How To Get Ripped Abs Challenge – Day4
Today took me out of my usual routine on the How to Get Ripped Abs program as I had to be on the road for most of the day and wouldn’t have easy access to my kitchen for all of my meals. I didn’t prepare anything so I had my usual breakfast and then grabbed 2 protein drinks and 2 bananas with some fish oil capsules. Those were going to be my 2 meals for the day while I was traveling. Sometimes you can’t follow the plan exact and you just have to make sensible adjustments. I would have rather had a couple prepared meals that I brought with me but there isn’t always time to get everything perfect. Usually when I’m out I’m so busy that I forget to eat so at least this way I would be forcing a couple of meals down to keep my metabolism charged and primed for fat burning.
When I got back home late in the afternoon I got dressed so that I could get to the gym and do my cardio session. I decided not to do the bodyweight cardio session again just yet because I wanted to give my joints a break from the impact. I used the elliptical machine for a 5 minute warm up and then went right into the high intensity interval training for 18 minutes. Typically when I do HIIT on the elliptical I do short sprints but the How to Get Ripped Abs program has the workout sets very specific and the high intensity portion is longer than I am accustomed to. This workout required a fairly intense 1 minute work session followed by 2 minutes at a medium intensity. This was very challenging for me and I did the complete 6 cycles. Luckily my gym has television screens attached to each cardio machine so I can just plug in my headphones and the time goes by really quickly. I was glad when that workout was over. Compared to my usual HIIT workout on an elliptical this one was much more taxing and I really had to push myself. It’s nice to be in and out of the gym so quickly though.
For dinner I filled up on grilled chicken and a mix of brown rice and black beans with lots of spices. This meal has become a staple and I really enjoy it. The high fiber of the black beans really fills you up for a long time. For a healthy fat I added 4 fish oil capsules that I drank down with my water. So far I must admit the diet has been effortless and I don’t even crave sugars anymore. Sometimes you just need to be on a good structured plan that creates boundaries for you and goals. That’s exactly why I wanted to try the How to Get Ripped Abs program though. I needed to force myself into some structure that someone else had set up for me. Sometimes it’s too easy for me to cheat on my own programs because I don’t follow my own structure. This way when I see the kids eating their ice cream and I don’t make myself an ice cream cone and join them. I just enjoy watching them have fun and so far I don’t miss the deserts because I already see improvements happening and my waistline dropping. I try to visualize what I will look like at the end of the 12 weeks and that is motivation in itself. It’s been several years since I’ve seen a really six pack so I’m looking forward to seeing how I look again. If you have never got yourself down really lean it’s something you should try to do because the feeling is hard to describe. It just feels great having your skin tight to your body without any squishy fat around the waist. As I said though I can’t remember how it feels so that’s my vision for now. I cooked up plenty of chicken on the grill tonight and bagged it up for the next couple of days. I’ll start making some other dishes with it now so that I don’t get burnt out eating the same things.
