I have the pleasure of knowing a friend who had one of the most transformational changes of all time. It is his journey that proves that even an overweight can have a perfectly chiseled body with ripped muscles and the ability to achieve a 6-Pack.

Wondering how? I am going to show you exactly that today.

Before I start to tell you about how to get a 6 pack, I am going to take you through the details of how I and my friend know each other. These details will help you understand his journey and seek inspiration to have one of your own as well.

We met back when I was in the freshman in high school and it was our love for video games that made us bond instantly. We did a lot together back in the day and still are great friends to this day.

As my friend started gaming more and more, he spent a larger part of the day sitting behind his desk. It is needless to add that his weight kept on increasing and he soon realized that gone were the days when he looked like great and didn’t do much to maintain it. However, my friend, isn’t one of those who goes down without a fight. So, he took up the challenge to shed all the extra pounds and boy, he did ever. Now, let us see the details of his epic journey.

How to Get Motivated and Achieve a 6-Pack

January 2006: 260 Pounds

Back in the month of January, my friend was probably at his heaviest. It was during those days that I received a phone call from him where he said that he wanted to get in shape. He told me that he had realized that this wasn’t what he wanted from his life and so he wanted to make changes.

I asked him then and there to bring in two main changes – one, he has to start with resistance training and second; pick a decent diet.

Now, he wasn’t really willing to head to the gym right way and this is why he thought it was much better to begin with the second option, which was dieting. Dieting has a lot of diverse definition too and he started with curbing the amount of bad food which he was eating. Not only did he cut down on junk food, but also at the same time, he tried and made sure that he was eating a lot more nutritious food.

He also started increasing his cardio because he knew that in order to get in shape, the perfect solution was to exercise more and eat less (Calorie Deficit). It took him three months, but he managed to lose as much as 30 pounds. Yeah, it wasn’t as easy as it looks. He did everything from counting the calories to shifting to healthier breakfasts and even opting for protein rich diet and cardio as well.

A lot of people would have been happy with the loss and would have ended the program there. However, he isn’t just like everyone; he wanted more than being just another average guy. He continued his journey further.

Summer 2006: 200 Pounds

In the first three months, he had received phenomenal results. However, he seemed to have hit a plateau after that. Despite following the effective regime, his weight stood steady at 200 pounds. It was then that he quickly phoned when I was in college and told me that he may never be able to shed the extra fat and his dream of weighing less than 200 pounds might never be real.

Like the guy I am, I still remained firm to my previous point and said that he needed to choose the right foods and diet and focus on resistance training and the results will come with patience. Sometimes, it takes a lot more to be inspired. He tried something, then stopped and kept switching between different options. A year passed by like this and he was still waiting for the right source of inspiration and motivation to hit him at the right spot.

September 2007: 195 Pounds, Body Fat: 18%

Now was the time when the real shit began. He was really hitting it hard, resistance training, cardio and a great diet.

He now started measuring every single detail. He checked his body fat percentage, even measured his waists, chest, thighs, shoulders, and hip and even kept healthy track of his meal. We were together analyzing his every move.

It was at this juncture that I introduced him to Paleo diet success stories but despite that he looked a little hesitant.

January 2007: 190 Pounds

He followed a healthy diet which was not Paleo for nearly 6 weeks and teamed it with cardio. He lost 6 pounds but it was still not giving him what he had wanted.

Though his weight was dropping by a few notches; his body fat percentage wasn’t showing the kind of decline he wanted. This is when he finally agreed to opt for more compound movements and joined a more serious gym. So, he started the series of deadlifts, squats, pull us, dips, presses and more.

Once strength training had started, he also began working on paleo diet as well. The Paleo diet success stories seemed to have finally worked and this began the real big change. He was not worrying on the amount of exercise he was doing any longer.

March: 185 Pounds, 9.9% Body Fat

This was the time when the changes had finally kicked in. His body fat dropped down to 9.9%. Though the weight didn’t drop a great deal, but his body weight showed a huge and massive transformation. No doubt, he was so happy at having accomplished his objectives.

I spotted a huge transformation in the way he carried himself. His confidence has improved by a lot of notches too. Remember, the weighing scales are not always everything. They are only a part of the story and they may not always reflect the true success of your journey. His story shows how much you could alter your body and you have complete control if you’re willing to do so. So, you too can take inspiration from this story and now I will show you how to get a 6 pack abs and what you could possibly learn from this journey.

Why Was My Friend Successful?

After fiddling with a lot of different options, changing the diets and even swapping the different exercise programs, he finally managed to taste success. Different people tend to react in various manner and the bodies can work differently too. So, you need to be sure that you can understand the details of how to get abs and work your way around exercising to perfection.

There are the main reasons that contributed to success.

• Competition: He never had any kind of incentives in the past. All he wanted to do was just lose weight for the sake of having a great body. However, he ended up having a challenge with one of my other friends and so he started working hard and having the right competition and the best set of incentives, ensured that he gave in all his effort. It was this competitive spirit that ensured that he put in all his efforts.
• Specific goals: apart from having the right kind of competition; it was having a very specific goal that helped him in his pursuit. He did not just want to stay in shape, he had the right kind of goal in mind and he wanted a body fat percentage which was in single digit. It was this specific goal which gave him the right focus to work upon his target.
• Education: in order to shed the extra pounds, you need to be taught about the exercising regimes. He was willing to walk the extra mile and he did his part of research for the sake of understanding the right exercises to be done. He was completely clueless of what paleo diet is; however, when he was trying to learn; he educated himself about the Paleo diet success stories and more.
• The paleo diet: if you want to get a low body fat percentage, one of the best ways you can use is to opt for paleo diet. I am absolutely sure that it is this diet was a great addition to his plan. Regardless of what some say, I very strongly endorse this form of diet.
• Strength training: there is no doubt that strength training remains one of the most important and influential ways by which you can get the best body shape. Instead of wasting a lot of hours on long steady cardio, he did the smart thing by opting to use strength training. Strength training helps in cutting down the fat and increasing muscle mass which boosts your resting metabolic rate.
• Meticulous measurements: it is important to keep track of things. He did a smart thing by counting his calories recording his weight periodically and most of all he was always taking pictures of himself to see the kind of changes that were occurring. It was this statistical record that ensured that he could excel in the work which he was doing.
• No excuses: when you are committed to a task, you need to be sure that you are not making any excuses. The moment you start offering excuses, you will be on the road to failure. He never made an excuse when he finally kick started his campaign. This secured his success.

What Can You Learn On How to Achieve a 6-Pack?

There are a lot of lessons that you can learn from what he did. Here, I am going to talk about a few of them. Whatever your goals are, you can always try and learn from these lessons and then implement the same as well.

Set the right goals: you should not be vague when you are setting goals. You need to find out what are your goals are and then focus upon them like he did. You need to have quantifiable goals.

Do you really want it: you need to be desperate for your target goals. When it came down to being really desperate about cutting down on his body fat percentage, the real results started kicking in. So, when you are looking to achieve something, you need to have the ultimate desperation sometimes. If you are not desperate enough, it is not going to assist you at all.

Challenge yourself: you always need to challenge your own self about it. If you are not pushing the boundaries and if you are not trying hard enough, you are never going to excel in your goals. I am not asking you to be frustrated with yourself or always be in a battle, but there is absolutely no harm in trying to challenge yourself. So, make sure that put your body on the line and try and outdo your own capabilities. This is one of the best ways of bettering who you are.

Dieting is important: the diet you follow has the power to make and break your training routine. If you go on an eating binge, it is never going to bring about the change in the way you eat. So, you should try and be sure that you are eating the right kind of diet. For me, once again, it is paleo that works best because it is going to bring you pretty good rewards.

Resistance training: once again, you need to be sure that you must choose to lift. It is only really resistance training that will boost your resting metabolic rate in the fastest way. When you have done that, you will be able to see the changes on how to Achieve a 6-Pack.

So, get inspired and know  how to get a 6 pack with the proper motivation. 

-Terry Asher