Functional Fitness Facts

6 Pack Abs: Fact vs. Fiction

6 pack abs

With all of the infomercials and advertisements promoting quick and easy ways to get 6 pack abs, why do so few people actually have them?

The truth is that there are no quick and easy ways to get ripped abs. The only way to get them is by having well trained abs AND a low percentage of body fat.

The first step to getting 6 pack abs, or just more defined abs, is to make sure that you train your abs the correct way. Unfortunately, many people train their abs incorrectly because there's so much misinformation surrounding ab training. The proper way to train your abs is to train them like any other muscle group. The muscle tissue in your abs is no different than the muscle tissue in your other body parts.

Ab Training Guidelines:

Frequency - Train your abs two or three times per week on nonconsecutive days. Your abs need time to recover from a training session just like any other muscle group, so don't train your abs every day.

Sets and Repetitions - Perform three to five sets each training session, 10 to 25 reps each set. Don't waste time performing countless sets and reps trying to "burn off" fat from your abdominal region. Exercising a specific area of your body will build and strengthen the underlying muscle, but it will have no direct effect on fat loss in that area.

Form and Technique - Use the muscle power of your abs to complete each rep, not momentum. If you perform your reps at a fast speed, you're using a lot of momentum to complete your reps and you're not working your abs as effectively as possible. Concentrate on fully contracting your abs each rep using a steady and controlled manner.

Specific Exercises - There are a lot of good ab exercises to choose from. Try a variety of different exercises in order to determine which ones your abs respond best to. But skip the sit-ups. Sit-ups work the hip flexor muscles more than the ab muscles and they can be hard on the lower back. Don't limit yourself to only bodyweight exercises. Try using added weight on some of your ab exercises. Using added weight will increase the intensity and effectiveness of your ab workouts.

No matter how good your ab training program is, you'll never be able to see your 6 pack abs if your body fat is too high. Aerobic exercise and the right type of nutrition plan are necessary to keep your body fat low enough so that your abs are visible. The amount of aerobic exercise you would need to do and the type of nutrition plan you would need to follow would be based on factors such as what body type you are and how much body fat you had to lose.

In conclusion, getting 6 pack abs, or just more defined abs, is not complicated. You just have to train your abs properly and keep your body fat low.

Recommended Resource

Firm And Flatten Your Abs cuts through all of the hype surrounding ab training and provides a detailed blueprint for developing not only your abs, but your entire core. Read my review of Firm And Flatten Your Abs



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