Joey Michael
Resides: Long Island, NY
Age: 24
Height: 6ft 1" 
Weight: 180 pounds
Favorite Bodypart: Chest & Abs
Waist Size: 30"
Body Fat Percentage: 6%

About Joey

I was raised in Long Island, NY and was always involved in sports as a teenager. Baseball, tennis, flag football, lacrosse, karate, and boxing are some of the sports I was involved with. In college, I was involved in flag football, but this is also when I started becoming very serious about nutrition and working out. Over the next four years of college, I took my 160 lb. frame, and packed on a substantial amount of muscle and size to my physique. My senior year of college, I weighed in at 188 lbs. Following strict diet programs and going to the gym 6 days a week, I totally transformed my body. Upon graduating Northeastern University with a bachelor's degree in Communications, I decided to give fitness modeling a try.

Nutrition and living the healthy lifestyle was a part of my life now, and I knew that I would succeed in anything I put my time and effort into. With my hard work, commitment, and dedication, I have worked my way into some of the top fitness publications out there. I graced the cover of the May 2005 issue of Men's Fitness (view gallery). My resume includes; various inserts and posters for Men's Health magazine, 2(x)ist underwear boxes and packaging, Adidas, NY Times magazine, and Sporting Goods Business Magazine (cover), just to name a few. My discipline and hard work has helped me develop a "cover model" body, as well as excel my modeling career, but more importantly it has helped me mature as a person.

My Ab Training Advice

In order to achieve a tight clean cut midsection you should target below 10% of body-fat. It is a matter of the right combination of diet/cardio and weight-training, simple! It’s very important your exercise regimen be structured correctly if you want to get rid from excess body-fat. No matter what you are doing you should define a well balanced weight-training program that will promote growth, because the more muscle you have, the more elevated your metabolic rate will become, meaning your stay lean!

I have been using the following body split up for years and I stick with it so I advise you to give it a try.

Monday: Legs
Tuesday: calves, chest, biceps
Wednesday: REST
Thursday: Back, traps
Friday: Shoulders, triceps
Saturday: REST
Sunday: REST

Diet wise, I suggest you adapt a clean, healthy diet, rich in protein with moderate levels of fat and carbs. Here’s a sample menu of what your day should look like if you're looking to get lean and ripped:

Meal 1: 8 egg whites omelette, oatmeal and a piece of fruit with low glycemic index like a green apple.

Meal 2: Whey protein shake mixed with water and some almonds or one teaspoon of flaxseed oil or fish oil.

Meal 3: Turkey fillet with a little brown rice or a small piece of sweet potato and veggies.

Meal 4: Whey protein shake with one teaspoon flaxseed oil or fish oil.

Meal 5: Fish with some broccoli.

Tip: Please remember that immediately after your weight-training session you should drink a protein shake along with some high-glycemic carbs to replenish your depleted muscle glycogen stores and therefore force growth and recovery at the same time.

For cardio I would perform cardio 5 times a week if i'm looking to get cut up for 40-45 minutes and if there was still a lack of progress I would do it every day preferably in the morning on an empty stomach.

Tip: If you don’t want to put precious muscle mass into a catabolic state (risk depleting hard earned muscle) during your morning aerobic session try to have a protein shake 20-30 minutes before. It will protect your mass as much as possible, believe me!

As for supplements, first of all a good multi-vitamin and mineral supplement is an absolute necessity when you are on a diet. Also CLA would be a useful addition to your supplement arsenal. In numerous studies it has proved to be an excellent lipolytic and anti-catabolic supplement. L-Glutamine would be great because it would assist you preserving your muscle mass, as it is a powerful anticatabolic, immune-enhancing (very important when you are on a strict diet) supplement which also combined with creatine monohydrate works very well. Fish oil is a great supplement too because it assists you to burn more adipose brown tissue than if you wouldn’t use it. Last but not least a good thermogeninc supplement from a reputable company like Lipo6 from Nutrex or Lean System 7 from Isatori will boost further your metabolic rate and therefore burn more calories throughout the day.
I can assure you that if you have clear defined goals in your mind and use the above tips and advice you will achieve a much more defined body that you ever possibly imagined.

Good Luck with getting cut up this summer!

Joey

Check out Joey's Website: www.absbyjoey.com

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  

You can read more from Joey in the Members Area

Recent Abs of the Month:

Max Phillisaire, Ryan MacDonald, Anton Antipov, Larry Crowe, Jared Brown, Tony Cress, Klaus Myren Riis

All Previous Abs of the Month