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If there’s one fitness goal that almost every man wants to achieve is a ripped set of abs. Not only men are crazy about abs, even women think a toned stomach with visible abs is a great indicator of men’s fitness and strength. You train relentlessly and take proper care of what you eat, but when your shirt comes off, something’s not quite right.
Dude, where’s your ripped set of abs?
Wondering where your sweats and hard work went wrong? Here are 10 results-stealing reasons you can’t see your abs and what you can do to reclaim your abs!
- Your Body Fat is Too High
Simple and basic fact, you have too much body fat. Men should aim to have a body fat percentage below 10% and women need to have below 18%. If you get your body fat measured by a reliable fitness trainer and your body fat measurement is above these percentages, there’s just too much body fat in between your abdominal muscles and the skin. This is one of the absolute reasons why most people will never see their abs.
The most affordable way to measure your body fat is to find a professional fitness trainer who is well experienced in performing a seven site skin fold test with callipers. Once, you’ve determined your body fat, adjust your nutrition and diet in order to reduce your body fat percentage, because if you’ve too much body fat you’re not getting anywhere with your abs training.
- You Don’t Have Enough Muscle Tone
A shortage of muscle is one of those significant reasons you don’t have abs. While everyone has a degree of abdominal muscles development, some have very little of it. The larger your abdominal muscles are, the more the muscle will show definition through your body fat, and the more ripped and toned you’ll look. Therefore, start performing heavy-weighted ab workouts to build your muscle tone. Weighted decline sit-ups work perfectly to overcome this problem.
- You Don’t Mix Up Your Training
Your body is smarter than you think. Unless you regularly change your workout methods, the muscles will adapt to the training and stop growing. There are three types of movements and exercises that excellently work on your abs: flexion & extension moves like crunches; static contraction moves like the plank/hanging leg lifts. and rotation exercises like medicine ball twists. The best abs training will incorporate exercises and workouts from every movement type, therefore, mix up your training to get your ripped set of abs.
- You’re Too Focused on Your Abs
Some men think, to get a set of well-toned abs, the greater part of their workout focus on training the abdominal muscles. Unfortunately, this focus only drives them further away from getting their desired abs structure. So, try to focus on compound movements and stabilization exercises, they burn 10 times more calories than any crunch will, and in the process, you’ll get your desired ripped set of abs.
- You Have Poor Nutrition Plan
Even the best self-discipliner crack under the pressure of too long on a strict diet. If you’re trying to stick with a nutrition plan that is far too low in calories and carbs, it won’t be long before you hit with a hefty buffet in a vengeance. Therefore, have a good look at the Lean Six-pack nutrition plan you’re following and make sure you’re consuming enough calories. A very low-calorie nutrition plan is the main reason most men do binge eat. That’s why your food consumption must be appropriate to your body size and activity level. Low calorie is good, but too few calories will leave you hungry for a binge, which will have a negative effect on your abs building.
- You’re Not Drinking Enough Water
Water retention becomes the norm in today’s world of excessively processed fast foods. If you’re following a high-sodium diet and you’re not drinking enough water throughout the day, your hard-worked abs will be hindered by what you consume. Increase your water intake to at least 12 glasses a day and throw away your saltshaker. I bet you’ll see noticeable differences within two to three days.
- It’s Not in Your Genes Buddy
Another key reason you couldn’t able to build your abs is that you simply don’t have the genetics for it. Some people are naturally prone to carry more abdominal fat, and even if they become leaner with ripped arms and legs, sadly, the abs still don’t show through. Also, your genetics plays a key role in defining your abs’ shape and how they look on your body. If you have genetics that working against your abs training, definitely, you’ll have an uphill battle to tone your abs.
- You’re Too Stressed Out
Same as lack of sleep, high levels of stress also induce the release of cortisol hormone in your body and that’ll cause fat gain in your belly area. If you’re leading a high-stress lifestyle and often feel chronic tension, not only you’re encouraging stomach fat accumulation, but also you’re risking yourself for the loss of lean muscle mass. If you really want to achieve ripped abs, you must take control of your stress.
- You’re Drinking Too Much Alcohol
Headed out for another Saturday night with your drinking buddies? Before you order a beer bottle, think about its effect on your abs-building goal. As soon as alcohol enters in your body, it puts immediate brakes on the fat burning process, which means each sip of beer slows down your fat-burning progress. Drinking too much alcohol too often can also encourage fat to develop around the stomach area – hope you heard about “Beer Belly”, Yes this the reason for that uninviting friend! Trust me, drinking too much alcohol make your workout much harder. So, if you really love your abs, you have to say goodbye to alcohol.
- Your Expectations Are Unrealistic
Getting ripped abs isn’t a rapid process. Losing your body fat is a hard job that requires a strong mindset rewire process along with your time and dedication. You need to give enough time for your body to burn those extra fats to show your well-toned abs. you might feel like your abs are never going to show up and stop your abs-building training in the middle. But, as long as you follow the correct nutrition plan and perform the right kinds of workouts, Sure, you’ll see the results. Just don’t expect to see them immediately. Be patient and give enough time to see the magic on your body.
Abs are made in the kitchen, Not fully in the Gym.
Conclusion
So, these are the ten results-stealing mistakes you’re doing, while you’re on your abs-building process. Remember, with the right process, hard work, consistent effort and a well-structured routine you can easily get your abs to show. All the best with your abs-building journey! Hope the above checklist helps you to find and fix the reasons that are blocking you to get your abs.
Where are you in your abs-building process? Let me know in the comments below!
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