Everybody wants a six pack. Everybody dreams of a six pack. Why? Because most people consider a six pack to be the most visible signs that someone is fit and leads a healthy lifestyle (debatable but I don’t want to mess with popular opinion). First, what is a six pack? The visible front portion of your abdominal muscles, called the rectus abdominis is popularly referred to as a six pack. So how do you go about obtaining one? Well, there are three main factors that must be taken into consideration.
Yes, that’s right. Nutrition is right up there as the most important component to obtaining a six pack. Technically speaking, everyone has the abdominal muscles that make up a six pack. It’s just that for most of us its covered by a layer of fat and hence not visible. In order to get them to be visible you need to achieve a certain level of leanness and body fat percentage that can only be achieved by proper nutrition and diet because you know “Abs are made in the kitchen”, “You can’t out train a bad diet” etc etc. If you want to know more about calculating the right calories and macros for yourself so that you’re in a calorie deficit, you can read more about it here.
The second most important thing when it comes to getting a six pack is your training. You may be lean enough (read skinny) for your six pack to be visible, but unless they are decently developed they will not show through or look impressive. More importantly doing hundreds of ab crunches isn’t going to reduce the fat on your belly. To do that, you need a good nutrition plan (read above). In order to develop your abdominal muscles your training plan should mainly include compound lifts such as squats, deadlifts, benchpresses and overhead presses. This coupled with some moderate isolated ab exercises such as crunches, hanging leg raises etc once or twice a week should be sufficient to develop your abs sufficiently to be visible once you’ve cut down on the belly fat.
Fortunately for some and unfortunately for others, genetics do play a role in how easy or hard it is for you to obtain a six pack and how impressive it looks. Some people may be genetically predisposed to not store too much belly fat (they may have other problem areas) so they could achieve a six pack at a slightly higher overall body fat percentage. Of course the opposite is also true and there really is nothing much you can do. There are certain techniques you can employ, such as intermittent fasting which is claimed to help with targeting belly fat. Further, genetics also determines if you have a 4 pack, 6 pack or an 8 pack.
In conclusion, while you cannot control your genetics, you can control your nutrition and training. So eat right, train smart and you should be well on your way to sporting a six pack! While we cannot help out with your genetics, if you need help figuring out your nutrition and training, you’re welcome to reach out to us.