How many times have you heard or read versions of the following statements?

1. “Abs are made in the kitchen.”

2. “Your diet is 80% responsible for the way you look.”

3. “Getting in shape is 80% diet and 20% training.”

If you are like me, you have heard or read statements like these MANY TIMES.  And, if you are like me, statements like these, and, in fact, most general advice people tend to give, annoy you.  The problem is most people happily dispense advice, on a variety of topics, with absolutely no idea what they are talking about.  At this point in my life, I may actually turn into an eye-roll emoji.

I get it, I really do.  People who say these types of things are trying to get the point across that your diet is critical to your success.  In a way, they are not wrong – your diet IS super important.

BUT…

The first thought that pops into my head when someone offers any version of the above 3 statements is, “this person does not fully understand how powerful proper training really is.”  I also tend to think, “Wow… this person is a horrible coach.”

If you DO have a comprehensive understanding of training, you already know that rhetoric like, “abs are made in the kitchen” is one of the favorite battle cries of the grossly inexperienced and the marginally informed.  And usually this type of person is still practicing old bodybuilder diets that revolve around tasteless meals like egg whites and oatmeal for breakfast and lots of grilled-chicken breast-on-salad.  Or worse, they are drinking 1-3 shakes per day and barely eating real food.

The obsession with “getting 6 pack abs” seems to be an American obsession.  Obviously, it’s profitable to sell products on late night television that promise to finally, easily get you looking great in a swimsuit sporting those washboard abs.  You can safely assume that ALL infomercials are basically lies and scams, of course.  And almost NOBODY has 6 pack abs – look around.  In reality, the general population, on average, is fatter and less fit than ever before in human history.

You cannot expect to “get abs” from just dieting alone.

The human body simply does not work that way.  You can be religiously consistent with the absolute best diet in the world and you may, or MAY NOT “have abs”.

Why?

Because DIET does not build muscle mass directly.  Nor will diet alone effectively maintain your muscle mass as you age.

Without proper TRAINING, there is ZERO muscle building going on.  And depending on your age and general day-to-day stress levels, you may be LOSING MUSCLE even with the ideal diet.

There are many pervasive and perennial myths surrounding how to properly diet and exercise that prevent the general public from adopting the most effective and efficient methods to achieve their health and fitness goals.

The reason you are having trouble “figuring it out” is not completely your fault.

You should, however, try to break from societal norms and take some personal responsibility.  Stop polluting your mind with inferior information.  Start with the obvious worst source of constructive information – the “idiot box”.  Television is completely worthless – watching TV is a great way to become LESS intelligent over time (study, study, study).  Magazines and newspapers are also extremely poor sources of good learning material – another waste of time.  There is some gold to be mined from the right BOOKS, but about 95% of it is pure nonsense.  And then we have the world wide web… yes, the internet is an amazing communication medium and resource, but there are many, many pitfalls.  The explosion of information, especially on the internet, has led to mass confusion, especially in fitness.

In this article, as well as in everything I write, I will be as honest and concise as possible, and try not to add to your confusion.

In order to “get abs”, you need 3 things:

1. a force of will
2. the right training program
3. sleep and other methods for reducing stress

YES, it will be much easier if you have a nutrition program that supports these 3 things, but just know this:

With the right training program, and an adequate force of will, a woman can go from 20% body fat to 12% body fat, WITHOUT changing her diet.

Whatever the baseline diet is before the program begins is fine, as long as you are not in a metabolic situation where your body weight and/or body fat has been generally rising at an average rate of more than 2 pounds per month.

Let me describe what I mean by “a force of will” when it comes to getting shape.

When you are attempting to change the form and function of your body, you are actually attempting to send a very specific message(s) to your body.  In the case of “getting abs”, you are sending the body two specific messages that are potentially conflicting.  If you are to be successful in this goal, you are saying, “gain (or at least maintain) muscle, lose fat”.  Stated more simply, you are essentially saying, “get bigger here, get smaller there”, or “store more energy here, store less energy there.” The primary method of communicating these two messages to your body is your training program, NOT your diet. A force of will implies that you are powerful and confident enough to apply your training program (stimulus) specifically, consistently, and intensely enough to bring about these desired changes (adaptation).  With a strong enough force of will, you may be able to make this happen with inferior tools, but, inevitably, you will burn yourself out.  Your energies are finite, so use the absolute best tools.

What are the most effective and efficient tools?  What’s the right training program I am talking about?  I could post an example here, but, honestly, you most likely would not really understand what it says, or how to execute it properly.  I recommend you get a QUALIFIED coach and tell him that you would like a “body composition training” program written specifically to your body type and experience level.  If they do not even know what body composition training (BCT) is, it is safe to say they are not QUALIFIED to be coaching anyone on the fastest way to change the human body.

Let’s start with a list of exercise selections that WILL NOT work for “getting abs”.  It’s a long list, but there are definitely many more I have not explicitly mentioned.

Some of you will find what you’ve done or are currently doing on this list, object, and say, “I lost weight doing that!”.  Sure, you did… but you ALSO changed your diet when you applied that specific exercise modality.  In all these exercise options below, it was the diet, NOT THE TRAINING, that precipitated the weight loss.  And, yes, going from literally doing nothing to breaking a daily sweat and putting a stop to eating like an irresponsible idiot, will do something… at least at first:

If you want to NEVER see what your abs look like under that layer of fat, spend 100% of your exercise time performing any of the following:

• Group “Strength and Conditioning” Classes
• Burpees
• Dancing around your living room with video instruction
• “Boot Camp” style workouts
• Kickboxing, or Cardio Kickboxing
• Jazzercise
• Pure Barre
• Les Mills workouts
• Pelotron workouts
• Spinning
• Zumba class
• Cardio performed on the Elliptical
• Cardio performed on the Treadmill
• Cardio performed on the Stationary Bike

Additionally, I guarantee, most of you LOST MUSCLE IF YOU LOST WEIGHT while employing any of the above exercise choices AND radically altering your eating.  Some of you even gained weight while being committed to any of the above exercise options (and probably blamed your diet)!

How do I know you lost muscle and/or gained weight on any of the above options?

Because all of the above exercise modalities share a couple fundamental flaws:

1. Lack of effective loading options, i.e. ways to increase the intensity
2. Increasing the magnitude any of these exercise choices compounds the muscle LOSS (in the medium and long term(s))

BOOM.

Look, I’m not saying all this stuff is a waste of time, I’m just saying it’s a waste of time if your goal is to get abs, or to look fantastic in your swimsuit.

You might enjoy one or more or the above activities – that’s great.  If you truly enjoy it, keep doing it.  But if you want to see your abs in this lifetime, start lifting free weights at least 4 hours per week. Then do that other stuff in your spare time.  If you have a SOLID foundation of strength training in your exercise program, you CAN add some of these options on the list to accelerate your weight loss, but only if it is programmed properly.

Look, the fact is, I am just MUCH MORE LAZY than you people jumping around all over the place (literally and figuratively) for your fitness.  I am lazy in the sense that I refuse to waste a single minute of my time performing ANY physical exercise that does not equate to constructive progress towards my goals of being strong, flexible, healthy, injury free, and lean.

Oh, and about that training program that can take a woman from 20% to 12% bodyfat in 12 weeks, without changing her diet…?  Look around my blog, the information you need has already been posted.

Thank you for reading.

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