ok. so i’m not so happy with my stomach. i am getting rid of a beer belly still. and it seems like it’s taking forever to get rid of it. i still drink beer occassionally, at parties or chilling at a bar with friends. but just one. it’s mostly from the summer when i drank alot more.
anyways, i’ve heard mixed responses to this, but one side says you can still carve out your abs by working them, while still having a little more fat around there, well others tell me you have to have your body weight below 12% before you see them. it’s not a big problem for me, and i’m going for mass more than toneage, i was actually more curious to hear your perspective, or the right answer. thanks.
My opinion is beer should be cut out when trying for abs as alcohol is around 7.1 cal per gram and it’s carbs.
BF% wise it’s generally been my experiance the closer to single digits you get the more the abs come in but it’s also genetic I’ve seen people with 13%-15% with abs it just depends how they carry their fat.
[quote]Bodyguard wrote:
My opinion is beer should be cut out when trying for abs as alcohol is around 7.1 cal per gram and it’s carbs.
BF% wise it’s generally been my experiance the closer to single digits you get the more the abs come in but it’s also genetic I’ve seen people with 13%-15% with abs it just depends how they carry their fat.
[/quote]
That is why numbers don’t really mean much. I watched my frat brother get caliper tested and it came out as 17% body fat. Meanwhile, every corner of his abs was visible and no one would ahve put him that high. He actually got a little depressed about the number when most people are trying to look like he did at the time. I personally see no point in even getting your body fat tested aside from specific circumstances like those who may be obese or people getting contest ready who are trying to determine that any further weight loss isn’t more muscle mass. For everyone else I see it as a waste of time and often misleading.
As far as this poster, you need to determine what your goals are. If they are to get leaner, you will have to work on that. If they are to gain mass, you need to focus on that goal. You seem to be attempting to travel in two directions at once and for most people, this will not work out well.
Regardless of what your “number” is, if you can’t see your abs and that is a goal, you are carrying too much body fat to see them. It is that simple. You can train your abs regularly and still never see them if you are carrying too much body fat. This shit isn’t magic.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
Bodyguard wrote:
My opinion is beer should be cut out when trying for abs as alcohol is around 7.1 cal per gram and it’s carbs.
BF% wise it’s generally been my experiance the closer to single digits you get the more the abs come in but it’s also genetic I’ve seen people with 13%-15% with abs it just depends how they carry their fat.
That is why numbers don’t really mean much. I watched my frat brother get caliper tested and it came out as 17% body fat. Meanwhile, every corner of his abs was visible and no one would ahve put him that high. He actually got a little depressed about the number when most people are trying to look like he did at the time. I personally see no point in even getting your body fat tested aside from specific circumstances like those who may be obese or people getting contest ready who are trying to determine that any further weight loss isn’t more muscle mass. For everyone else I see it as a waste of time and often misleading.
As far as this poster, you need to determine what your goals are. If they are to get leaner, you will have to work on that. If they are to gain mass, you need to focus on that goal. You seem to be attempting to travel in two directions at once and for most people, this will not work out well.
Regardless of what your “number” is, if you can’t see your abs and that is a goal, you are carrying too much body fat to see them. It is that simple. You can train your abs regularly and still never see them if you are carrying too much body fat. This shit isn’t magic.[/quote]
I watch a lot of people work their abs out at the gym. Some are very low on the bodyfat spectrum and theirs are quite visible. Others are high in bodyfat. I wonder if they know that their abs are probably just as developed. And then I wonder how long they will last not seeing results, when their whole problem is their diet, not their workout routine.