Social media has completely warped our perception of reality. Thanks to social media, a lot of people think half the population is walking around with chiseled abs.

Maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you get my point. But do you know what’s not an exaggeration? Only about 1 in 18,000 people actually have visible abs with a decent amount of muscle mass. At least, that’s something I read in a study somewhere.

Doesn’t sound that believable, right? But hear me out.

Out of the entire population, how many people do you think actually work out consistently? I’m talking about lifting weights, training seriously—not just going for a casual jog once a week.

Maybe 2 or 3 out of 100 people actually lift weights regularly? Go walk around your office and ask how many people are training consistently. Not a lot.

Now, let’s switch gears and look at 20 people in the gym—these are already the outliers, the ones who actually work out, let’s say, two or three times a week. From those 20, how many actually know what they’re doing?

Maybe 2 people.

And that’s a hard maybe.

The gym is practically my second home—I train a lot, and I pay attention. From what I’ve seen, most people are just doing random exercises without a structured plan.

So you see how small the percentage already is?

Now, let’s go deeper. From the people who actually know what they’re doing, how many stick with it for 3-4 years and actually push themselves consistently?

Not many.

Out of the hundreds or even thousands of people I’ve seen at my gym, only a handful—well, half a handful—have stayed consistent without taking long breaks (unless they got injured, of course).

I personally know exactly 2 people who have maintained that level of consistency.

So why am I telling you all this? What does being consistent in the gym have to do with having chiseled abs?

Well, if you want abs that actually look impressive, you need muscle mass.

Everyone who’s lean enough will have abs, but do they actually have muscular abs?

You know the saying, right?

"Skinny with abs is like a fat chick with big boobs—it doesn’t count."

In my eyes, having real abs means your overall muscle mass is above average, and your abs are developed. That means you need to be one of the few people consistently training and training correctly for a good amount of time.

If you’re that person, you’re already in the minority. But now you also have to dial in your diet to reduce body fat so your abs are actually visible.

So, it’s really not hard to believe that only a tiny fraction of the population has conventionally good-looking abs.

I’m one of those people—sorry for bragging—and it took me years to dial in the process to maintain abs year-round while also having decent muscle mass, so I don’t look malnourished.

And lucky for you, I’m about to share my exact 5-step process to achieve that.

Doesn’t matter if you’re overweight or don’t have much muscle—I’m going to break down everything you need to know. The same rules apply to everyone.

1. Workout.

Didn’t see that coming, did you? Haha.

Yeah, you have to work out, my friend. And no, you don’t have to train for years before starting the process of having abs year-round.

I know I mentioned 3-4 years in the intro, but that doesn’t mean you need to train for that long before you’re ready to have chiseled abs year-round.

You can start now.

Some might wonder:
"Don’t you need to bulk up and cut a few times before you can have abs year-round? That’s why it takes 3-4 years, right?"

Not really.

For those who don’t know, bulking and cutting is a process used to build muscle and then shed fat. During a bulk, you eat a lot to gain muscle mass, and during a cut, you reduce body fat to reveal the muscle underneath.

Some people believe you need to repeat this cycle 3-4 times (which takes 3-4 years) to achieve a physique where you can maintain abs year-round.

I get why people think that—but there’s a much better way to do it. I’ll explain that in the next point.

But for now, just focus on working out consistently. Pick a solid workout plan that includes the basic exercises (read this if you want to know more about those) and stick with it.

The key to working out is perfecting your form and being consistent. But if you want abs, there’s one more vital piece of the puzzle—and that’s diet.

2. Diet.

In the previous section, I mentioned bulking and cutting. These are forms of seasonal dieting—a period of eating more food (bulking) followed by a period of reducing calorie intake (cutting).

That’s the typical bodybuilding approach you see online.

Is it effective? Maybe.
Is it sustainable? Not for most people.

So, my advice? Follow a diet you can sustain for the rest of your life.

This part depends heavily on your current situation. Someone who is overweight shouldn’t follow the same diet as someone who is severely underweight or naturally skinny.

For this article, I’ll mainly focus on people who are overweight, because I assume most people reading this have some belly fat they want to get rid of. Most skinny people already have abs year-round, so I doubt many of them will be reading this.

But if you’re skinny—my bad! Feel free to send me a message, and I’ll help you out.

If you’re overweight, here’s what you need to do:

1. Start meal prepping ASAP.
   Go on Google and search for low-calorie, high-protein meal prep ideas that you can prepare over the weekend.
   I can’t create a meal plan for you because everyone has different tastes, but the fundamentals are the same for anyone trying to lose weight:

• Low in calories

• High in protein

• High in fiber (lots of veggies)

• Optional: Carbs (I personally don’t add carbs, but you can if you want.)

2. Reduce snacking and cut out sugary drinks.
   To make this dead simple, here’s what to do:

• Snack on fruit instead of junk food like chips and cookies (you already know which snacks are bad).

• Drink water instead of sugary sodas.

• If you can’t quit soda, switch to diet soda. (And no, diet soda is NOT bad for your health—don’t believe the mainstream fear-mongering.)

3. Intermittent Fasting.

Alright, now that your diet is mostly in check, this alone will help you lose a ton of fat and weight if you’re overweight.

But knowing you, you’re going for gold—you want the best results.

That’s why we’re going to implement intermittent fasting.

What is intermittent fasting?

Intermittent fasting (IF) is simply having a set eating window and a set fasting window.

Most people already have some form of fasting window—it’s called sleeping. Haha.

But with intentional intermittent fasting, you make your fasting window bigger and your eating window smaller to maximize fat loss and other health benefits.

The most popular method is the 16/8 rule—16 hours of fasting, 8 hours of eating.

Sure, there are other variations, but if you know me even a little, you know I like to keep things stupidly simple so you can execute right away.

So we’re sticking with 16/8.

How to start intermittent fasting (16/8 rule)

Let’s say your current eating schedule looks like this:

• First meal at 8 AM

• Last meal/snack at 9 PM

That means you’re eating for 13 hours and fasting for only 9 hours.
If that’s you—boy (or girl)—you’ve got some work to do.

What you need to do is push your first meal later in the day.

Instead of eating at 8 AM, go for 12 PM.

Yeah, it might be hard at first, but here’s how to combat hunger:
✅ Drink water
✅ Drink black coffee

You don’t have to be super strict with it, either. Personally, I don’t count creamers or fruit during fasting. Yes, fruit is technically eating, but the calories are low, and it helps take the edge off hunger.

Your last meal should be around 8 PM—that’s it.

Now, the first meal you eat around 12 PM should be the low-calorie meal prep you made over the weekend.

This combination is powerful because:
✅ You create a massive calorie deficit for the rest of the day.
✅ You feel full and satisfied since your meal is high in fiber and protein.

Bonus Benefits of Fasting

Another huge benefit of fasting? Your focus skyrockets.

During your fasting window, you’ll likely notice better mental clarity and concentration. Take full advantage of this—use your fasting hours to crush your most important work.

This is honestly a productivity hack that most people have no idea about. 

4. Walk.

The final step—increase your steps. Haha.

No, but seriously, most people aren’t moving at all throughout the day. Modern culture has made it stupidly easy for people to barely move.

The average person’s day looks like this:

• Wakes up

• Drives to work

• Sits at a desk all day

• Co-worker brings coffee (they don’t even walk to get it)

• Drives back home

• Sits again to watch TV

• Sleeps

And that’s it.

Now, if this person actually works out, they’re already in the top percentile—which is why I didn’t even include working out in the list. But let’s be honest—even if they go to the gym, they’re driving there.

So, their step count is still terrible, even with a consistent gym routine.

Humans aren’t built to sit all day.

Back in the day, it was normal to walk 15,000-20,000 steps a day.

Nowadays, if someone hits 2,000-3,000 steps, it’s considered a good day of walking.

I genuinely believe everyone needs to walk more, whether you’re skinny or overweight. Walking has way more benefits than just burning extra calories.

Walking = Mental Clarity + Happiness

Yeah, I recommend walking to burn extra calories, but the real magic of walking is what it does for your brain.

Studies show that simply adding daily walks can change brain activity, improve mental clarity, and boost happiness.

So, get your step count up—not just for your body, but for your mind too.

In my honest opinion you should aim for 8000 to 10000 steps each day.

5. Two Ab exercises.

You only need TWO ab exercises:
✅ Cable Crunches
✅ Hanging Leg Raises

The Biggest Scam in Fitness: Ab Routine Videos.

Let me tell you straight up—ab workout videos are absolute garbage. I hate them with a passion.

These videos exist only to farm views and make people believe that doing them will build ab muscles.

Let me make this crystal clear:

THE ONLY THING AB ROUTINE VIDEOS ARE GOOD FOR IS CARDIO.
And even then, that’s a hard maybe.

And don’t even get me started on plank routines.

Look—if you’re doing planks or ab workout videos for stability or core endurance, fine. Do your thing. Maybe you have a specific reason I’m unaware of, so I won’t argue with you.

BUT—if you’re following these routines specifically to build your ab muscles, you are completely and utterly wasting your time.

Abs Are Just Like Any Other Muscle.

(I should win a Nobel Prize for that realization. 😂)

But seriously—your abs are muscles just like your chest, back, and legs.

So what does that mean?

It means you need to progressively overload them just like you do with any other muscle to make them grow.

That’s why Cable Crunches are the main driver for building my abs.

I spam these like a madman twice, sometimes three or four times a week.

Then I add Hanging Leg Raises.

And yeah, this exercise doesn’t let you add weight easily—but that’s because it targets the lower abs, and those are small muscles that don’t need heavy resistance to grow.

If you really want to add resistance, you can grab a dumbbell between your feet while doing Hanging Leg Raises.

But trust me—Hanging Leg Raises alone are already brutal.

Last Words

The information I just shared with you took me 15 years to get right.

Yeah, it may seem basic and common sense, but trust me—common sense isn’t so common nowadays.

I say this in almost every article I write, but because of the internet, people waste years trying all kinds of random fitness trends, never seeing results, and eventually giving up because they think nothing works.

I’m here to cut through the noise and give you the information that actually works.

And trust me—what I just told you WORKS.

This exact process is what allows me to maintain six-pack abs year-round.

Now, here’s the deal:

You just have to stick with this 5-step process for at least 6 months to a year.

If you do that—
✅ You’ll see results.
✅ You’ll build real muscle.
✅ You’ll finally get the abs you want.

And when that happens? You can come back and thank me then.

But until then—trust the process, stay consistent, and most importantly...

Believe in yourself, my friend.