Day 22 and time to start smashing those abs.

Day: 22 of 77
Date: 2/06/2013
Workout Day: Active Rest
Weight (lb): 163.8 (8.0 lb loss)
Body Fat %: 14.5 (2.1% loss)
Health: Fine 10/10

Today marks the start of my fourth week on the programme. As is customary every Sunday I took my progress photos of my upper body (made much easier with the recent purchase of a camera remote control) and then uploaded them to my PC. For the first time so far I pieced some of the photos together to show each of the weeks next to each other and studied the progress. Week to week the biggest shift is at the end of the first week. No surprises there with lots of water weight dropping off. And I can tell my abs are starting to get more noticeable this week. But generally the biggest shift can be seen when comparing the starting photos to the 3 week point. Nothing radical but I just look less “soft” and overall I’m pleased with the results. The scales are also showing a positive trend to reflect what I can visually see.

Just a note on the photos. Taking self portraits is difficult enough, but to get consistent (and good) lighting is very challenging. But consistency is key since what we’re after is progression, so I use the same setup every time, and keep the lighting the same. Crucially the poses need to be consistent too, with the same tensing and positions each time. I do tensed, normal and relaxed pose for each of front, back and side. And then I use the front normal pose for comparison. I keep my back straight but with no other muscular tension across my chest or abs. It just keeps it fairer this way. The photos are all taken at roughly the same time, after I wake on a Sunday, so the same levels of hydration and muscular relaxation should be there.

As a typical man I’m a bit too focused on my ab development and the fat that surrounds them. To me this stomach area is just the indicator of leanness, and I’m confident that the training will keep the rest of my muscles in good size so that I don’t look anorexic when I’m finished. The training plan does cover abs, through some isolated work and mainly through compound (full body) movements like squats. Whilst in theory this should be all you need, supplementing with extra ab training is important for two crucial reasons:

1. I want great abs, not flat “thin-kid” abs which don’t count (just like big boobs on a fat girl).
2. Seeing abs DURING the fat loss process, as opposed to just at the end, is a great motivator. Even if you haven’t lost any fat, when you start to see some abs bulging through, it makes you feel (and look) leaner, keeping you driving for more fat loss and more ab work.

So far I haven’t done any additional ab work, and with only 8 weeks left on the plan I decided that today was the day. I won’t bore you with the details, but basically I just did a truck load of crunches, leg raises, whatever whilst outside enjoying the sun. From past experiences with ab work, I am all too aware of the importance of taking the first few stomach sessions slowly. For me, if I don’t start off easy then I’m in pain for a week which impacts on other training. In turn, yesterday was light (in the context of Nick Mitchell style training sessions) and so will the next few (whilst I’m abroad), and then by the weekend I’ll be getting more aggressive with them. My plan is to do ab work on rest days or maybe training days where it doesn’t impact on related training in the coming/previous day.

I need to do the same with calves and will plan a schedule for some regular isolated focus on these too.