Here is a picture of the same middle class white professional man 14 years later at age 44.
The picture above was a result of environmental factors namely; the North American diet; and a sedentary lifestyle.
The picture below is a result of; fearing the natural consequences of the picture above and the modified TINJ diet.
To get from the picture above to the picture below, I DID NOT DO ANY OF THE FOLLOWING:
1> Join a Gym
2> Take up any traditional aerobic activity like jogging, stair climbers, exercise bikes or swimming.
3> Quit smoking.
What I did do was sit ups. Lots of sit ups. In the first picture I was capable of TWO sit ups in a non stop set. In the second photo, I am capable of 100+ oblique twist sit ups in a non stop set.
The Oblique Twist Sit Up is what gave Mohamed Ali & Sylvester Stallone their body core. UNLESS YOU ARE CAPABLE OF DOING AN UNINTERRUPTED SET OF 30 SIT UPS, WITH A FURTHER UNINTERRUPTED SET OF 30 SIT UPS THE FOLLOWING DAY DO NOT ATTEMPT AN OBLIQUE TWIST SIT UP. You can potentially damage your spinal cord.
To do an Oblique Twist sit up, you require either a spotter to hold down your feet, or a door bottom/piece of furniture to anchor your feet. Start by putting your hand behind your neck and interlocking your fingers. Lie down on your back with feet anchored and fingers interlocked behind your head. Sit up and twist so that your right elbow touches your left knee all the while keeping your hands behind your neck. Sit back until your back touches the ground, and sit up again with a twist this time your left elbow touches your right knee. If you did this properly, you just completed two oblique twist sit ups.
If you let your back roll with your momentum, you risk slipping a disk or damaging a vertebrae. If you pull your neck forward with your hands so as to make it easier for your elbow to touch the alternate knee you run the risk of spinal cord damage. Doing this exercise in proper form isolates your oblique muscles, and your lower abs muscles. Exercising the obliques pulls your inards into your rib cage. Exercising your lower abs tightens all the muscles under your belly button effectively making a certain piece of the male anatomy effectively longer. Doing a lot of these sit ups hurts like hell.
I had initially set the goal of being able to do more than 100 sit ups in a set by my 44th birthday. I later increased the goal to being able to exceed 100 oblique twist sit ups in a set by my birthday. I had been up until recently using Helen of Troy/Medusa images to psyche myself up before my sit up sets, but as of late I had been plateauing. I could only hit 100 oblique twists in a super set (90 non stop and a further 10 after 30 seconds rest), and I could not for the life of me go any higher. It was time to put Helen of Troy to rest, and find a new focus of desire to help me break through my pain barrier. Was it going to be two Serbian women both named Jovanka? Or three demented Russian babes named Svetlana? No, it had to be the ultimate most decadent form of self indulgence I knew of....
It had to be a gourmet cheesecake.
Yesterday while doing my nightly set of 70 oblique twists, I realized I felt good at the 50 sit up mark. I decided to see if I could focus my mind as I approached my pain threshold and GO FOR BROKE. At sit up number 70 I promised myself a five inch Cheesecake 101 gourmet cake if I could exceed 100. By sit up 90 the image of the cake was firmly in my mind and I was in uncharted territory, but then I decided to raise the bar higher, to exceed 100 non stop and if I exceeded 105 non stop, I would buy myself two 5 inch cheesecakes. It was just the inspiration I needed because I pushed myself to 106, non stop with no 30 second rest at any point. My prize, the sorest abs I have ever had and a 5 inch classic cherry cheesecake, with a yet to be decided 5 inch cheesecake for dessert.
Goes to show that a cheesecake in the hand might just be worth more than a Helen of Troy in the bush.
Owwwiiieee.....
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