My friend is going on holiday in 4 weeks, and wants his abs to show for the holiday. I would put him at around 12% BF, but his abs are a bit underdeveloped.. and not showing at all really. If he would workout abs intensely monday, eat at a caloric surplus monday & tuesday and eat at a caloric deficit for the rest of the week. So like a bulk for two days then a cut for the rest of the week.

Its for his holiday which is in 4 weeks, so not very long at all, not much time really for him to develop them properly by doing a traditional bulk then cut.

So what do you guys think? will it work? i can't see why it wouldn't... maybe a 3 day bulk and 4 day cut would be better?

your thoughts please.

cheers:tu:

I'm assuming you think he should bulk in order to increase the size of his ab muscles? I don't think that would be the best approach. He should probably just cut...and continue to shed bodyfat to make his abs appear.

What are your friend's stats in the way of height and weight?

I'd be careful about adding unnecessary complexity, especially for someone without body recomposition experience.

Honestly I think he should of thought about the body he wanted a little sooner. :)

Just have him cut and do some weighted ab work. Don't overcomplicate things. At a low enough BF%, he will have abs.

4 weeks at 2 days a week is going to make 8 days of bulking... which is going to accomplish nothing.

4 weeks at 2 days a week is going to make 8 days of bulking... which is going to accomplish nothing.

Personally i think it would, my muscles only grow the first two days after a particular exercise, plus he has never bulked before, he would initially grow quickly...

That said, i agree that it is probably best to not over complicate things, he has seen the posts and decided to carry on cutting...

goonie he is 19, 162lbs & 180cm

thanks foe the input

Personally i think it would, my muscles only grow the first two days after a particular exercise


Thanks for the chuckle.

Personally i think it would, my muscles only grow the first two days after a particular exercise, plus he has never bulked before, he would initially grow quickly...

That said, i agree that it is probably best to not over complicate things, he has seen the posts and decided to carry on cutting...

goonie he is 19, 162lbs & 180cm



Start him at 1600 calories and reduce him by 100 calories a week until holiday.

5 days a week have him do the following exercises.

one set to failure of a crunch performed at a 10 sec up and a 5 sec down cadence. each rep should take 15 sec. For the full 15 sec the muscles will be under tension. Continue till he can't complete another rep. When he can do 15 reps add a 10 lb weight.

After a 60 sec rest

Do one set of a reverse crunch performed at the 10/5 cadence as before until failure when he can perform 15 reps have him balance a 10 lb dumbbell between feet.

I hope he has developed the beach muscles of chest, lats, shoulders and arms with at least a semblance of leg muscles. :gl: