June 2014

Is it narcissism to focus on obtaining a specific look on our own single body part? Perhaps, but both men and women alike desire that chiseled ab look. 

We are funny (and sometimes pathetic) creatures, aren’t we? Now that we’ve given ourselves an excuse to be shallow, shameless and…sliced up, it’s time to point out how to get there. While the formula is uncomplicated, the desired result requires a level of devotion most folks are unwilling to give.

I briefly touched on the necessity to carrier lower body fat in order to have visible abdominal muscles here, but given the general level of confusion on this topic, I figured I’d take a deeper dive.

Here is the single key to acquiring your six pack, expressed in three different ways.

1. Get lean
2. Lose body fat
3. Improve your body composition.

From livestrong.com:

Just being able to see your abs is a little different than having a shredded six pack. Guys will be able to see their abs from around 10 to 12 percent body fat and possibly as high as 15 percent, notes strength coach Marc Perry. To really reveal definition requires getting to 6 to 7 percent, or even 3 to 4 percent for bodybuilding contest condition. Female bodybuilders are generally around 10 to 12 percent and you might be able to see abs up to 22 percent, adds Perry.

That’s right. No matter how much you squat, how many sit-ups you perform daily or how many gimmicky ab machines you purchased at 2:00am, we can’t see your beauties if you have a layer of fat covering them.

Let’s take a step back and examine the obvious. It’s not necessarily healthy to have body fat low enough to expose these muscles. According to the University of Pennsylvania (pdf), body fat percentages lower than 8 percent for men and 14 percent for women carry an increased risk of health issues.

Trying to achieve a body fat percentage that is so low it affects your essential fat stores is not healthy and can cause many health complications. Some storage fat is also necessary as it is used to protect organs in the chest and abdomen.

Still want abs? I thought so.

Your first move is to go get your body fat measured. Most quality health clubs offer caliper skinfold testing. They’ll likely pinch your fat at three (at least) different locations. Generally the chest, abdomen, thigh, arm and back are among the chosen sites. The measurements are used to estimate total body fat with a small margin of error depending on the accuracy of the tester. But don’t stress about perfect accuracy. You just want a baseline; you’re not a bodybuilder yet.

Once you know your magic number, you’ll know how many games you need to win. I suggest keeping body fat percentages in your back pocket and focusing on how you feel and look, but if you want to be scientific, test yourself repeatedly over the course of the weeks that you are focused on nutrition and training. Take your measurements under the identical conditions every time. First thing upon waking always makes sense.

Here they come, your necessary steps to lower your body fat:

1. Eat at a calorie deficit.

From straighthealth.com:

A calorie deficit is a state in which you burn more calories than you consume. For example, if you burn 2,500 calories per day but only eat 2,000, you have created a deficit of 500 calories per day. A calorie deficit forces the body to use non-food sources of energy (typically body fat though the body can also burn muscle tissue for energy) to make up for the shortfall causing weight loss.

2. Train with weights.

From nerdfitness.com:

When you strength train with heavy objects (or with intense body weight training), you get stronger and keep the muscle mass that you already have.  On top of that, you also push your metabolism into an “afterburner” effect which burns extra calories even after you are done working out.

3. Replace all processed foods with veggies and animal proteins and all sugars with fruit.

Think about all the junk you consume that comes in a package. What if you ate vegetables at the moments in which you normally eat processed food? How lean would you become?

Boom, shredded abs and unprotected organs.

Can’t wait for your photo shoot,

Kap

Is it narcissism to focus on obtaining a specific look on our own single body part? Perhaps, but both men and women alike desire that chiseled ab look. 

We are funny (and sometimes pathetic) creatures, aren’t we? Now that we’ve given ourselves an excuse to be shallow, shameless and…sliced up, it’s time to point out how to get there. While the formula is uncomplicated, the desired result requires a level of devotion most folks are unwilling to give.

I briefly touched on the necessity to carrier lower body fat in order to have visible abdominal muscles here, but given the general level of confusion on this topic, I figured I’d take a deeper dive.

Here is the single key to acquiring your six pack, expressed in three different ways.

1. Get lean
2. Lose body fat
3. Improve your body composition.

From livestrong.com:

Just being able to see your abs is a little different than having a shredded six pack. Guys will be able to see their abs from around 10 to 12 percent body fat and possibly as high as 15 percent, notes strength coach Marc Perry. To really reveal definition requires getting to 6 to 7 percent, or even 3 to 4 percent for bodybuilding contest condition. Female bodybuilders are generally around 10 to 12 percent and you might be able to see abs up to 22 percent, adds Perry.

That’s right. No matter how much you squat, how many sit-ups you perform daily or how many gimmicky ab machines you purchased at 2:00am, we can’t see your beauties if you have a layer of fat covering them.

Let’s take a step back and examine the obvious. It’s not necessarily healthy to have body fat low enough to expose these muscles. According to the University of Pennsylvania (pdf), body fat percentages lower than 8 percent for men and 14 percent for women carry an increased risk of health issues.

Trying to achieve a body fat percentage that is so low it affects your essential fat stores is not healthy and can cause many health complications. Some storage fat is also necessary as it is used to protect organs in the chest and abdomen.

Still want abs? I thought so.

Your first move is to go get your body fat measured. Most quality health clubs offer caliper skinfold testing. They’ll likely pinch your fat at three (at least) different locations. Generally the chest, abdomen, thigh, arm and back are among the chosen sites. The measurements are used to estimate total body fat with a small margin of error depending on the accuracy of the tester. But don’t stress about perfect accuracy. You just want a baseline; you’re not a bodybuilder yet.

Once you know your magic number, you’ll know how many games you need to win. I suggest keeping body fat percentages in your back pocket and focusing on how you feel and look, but if you want to be scientific, test yourself repeatedly over the course of the weeks that you are focused on nutrition and training. Take your measurements under the identical conditions every time. First thing upon waking always makes sense.

Here they come, your necessary steps to lower your body fat:

1. Eat at a calorie deficit.

From straighthealth.com:

A calorie deficit is a state in which you burn more calories than you consume. For example, if you burn 2,500 calories per day but only eat 2,000, you have created a deficit of 500 calories per day. A calorie deficit forces the body to use non-food sources of energy (typically body fat though the body can also burn muscle tissue for energy) to make up for the shortfall causing weight loss.

2. Train with weights.

From nerdfitness.com:

When you strength train with heavy objects (or with intense body weight training), you get stronger and keep the muscle mass that you already have.  On top of that, you also push your metabolism into an “afterburner” effect which burns extra calories even after you are done working out.

3. Replace all processed foods with veggies and animal proteins and all sugars with fruit.

Think about all the junk you consume that comes in a package. What if you ate vegetables at the moments in which you normally eat processed food? How lean would you become?

Boom, shredded abs and unprotected organs.

Can’t wait for your photo shoot,

Kap

You all remember my friend Fred, right? He’s the NBA executive who came looking for workout inspiration and decided to take a crack at my 5 X 5 workout. Today, I have an update on his progress and answer some of his questions. I know how thoroughly invested we all are in Fred’s life, so I wanted to bring y’all into the conversation. Fred: Kapppyyyy, Week 3 – Completed Looking back over my short 3 week training period I can actually see an improvement in my strength. I continue to remind myself “it’s all about the process, results will… As I stand in front of a squat rack staring blankly at in excess of 400 pounds, I can feel the associated physical sensation without having to actually touch the weight. The cold of the steel bar bearing down on my shoulder blades, the tightening, contracting and firing of every muscle from my toes to my nose, the awakening of an old hip injury, the increased heart rate and heavy breathing. In this moment, I have to choose – do I proceed or do I cower? I learned a very important lesson during my baseball career – the physical… Change is difficult. Learning new things is hard, but is the most valuable thing we can do as human beings. Samuel Smiles: Alexander the Great valued learning so highly, that he used to say he was more indebted to Aristotle for giving him knowledge than to his father, Philip, for life. The gym can be an intimidating place. It is filled with strange equipment and people who know what they’re doing. If you’re just starting out, you may be uncomfortable with your physique and feel surrounded by fit, strong people waiting to mock you. The mental challenges of starting… Ever start a workout program and realize it’s simply missing your sweet spot? Perhaps you made a New Year’s resolution to work out, but you’re not getting the results you envisioned. You’re not alone – one of the most common questions I get from loved ones is what to do when they’re unhappy with their current fitness routine. For today’s post, I invite you to be a fly on the wall of a conversation I had via email with a close friend. He wrote me because he is displeased and burnt out on his current workout program and wants… Keeping a food journal can make or break your quest to get in the best shape of your life. Does any of this sound familiar? A husband and wife make a pact. They are going to get in shape, and they are going to do it together, as a team. Shoulder to shoulder they stand; they’ve got this. A month down the road, wifey is looking a little fitter, but hubby has noticed his jeans tightening. She looks over at dinner, and they talk about it. Hubby: “I don’t get it, I’m working my butt off, doing 45 minutes… Workout classes blast their sound systems for a reason, folks. Music enhances your training sessions. Your favorite tunes are capable of subconsciously encouraging you to train harder and distracting you from pain. From the New York Times in 2010: Multiple experiments have found that music increases a person’s subjective sense of motivation during a workout, and also concretely affects his or her performance. I have a deep passion for all kinds of music. From Coltrane to Biggie, from Prince to John Lee Hooker, I love all genres. When I’m working out, however, I want something to draw out my physicality and push… Stalling out achieving your training goals? Work out with a partner. How many times does this happen to you? I stare at the squat rack while picking up my phone, I tweet something meaningless about John Coltrane, then check my email, back to twitter. I stroll to the water fountain for a drink, then waltz back through the gym and say hello to my peeps on a scenic tour to the rack. Six minutes have now passed between sets. I finally settle under the bar and step out, the weight steadily attempting to crush me like an accordion. I…

Is it narcissism to focus on obtaining a specific look on our own single body part? Perhaps, but both men and women alike desire that chiseled ab look. 

We are funny (and sometimes pathetic) creatures, aren’t we? Now that we’ve given ourselves an excuse to be shallow, shameless and…sliced up, it’s time to point out how to get there. While the formula is uncomplicated, the desired result requires a level of devotion most folks are unwilling to give.

I briefly touched on the necessity to carrier lower body fat in order to have visible abdominal muscles here, but given the general level of confusion on this topic, I figured I’d take a deeper dive.

Here is the single key to acquiring your six pack, expressed in three different ways.

1. Get lean
2. Lose body fat
3. Improve your body composition.

From livestrong.com:

Just being able to see your abs is a little different than having a shredded six pack. Guys will be able to see their abs from around 10 to 12 percent body fat and possibly as high as 15 percent, notes strength coach Marc Perry. To really reveal definition requires getting to 6 to 7 percent, or even 3 to 4 percent for bodybuilding contest condition. Female bodybuilders are generally around 10 to 12 percent and you might be able to see abs up to 22 percent, adds Perry.

That’s right. No matter how much you squat, how many sit-ups you perform daily or how many gimmicky ab machines you purchased at 2:00am, we can’t see your beauties if you have a layer of fat covering them.

Let’s take a step back and examine the obvious. It’s not necessarily healthy to have body fat low enough to expose these muscles. According to the University of Pennsylvania (pdf), body fat percentages lower than 8 percent for men and 14 percent for women carry an increased risk of health issues.

Trying to achieve a body fat percentage that is so low it affects your essential fat stores is not healthy and can cause many health complications. Some storage fat is also necessary as it is used to protect organs in the chest and abdomen.

Still want abs? I thought so.

Your first move is to go get your body fat measured. Most quality health clubs offer caliper skinfold testing. They’ll likely pinch your fat at three (at least) different locations. Generally the chest, abdomen, thigh, arm and back are among the chosen sites. The measurements are used to estimate total body fat with a small margin of error depending on the accuracy of the tester. But don’t stress about perfect accuracy. You just want a baseline; you’re not a bodybuilder yet.

Once you know your magic number, you’ll know how many games you need to win. I suggest keeping body fat percentages in your back pocket and focusing on how you feel and look, but if you want to be scientific, test yourself repeatedly over the course of the weeks that you are focused on nutrition and training. Take your measurements under the identical conditions every time. First thing upon waking always makes sense.

Here they come, your necessary steps to lower your body fat:

1. Eat at a calorie deficit.

From straighthealth.com:

A calorie deficit is a state in which you burn more calories than you consume. For example, if you burn 2,500 calories per day but only eat 2,000, you have created a deficit of 500 calories per day. A calorie deficit forces the body to use non-food sources of energy (typically body fat though the body can also burn muscle tissue for energy) to make up for the shortfall causing weight loss.

2. Train with weights.

From nerdfitness.com:

When you strength train with heavy objects (or with intense body weight training), you get stronger and keep the muscle mass that you already have.  On top of that, you also push your metabolism into an “afterburner” effect which burns extra calories even after you are done working out.

3. Replace all processed foods with veggies and animal proteins and all sugars with fruit.

Think about all the junk you consume that comes in a package. What if you ate vegetables at the moments in which you normally eat processed food? How lean would you become?

Boom, shredded abs and unprotected organs.

Can’t wait for your photo shoot,

Kap

Is it narcissism to focus on obtaining a specific look on our own single body part? Perhaps, but both men and women alike desire that chiseled ab look. 

We are funny (and sometimes pathetic) creatures, aren’t we? Now that we’ve given ourselves an excuse to be shallow, shameless and…sliced up, it’s time to point out how to get there. While the formula is uncomplicated, the desired result requires a level of devotion most folks are unwilling to give.

I briefly touched on the necessity to carrier lower body fat in order to have visible abdominal muscles here, but given the general level of confusion on this topic, I figured I’d take a deeper dive.

Here is the single key to acquiring your six pack, expressed in three different ways.

1. Get lean
2. Lose body fat
3. Improve your body composition.

From livestrong.com:

Just being able to see your abs is a little different than having a shredded six pack. Guys will be able to see their abs from around 10 to 12 percent body fat and possibly as high as 15 percent, notes strength coach Marc Perry. To really reveal definition requires getting to 6 to 7 percent, or even 3 to 4 percent for bodybuilding contest condition. Female bodybuilders are generally around 10 to 12 percent and you might be able to see abs up to 22 percent, adds Perry.

That’s right. No matter how much you squat, how many sit-ups you perform daily or how many gimmicky ab machines you purchased at 2:00am, we can’t see your beauties if you have a layer of fat covering them.

Let’s take a step back and examine the obvious. It’s not necessarily healthy to have body fat low enough to expose these muscles. According to the University of Pennsylvania (pdf), body fat percentages lower than 8 percent for men and 14 percent for women carry an increased risk of health issues.

Trying to achieve a body fat percentage that is so low it affects your essential fat stores is not healthy and can cause many health complications. Some storage fat is also necessary as it is used to protect organs in the chest and abdomen.

Still want abs? I thought so.

Your first move is to go get your body fat measured. Most quality health clubs offer caliper skinfold testing. They’ll likely pinch your fat at three (at least) different locations. Generally the chest, abdomen, thigh, arm and back are among the chosen sites. The measurements are used to estimate total body fat with a small margin of error depending on the accuracy of the tester. But don’t stress about perfect accuracy. You just want a baseline; you’re not a bodybuilder yet.

Once you know your magic number, you’ll know how many games you need to win. I suggest keeping body fat percentages in your back pocket and focusing on how you feel and look, but if you want to be scientific, test yourself repeatedly over the course of the weeks that you are focused on nutrition and training. Take your measurements under the identical conditions every time. First thing upon waking always makes sense.

Here they come, your necessary steps to lower your body fat:

1. Eat at a calorie deficit.

From straighthealth.com:

A calorie deficit is a state in which you burn more calories than you consume. For example, if you burn 2,500 calories per day but only eat 2,000, you have created a deficit of 500 calories per day. A calorie deficit forces the body to use non-food sources of energy (typically body fat though the body can also burn muscle tissue for energy) to make up for the shortfall causing weight loss.

2. Train with weights.

From nerdfitness.com:

When you strength train with heavy objects (or with intense body weight training), you get stronger and keep the muscle mass that you already have.  On top of that, you also push your metabolism into an “afterburner” effect which burns extra calories even after you are done working out.

3. Replace all processed foods with veggies and animal proteins and all sugars with fruit.

Think about all the junk you consume that comes in a package. What if you ate vegetables at the moments in which you normally eat processed food? How lean would you become?

Boom, shredded abs and unprotected organs.

Can’t wait for your photo shoot,

Kap

Is it narcissism to focus on obtaining a specific look on our own single body part? Perhaps, but both men and women alike desire that chiseled ab look. 

We are funny (and sometimes pathetic) creatures, aren’t we? Now that we’ve given ourselves an excuse to be shallow, shameless and…sliced up, it’s time to point out how to get there. While the formula is uncomplicated, the desired result requires a level of devotion most folks are unwilling to give.

I briefly touched on the necessity to carrier lower body fat in order to have visible abdominal muscles here, but given the general level of confusion on this topic, I figured I’d take a deeper dive.

Here is the single key to acquiring your six pack, expressed in three different ways.

1. Get lean
2. Lose body fat
3. Improve your body composition.

From livestrong.com:

Just being able to see your abs is a little different than having a shredded six pack. Guys will be able to see their abs from around 10 to 12 percent body fat and possibly as high as 15 percent, notes strength coach Marc Perry. To really reveal definition requires getting to 6 to 7 percent, or even 3 to 4 percent for bodybuilding contest condition. Female bodybuilders are generally around 10 to 12 percent and you might be able to see abs up to 22 percent, adds Perry.

That’s right. No matter how much you squat, how many sit-ups you perform daily or how many gimmicky ab machines you purchased at 2:00am, we can’t see your beauties if you have a layer of fat covering them.

Let’s take a step back and examine the obvious. It’s not necessarily healthy to have body fat low enough to expose these muscles. According to the University of Pennsylvania (pdf), body fat percentages lower than 8 percent for men and 14 percent for women carry an increased risk of health issues.

Trying to achieve a body fat percentage that is so low it affects your essential fat stores is not healthy and can cause many health complications. Some storage fat is also necessary as it is used to protect organs in the chest and abdomen.

Still want abs? I thought so.

Your first move is to go get your body fat measured. Most quality health clubs offer caliper skinfold testing. They’ll likely pinch your fat at three (at least) different locations. Generally the chest, abdomen, thigh, arm and back are among the chosen sites. The measurements are used to estimate total body fat with a small margin of error depending on the accuracy of the tester. But don’t stress about perfect accuracy. You just want a baseline; you’re not a bodybuilder yet.

Once you know your magic number, you’ll know how many games you need to win. I suggest keeping body fat percentages in your back pocket and focusing on how you feel and look, but if you want to be scientific, test yourself repeatedly over the course of the weeks that you are focused on nutrition and training. Take your measurements under the identical conditions every time. First thing upon waking always makes sense.

Here they come, your necessary steps to lower your body fat:

1. Eat at a calorie deficit.

From straighthealth.com:

A calorie deficit is a state in which you burn more calories than you consume. For example, if you burn 2,500 calories per day but only eat 2,000, you have created a deficit of 500 calories per day. A calorie deficit forces the body to use non-food sources of energy (typically body fat though the body can also burn muscle tissue for energy) to make up for the shortfall causing weight loss.

2. Train with weights.

From nerdfitness.com:

When you strength train with heavy objects (or with intense body weight training), you get stronger and keep the muscle mass that you already have.  On top of that, you also push your metabolism into an “afterburner” effect which burns extra calories even after you are done working out.

3. Replace all processed foods with veggies and animal proteins and all sugars with fruit.

Think about all the junk you consume that comes in a package. What if you ate vegetables at the moments in which you normally eat processed food? How lean would you become?

Boom, shredded abs and unprotected organs.

Can’t wait for your photo shoot,

Kap

Is it narcissism to focus on obtaining a specific look on our own single body part? Perhaps, but both men and women alike desire that chiseled ab look. 

We are funny (and sometimes pathetic) creatures, aren’t we? Now that we’ve given ourselves an excuse to be shallow, shameless and…sliced up, it’s time to point out how to get there. While the formula is uncomplicated, the desired result requires a level of devotion most folks are unwilling to give.

I briefly touched on the necessity to carrier lower body fat in order to have visible abdominal muscles here, but given the general level of confusion on this topic, I figured I’d take a deeper dive.

Here is the single key to acquiring your six pack, expressed in three different ways.

1. Get lean
2. Lose body fat
3. Improve your body composition.

From livestrong.com:

Just being able to see your abs is a little different than having a shredded six pack. Guys will be able to see their abs from around 10 to 12 percent body fat and possibly as high as 15 percent, notes strength coach Marc Perry. To really reveal definition requires getting to 6 to 7 percent, or even 3 to 4 percent for bodybuilding contest condition. Female bodybuilders are generally around 10 to 12 percent and you might be able to see abs up to 22 percent, adds Perry.

That’s right. No matter how much you squat, how many sit-ups you perform daily or how many gimmicky ab machines you purchased at 2:00am, we can’t see your beauties if you have a layer of fat covering them.

Let’s take a step back and examine the obvious. It’s not necessarily healthy to have body fat low enough to expose these muscles. According to the University of Pennsylvania (pdf), body fat percentages lower than 8 percent for men and 14 percent for women carry an increased risk of health issues.

Trying to achieve a body fat percentage that is so low it affects your essential fat stores is not healthy and can cause many health complications. Some storage fat is also necessary as it is used to protect organs in the chest and abdomen.

Still want abs? I thought so.

Your first move is to go get your body fat measured. Most quality health clubs offer caliper skinfold testing. They’ll likely pinch your fat at three (at least) different locations. Generally the chest, abdomen, thigh, arm and back are among the chosen sites. The measurements are used to estimate total body fat with a small margin of error depending on the accuracy of the tester. But don’t stress about perfect accuracy. You just want a baseline; you’re not a bodybuilder yet.

Once you know your magic number, you’ll know how many games you need to win. I suggest keeping body fat percentages in your back pocket and focusing on how you feel and look, but if you want to be scientific, test yourself repeatedly over the course of the weeks that you are focused on nutrition and training. Take your measurements under the identical conditions every time. First thing upon waking always makes sense.

Here they come, your necessary steps to lower your body fat:

1. Eat at a calorie deficit.

From straighthealth.com:

A calorie deficit is a state in which you burn more calories than you consume. For example, if you burn 2,500 calories per day but only eat 2,000, you have created a deficit of 500 calories per day. A calorie deficit forces the body to use non-food sources of energy (typically body fat though the body can also burn muscle tissue for energy) to make up for the shortfall causing weight loss.

2. Train with weights.

From nerdfitness.com:

When you strength train with heavy objects (or with intense body weight training), you get stronger and keep the muscle mass that you already have.  On top of that, you also push your metabolism into an “afterburner” effect which burns extra calories even after you are done working out.

3. Replace all processed foods with veggies and animal proteins and all sugars with fruit.

Think about all the junk you consume that comes in a package. What if you ate vegetables at the moments in which you normally eat processed food? How lean would you become?

Boom, shredded abs and unprotected organs.

Can’t wait for your photo shoot,

Kap

Is it narcissism to focus on obtaining a specific look on our own single body part? Perhaps, but both men and women alike desire that chiseled ab look. 

We are funny (and sometimes pathetic) creatures, aren’t we? Now that we’ve given ourselves an excuse to be shallow, shameless and…sliced up, it’s time to point out how to get there. While the formula is uncomplicated, the desired result requires a level of devotion most folks are unwilling to give.

I briefly touched on the necessity to carrier lower body fat in order to have visible abdominal muscles here, but given the general level of confusion on this topic, I figured I’d take a deeper dive.

Here is the single key to acquiring your six pack, expressed in three different ways.

1. Get lean
2. Lose body fat
3. Improve your body composition.

From livestrong.com:

Just being able to see your abs is a little different than having a shredded six pack. Guys will be able to see their abs from around 10 to 12 percent body fat and possibly as high as 15 percent, notes strength coach Marc Perry. To really reveal definition requires getting to 6 to 7 percent, or even 3 to 4 percent for bodybuilding contest condition. Female bodybuilders are generally around 10 to 12 percent and you might be able to see abs up to 22 percent, adds Perry.

That’s right. No matter how much you squat, how many sit-ups you perform daily or how many gimmicky ab machines you purchased at 2:00am, we can’t see your beauties if you have a layer of fat covering them.

Let’s take a step back and examine the obvious. It’s not necessarily healthy to have body fat low enough to expose these muscles. According to the University of Pennsylvania (pdf), body fat percentages lower than 8 percent for men and 14 percent for women carry an increased risk of health issues.

Trying to achieve a body fat percentage that is so low it affects your essential fat stores is not healthy and can cause many health complications. Some storage fat is also necessary as it is used to protect organs in the chest and abdomen.

Still want abs? I thought so.

Your first move is to go get your body fat measured. Most quality health clubs offer caliper skinfold testing. They’ll likely pinch your fat at three (at least) different locations. Generally the chest, abdomen, thigh, arm and back are among the chosen sites. The measurements are used to estimate total body fat with a small margin of error depending on the accuracy of the tester. But don’t stress about perfect accuracy. You just want a baseline; you’re not a bodybuilder yet.

Once you know your magic number, you’ll know how many games you need to win. I suggest keeping body fat percentages in your back pocket and focusing on how you feel and look, but if you want to be scientific, test yourself repeatedly over the course of the weeks that you are focused on nutrition and training. Take your measurements under the identical conditions every time. First thing upon waking always makes sense.

Here they come, your necessary steps to lower your body fat:

1. Eat at a calorie deficit.

From straighthealth.com:

A calorie deficit is a state in which you burn more calories than you consume. For example, if you burn 2,500 calories per day but only eat 2,000, you have created a deficit of 500 calories per day. A calorie deficit forces the body to use non-food sources of energy (typically body fat though the body can also burn muscle tissue for energy) to make up for the shortfall causing weight loss.

2. Train with weights.

From nerdfitness.com:

When you strength train with heavy objects (or with intense body weight training), you get stronger and keep the muscle mass that you already have.  On top of that, you also push your metabolism into an “afterburner” effect which burns extra calories even after you are done working out.

3. Replace all processed foods with veggies and animal proteins and all sugars with fruit.

Think about all the junk you consume that comes in a package. What if you ate vegetables at the moments in which you normally eat processed food? How lean would you become?

Boom, shredded abs and unprotected organs.

Can’t wait for your photo shoot,

Kap

Is it narcissism to focus on obtaining a specific look on our own single body part? Perhaps, but both men and women alike desire that chiseled ab look. 

We are funny (and sometimes pathetic) creatures, aren’t we? Now that we’ve given ourselves an excuse to be shallow, shameless and…sliced up, it’s time to point out how to get there. While the formula is uncomplicated, the desired result requires a level of devotion most folks are unwilling to give.

I briefly touched on the necessity to carrier lower body fat in order to have visible abdominal muscles here, but given the general level of confusion on this topic, I figured I’d take a deeper dive.

Here is the single key to acquiring your six pack, expressed in three different ways.

1. Get lean
2. Lose body fat
3. Improve your body composition.

From livestrong.com:

Just being able to see your abs is a little different than having a shredded six pack. Guys will be able to see their abs from around 10 to 12 percent body fat and possibly as high as 15 percent, notes strength coach Marc Perry. To really reveal definition requires getting to 6 to 7 percent, or even 3 to 4 percent for bodybuilding contest condition. Female bodybuilders are generally around 10 to 12 percent and you might be able to see abs up to 22 percent, adds Perry.

That’s right. No matter how much you squat, how many sit-ups you perform daily or how many gimmicky ab machines you purchased at 2:00am, we can’t see your beauties if you have a layer of fat covering them.

Let’s take a step back and examine the obvious. It’s not necessarily healthy to have body fat low enough to expose these muscles. According to the University of Pennsylvania (pdf), body fat percentages lower than 8 percent for men and 14 percent for women carry an increased risk of health issues.

Trying to achieve a body fat percentage that is so low it affects your essential fat stores is not healthy and can cause many health complications. Some storage fat is also necessary as it is used to protect organs in the chest and abdomen.

Still want abs? I thought so.

Your first move is to go get your body fat measured. Most quality health clubs offer caliper skinfold testing. They’ll likely pinch your fat at three (at least) different locations. Generally the chest, abdomen, thigh, arm and back are among the chosen sites. The measurements are used to estimate total body fat with a small margin of error depending on the accuracy of the tester. But don’t stress about perfect accuracy. You just want a baseline; you’re not a bodybuilder yet.

Once you know your magic number, you’ll know how many games you need to win. I suggest keeping body fat percentages in your back pocket and focusing on how you feel and look, but if you want to be scientific, test yourself repeatedly over the course of the weeks that you are focused on nutrition and training. Take your measurements under the identical conditions every time. First thing upon waking always makes sense.

Here they come, your necessary steps to lower your body fat:

1. Eat at a calorie deficit.

From straighthealth.com:

A calorie deficit is a state in which you burn more calories than you consume. For example, if you burn 2,500 calories per day but only eat 2,000, you have created a deficit of 500 calories per day. A calorie deficit forces the body to use non-food sources of energy (typically body fat though the body can also burn muscle tissue for energy) to make up for the shortfall causing weight loss.

2. Train with weights.

From nerdfitness.com:

When you strength train with heavy objects (or with intense body weight training), you get stronger and keep the muscle mass that you already have.  On top of that, you also push your metabolism into an “afterburner” effect which burns extra calories even after you are done working out.

3. Replace all processed foods with veggies and animal proteins and all sugars with fruit.

Think about all the junk you consume that comes in a package. What if you ate vegetables at the moments in which you normally eat processed food? How lean would you become?

Boom, shredded abs and unprotected organs.

Can’t wait for your photo shoot,

Kap

Is it narcissism to focus on obtaining a specific look on our own single body part? Perhaps, but both men and women alike desire that chiseled ab look. 

We are funny (and sometimes pathetic) creatures, aren’t we? Now that we’ve given ourselves an excuse to be shallow, shameless and…sliced up, it’s time to point out how to get there. While the formula is uncomplicated, the desired result requires a level of devotion most folks are unwilling to give.

I briefly touched on the necessity to carrier lower body fat in order to have visible abdominal muscles here, but given the general level of confusion on this topic, I figured I’d take a deeper dive.

Here is the single key to acquiring your six pack, expressed in three different ways.

1. Get lean
2. Lose body fat
3. Improve your body composition.

From livestrong.com:

Just being able to see your abs is a little different than having a shredded six pack. Guys will be able to see their abs from around 10 to 12 percent body fat and possibly as high as 15 percent, notes strength coach Marc Perry. To really reveal definition requires getting to 6 to 7 percent, or even 3 to 4 percent for bodybuilding contest condition. Female bodybuilders are generally around 10 to 12 percent and you might be able to see abs up to 22 percent, adds Perry.

That’s right. No matter how much you squat, how many sit-ups you perform daily or how many gimmicky ab machines you purchased at 2:00am, we can’t see your beauties if you have a layer of fat covering them.

Let’s take a step back and examine the obvious. It’s not necessarily healthy to have body fat low enough to expose these muscles. According to the University of Pennsylvania (pdf), body fat percentages lower than 8 percent for men and 14 percent for women carry an increased risk of health issues.

Trying to achieve a body fat percentage that is so low it affects your essential fat stores is not healthy and can cause many health complications. Some storage fat is also necessary as it is used to protect organs in the chest and abdomen.

Still want abs? I thought so.

Your first move is to go get your body fat measured. Most quality health clubs offer caliper skinfold testing. They’ll likely pinch your fat at three (at least) different locations. Generally the chest, abdomen, thigh, arm and back are among the chosen sites. The measurements are used to estimate total body fat with a small margin of error depending on the accuracy of the tester. But don’t stress about perfect accuracy. You just want a baseline; you’re not a bodybuilder yet.

Once you know your magic number, you’ll know how many games you need to win. I suggest keeping body fat percentages in your back pocket and focusing on how you feel and look, but if you want to be scientific, test yourself repeatedly over the course of the weeks that you are focused on nutrition and training. Take your measurements under the identical conditions every time. First thing upon waking always makes sense.

Here they come, your necessary steps to lower your body fat:

1. Eat at a calorie deficit.

From straighthealth.com:

A calorie deficit is a state in which you burn more calories than you consume. For example, if you burn 2,500 calories per day but only eat 2,000, you have created a deficit of 500 calories per day. A calorie deficit forces the body to use non-food sources of energy (typically body fat though the body can also burn muscle tissue for energy) to make up for the shortfall causing weight loss.

2. Train with weights.

From nerdfitness.com:

When you strength train with heavy objects (or with intense body weight training), you get stronger and keep the muscle mass that you already have.  On top of that, you also push your metabolism into an “afterburner” effect which burns extra calories even after you are done working out.

3. Replace all processed foods with veggies and animal proteins and all sugars with fruit.

Think about all the junk you consume that comes in a package. What if you ate vegetables at the moments in which you normally eat processed food? How lean would you become?

Boom, shredded abs and unprotected organs.

Can’t wait for your photo shoot,

Kap