How to Get Abs at ANY Age

We all know that Mike is on a quest to get leaner. I’m sure you are too.

I mean, who doesn’t want a beach ready body including visible abs?

I’m here to say that it’s possible, at any age.

I’m Shawna K and I’m known more for challenging workouts, you’ve no doubt seen me on Mike’s blog before.

Several people have asked how I manage to have visible abs over the age of 50 so I decided to share some of my ‘secrets’ with Mike and you, his Workout Finisher Readers.

When you stand in the supermarket check out, you no doubt see a ‘brand new’ diet craze plastered all over the magazines.

Guess what? There’s nothing new under the sun where diet is concerned. Sadly, these magazines just cleverly market old ideas that promise magical weight loss.

I’ve seen it all. I’ve been on the planet long enough to know.

It’s really sad to see good people make dieting mistakes that sabotage their metabolisms and then get no results.

Mike asked me to share seven tips that you can use to get and stay lean as you age.

Here goes:

1. Lose the cardio – You know this one right? Mike has no doubt drilled it into your head that steady state cardio is a waste of time. In fact, it’s counter productive to your goal of getting visible abs. Study after study shows that doing ‘traditional cardio’ in the ‘fat burning zone’ is the LEAST effective strategy to burn fat. It’s even been shown to increase appetite which makes it all the more difficult to stay on any weight loss plan.
2. Less is More – By this I mean, spend less time and money to get more visible abs. Yes, that sounds like a good plan doesn’t it? Getting visible abs isn’t about throwing more money at your belly fat problem. I’d prefer to spend $15 on a jump rope than $1500 on a treadmill. Or how about spending zero dollars on equipment or gym membership and doing burpees or other body weight exercises instead? Also, it’s not about LONG workouts, it’s about INTENSITY in your workouts. Getting visible abs is possible with short workouts where you can maintain a high intensity.
3. Beef it up – Muscle is your friend when it comes to fat burning so your goal should be to get some.  Resistance training provides your muscles with the stimulus needed to add lean muscle tone. It’s your muscle that helps to burn calories and keeps your metabolism stoked to burn off the belly fat. You don’t need a lot of fancy equipment to add some beef either; bodyweight exercises are a brilliant form of resistance training.
4. No roller coasters – I’m talking about the blood sugar roller coaster. Your body releases insulin in response to the ingestion of carbohydrates. If you control your carbohydrate intake and timing, you’ll reduce insulin spikes. Your body will not burn fat in the presence of insulin, so if you want visible abs, your job is to control these insulin spikes. Plus you won’t get crazy energy swings when you moderate blood sugar.
5. You’re sweet enough: drop the sugar – This may be a hard pill to swallow, but you’ll get over your cravings for sweet in a few days. That’s all it takes, but when you eat sweet, you’ll also crave sweet. So when you say ‘no’ to sugar, your sweet tooth will diminish. Sugar addicts typically don’t have the visible abs you’re looking for.
6. Pass (on) the bread – It doesn’t matter if you’re gluten intolerant or not, no one needs the calories found in breads and other bread like products. When you replace starchy carbs, especially later in the day, your abs will be more visible right away.
7. Treat yourself – Studies show that the hormone responsible for helping you burn fat is reduced by 50% with only 7 days of ‘dieting’. So to keep those fat burning hormones happy, make sure that you increase your calories with a ‘treat meal’ at least every seventh day. Of course this makes more than just your hormones happy 😉

These are just a few of the tips and tricks I use on my clients and myself. I get asked so often about them, that I put together a program called the 21 Day Challenge Diet.

Now, I need to clear up the name ‘Challenge Diet’ because it’s not what it seems. The challenge is NOT in the nutrition plan at all.

If you want to look sexy and you don’t want to be a skinnier version of your former fat self, you need to get moving in order to transform your body. The 21 Day Challenge Diet challenges you to get off the couch daily. This is where the 21 Day Challenge Diet differs.

Don’t worry if working out isn’t second nature to you. I have you covered with daily email messages of motivation, inspiration and workouts. I’ll challenge you to keep moving with short invigorating workouts, no matter what your fitness level is.

Beta testers found that the nutrition portion of the 21 Day Challenge Diet was a cinch. They said that it was practical and sustainable. They felt energized and weren’t hungry as they lost 15+ pounds in 21 days.

I know that some diets will promise more weight loss than 5 pounds a week. But are you really going to fall for that? Do you want to lose those 5 pounds only to gain 6 pounds back the next week?

Veteran dieters know that it’s the slow and steady weight loss that will stay off. The good news is that during the 21 day maintenance phase, beta testers not only maintained their weight loss, they lost even more pounds and inches while feeling satisfied.

Take a look at 51 year old Judy who did the 21 Day Challenge Diet plan:

In addition to the challenge to MOVE in the 21 Day Challenge Diet, there’s a ‘secret sauce’ that few other plans have and that’s social support. There’s a network of like-minded people all on the same path ready to encourage, motivate and hold you accountable to your weight loss goals. You’ll have access to me (and the entire Challenge Diet community) to lean on every step of the way . Studies show that those with social support have the MOST success with weight loss.

I call the 21 Day Challenge Diet the ‘non-diet diet since it’s designed to teach people the necessary nutrition and lifestyle skills to never ‘diet’ again. You’ll learn sensible eating habits and lifestyle skills that won’t necessarily ‘end’. You’ll feel so good that the changes you make in the 21 days will be ones that you’ll adopt for life.

The first 21 days will see the start of the transformation of your body and entire attitude towards food. You’ll be surprised at how easily you’ll take to the nutrition plan as you’ll easily drop those extra pounds while gaining your health and vitality back.

The 21 Day Challenge Diet is not the ‘challenge’ that you think. You won’t be hungry or deprived. You’ll challenge your body to be it’s best.

Up for a challenge?

Click here to get started with the 21-Day Challenge

ABOUT SHAWNA K

Shawna Kaminski is a retired schoolteacher of 20 years who’s found her passion in the fitness industry. She’s parlayed her ability to teach and her love of training into programs that you can directly benefit from. Shawna is almost 51 years old, is a mother of two teenagers and understands how busy life can be. Her workouts are short and intense and often can be done anywhere. She’s always up for a challenge and shares her fitness challenges with you on her blog Challenge Workouts. Currently she runs her own fitness boot camps and coaches clients in person and online around the world with her amazing ‘result getting’ programs.