Patriot Health Digest
People ask me: “Why aren’t my abs showing?”
This is certainly among the most misunderstood parts of working out — mostly because there is so much nonsense out there.
So let me try to lay out the truth for you and reveal some few basic truths that I have learned over the past 20 years in the fitness industry.
1. Take your focus away from building your abs. Instead, put it on letting your abs show through. I often see men who are working very hard to get a six pack, using weighted exercises, ab machines, or unending crunches. Yet these men are angry because they don’t see the results they are after.
The truth: With a layer of fat over your stomach, no amount of abdominal work will ever deliver a six pack. Let me put it another way: I routinely see men with “love handles” trying to use weighted side bends to fix the problem because they believe their oblique muscles are the issue.
Not true! It is actually the opposite. By building up their oblique muscles through weight training, and not working on their fat layer, these guys are making their appearance even worse.
So how do you fix this?
2. The basic truth here is you cannot out-train poor eating habits. A good workout might be two steps forward, but bad eating is three steps back. And this gets even more true as you get older.
Exactly what should you eat to reveal your abs? Well, that is specific to your body type but I believe the majority of men already know which drinks and foods they should avoid.
3. Finally it is not possible to “spot-lose” body fat. That’s not how your body works — no matter how much you try, you can’t target the fat in only one specific area. When we burn fat, we see the changes all over our bodies.
In order to remove the layer layer of fat on top of your abs, you must ramp up your metabolism with better exercise, clean food intake, good hydration, and the right amount of sleep.
There are no magic pills or shortcuts, but by creating these good habits, you will naturally create long lasting weight loss, and eventually get that six pack!
Author: Blake Ambrose
