Mission Abs Possible?

They are the mecca in terms of commitment, the beacons of aesthetic success on a human body. The title of this page hardly builds suspense! I’m talking about abs or abdominals of course. I’m using myself as a case study in the quest for my very own hidden treasures. You can see on my results pages that I have achieved good results and success by following workouts and specifically Beachbody workout programmes.

To date, although you have seen my fat loss progress you will also note that I do not (yet) possess a ripped six pack. I’m currently six weeks into performing P90X2 and I can tell you there are some serious changes going on around my midsection. I’ll post up a photograph later on, but for now I want to talk about the process. You’ve heard this before but it’s kind of true. Ab’s are made in the kitchen, not in the gym. I’d like to put my own spin on that statement and change it to something like this; abs are strengthened in the gym, made in the kitchen and then refined further in the gym. My experience with P90X2 so far is that your core is worked both primarily and secondary throughout every single workout in P90X2. My core was already strengthened significantly throughout P90X, Insanity and Asylum, but P90X2 takes it up a few notches. Everybody is different of course but I now have a midsection which shows decent signs of having a ‘four pack’. My bottom two abs are yet to push through but typically that is the last place a guy loses his fat.

Now here’s a key statement if you read my blog regularly and compare me to Beachbody coaches or other fitness enthusiasts. I am NOT a machine. I was not crafted from Kryptonite, I don’t live solely for the gym or suggest that is the only way to succeed. I am in fact a regular guy. Obviously I take my training seriously and I am on a nutrition plan, but my lifestyle does often see me in situations whereby I go out, enjoy a few beers and eat out in nice restaurants with my wife, family and friends. There are some trainers out there who choose to be ‘machines’ and all credit to them. The purpose of this article….and my whole blog come to think of it is to show the average guy or girl that they can make it too. I want to see if mission abs possible is a success.

Is it really possible to carve out a six pack while ‘still enjoying the finer things in life’? Well I certainly hope so and we will find out in due course! I could write pages and pages of info about food choices, lifestyle tweaks and so on. I have already started doing this on here but they are individual items which add up to the bigger picture. Moderation is key when I talk about the finer things in life but while there will be plenty of people out there searching for ‘abs secrets’, ‘six pack in a month’, and fancy gadgets. I know that my lifestyle is a realistic one, I imagine it actually would cater for a lot of people who are in a similar position. I want to deviate slightly from the ‘fast track’ routes of cutting out all carbs, never having a cheat meal again, training half of the day every day and so on.

Let’s start with the basics. You can not spot train an area of your body for fat loss. You can however, train an area of your body for muscle gains. While there are layers of fat covering your midsection there’s no way of training to specifically rid yourself of the fat around your belly. Beachbody programmes take care of all of the decision making process for you. While training your entire body your fat burning furnace will be ignited , metabolism raised and so the process begins. Yes you will also target your core section and your abs directly, but it is not this direct training that will be solely responsible for your fat loss. It is a combined effort of sustained progressive training and a carefully balanced nutrition plan which will lead to your six pack. Your fat loss will occur everywhere….butt, arms, legs, face and your stomach.

How I do it

Like I said before I do enjoy the odd cheat meal and a few beers, but everything I eat is tracked in an app on my phone. I use My Fitness Pal but there are others available too. This helps keep my ‘extras’ in check and flags up my bad days soon enough. This allows my diet to be 100% accountable, a huge reason behind the recent shift in my midsection. I also commit 100% to my workouts and press play every day I should. I work out at 5am to get it done, dusted and my metabolism on fire the whole day. There are benefits to working out first thing just like there are for working out at night, as long as you do it that’s not particularly important. Early AM suits my lifestyle and that’s the only reason I do my workouts then. I’m currently doing a 40% carbs/40% protein/20% fat nutritional plan which is fairly balanced to fuel my body through my workouts and shed fat. I’m also using a calorie deficit which, along with my exercise means that I can’t fail to lose fat. I actually over compensate for this through the week, allowing me to have a few carb heavy beers at the weekends. I’m also much more likely to eat out at the weekends as a lot of people who work are.

People can argue about ab exercises, fat loss techniques and cutting out on treats all they like, meanwhile I’ll be in the gym…..keeping it real! So check back here soon for photos, let’s see if I can be an average guy with a balanced lifestyle….and successfully deploy mission abs possible!!