Six-Pack Abs in 12 Weeks
If a leaner, more chiseled body is one of your New Year’s goals, here’s an amazingly inspiring success story: Joe Warner went from chunky to hunky—including 6-pack abs—in just 12 weeks. Thanks to smarter workouts and a much healthier diet, he’s reportedly gained 22 pounds of muscle—and shed about 17.5 pounds of fat, with nearly all of the loss around the belly.
Making this makeover even more remarkable, the Men’s Fitness deputy editor is an average Joe with a desk job—and works out just four hours a week. “If I can do it, anyone can,” Warner told the Daily Mail. “The regime I followed proves that you don’t need to spend hour after hour exercising to dramatically transform the way you look, even in a relatively short period of time.”
What are his body-building secrets—and would they work for other average guys? Is it really possible to pack on that much muscle in three months? To find out, I talked to Neal Pire, MA, CSCS, FACSM, and founder of PUSH at Volt Fitness in Glen Rock, NJ, who specializes in performance training for athletes.
Boost Your Manpower
His Old Workout
Warner used to be “skinny-fat,” meaning that he had excessive belly fat—and relatively little muscle mass—according to his trainer Nick Mitchell. Also known as “normal weight obesity,” this type of build is linked to increased risk for diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular disease, the leading killer of Americans.
While in his 20s, Warner focused on cardiovascular workouts, mainly running. “No matter how far or how long I ran, I would always have a bit of belly and never any muscles on my chest, shoulders or arms,” he told the Daily Mail. Although the editor wished he looked like the fitness models featured in his magazine, he thought he had the wrong genetics and lacked the time to spend hours pumping iron.
The Ultimate Weight-Loss Soup
However, he did spend 4.5 hours a week exercising, well above the 2.5 hours of vigorous exercise (or a higher amount of moderate exercise) per week experts advise to maintain fitness and good health.
His old fitness regimen:
- Monday and Thursday: 60-minute run
- Tuesday and Saturday: 45-minute run
- Wednesday: 60-minute gym workout
- Friday and Sunday: Rest
