Those of you smart enough to subscribe to our channel have probably already seen our
episodes on the recent craze sweeping men all over the world: six-pack abs courtesy
of cosmetic surgery.
Our deep dive into this new craze amongst men revealed some pretty disturbing things,
like for instance the fact that men now opt for cosmetic surgery at a greater rate than
women!
Selfie culture seems to be taking a pretty big hit on the egos of men around the world,
but what if you don't have thousands of dollars to spend on a quick surgical upgrade?
Or what if you prefer to do things the more natural way?
Stay tuned as we once more put your favorite, and our least important, staff writer through
the ringer, and challenge him to shape up or ship out as he does sit ups for 90 days
straight!
Day 1: Well, as far as insane challenges go I guess I should count my lucky stars that
this one is pretty mild.
Doing sit-ups for 90 days is probably the tamest thing that Infographics has put me
through in a long time... maybe ever, and I guess I could use it.
I like to stay in shape, but I have an unreasonable hatred of doing any kind of ab workout.
It's exhausting on an emotional level, like having to be the shoulder your friend cries
on after the guy you warned her to never date, inevitably breaks up with her.
Only it's my abs doing the crying.
If you've followed these challenge episodes, you might remember that I also hate running,
and for exactly the same reason: complete and utterly boring exercises.
I know first-hand the benefits of constant sit-ups though, and used to rock a six-pack
throughout my military career thanks to all the constant running and ab exercises.
Seriously, the military loves making you do sit-ups, its the weirdest thing in the world
and almost on a fetish level, but you're always doing some variation of ab exercise from sit-ups
to burpees.
There were daily lunges, mountain climbers, burpees, side planks, supermans, bycicle crunches,
godzilla stomps, russian twists, and butterfly kicks- so many insane ways to torture your
abs that you probably didn’t realize I made one of those up.
So I guess I'll be hopping in a time machine and going back in time to restart my old daily
exercise routine.
I stopped my normal exercising for a few weeks before this to get a better sense of how effective
this would be for the sake of the challenge, so I'm looking forward to not feeling flabby
and gross again, but I am not looking forward to the actual exercises.
There's literally nothing more tedious than ab workouts, except maybe running.
My routine will consist of the following, in sets of 3:
20 butterfly kicks 20 traditional crunches
20 russian twists 20 elbow-to-knee crunches
20 burpies 20 mountain climbers
I don't expect that I'll be able to fully complete 3 sets at first and it'll take a
while, so if you're following at home and can only do one of the sets, or part of one
of the sets, don't sweat it, just keep at it and note how you gradually get better and
better.
That kind of slow improvement is a great source of inspiration.
I'll check in every thirty days, so I guess I'll see you guys in a month.
Day 30: As predicted, I couldn't fulfill all three sets of each exercise at the start.
In my regular life I stay pretty fit, but since I stopped exercising for a few weeks
in preparation for this challenge, I definitely lost a lot of stamina and strength.
I could barely crank out the first set on each exercise at first, and now at the end
of the month I'm hitting the full three sets but definitely feel like I'm about to die
at the end.
As far as my actual abs, well they're definitely noticeable when I press down on my stomach,
but they're not super well defined.
You can see a vague shape, but I'm not rocking a noticeable six pack.
Sadly, that's going to take a lot more work.
I guess I do feel better about myself overall though.
It's nice to be exercising again and I kind of miss getting the blood pumping every morning.
I've never been an exercise junkie, I just do it because I like the results and because
I need to, but I don't get literal pleasure out of it the way the girlfriend does- but
I think she's insane.
Never fully trust anyone who says they honestly enjoy exercise- they're probably not really
human.
Probably some weird space alien in disguise, waiting for you to drop your guard so it can
harvest your brains.
See you guys in another thirty... if my brain hasn't been harvested.
Day 60: So over the last thirty days the workout routines have become a lot easier, to the
point that doing the entire three sets of each exercise is not a problem.
I'm still ending a bit winded, but I definitely feel that I could push it harder if I really
wanted to.
I know I talk a lot of trash about exercise, rightfully so, but honestly getting to the
point where you're doing things you could barely even start doing weeks ago does feel
pretty good.
There's few things in life with such clearly defined goals, or moments of success, as with
exercise.
Rarely in life do you physically see the goal you're striving towards, and then realize
the exact moment you've achieved it- and the moment where you're ready to push past it.
As far as my body, well you can definitely see ab muscles, and I guess I'm rocking what
you'd call a four pack.
I'm not gonna lie to you, I don't know if I'll be able to get to the six pack.
My diet is a bit all over the place- and honestly all the insane infographics challenges aren't
helping in that regard.
But more importantly I just don't live the lifestyle I used to.
Last time I had a clearly defined six pack it was basically my job to work out and keep
in fighting shape, and my diet was pretty well defined thanks to the chow hall and MREs
out in the field.
Now I definitely do a lot less cardio, spend a lot less time in one hundred plus degree
temperatures, and eat a lot more terrible snacks.
I feel like getting to an actual well defined six pack is an entire lifestyle choice, and
I have no interest in that.
I enjoy overeating occasionally, and devouring an entire pan of cheesecake once in a blue
moon.
I have one more month left to go, but I'm not confident I'll be seeing a six-pack by
the end of this.
Day 90: 90 day sit-up challenge complete, and the journey was rough, then got ok, then...
I don't know, all the exercising just got to be part of my daily routine.
I'm not gonna pretend that exercise routines are easy, and I'll admit that if it wasn't
literally my job to have committed every day to this routine, I would've taken plenty of
cheat days.
But as anyone following along at home knows, starting this journey is pretty damn difficult,
specially when you're wheezing and gasping through the first few reps of your first set.
In time though, it gets easier, and it feels pretty satisfying to see yourself pushing
past your old limits.
Eventually, if you stick with it long enough, it kind of becomes a part of your nature.
Sure, you'll take your cheat days, but I think the longer you stick with a routine the harder
it becomes to actually quit that routine, because it just starts to feel unnatural to
not do it.
After 90 days my 60 day prediction held true- I am definitely not rocking a six-pack, but
it's not because the muscles aren't there.
The muscles are definitely there, but I just didn't commit to a complete diet change that
would trim all the excess fat from around mid section and the belly.
That's the thing about working out your abs, it's just not going to get rid of every ounce
of belly fat unless you're carefully monitoring every bite of food you eat.
It's called diet and exercise for a reason.
I am however rocking a pretty nice four-pack with some great definition, and well, it kind
of does a lot for your self-esteem.
Also, the girlfriend is practically in love with it so that's a pretty big plus.
In the end though, getting these results is a personal choice, and if you can't find a
reason to want this for yourself, not what other people think about it, sticking to a
workout routine like this probably isn't going to be realistic.
I really wish any of you following at home good luck, and I encourage you to stick with
it.
Getting in shape feels great, and is great for your health.
And take it from me- I know what it's like to want to quit, but don't, keep with it and
you'll see some pretty awesome results in time!
Now if you'll excuse me I have to go buy a bunch of super-douchey name brand workout
clothes and take a series of really obnoxious instagram pictures in front of a gym mirror.
Think you can start and keep up with this routine?
Let us know in the comments!
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