THE 3 MOST IMPORTANT FACTORS WHEN IT COMES TO SEEING YOUR ABS! 💪

"HOW CAN I GET THEM?!"
"WHAT DO I NEED TO DO TO GET THEM?! "
"WHAT DO I EAT?!"
TRAINING, NUTRITION, GENETICS EXPLAINED! 

SO its summer time, time to go to the pool and rock that swimwear! Maybe you’ve started adding some extra ab crunches to your workout in hopes of getting your abs to make a rockin’ appearance while layin’ poolside this summer! 
 
Seems like it makes sense, right?
"If I train my abs then I should get abs, right?"
Sort of…

I’m going to break down THE BIG 3 principles when it comes to revealing your abs and keeping them visible for the world to see! 

The 3 things are... 

1. TRAINING

2. NUTRITION

3. GENETICS  

All these things dictate how much your abs show!
And let me preface that, all these things vary from person to person.

Now lets break things down, shall we?!

1. TRAINING

        When it comes to training the abs, many people resort to do an endless amount of crunches or sit ups and calling it a day.
While performing countless reps of crunches isn’t easy and lets be honest, it can be quite boring to do, it is NOT the most efficient way to train your abs in order to get those bad boys poppin'!                                   Your abdominals are a muscle just like any other muscle in your body, like your biceps, your triceps, quadriceps, etc.                                                                                                                     To get your abs to grow, you need to train them just like your would any other muscle on your body. Training the abs with weight and increasing that weight as you advance in your program will help you to continue to build the muscle in your abs.
Training your abs from different angles to target all areas of your abs (your rectus abdominals, internal and external oblique’s, serratus anterior). You need to stimulate your abs from all angles, incorporating exercises that target all muscles of the abs.

        Lastly, training abs directly and ONLY training your abs will NOT give you abs. Unfortunately you cannot spot reduce specific areas to lose body fat by overtraining that body part. A way to get your abs to show more overall is to burn off more fat off your entire body overall! This comes through a properly structured training/cardio and nutrition program! (Keep reading because nutrition is up next!)

2. NUTRITION

        How many of you have heard the saying, abs are made in the kitchen?!
Well that saying speaks 100% the truth!
Consuming an optimal diet consisting of the right amounts of protein, carbohydrates and fat for YOUR body and lifestyle is key! Eating nutritious foods, avoiding processed foods and drinking plenty of water is a great way to start!
        For those of you who know me, know I am big on tracking macronutrient/caloric intake. I personally find this way a very sustainable approach to keeping my diet in check and allowing me to alter the ratio of macronutrients when I am cutting or lean bulking! Feel free to shoot me a message if you have any questions on flexible dieting/finding your most optimal macronutrients! I’m happy to help! 

3. GENETICS

        Lastly, the point that is not in our control but can play a role in how much your abs show is our genetics!
We all have different areas on the body where our body prefers to carry most of our fat. For ladies, a common area is in the glutes and hips area. For males, a common area is in the stomach. However, we all have different underlying shapes of our abs and they way they look on our body is dictated by our genetics.
        Some people will get to super low levels of body fat and still don’t have their abs showing as defined as others at the some body fat %. Unfair? HECK YES!                                                                                        But that’s just life and genetics my friends! Some people respond extremely well to training their abs only once a week and see the development in their abs they want.
        Overall, make the most out of what you have! You can always improve and work hard to get those abdominals to pop! 

IN CONCLUSION...

        At the end of the day, remember that consistency is key!
No fitness goal is out of reach for you, you just need to make the right changes and choices! :) 
As always, feel free to email me/shoot me a msg in my contact forum if you have any additional questions!
I'm here and more than happy to help!! xo

REVERSE DIET BREAKDOWN!

SO, you’ve just been through a dieting period, living on a lower calorie diet to achieve your end goal weight. Maybe you were prepping for a competition, photoshoot, wedding, event, or just a personal goal for yourself to attain. You’ve dieted down successfully and reached your goal… now what?
Or maybe you’ve been restricting calories for too long and your body is not cooperating anymore and you've hit a weight-loss plateau… now what?

I want to discuss the process of a reverse diet, when to implement it and why it is so important & beneficial for your body at times like these. 

The aftermath of a dieting period can really do a number on your metabolism and this period after a caloric deficit is critical to avoid excess fat gain while restoring and increasing your metabolic rate! NO harsh rebounds here folks, we’re bringing your metabolism up to speed and also bringing you benefits to help you in and outside the gym! You’re coasting in for the long-term gains!

FIRST LETS GO OVER THE EFFECTS OF A DIETING PERIOD…

After a period of dieting your body’s metabolic rate is slowed down due to decreased body mass and fat burning hormones are down regulated from dieting.

The concept of a reverse diet is used here to restore metabolic rate by slowly and strategically adding more calories back into your diet again so you do not gain a lot of excess body fat rapidly and are set up for long-term success moving forward.

After a calorically restricted period, many people will gain that weight back if they shoot their calories up right after a fat loss period.

Dr. Layne Norton’s podcast on reverse dieting, noted that most people after dieting cant keep that weight off and 80% of people will re-gain weight they’ve lost and may even add on even more fat due to the down-regulated effects of dieting on metabolism.

Once you’ve gained that weight back, it is even harder to diet down to lose it due to the fact that you will have to bring your calories even lower to enter a caloric deficit and lose body fat.

Lets take this in an example-  Say you have just dieted down, and your new maintenance level of calories is now 1300 kcals, and you would like to CONTINUE cutting down. You would have to keep reducing from this level of calories in order to further see results.

The goal of a reverse diet is to build your metabolism to a point where when you want to diet down again, you are cutting from a higher maintenance level of calories of lets say, 2800 kcals.

By reverse dieting you will allow your metabolism to fully recover, slowly work towards increasing your maintenance level and burn through those more calories more efficiently. You may even find yourself getting leaner in the process!  

THIS ALSO PUTS YOUR BODY IN A MORE EFFICIENT PLACE TO...

-       Put on lean muscle mass

-       Enjoy HIGH CALORIE meals out and not be as affected because metabolically your body is now in a much more stable place to metabolize that meal

-       Prepare you for your next cutting/dieting phase so you can diet on eating MORE calories while staying leaner!

Maybe you lose 10 lbs, re-gain 5 lbs but get your caloric intake higher than it was before. 

One of the major benefits of a reverse diet is that when you get back up to your maintenance calories, you have LESS body fat than you had prior to when you began dieting and are EATING more.

Now lets say you want to diet again, this means you can now diet down on a HIGHER daily caloric intake. (since you’ve increased your maintenance level)

= A NET WIN FOR YOUR METABOLISM!

This makes your next cutting phase easier.

Apply this over multiple phases cutting and reversing phases and imagine where you will take your metabolism!

Reverse dieting is a different process for each individual depending on how your body responds. It is an important phase to go through for all individuals who have been through long dieting phases and metabolisms are down-regulated. 

Look after your body for the LONG-TERM. You have this body you are blessed with for your lifetime. Take care of it, be patient with your process and most importantly love your body!

If you have any questions at all about reverse dieting or need help with getting on track with your fitness goals, feel free to message me! I am more than happy to help <3

Below is a picture of the reverse diet approach I applied on myself! 

I was on a long cutting phase for about 20 weeks until my bikini competition.

I was eating around 1 150 kcal/ day and doing up to 1.5 hours of cardio a day in the picture of the left. 

I successfully reverse dieted myself out of that eating around 1 900 kcals (and still increasing calories!) with weekly refeeds and doing very minimal cardio in the picture on the right. All while keeping fat gain to a minimum and increasing my strength and energy in the gym!