5'8" 145lb Male and no chest or ab definition

Paleagles
Paleagles Posts: 2 Member
edited December 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
Hey y'all,

I needed to make a post to get some input. I have been trying to get that 6 pack for years now. I've stopped and started a bunch of times, but this time I've committed. Over the past 4 months I've went from 185 down to 145. 40lbs, but still I don't have the six pack. I've been eating clean, lean meat and heathy carbs. I've also done intermittent fasting which is why I think I've lost the weight I have. I also stopped eating the crap food from the restaurant I work at cold turkey and the weight practically fell off. I still lift the same weight and have more stamina then I ever had. I run 3 days a week, 30 minutes alternating between slow jogs to HIIT. I don't lift too much but just enough to stay in the gym when I finish cutting. I'm told I look like I have a good amount of muscle even through this cut. No one has told me I look unhealthy. I actually get tons of complements and congrats. I feel like I should be close to 10% body fat but I look like I'm 20% when looking at the gut and chest the abs are there and when I flex you can see that if I lost that lower gut they would definitely show. I also used to wrestle in high school and at one point I dropped to 118 and didn't see my abs. I haven't grown an inch since then. But I feel like I have way more muscle. Right now I'm just going to keep cutting and go to 135, but I'm worried I'm going to have to go even further if I want the results.

Can anyone around 5'8" tell me what weight they were at when their abs started to show? Am I ever going to get the results I want? I'm not risking my health to get there, but do y'all think there is a weight that I should just stop at?

Replies

  • snuff15ee
    snuff15ee Posts: 99 Member
    I'm not 5'8 (6'4"), but I used IF as an aggressive tool to drop weight fast: 30 pounds in 3 months. The risk we took doing that was sacrificing muscle tissue along with fat loss (Google skinny fat). Three sure-fire ways to stay skinny-fat are: severely restrict your calories; do large amounts of cardio; and do little-to-no resistance training. I'm 42 and I'm finally starting to show a some abs because I've beating the hell out of my abs in the gym and I started feeding my body properly. You mentioned doing cardio and HIIT workouts, but I didn't see anything about exercising your abs. I work my abs in 5 min HIIT sessions 3-4 days a week and that's in conjunction with a lot of core-centric exercises during my normal strength training. I'm not telling you this frequency is the silver bullet for your body type, but you should be exercising your abs just like you would any other muscle group. If you haven't been body fat tested I would get that done; you might be surprised where you are at. Everyone's body is different so asking about what weight other 5'8" dudes' abs started showing is not a good measuring stick. If you have never checked him out on youtube I HIGHLY recommend watching some of Jeff Cavaliere's (Athlean X) fitness lectures. I'm doing his AX-1 program and it's working pretty well for me. Good luck.
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,500 Member
    edited May 2019
    Paleagles wrote: »
    Hey y'all,

    I needed to make a post to get some input. I have been trying to get that 6 pack for years now. I've stopped and started a bunch of times, but this time I've committed. Over the past 4 months I've went from 185 down to 145. 40lbs, but still I don't have the six pack. I've been eating clean, lean meat and heathy carbs. I've also done intermittent fasting which is why I think I've lost the weight I have. I also stopped eating the crap food from the restaurant I work at cold turkey and the weight practically fell off. I still lift the same weight and have more stamina then I ever had. I run 3 days a week, 30 minutes alternating between slow jogs to HIIT. I don't lift too much but just enough to stay in the gym when I finish cutting. I'm told I look like I have a good amount of muscle even through this cut. No one has told me I look unhealthy. I actually get tons of complements and congrats. I feel like I should be close to 10% body fat but I look like I'm 20% when looking at the gut and chest the abs are there and when I flex you can see that if I lost that lower gut they would definitely show. I also used to wrestle in high school and at one point I dropped to 118 and didn't see my abs. I haven't grown an inch since then. But I feel like I have way more muscle. Right now I'm just going to keep cutting and go to 135, but I'm worried I'm going to have to go even further if I want the results.

    Can anyone around 5'8" tell me what weight they were at when their abs started to show? Am I ever going to get the results I want? I'm not risking my health to get there, but do y'all think there is a weight that I should just stop at?

    I picked a couple comments out of your post.

    I don't lift too much but just enough to stay in the gym when I finish cutting. I'm told I look like I have a good amount of muscle even through this cut.

    Agree with @sijomial to get the kind of abs I'm guessing you're looking for as opposed to a meth addict you need a muscle base. Given your comment on lifting (unless you have a VERY physical job) you may have some work to do there. If you're not doing resistance work why would you think you have a good amount of muscle?


    I feel like I should be close to 10% body fat but I look like I'm 20% when looking at the gut and chest the abs are there and when I flex you can see that if I lost that lower gut they would definitely show.

    Check your posture. If you are in an anterior pelvic tilt position you're abs/core will not look very good even with low levels of bodyfat.

    Example. First picture with anterior pelvic tilt, second with better posture.

    vd2gy3gcx546.png
  • Paleagles
    Paleagles Posts: 2 Member
    Thanks guys! Just so people know, I do a 3 day split. Push, pull and legs. I do abs all 3 days as well. I guess when I said I only workout just enough, I meant that well cutting weight I don't expect to build much muscle, but I've been trying to do enough to maintain it. Posture is huge I think for me too. My shoulders are rounded a bit and pelvis tilt as well. I need to incorporate some hip thrust and face pulls more. I guess it could be time to start hitting the gym hard, but I was just expecting more from the cut before I started trying to pack on a ton of muscle.
  • ForecasterJason
    ForecasterJason Posts: 2,577 Member
    I'm 5'8" and have had an outline of abs from 120-130 lbs. However, I also have a small bone structure, and essentially I'm all bone/muscle with little fat.
  • JBanx256
    JBanx256 Posts: 1,479 Member
    I'm female (and a mom), 5'5" and currently around 142 lbs with ab definition.
  • Riff1970
    Riff1970 Posts: 136 Member
    I’m 5’ 7” and start seeing abs about 150 pounds. I’m about 143 now and still cutting.

    I don’t know how to add a link to this post but if you search for Dexa scan, I have a post where I have some progress pics. I was 9.1% bf last September and am trying to see if I can get lower by this August when I schedule another Dexa scan.
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