How to Get Abs Over 40
Even if you’re over 40 the same rules apply about revealing your abs, it’s simply a case of lowering your body fat enough to see them.
If you’re over 15% body fat you won’t be able to see your abs and if you want to see a full 6 pack then it’s all about lowering your body fat percentage below 10%.
A lot of men over 40 think they’re too old to see their abs but if you can lose enough fat to get to 15% body fat, you can certainly lose more fat to reduce your over all body fat percentage further.
What I would say is rather than looking at a huge mountain to climb, break the goal of revealing your abs down into small chunks, if you’re currently over 20% body fat, work towards losing fat and reaching 15% body fat first.
Getting abs over 40 isn’t about “killing yourself” in the gym either, doing crazy workouts, going to classes and practically burning yourself out.
Here are the steps needed to get abs over 40.
1. Get some body fat callipers
Body fat callipers are one of the quickest and most convenient ways of revealing your body fat percentage.
By taking a single pinch of the waist and comparing that measurement to a chart on the back of the packet, you can quickly and easily get a measurement of how much fat you’re carrying.
It’s important because if you just rely on scale weight alone you won’t know whether you’re losing primarily fat or a combination of muscle and fat, which will give a totally different appearance than someone who is primarily losing fat.
2. Strength train
I can’t stress the importance of strength training or lifting weights enough for men over 40.
I’m not talking about getting huge, bloated muscles, I’m talking about building enough lean muscle that gives you that pleasing “men’s health” look.
Broad shoulders, tight waist, defined chest and V shaped back are all the result of sensible strength training, but men over 40 mess this up by either falling for mainstream bodybuilding instruction or simply performing too many workouts per week that don’t focus on the correct exercises.
Men over 40 need to focus their attention to compound movements that train the most muscle, boost testosterone and are safest on the joints.
No other exercises are more productive or safer than compound movements for men over 40.
And you don’t need a huge variety of exercises like the mainstream say you do, for example let’s say you choose the incline barbell press for the chest, shoulders and triceps, there’s really no need to go adding in flat bench presses, decline bench presses and machines to make sure you hit “every angle” of the chest.
Devote your attention to ONE or two movements per muscle group and work to improve your strength whilst maintaining impeccable form.
That doesn’t mean you need to heave super heavy weights, but you should still make getting stronger a priority and maintaining as much strength in good form into your later years as possible.
For men over 40 and natural’s in general, 3 strength training workouts are far superior than more frequent training.
And once you get stronger, reducing this down to only 2 strength training workouts will also work well.
As a natural you only have so much limited recovery ability.
Not only is this way of training far superior and effective than the mainstream bodybuilding world, but you’ll have more time for family, friends and to fit your workouts around a demanding career as well.
This way of training is a winner all round.
3. Eat in a calorie deficit
In order to lose fat, you need to eat LESS calories than what your body burns per day so that you draw upon the energy balance from your fat stores.
Playing around with macronutrients i.e. protein numbers, carbohydrates and fat is pointless if you aren’t eating less calories than what your body burns per day.
I recommend scrapping eating 5-6 small meals per day and eating 2-3 bigger meals per day that uses more of the sympathetic nervous system, boosts testosterone and keeps you feeling full whilst losing fat.
4. Perform moderate cardio
Too many men over 40 think that getting lean is all about going on endless marathon sprints or performing excessive amounts of cardio, but the problem with too much cardio is it kills testosterone levels and makes you extremely hungry – not the best thing if you’re trying to lose fat.
Two low impact or ONE cardio session performed with a barbell is plenty of cardio training additional to your strength training workouts per week.
Cardio is important though, for heart health, but there’s no need to go over board with it. I bet if you simply performed your strength training workouts, eat in a calorie deficit and focused on improving your strength you would achieve all your fitness goals.
Rid yourself of the notion that you need endless workout days and endless cardio sessions to get the lean body you want.
Get started on your fat loss journey with me today
If you want an effective strength training workout demonstrated by video, an effective nutrition plan that walks you through everything, plus the tools for calculating all your calories and macros, look at my Abs Over 40 course: