The beginning of the beginning...

Being asked if you are pregnant is not something any man should experience. False accusations of being “with child” is an indignity that should be enjoyed unanimously amongst the fairer sex. It’s happened to me twice in the last month.

I’m 28, and I think that I having a clean conscious describing myself as a relatively lean. I’m pretty tall as well, but at 6’6” (198cm for our continental brethren) and 15 Stone (96kg) that puts my BMI at just within the normal brackets. But that’s not the problem.

The problem is that, for almost as long as I remember I’ve had a belly. Once described as my “Ethiopian accomplice” (I leave the author of that delightful gem safe in anonymity), I’ve succeeded in securing the occasional tube seat, the odd queue jumped and the disappointingly more frequent toddler pointing, mouth agape in unfettered astonishment at such a juxtaposition of the sexes. Well, enough is enough.

Like you I eat well(ish), although perhaps too much. I go to the gym fairly frequently, probably averaging twice a week (sometimes less), work 9-6 during the week, and I like the occasional drink. And by occasional I mean frequent. And by drink I mean binge... But like you I was also once a teenager, and so, like you I too once converted the holy grail of fitness embodiment – the 6 pack.

Think of as kind of a reverse “Supersize Me”, although hopefully I’m not going to spend the following year fucking my body back into palpable mediocrity. I’m a pretty average guy, and I want to know exactly what it takes to turn me into something a little fitter, a little leaner, and hopefully a little happier.

So, over the next three to six months I am going to use this blog to log every effort I make, documenting everything that I consider to be effort towards this most unlikely of outcomes, to see what exactly it is that gets you “washboard abs”. I will be documenting gym routines, diet with various recipes I find along the way, units of alcohol consumed, minutes of CV clocked up, crunches crunched and sit ups sat. On top of this, I will take measurements every week, and maybe a picture or two.

Loosely I will be following this routine, except subbing the rugby for boxing classes, and the night school for Yoga.

http://www.menshealth.co.uk/lose-weight/diet-plans/fat-burning-plan-for-beer-lovers

I’m also posting on Twitter. Feel free to follow me @Olly_Southern

Of course, if anyone wants to join me I would love to know how you are getting on.

Yours,

Olly


And just in case you were wondering.....