Below 10 % BF and still no real visible abs :\

A

apoth

0
Let me quickly introduce myself. I've been dieting and exercising for over a year. For over a year I've been at normal weight and body fat (12 - 14%) and have been eating extremely clean (no cookies, pizzas, etc) by following the Tom venuto's (Burn the fat feed the muscle) diet. For the last several months I've been doing about 50 minutes fasted cardio virtualy every morning ( either gym rope or swimming) plus boxing training ( heavy bag) later in the day unless I lift instead. All in all, I work out for about twice a day an for roughly an hour each session (sometimes more sometimes less). I'm 6'1, male, and 155 lbs. The fat calipers show my bodyfat to be between ten and eight percent mark, so I'm going to say I'm around 9% bodyfat. Now, with the exception of my stomach, my whole body is very lean and tone and I can CLEARLY see my obliques. I have some muscle, as I can bench about my weight. My diet consists mainly of vegetables and lean meat (chicken, tuna, egg whites) and I've heavily restricted my calories as of late. Still, I can't see a six pack and my stomach is certainly not flat.

So, is it possible that something other than diet, cardio, and ab exercises might be needed to show visible six pack?

ps- I do 100 situps, 3 sets of oblique exercises, another 100 situps, 3 more oblique sets, and then a final 100 situps 3 times a week.

I'd greatly appreciate any advice or knowledge that could help. Thanks for your time reading this.
 
Dont be too worried about benching your own weight, a very few amount actually can.

Though 6'1 155 seems very "skinny" to me.

As per your sit ups, its gonna take time to get those abs.. just keep at it.. !
 
You're working out twice, daily??

You're working out way too much, get at least 2 rest days.
Also posting your diet wouldn't hurt either
 
Meal 1 ( after cardio)- 1- 2 cups egg whites
1-2 cups melon (honeydew and canteloupe)

meals 2 through 4 - 3-4 oz chicken or i can light tuna
several cups of vegetables

i usually end the day with a tablespoon of peanbutter or so and drink a lot of tea, coffee, and chew sugarfree gum. I do not consume any real sugar with the tea or coffee
 
You need to have muscle to show, to have a 6-pack. Stop overtraining, and fix your nutrition. Go read the stickies here; run a search on other threads of this nature.
 
[Focus] said:
You need to have muscle to show, to have a 6-pack. Stop overtraining, and fix your nutrition. Go read the stickies here; run a search on other threads of this nature.
Click to expand...

That's basically what I was gonna say :p

Your diet is horrible
 
Diet must be excellent to get them to show if you still have belly fat they won't get there.
Build the abs like any other muscle and add resistance exercises as well weighted situps, weighted leg raises, maybe some cable crunches.
 
And bench pressing your body weight does not show you have considerable muscle! A first goal should be to bench press your body weight for at least 10 reps, be able to do 12+ pullups, and squat and deadlift 2x your body weight for reps.
 
Xenth said:
Your diet is horrible
Click to expand...

Is his diet really "horrible" Or perhaps just 'not enough'? Especially for a male who (as it sounds) wants to gain more muscle. Seems clean enough just very low in calories. (seems like a lot of caffeine though, I don't know about all that tea and coffee)

Like it has been said in other threads, you need a caloric surplus to build muscle, it sounds like that is your goal right now, so perhaps you should up your calories and add (more)weight to your excercise routine...

Do you know about how many calories you (roughly) eat in a day?
 
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All right, I think I'm hearing what I was suspecting. If I'm not seeing abs at after getting down to about 8% bodyfat and a weight level that really would be unhealthy if it went any lower (keep in mind I AM seeing obliques very much so), does that mean I need to be going in the other direction ( surplus and muscle gain) instead of continuing to cut and try and lose more fat to see a well defined six pack? I'm just wondering if its lack of stomach muscle or excess fat thats preventing me from having reached my goal.


I appreciate all the input.


PS. I'd say around 2000 calories or so, Moon. I know this is low but my goal has been cutting. I know how to lose fat, because I've done it. All I want to know is how far do I have to go, or if I've gone far enough and need to go surplus now. Thats something I dont understand.
 
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That defenitely sounds like youve lost enough. Its now about working on those abs by doing crunches etc, and im assuming your stregthining most of your body too.

Firstly, the workload sounds waaaaaay to much, and you need at least one day off no matter what.

The diet your taking isnt doing your muscle bulking any favours, doesnt sound like your getting enough energy, nutrients etc to work at your optimal level thereby improving your performance at the best you can.

If it persists and its really a concern go see a good personal trainer ;)
 
apoth said:
PS. I'd say around 2000 calories or so, Moon. I know this is low but my goal has been cutting. I know how to lose fat, because I've done it. All I want to know is how far do I have to go, or if I've gone far enough and need to go surplus now. Thats something I dont understand.
Click to expand...

Wow that IS low. 2000 is what I'm supposed to take in in order to maintian and I'm only 5' 1" 110 pounds (thereabouts)...

While I'm not an expert (not a trainer) I would def. first find out what you need to take in in order to maintain your current weight and play with the numbers.

Your body fat % is already low so maybe now you should work on trying to build more muscle--by eating more 'good' calories and lifting a little heavier than you normally would lift.

I would think it's normal to see the body fat% going up when bulking but then you can work on cutting again. It would be so much easier if we could do both at the same time LOL.

(And someone please correct me if I'm wrong, I don't want to give him incorrect info)
 
Well your body% is below average..

The problem with the body% is that it doesnt distinguish between fat and muscle. That is why footy players for example will have large body%'s which would consider them obese, but this is merely due to their muscle mass.

Start consuming a healthy nutritious diet along with a well personalised weight programme.
 
I would recommend not doing the whole fasted cardio routine. Eat lightly in the morning. Try to get in some fiber, a little carbs (wheat bread to get both), and some light protein (egg whites or a protein shake) and then run. Your body will burn muscle before it burns fat to fuel itself and that is because your muscles require a lot of energy to maintain and ironically muscle is the best energy for it.

Also, the other guys are right, you need to be increasing the weight of your ab routines. You can do cable pull down crunches or weighted sit-ups. Also, to work all of your abs you need to focus on the upper lower and oblique (although there are more parts to the abs, working these will effectively work the others). What I mean is that you probably need 3 exercises dedicated to each one and then some combo exercises. Go to bodybuilding.com, menshealth.com, anywhere try to find as many ab exercises as possible.
 
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