are done for, but in fact something beneficial to us both. What my friend didn’t realise was that he was helping me as much as I him.

This friend, like many of us in the modern day, has been used to taking a more tolerable approach to the way in which he treats his body, both with the amount of exercise he does and the types of food he eats - I’ve witnessed it first hand and the amount of crinkly chips he has with an otherwise relatively healthy meal is not pretty!

However, also, like many of us, the ratio of that large portion of chips in comparison with a perfectly nutritious chicken breast or steak, represents the huge disproportion in our understanding of a healthy living against the actions that was actually take. By this, I mean the easy route - the Costa Coffee lunch, for instance, or the egg McMuffin breakfast when in a rush to get to work on time, over something much better for you that you could have cooked on the weekend whilst you were instead binging on popcorn and watching Saturday night TV!

The favour he asked of me was that he wanted my help in getting him back in shape, or at least, for now, just a workout or two a week. What he doesn’t realise though is that the least is not something I settle for! And this was an enlightenment for me. I’ve been passionate about fitness since I started paying attention to my own health a year ago, but I’ve always been passionate about helping others. I hate seeing friends unhappy or in need of help, and so naturally I try to be there when I can.

So what I didn’t anticipate was that as soon as we stepped foot inside my home gym, I actually felt the urge to disconnect from our friendship, for that can be damaging to the integrity by which I needed to treat him if I was going to get him results, and this was of course the favour he asked of me - my passion to help. To be kind, sometimes you have to be cruel, and I pushed him as much as I believed he could go, and I must say he abided well! Towards the end of the tough chest workout I put him through, he pushed almost every last set to failure, and was sweating buckets by the end of what was about 50 minutes of intense exercise. The irony is that I felt I had to put our friendship aside in order for me to be a better friend, for it was a favour not in need of someone close but of someone that was going to put him through his paces, and by doing that I could help him a lot better.

I felt this was something very important to acknowledge, even though yesterday was like any other day for him but for just a workout thrown in. My friend doesn’t realise that for me it was much more of a milestone, as at last not only is my passion for fitness fuelling me, but for the first time I can see it fuelling others too. I believe that is truly one of the great incentives of getting into better shape - it’s not just the results you’ll see in yourself, but also the inspiration you didn’t even know you’ve given to others. And that could be either the most selfish or selfless thing to treasure!

So don’t give up on your newfound strive for greatness, you’ll not only be helping yourself but you will also be affecting the good people who surround you, and you might not even know it. So thank you, friend, as you actually did me the favour.

A Little Motivation

The amount of times I’ve said to myself in the past, and perhaps will again at some point in the future, is, “I can’t.” Those two words can detriment all your motivation when trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle. When you’re eating lean and clean, and your work ethic is 100 percent, be it on your morning run or on the weight bench, it’s normal at times to look over and see someone running that bit faster or pushing that bit heavier and think, “Why aren’t I there yet?” The thing is, no matter what category in life, not just exercise, there are going to be people both above you and below you.

However, you have got to drown out those sinister voices and only listen to that same part of you that’s been spurring you on as far as you’ve come up to now already. There’s a reason you’ve been running all those miles every week or hitting the gym at any spare moment you have - you want to improve. And the “you” in that sentence is key. Not everyone can be Mr Olympia or an Olympic Gold Medalist. But is there any reason, really, why you cannot ever be that one person who does have that title to your name?

To be the best, you can’t worry about beating the best until you’ve first beaten your personal best. Don’t put limits on yourself, because only then can you achieve anything you want. So next time, if you have to look over at the next person who you might think is faster or stronger than you, consider instead whether they’re going as hard as you’re pushing yourself - if you’re putting in that 100 percent I mentioned above, how can they? Be your own champion first before trying to impress others, and eventually, you will get to where you want to be.