He put the “cut” in “shortcut.”
No beach body, no problem. An enterprising UK man devised an unorthodox way to get toned abs in a flash without doing a single sit-up — by having a six-pack tattooed on his stomach. An Instagram video detailing his hyper-realistic beach body art procedure is currently blowing up online, with more than 247,000 likes.
“It’s been one of my most unusual requests,” Dean Gunther, the tattoo artist tasked with the procedure, told Caters News Agency of the man’s hilarious gym-provisation.
Gunther, who runs Colour Realism Tattoos in the UK, said the unnamed customer wanted his body ready for summer without having to exercise or change his eating habits.
“He always wanted to have a six-pack, but he’s not too keen on going to the gym or doing a diet,” the ink wizard explained. “So, he decided that by getting a six-pack tattoo, he will always look summer ready while still being able to enjoy beer and good food.”
Gunther added, “I was excited to do this tattoo because I’ve seen someone do it before, but it didn’t look realistic, and it was basic black outlines.”
In order to prevent the man’s muscle makeover from looking sketchy, Gunther first mapped out the faux ‘dominals with blue ink. In the accompanying footage, Gunther can be seen drawing the bodybuilding blueprint on the man’s mushy belly in preparation for the tattoo.
The footage then cuts to the Michelangelo of tattoos emblazoning the man’s pasty stomach with hyper-realistic tanned abs.
The clip concludes with the tat-fish pulling up his shirt to reveal his visual muscle suit, which is so naturalistic it looks as if it was digitally enhanced.
All told, the process took two days — obviously much shorter than it would to get abs naturally.
“I decided to take on this challenge and do it completely differently,” gushed Gunther of his fake-muscle magnum opus.
Needless to say, the online masses were awestruck by the customer’s ab hack.
“Definition of work smarter, not harder,” fawned one fan on Instagram, while another called it a “Brazilian ab lift.”
Meanwhile, NYC trainer Gerren Liles joked, “I’ve been doing it wrong this whole time.”
“IMAGINE YOU GO HOME WITH SOMEONE AND THEY REMOVE THEIR SHIRT AND ITS THIS,” exclaimed one amazed gawker.
One Instagram wit joked, “He should get Brad Pitt’s face tattooed on his face.”
“When he trains and really gains abs, it would be Abs inception. His abs will have abs,” wrote another.
However, some thought the ink job was abs-olutely ridiculous. “The tattoo was very well done but it really is stupid to do that,” scoffed one viewer, while another called it the “dumbest tattoo ever.”
One realist commented that putting in the actual work would be much less “painful.”
This isn’t the first time someone’s devised an ingenious way to get a beach body in a crunch.
In 2021, Chinese e-bazaars gave hope to COVID-19-era couch potatoes everywhere after selling realistic muscle suits that make people look ripped without having to leave the sofa.
