Why Doesn’t Everyone Have Six-Pack Abs?

I’ve yet to meet anyone who is really comfortable being overweight. Either they complain about it from an attractiveness perspective, or they suffer from obesity related problems (such as lack of energy, prone to sickness, depression etc).

So it’s pretty obvious that most people would like to have six pack abs. Many of those people even attempt to get them. The truth is however that few people actually have visible abs.

Why?

I could come up with a whole host of answers to that question, but there are really only two reasons why people fail to reach their goals – and I’ll put these people into two groups according to their reasons;

Group 1 – “Because we’re lazy. We’re undisciplined and lack longevity.”

Now before I get flooded with hate mail let me add this, I am completely aware that there are some people who are physically challenged and thus unable to reduce their body fat percentage to a level that makes their abdominal muscles visible. These people should not be discouraged or feel bad about them selves. After all, the ultimate goal is to be healthy, isn’t it? So I hope this article is not going to hit people in the wrong place but rather that it will motivate us to press on and achieve the goals we’ve set for ourselves.

Going back to my point however, most people will hide behind myths such as “I have bad genes”, or “I’ve got the wrong body type” when in actual fact they just haven’t stuck at it long enough to see real changes and steps towards success. The truth is, most people who are overweight, or have a undesirably high body fat percentage, are this way because they do not stick to the goals they’re setting.

I know, because I used to be in this group (and some weeks I still am).

Getting in shape is hard, if it wasn’t then everyone around us would be fit.

If you want abs then you had better be prepared to work for it. It’s hard to give up those unhealthy foods we’re almost addicted to, and it’s hard to rearrange our schedules to fit in three or more workouts per week. But, if we stick at it (even when it feels like we’re not making any progress), then we’ll eventually be able to stand on our own to feet as people who are in control of our fitness, body and health.

It is possible to get rid of that flab, just get our of Group 1 and try and avoid…

Group 2 – “We keep trying but we never make any progress”

There is another unfortunate group of people out there who don’t fall into the first group. They are disciplined, they hardly ever eat (what they think is) unhealthy food, and they are consistent with their workouts. But they never seem to reach their goals.

Misinformation had destroyed their chances. They are following diet plans, workout guides and fitness information that can never actually help them. It will only ever produce short-term results. If only this group had the right information, they’d be catapulted to a new level of health (not to mention their elusive goal of six-pack abs).

I also have been part of this group. I used to take any information, hook, line and sinker, as long as it sounded good and intelligent, and the person giving the tips was an ‘expert’. Unfortunately I rarely made progress other than some short-lived results when I changed to a new diet or workout routine.

I cannot help group 1, but I can help group 2.

I can’t make you get six-pack abs (or whatever goal you’re seeking) if you’re not able to help yourself. But, if you are prepared to totally change your lifestyle, then I can help you. I’m still half way out of group 1 and avoiding to be in group 2 myself. But I’m on a journey which is headed in the right direction and I’m inviting you to join me.

No more excuses! Stop talking, and start doing.

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3 Easy Tips to Achieve The Fitness Deadline You Set For Yourself

It’s very important in my opinion to have goals in fitness. If you don’t set goals for yourself then you’ll struggle to find the motivation week in, week out to keep on finding time to work out (and to stick to your diet plan).

Deadlines are great. Especially with fitness – they get you motivated and give you a prize at the end of it.

• Getting a six pack in 16 weeks
• Adding an inch to your biceps in 30 days
• Being able to run a marathon after 3 months training

These are all examples of deadlines. The problem is that a lot of the times we set deadlines for ourselves we end up getting discouraged half way through and give up before we ever get there. Losing 5kg in 3 months can be a pretty reasonable goal if you are overweight, but most who have tried to do this usually hear the swishing sound the deadline makes as it goes past and are no where near where they want to be.

1. Master your weekly fitness ‘to do’ list so that you keep working on your goal

If you continually meet weekly goals you set for yourself then you’ll find it much easier to achieve your overall goal. Give yourself a weekly ‘to do’ fitness list and work to achieve it. If you find it too hard then make the list shorter. The important thing to do is optimise these mini one-week deadlines so that you are able to end each week being able to say you’ve achieved all you wanted to achieve.

2. Have reasonable expectations

So let’s say you are going to set small goals to achieve each week. My advice is to have some easy weeks, and some hard weeks. In fact it’s probably even better to cycle through an easy week, medium week and then a hard week. Having an easy week after the hard week will allow your body time to recover.

The hard weeks will also act as important tests to see how well you’re set to achieving the deadline you’ve given yourself.

3. Don’t rest on your laurels but don’t continually overextend yourself by doing more than you planned to do each week.

Sometimes we’ll find that we easily meet the goals we set for ourselves on a certain week. The temptation is to go on and accomplish a whole lot more that week. Now I’m not against extra workouts and exercise, but we have to realise that we’re in this for the long haul. We’re not going to achieve what we want if we blow ourselves out one week and then have to spend the next week in recovery mode.

You may not agree with this point, but I encourage you to try it out. You see as you stick to the goals that you’ve set per week you’ll start to treat these small goals more seriously rather than something that would be “nice to achieve” it becomes just as important as the overall deadline you’ve given yourself.

My final advice is not to get too down if you fail to meet your mini-deadlines (or even your overall deadline). Review what you did right, consider what mistakes you made, give yourself a 1 week holiday and then try again. After all, you can only be successful if you try again and again. There’s not too much luck involved in fitness.

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