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Getting that Elusive "Six- Pack"
 
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My training partner says we should do abs every day. I'm doing 3 sets of 100crunches every day, but I still can't see my abs. Should I aim for more reps?
 
You have a
specific result
you want. You want to see your abs. The "6- pack" look.We can break this down to 2 factors.
 
1) You must have a relatively low amount of fat stored in the abdominal region.
 
2) You must build the muscle fiber of the abdominal muscles
 
Model: Eugene Thong, President of ETF Wellness
 
Check out hisPersonal Training Blog
There have been countless magazine articles on gaining the elusive 6- pack. There have beenhundreds of infomercials pimping out products touting the latest gimmick to help you get"abdominized".
 
Most of them are a bunch of crap.
 
The only way to achieve this look you're going for is to combine a low abdominal fatpercentage and building the muscle fiber of the abdominal wall.
 
2 steps are all it takes. I'm not saying it's easy. I'm saying that if you follow these 2 steps,you'll have the look you want- and you'll look good with your shirt off, on the beach, orhowever you like to spend time naked :)
 
 
Let’s tackle factor 1
 
First up islowering the fat stored in the abdominal region. Lets take a step back... all the wayback to physiology 101.
 
Spot reduction is not possible. No matter what these "fitness expert" clowns on TV tell you at3am. (Black Book of Secretsis a MUCH better resource of fat loss techniques)
 
Fat loss boils down to calories in vs. calories out. Every day of your life you take in caloriesthrough food and drink. Calories come in the form of protein, fat and carbohydrates (andalcohol.. but of course if you’re trying so hard for a 6- pack, you wouldn’t be banging downshots of tequila with your friends.. would you?)
 
Here’s the break down of calories per gram of each of the macronutrients. Kcal is the term weuse for calories.
 
 
Protein-
4 Kcal per gram
Carbohydrate-
4 Kcal per gram
Fat-
9 Kcal per gram
Alcohol-
7 Kcal per gram
 
(1 pound of fat= 3,500 kcal)
 
There’s more than meets the eye in terms how these macronutrients interact with the body,but to keep this article simple, we’ll use this chart as the basis. (I've covered this andsimplified fat loss for you inBlack Book of Secrets)
 
Calories are being burned 24/7. Everything you do burns calories. Blinking burns calories.Chewing gum burns calories. Lifting weights burns calories.
EVERYTHING
you do burns calories. You only stop burning calories when you’re dead. I’llassume if you’re reading this you’re still alive and in the game.
 
To illustrate, I’m going to bring this out over 1 day and a 1 week time frame.
The name of the game is to burn more calories than you take in during a 24 hourperiod.
Then we’ll take it out over a week to show you how this all comes together.
 
Lets say your average 24 hour calories burn (through blinking, chewing gum,exercising, andevery day life) is 2,700 Kcal.
 
And your average 24 hour intake (spread over 5 meals) is 2,200 Kcal
 
2,700- 2,200= 500 calories
 
That’s a LOSS of 500 calories.If you were to keep this pace up for a week, that would be 1 pound lost
 
 
500 Kcal * 7 days= 3,500 Kcal (1 pound)
 
Again, there’s a lot more going on in the body than this, but it’s easy tounderstand and a simplified way to start off. (By the way, we've created aFREE special report "The Dark Side of Dieting". You can download it now byentering your name and email in the box below)
 
Now that we’re on the way to taking off that coat of blubber, we’ll more on toFactor 2, building the muscle fiber of the abdominal muscles.
 
Look, everyone has abdominal muscles. If you didn’t you’d fall to the floor like a jelly fish.The abdominals are involved in virtually everything you do each day. There always active.But, every day activity doesn’t make them grow. They’re become used to every day activityand a new stimulus must be applied for the muscle fiber to actually grow.
 
Now, when I talk about growing the muscle fiber, I don’t mean we’re making it grow huge likeArnold’s biceps. I’m saying we’re adding filaments to a cable. We’re making the abs stronger,tougher, a bit more visible- but not blocky.
 
This way, when your body fat gets low enough, you’ll start to see the 6-pack. The actualmuscle itself.
 
As with all muscle, you must apply an overload stimulus to make it grow. Overload withgreater resistance. The body’s adaptation mechanism will create filament (muscle fibers) tobolster the muscle that is there.After you stimulate the muscle with overload, you need to rest the muscle (i.e.; not work themhard every day). At most you’ll need to work the abs is 2 x per week if you’re creating enoughintensity to overload them properly.
 
Doing 100 crunches is NOT going to make the body add filament. You will get better at doingmore and more crunches, but that’s not the goal here.
 
Here’s a simple, basic routine you can do for abs
Crunches:
 
3 sets of 10 reps
 
Lay flat on the floor or a bench. Bend your legs and raise your knees so your legs areperpendicular to the floor. With your hands placed in front of your chin or behind your head,exhale and curl your upper body towards your knees contracting your abs. Hold the contractionfor a second then slowly lower your upper body back to its original position.
 
Make sure to fully contract and stretch the abdominals during crunches. The abdominalmuscles are only responsible for about the first 30° of motion so the range of contraction is notthat great. Let your abdominals stretch at the bottom of the movement but don't let thetension leave.
 
You can hold a weight plate in front of you to add resistance to create overload.
 
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fsteven34

Thanks for this pdf. I also recommend http://sixpackabs101.net, you can get lots of muscle building information here.

reply07 / 05 / 2011
andrew5575

Great tips for beginners, especially the practical exercises. I know there are more advanced tips covered at www.rapidsixpack.com to help get a six pack faster. http://www.rapidsixpack.com

reply10 / 19 / 2008
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