How To Get Ripped Abs Challenge – Day 31

Today is Wednesday day 31 on my How to Get Ripped Abs challenge.  This program by John Alvino is like nothing I have done before.  These aren’t casual gym workouts where I go get a workout in.  This is pure hard work and it requires some mental toughness to get through the workouts.  The upside of sticking with it though has been a consistent 3 pounds of fat lost per week while eating plenty of food and not having to cut any calories.

Yesterday I pulled my calf muscle jumping rope when it cramped up so tight that it actually strained the muscle.  Today it feels tight and is a little painful but I’m able to walk without limping.  With a good warm up I was able to do my regular workout in the gym without it even bothering me.  How to Get Ripped Abs includes a good warm up and joint alignment and prep to get your body ready for the workout.  It’s especially important in this system to do the warm ups.  I was able to push myself 100% right to the end again but the ab exercises are still quite difficult for me and I have a hard time getting over 8 reps on any of them.  In Phase 2 he introduces several variations of the plank which really puts a heavy stress on the core and abs.  I’ve never really done these type of exercises before and they are really tough at the end of the work out.

I had a buffalo chicken salad for dinner, eggs with potatoes for breakfast, a turkey sandwich on Ezekiel bread for lunch, and a protein drink.  I still wasn’t hungry enough to eat 5 meals so I drank a little more protein prior to going to bed.  How to Get Ripped Abs has a very precise meal plan that is specific to your own bodyweight in calories and meals.  So far I haven’t spent a single day or hour hungry.  It’s more of a challenge to get all of the food in during the day and always being full.  You don’t hear that very often when someone is losing weight as fast as I am.