I want you to forget about body fat percentage. Let go of it completely. I want you to integrate a much more effective and reliable tool for tracking leanness. That metric is the waist measurement. Why am I so fond of the waist measurement? It’s simple and it’s unmistakably reliable.
With body fat testing, you simply have no way of knowing if you’re getting an accurate measurement. Even the most accurate and elaborate devices can be off by as much as 2-3% body fat. In fact, I just scored 4.8% on the Bod Pod test and in reality, I’m more around 7.5-8% body fat.
The waist measurement is the perfect tool for evaluating leanness and fat loss progress. When you get your waist down to ‘adonis belt status’ you simply will have the perfect waist proportion for your height. And the result will be a perfectly low body fat. When you maintain this ‘adonis belt measurement’ while building some solid strength and muscle, you will look damn good.
So forget about body fat percentages. The waist measurement, within the context of your height and weight, tells you the whole story.
How To Calculate The Adonis Belt Measurement
For a solid lean and aesthetic physique, you want to get your waist measurement (taken at bellybutton level) to around 44-45% of your height. This is considered quite taut, especially when it’s combined with solid muscle throughout your shoulders, back and chest.
Most lifters don’t look very good because they’re carrying too much fat and they have a few inches to lose off their waist before they have a good level of definition and proportion. If you look at Hollywood actors when they get in shape for movie roles, invariably they have slim waists. The result – sleek low body fat and exceptional muscle tone.
In fact, dropping a couple inches off your waist can drastically change your physique. Automatically you’ll appear much leaner and more defined, your muscles will pop out more and your face will take on a more angular – model like look. Simply look at the picture below:
On the left I was about 185 lbs with a 33″ waist. On the right I’m around 175 lbs with a 31.33″ waist and a chiseled adonis belt! Not to mention, my chest is more square like, my face is more angular and I have a much stronger shoulder to waist ratio.
This Is The Power Of Solid Muscle And The Adonis Belt
Now it’s possible that you have the perfect waist measurement, but still lack impressive definition. Invariably, this predicament is the result of lacking strength and muscle mass. When you build a lot of strength and muscle, your waist will naturally be thicker than a skinnier version of yourself.
If you have a small waist, yet lack great abs definition, it’s because you’re under muscled. In this case, if you keep your waist the same, and build lots of strength and muscle, you will look much more defined. When I work with my coaching clients on lean bulking programs, I ensure they gain strength and size while keeping their waist measurement the same.
This results in a much more impressive physique with a noticeable boost in definition. You want to measure your waist first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. Breath out your air and keep your abs relaxed, don’t suck in and don’t push out. You’ll need a cloth tape measurer and you want to take it around your waist at bellybutton level.
If you measure your waist later in the day, when you’ve been eating or drinking, your waist will be a little bit bigger. For the greatest accuracy and consistently, you need to do the measurement first thing in the morning.
What Is The Best Direction For You To Take?
Find out where you are right now. Maybe you have a few inches you need to drop off your waist, that should be your first priority, before even thinking about lean bulking. Alternatively, you may have a slim waist but you may be 10 or 20 lbs below your ideal weight. In this case you’re going to want to focus on lean bulking – gaining size and holding that perfect measurement.
What is important to note is that unless your waist is within half an inch of the ideal kinobody measurement – you’re going to want to focus on fat loss. Get fat loss out of the way. Then you can slowly and gradually add muscle size, while looking sleek and defined throughout the entire process. If you focus on adding muscle when you already lack definition, you’ll end up looking soft and bulky.
Gaining muscle is a long and slow process. Trying to bulk up in 4 months and then cut all the fat off transpires in very little real muscle gains. Instead you want to focus on leaning down to your ideal waist measurement and then allow for a couple years to pack on some quality muscle.
During the muscle building process, you should take it slowly and ensure that you stay lean. You can work through the three physiques while you stay lean and pack on muscle – warrior, Greek god and superhero.
This Is The Key to a Taut Waist
There are no magical techniques to achieving a taut waist, or what I like to refer as the ‘adonis belt’. Having a slim waist comes down to getting to a low body fat. This is through proper nutrition and intermittent fasting. When you eat to strip off any and all excess fat, you will create the ‘adonis belt’.
Training your abs with hanging leg raises, abs wheel roll outs and renegade rows will build up the musculature in your midsection – injury proofing your body and maximizing abs development and definition. That said, you can’t train yourself to have a smaller waist.
You can only eat to have a smaller waist. What does that look like? Averaging less calories than your body requires over the course of the day, consistently, while being able to enjoy yourself so you actually stick to the program.
This Is How I Eat For An Adonis Belt
Black coffee in the morning, couple pieces of fruit when I get hungry, big servings of beef, lots of veggies and pounds of delicious potato wedges (all while holding a calorie deficit). This approach is exactly why my clients email me within the first few days of starting their program and are wondering how they will get lean on so much food!
Yet, like clockwork, within the first two weeks of the program, they will drop 1-2″ off their waist. And their lifts will have shot up 10-15 lbs across the board! If I wasn’t coaching these clients firsthand, I would have a hard time believing it. But anyone of my clients can attest to the results.
One of my latest clients, Jens, a Doctor from Sweden, has been on the program for two weeks. In that time, he’s dropped his waist from an average 34.5″ down to 33″ (not bad for his 6’1 stature). He’s also added 16 lbs to his incline bench and weighted chin ups!
Note – Results are usually heightened for the first two to three weeks of the program.Then it usually slows down to one inch off the waist and 10 lbs on key lifts each month. You simply can’t make extreme progress for very long, otherwise everyone would be walking around like Hercules, and I’d be doing a 150 lbs chin up with one arm by now. Sadly, I’m not; I use two arms ;)
Want A Complete Program On How To Get The Adonis Belt?
While I have plenty of free resources to getting lean and building a great physique, they simply don’t compare to my full blown courses and especially not my coaching program. If you already have the ideal waist or are within an inch of it. I would get on my Greek God Program and start gaining some serious strength and muscle to maximize your aesthetics.
If you have 2-4″ to drop off your waist and you want to take it slowly, while building muscle to reveal crazy definition – I would work through my Warrior Shredding Program.
Finally, if you have a lot of fat to lose (5+” off the waist) or if you want to lean down really quickly, I’d suggest my Aggressive Fat Loss Course.
