How To Get Visible Abs

Getting a six pack. Abs. Cut. Whatever you want to refer to it as, a lean body with visible abdominal musculature used to be the preserve of the very young and the very athletic. Now, though, both men and women want to get the look.

Why abs?

Different aspects of the body have been fetishized at different times. Hard as it is to believe, men like John Wayne were once thought the perfect shape for an action hero. Chest muscles and biceps were fetishized in the 80s, while earlier times aspired to chest size, working the upper back and buying manuals on how to swell the chest. While it hasn't received as much attention as the constant and invasive gazing on the female body by popular culture, the male body has been objectified and fetishized too. While size is a sign of dominance, though, a six-pack is more usually a sign of youth. Without specific training only the young who are also very fit have visible abdominal muscles, and strength coaches quickly tire of explaining that 'visible abs' and 'a strong abdominal wall' are only the same thing in sports with weight categories, where every ounce of spare fat must be cut to improve weight-to-power ratios.

How do we go about it?

Visible abs are a result of two things: Strong abdominal muscles and low body fat.

Everyone has a 'six-pack'

Those muscles are there on everybody, but in most of us, body fat obscures them. Technically, abdominal muscles start to become visible when bodyfat gets down into the single figures for men. The lower your body fat the more visible they'll be, but genetics play a part; for most of us, the kind of appearance professional bodybuilders carry onto the catwalk, where striations in the muscles are clearly visible, is possible only the way they do it: with performance enhancing drugs and obsessive training. No-one responsible advocates those methods and I certainly don't.

See Also: Will Abdominal Exercises Give You 6-pack Abs? Tips to Lose Belly Fat

While you and I and the next person all have a 'six-pack,' though, it is possible to make your abdomen look better with exercise. That's not to remove the fat; that takes a combination of diet and full-body exercise designed to shift body fat systemically until your body fat is pretty low. Shifting a percent or two with spot reduction methods is possible, but it's not worth concentrating on. Making your abdominal muscles stronger, tighter and bigger is possible, though, and that's a good idea for all kinds of reasons, not least that the easiest way to look like you have a strong core is to get one.

So this article will offer some tips under two headings, fat loss and core muscular strength, to bring you closer to that rippling six-pack you want. Stick with it and results will come, but they won't be immediate - you should expect to wait four to six weeks before there's any noticeable effect from any training program, so bear that in mind.

Tips and Tricks for Getting a Six-Pack

Fat Loss

Diet:

Losing fat is largely down to diet. Try to eat more protein, more fibre and more fat. Carbs aren't the enemy, by low-carb diets have a proven track record when it comes to shredding body fat. Protein will make you feel fuller for longer, fat will stabilize your blood sugar without starving you and fibre will help your digestion and give you a feeling of fullness that will keep cravings to a minimum. If you're changing your diet anyway, take the opportunity to go over it and make sure you're eating real food; get rid of as much tinned and packaged foods as possible. Eating meat and vegetables for most meals is a good way to get both more nutrients and less calories than most of us are eating right now, without feeling like you're starving yourself.

Exercise:

Exercise for fat loss is about volume more than anything. You need it to be intense enough to trigger an adaptation and you need to burn a lot of calories. Try HIIT type protocols - make sure you're keeping it safe, with simple movements, or use a combined hard effort program where you do forty minutes or so of relatively hard training. External loads are the easiest way to achieve this but it doesn't have to get technical: fill a backpack with clothes and find a steep hill near your house, walk up it as fast as you can, stroll back down and repeat. Loaded carries are a great way to achieve fat loss without needing to be technical.

Building Abdominal Muscles

This is far less important than losing bodyfat as a method of obtaining a six-pack, but it can be helpful. It's also a good opportunity to work on strengthening your core.

The Rectus Abdominus

This is your 'six-pack muscle,' connecting your ribcage to your pelvis. Its function is not to flex your lumbar spine, but to stop your insides from falling out, so don't try to 'build your abs' with hundreds of crunches a day unless you fancy a herniated lumbar disc. There are better ways!

Sounds good, right?

Stand upright, then bend over forwards, putting your hands on the floor about shoulder width apart. Walk your hands slowly forwards til you're roughly in a push-up position. That's the easy part. Now, keeping the rest of your body in a straight line, just like that push-up position, walk your hands slowly forwards. The ideal is to walk them out until your nose and chest are just about to touch the floor, but you won't be able to do that at first unless you're already pretty strong. Walk back from your best position, and rest. Rather than do a 'set' of these, throw them in between sets or exercises at the gym or do them throughout the day at home. Over time they'll significantly improve the strength of your abdominal wall, especially your rectus abdominus.

See Also: Six Pack Abs Are Made In The Kitchen

The Transverse Obliques

The 'obliques' stabilize your torso against twisting forces. They also have the effect of pulling on the sides of your rectus abdominus, leading to a tighter-looking waist and a flatter abdomen. Train them with any twisting movement where the upper and lower body are both involved, from the bent press to the 'woodchopper' move you'll see people doing on the cable machine in the gym. If you want a gym-free alternative, try 'windscreen wipers.' Lie on your back with your arms flat on the floor either side and elongate your spine. Now, bend your knees and raise your legs off the floor. Keeping your upper body flat, roll your hips over to one side until your legs almost touch the floor, return to the center and repeat on the other side. Keep your core consciously tight throughout, and don''t try to do too many reps at once; stop when you feel you have three or four more at least. When this gets easy, try doing it with straight legs!

Several More Exercises

Crunches:

Lie flat on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Place your hands behind your head without interlocking the fingers. Lift your upper body off the floor while keeping your lower back pressed down, and then slowly lower back down.

Leg Raises:

Lie flat on your back with your legs extended. Lift your legs straight up until they form a 90-degree angle with the floor, then slowly lower them back without letting them touch the ground.

Plank:

Begin in a push-up position but rest on your forearms instead of your hands. Keep your body straight from head to heels and engage your core, holding the position for as long as you can.

Russian Twists:

Sit on the floor with knees bent. Lean back slightly, keeping your back straight. Hold a weight with both hands, rotate your torso, and try to touch the weight to the floor beside you, alternating sides.

Bicycle Crunches:

Lie flat on the floor, place your hands behind your head. Lift both legs off the ground and bend them at the knees. Bring the right knee close to your chest and simultaneously twist your upper body to the left, trying to touch your right elbow to the left knee. Continue in a cycling motion, alternating sides.

Mountain Climbers:

Start in a push-up position. Bring one knee toward your chest and then quickly switch legs, mimicking a running motion.

Hanging Leg Raises:

Hang from a pull-up bar with a firm grip. Keeping your legs straight, raise them until they're at a 90-degree angle with your torso, and then lower them back down slowly.

Cable Crunches:

Kneel in front of a cable machine with a rope attachment fixed at the top. Hold the rope with both hands and pull it down to the side of your face. Bend forward at the waist, crunching your abs, then slowly return to the starting position.

Getting the six-pack of your dreams is going to take some time, but these simple guidelines should help you achieve your goals. If you have some ideas that others might benefit from, or there's something you want to ask, why not get in touch in the comments section below?