The Truth About Ripped Abdomens
Ab machines will not make you slim. Hopefully, you already knew that, but every new infomercial product on the market seems to fly on the wings of a hope that people either don’t know or are willing to forget this simple rule.
A sculpted midsection has been the idealized epitome of masculine strength and attractiveness throughout history. The ancient Greeks and Romans depicted it in their statues of gods and godlike athletes and emperors. During the Renaissance. Michelangelo endowed his statue of David with a torso that is literally chiseled. A more recent incarnation appeared in the 1990s, in the ripped form of Marky Mark in those Calvin Klein underwear ads. Today, muscles in general and abs in particular are undoubtedly a status symbol. Washboard abs are everywhere – in health club commercials, in action movies, and on magazine covers.
The idea has become fixed in men’s minds that not only is the perfectly chiseled midsection something to aspire to, but that there is a population of guys out there who have such a thing and who are ready to use it to take our women and— who knows?—maybe our houses, cars, and 401(k) funds too.
Ab guys have become to men what necktie-thin models are to women – an impossible ideal. Guys crowd into gyms, buy ab rollers, hire personal trainers, and continue to make the supplement industry a multibillion-dollar money-making machine, all with the idea that they’re one exercise, cable machine, or protein shake away from the riches that life would bring if they had toned abs.
But what nobody ever sees is the truth about the physical icons with ripped abdomens. So here’s the truth.
? Ab models are genetically gifted. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be models in the first place (or at least not models who actually make a living at it).
? It’s their job to be in perfect shape. They couldn’t come into your office and crunch numbers the way you do, and you shouldn’t expect to be able to step in front of a camera and crunch abs the way they do.
? You see them only on their very best days. Nobody stays shredded year-round.
? In the days before a photo shoot, models consume an unhealthy high-protein, lowcarbohydrate diet.
? They often use drugs like ephedrine and caffeine to speed up their metabolisms and melt off the last bits of fat around their middles. And that’s just for starters. Amphetamines, diuretics, steroids, growth hormones—name any muscle-building, fat-burning, or water-draining drug, and somebody in a commercial or on a billboard has taken it.
? Photography and filmmaking are all about illusion. Tricks of posing and lighting can work wonders. And sometime the photos are touched up. Photoshop rules! Computers make it easier than ever to alter images.
? And don’t forget, these models are holding their breath and flexing.
Want to build flat “abdominals”? Then time has come to find out more about abs workout.
Of course, abs workout are not some sort of magic against all problems, but if you approach abs workout seriously – then it will will serve you the right way.