FROM FLABS TO ABS: Finding my summer abs

TOP: BEACH PICTURE CIRCA '99
BOTTOM: BEACH PICTURE CIRCA '10


It was about ten days out i think (or less) when i confirmed our day at the beach. Problem was i was still pudgy around the middle=) When your naturally dark skinned or tan everything is so much easier. You look leaner for sure even with a good amount of body fat.

Ever wonder why all these figure competitors are super tan? Cause your definition is about ten times better. But when your white,yellow or pale you have to work abot 10 times harder or you should really be below 10% bodyfat. I worked out like hell until beach day, alternating with real fast fatloss program, alwyn cosgroves fatloss 3 giant set (which i also call the motherfucking bitch) and my own superset bodyweight combo of density training and meltdown training. I like doing different kinds of workouts to keep the body guessing and not to get completely bored! I was feeling the overtraining bug biting me in the ass!!!!

But in the words of coach dos remedios he doesnt believe in all that straining the cns shit. Bottomline i think you got to find that very thin line between pushing your body to do a little bit more even if you feel rundown, and to rest when you really need to rest. Supplements like creatine and glutamine really come in handy and postworkout carbs are a Godsend=)

I tried tanning outside my house, bought my tanning spray. Placed some on me and sat at the sunniest part of the house. Let me tell you, tanning without the beach in front of you isn't any fun=). And no, it was not effective for me haha.

So with the hard workouts and diet dialed in, i knew i had to take it to the next level and that's where water manipulation came in. I have never water manipulated before so i was anxious. If i go to extreme like down only 10 ounces the day before beach day, i would suffer dehydration and risk destroying my beach day or if i did it wrong and drink too much i would look like a puffy marshmallow man and just be content with head shots all day long=)

So 5 days out i drank 2 gallons a day. Damn that first day was not fun at all. Also took a herbal diuretic by solgar. Truth be told i couldnt tell the difference. I was already pissing a lot anyway cause of my lowcarb state and i do usually drink a lot of water(not 2 gallons though). A day before my carbup i had a crisis. I dint know wether to follow the 10 0unces only advice, or to drink 2 gallons and stop at 4pm. Thoughts of going to the hospital filled my mind and stories of bodybuilders fainting on the stage cause of dehydration ate me up. To make my long story short i decided to go with 1 gallon that day and stop dringking at 6pm. Afterall you got to find what works best for you and since i dont think im under 10 percent i did not know if it would work at all.

BEACH DAY!

I woke up around 4am the next day,went straight to the bathroom checked out how i looked in front of the mirror. My first thoughts were, "well is this what flat looks like? well i'm kind of lean, but was i really? Was all that effort not worth it?" I tried to be positive and ate a piece of chicken and a spoon of ice cream.

About 5 hours later we got to the beach,proceeded to the room to do a variety of push- ups and sit- ups to get some kind of pump, put some tanning oil for definition and then me and my girl went off to the beach for our pre- pig- out pictorial. Snap snap snap several shots later, you could still hardly see my abs. Too much light. Let's try a different angle, snap snap snap still not the men's health shot i was dreaming of. In my head i was saying my God this is not happening. All the effort, water gallons and supplement money i poured on to this very day seem to be failing me. Then finally for something like 20 seconds it felt like God intervened clouds covered the sun and i was like "take a shot hurry there's no sun" SNAP!!!! The sun came back! Perfect shot! It was a funny kodak moment. A perfect moment. 2 hours later we ate like hungry cannibals in the buffet table. We took head shots after that=)

Rome was not built in a day

The journey to that shredded look can be tricky. Maybe it is useless to look at your abs everyday and see if the definition is better. Its hard not to notice thou since you have to take your shirt off everyday and there are mirrors everywhere. Progress ooooo so slow. Its an everyday battle. Eating six times a day, taking your supplements regularly, getting your training in, enough rest or recovery. Your playing labrat with your body and see what combo works best for you. Patience. Consistensy. And once you get there, seeing those chiseled abs, seeing that ripped look when you wake up in the morning, the battle doesnt stop. Now you have to fight to keep it there. A few dietary mistakes. a week or two without consistent training, a night of beers with friends and Taaaadaaaaa!!!!! Your abs are once again fighting for dear life and the 12 to 16 weeks of hard work are down the drain.

Great Fighters finish fights!

Please george pls....dont turn into the floyd mayweather of MMA. Again for the second fight in a row at UFC 111 Georges st. Pierre has not finished his opponent. Credit goes to dan hardy for not tapping during the very tight armbar and kimura that george put on him. Well in contrast thats proof that gsp tried to finish the fight but it wasnt enough. The fans deserve more. Georges has fallen in love with his wrestling and takedowns so much that thats what he uses in 90% of his fights. Sure he maybe the best wrestler in MMA but he needs to take a little more risks...i mean if youve dominated your opponent on the ground for four rounds, maybe a little more ground and pound would be nice or strike for a round for petes sake. Sure dana white said this is mma but man that was boring! Gsp always sez that hes always striving to be better, well try to standup for a change. I sincerely hope that jon jones doesnt turn into a gsp. But i hope that gsp turns into a jon jones! That guy wrestles but he finishes! As much as i would like gsp to fight paul daley, my fear is that it will be the same story again. He needs to go to 185. Theres nothing left for him at 170. Gsp vs palhares? Gsp vs maia? Silva?

ON WHY I DECIDED TO BLOG ABOUT FITNESS

Guess i started writing because i believe it will help me in my journey to find that hollywood body, anybody who likes working out most likely also wants to look like brad pit in troy,gerard butler in 300 or georges st pierre of the UFC. I write, not only for me, but for you men who want to be superman but dont know how. Ive been working out on and off for the last 10 years. And when i say off, i reeeeeeaaaaaaallllyyyy mean off.

Ive only been seriously working out for 1 year. Before i would go into a gym workout 2 or 3 bodyparts. Or i would copy programs from diffrent magazines. I got a little buff around 2002, i tried to get abs but i didnt really know how. My diet was hit and miss. The pattern was familiar. Id get fat. Lose weight. Fat, not so fat. Buff and kinda muscular then muscles would shrink and here comes the christmas belly or the beer belly. It went on and on like that. Finally last year a friend of mine whos been on the ABSDIET for years lent the book to me. I told myself "if i dont get abs now ill never get abs". i was 32 after all and believe me ladies and gentlemen when you reach your 30's your metabolism starts telling you to go fuck yourself=).

So i went on the abs diet and its exercise program of circuits and interval cardio. Ate 6 times a day. Lean meats, nuts,lowfat dairy,whey and had 1 cheatmeal a week=)...went thru a gazilion magazines and tried diffrent programs. I STOPPED DRINGKING BEER FOR 13 WEEKS!!!!!! believe me i use to have a love affair with beer. I exercised myself to exhaustion and still no abs. I kept on doing research and kept on changing programs. Too make the long story short i got a 6 pac in 6 months(well it was more of a 5 pac haha).

But alas about a month later i went to the states for a vacation, christmas came like a tornado and coup de grace? I was in a theater production that made me miss 1 of my meals and made me uber hungry when it was done. My abs now need special lighting to be seen by the eye. Im on that journey again. But ive uped the antey. I promised myself to find that 6th ab and not only will i be leaner. Ill be bigger and stonger.

I hope to hear from you,who share the same passion for bodybuilding, mixed martial arts, boxing, supplements, and the like. Remember you are not brad pitt, you are not jason statham, you are not gerard butler or georges st pierre. But you are you, and like me, a guy who had a beer belly and not really gifted with the greatest genetics, you can be the best you can be and find those abs beneath the flabs.