In January I started eating better and eating less – cutting a lot of fat out of my diet and excess calories…nothing horrendous, but enough so that I could feel better at the end of the day/week. In April I started running. I had not run since HS (20 years) and even then it was 1-2 miles max. At a slow pace of 9:30 – 11 minutes/mile, I worked my distance running up from 1-2 miles til I could run a 5K, then a 10K and did some other shorter run races – 4 and 5 milers before taking on a half marathon in September. My time at the gym was minimal…but just enough to keep some definition and keep from getting too small and weak in my shoulders and upper back and arms. However, I was attending my mat pilates class as many days a week as I could afford – she taught 4 classes so I would make it to at least 1, sometimes 4/week. We always did a lot of plank and oblique exercise that I guess must have contributed toward developing this V, although I didn't even realize it.

By July I had the pelvic V going on and my gf was taking great notice (she says it "drives her crazy"), as well as some other female friends whom I was running with. I'm 37 and at 6'4", I had gone from 215 lbs in Jan down to 185-190 lb range (this varies daily depending on how much I ate and ran in the last 24 hours) by the end of August…maybe even earlier, but I spent all of July and August on the road and didn't step on a scale (or go o the gym, or take pilates class…it was just running, some push ups and good diet for the summer) and my girl can't keep her hands off me if I'm walking around with my shirt off and jeans or shorts low on my hips. Needless to say, I'm a happy man and wish I'd discovered this earlier in life, but better late than never.

I have been running xc at my school for a year now and our coach has us do crunches at every practice. My upper abs seem to be much larger than my lower abs. is there any way to fix this?

can this be done everyday, or should there be rest periods?

Aim for gaining strength in the 3-5 rep range, while staying lean. The higher reps build that pumped up "fluffy" bodybuilder look, that I recommend you avoid. Strength training and tough cardio intervals (HIIT) is your route to the look you are looking for.

Rusty