Fun and Fitness: Tight tummy

When it comes to physical transformations, everyone's goals vary. Guys typically want to get jacked while girls generally strive for the tightly toned physique. Regardless of the goal, it's safe to say that everyone wants the same ideal for one particular body region — a tight tummy!

If your goal is to look like the person on the front of a fitness magazine or a professional bodybuilder on the day of a competition, you need to reassess these aims. You first need to realize that these gifted individuals are genetically superior professionals who are at their physical peak. These people have strict and often times unhealthy regimes that they follow. A prime example of this would be a day I had to get into competition shape. I had to stop drinking water the day before I went on stage and I took a diuretic pill, which accelerated my dehydration even further. I was shredded alright, but I was also dehydrated to the point where I could see my cheek bones by the time I stepped on stage. As much as I like to pretend I look like that every day underneath my shirt, it's impossible to maintain that sort of shape all year around. In case you were wondering, fitness professionals and underwear models don't look that good every day either.

Pursuit of the six-pack is a lost cause if a solid foundation of diet and exercise are not in place. As important as exercise is, doing a thousand crunches a day won't bring out those beautiful abs if your diet is shitty. The key element is an increase in lean muscle mass combined with a decreased body fat. An excellent diet on its own can be enough for many individuals to shed enough fat to achieve visible abs. Adding proper abdominal exercises will help accelerate the process as well as develop the abdominals and obliques even further. Think of it like running on an escalator. It gets you where you want to be that much faster.

It is crucial to keep in mind that genetics may keep certain individuals from developing a full or symmetric six-pack while these same genetic factors may allow others to develop a complete symmetric eight pack. When my friend Mike and I get in peak shape, he has perfectly large block shaped abs whereas mine are smaller and unsymmetrical. Unfortunately there's nothing I can do about that besides putting the blame on my parents.

Abdominal development can be one of the most frustrating practices. The lower abs tend to be the main cause for people's aggravation. The lower stomach is always the last place to shed fat and the first place to get it back. Therefore, dedication to a fine tuned routine is required if you hope to get anywhere near the Brad Pitt “Fight Club” or Halle Berry “Swordfish” physiques. In short, everyone is built different so aim to improve and achieve a personal best rather than an unrealistic ideal.