Six pack?

FODCADEMON

I've been dreaming of having a six-pack, i don't know whether its just a case of doing more exercise or more particular exercises, how long will it take9 im already relatively thin.
Please Help.

camerauk

I got one of those the other night nipped down shop got me a pack of becks

butcher of bakersfield

You can be as thin as you want, but unless there's anything under there it's just gonna be a flat pack. Need to work the abs - crunches, leg raises, etc.

You also need very little fat if you want a well defined six pack, so unless you're very gifted in the art of being skinny, you'll probably need a very good, low fat, diet.

Mix the two and you should be on your way.

Surf-Matt

You need under 12% bodyfat to have a proper six pack.

Yes you need a strong stomach but it's the fat that's more important - some skinny people actually have more fat than they think - it's often just distributed differently.

Cardio is vital - too many gym freaks concentrate only on weights and get bigger but not toned.

Body type also makes a big difference.

The Northern Monkey

As said, a 6pack is more to do with body fat % than strength.

Surf-Matt

Oh and trying to "target" the abs with loads of exercises makes no difference. You can do 500 sit ups a day but still get nowhere.

Get running/cycling/sh4gging and burn off that fat.

Alinshearah

I have a stomach with a six pack. It's just a same it doesn't have the plastic thing-a-miggy that holds them all together

rhyko7

you dont need much muscle to get a six pack, sit ups, leg raises etc will build your ab muscles but as said above its due to low body fat.
i.e you need to burn more calories than you eat. if you ride over 6 hours aweek and have a healthy ballanced diet and do some ab work they should slowly develop.

bobpzero

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RexuhQDGCCY might be worth a look and listen tho :shock: beware dont just stare at her, learn from what exercises she is doing.

mats

Yeah! I've got a six pack ........I've just lost the plastic bit that holds it all together.

jairaj

bobpzero wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RexuhQDGCCY might be worth a look and listen tho :shock: beware dont just stare at her, learn from what exercises she is doing.

i couldn't take my eyes off her 2 pack

Barrie_G

bobpzero wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RexuhQDGCCY might be worth a look and listen tho :shock: beware dont just stare at her, learn from what exercises she is doing.

Saved to my favorites for when I'm feeling energetic :?

BullFreerider

I've got a six pack, and it helps if you are slim and quite fit for starters.

I do 100 quality crunches per day, so if you build up to doing that amount by say doing 10 crunches per day on week 1, and increasing that by 10 each week you should get there by week 10. Concentrate on the quality, not the speed. Feel the burn.

After that, when you're doing 100 a day, you will see better definition in 8 weeks. You need to do this in conjunction with other sports to maintain a good level of general fitness, and adjust your diet to high protein- try to avoid gorging on eggs though, they are high in cholesterol. Fish such as tuna, herring, mackerel are the best way to go, I have at least 10 tins a week of those.

Good luck! hope this helps.

Surf-Matt

500 crunches a day is no use if you carry too much fat.

Yes you need to have decent abs muscles but it's too easily hidden.

Cardio first, diet seconds, ab exercises third.

Has worked since my teens.

Paulie W

As an additional observation to what is pretty much all very good advice, another factor is you or rather your body. I've had in the past 10% body fat, been in very good cardio shape and done weights including core and ab work and still not had the kind of six pack that turns heads. It is of course possible that I've never quite got the hang of doing my ab work properly - it is a more refined art than working the chest or legs, so many other muscles can end up doing the work - but I have a sense that I have a body - perhaps something to do with where the fat sits, natural hydration levels, I dont fully know - which doesnt allow me to develop the Men's Fitness style abs you may have in mind. Happy to be corrected on this but I do think body type is an issue in this discussion.

ride_whenever

Case in point, look at lightweight rowers, usually middling single figures body fat % absolutely washboard abs, but very little muscle there. Best six pack around tbh, really flat but silly definition. Hell one of my mates drop his BFP so low when training he got veins on his stomach.

senoj

Also be mindful that you should be doing some sort of lower back excersise to balance things up.
Looking at people who have regular pilates session,and thats all they do,have fantastic strength to weight,and more often and not,great abs.

Surf-Matt

Paulie - this Mens Fitness abs stuff - don't forget that they use "laser" lighting and specific angles to highlight six packs and muscles. Fight Club made massive use of lighting techniques to ensure Mr Pitt looked hyper ripped - of course he was in seriously good shape, but just like the women's glossies with airbrushed women, a lot of muscle pics/images are slightly "enhanced."

We are often chasing an ideal that doesn't actually exist due to false images we see.

Paulie W

Surf-Matt wrote:

Paulie - this Mens Fitness abs stuff - don't forget that they use "laser" lighting and specific angles to highlight six packs and muscles. Fight Club made massive use of lighting techniques to ensure Mr Pitt looked hyper ripped - of course he was in seriously good shape, but just like the women's glossies with airbrushed women, a lot of muscle pics/images are slightly "enhanced."

We are often chasing an ideal that doesn't actually exist due to false images we see.

I appreciate that. I was just sharing my experience that even doing all the 'right things' - and I should point out I wasnt that interested in a six-pack - may not result in washboard abs.

Surf-Matt

Paulie - I believe that unless you have a specific condition, anything can be achieved with the right exercise and diet.

Paulie W

Surf-Matt wrote:

Paulie - I believe that unless you have a specific condition, anything can be achieved with the right exercise and diet.

You may be right in relation to six-packs but clearly there is a limit to this at a general level and the limit is your body - I can only run so fast, cycle so hard, lift so much weight, no matter how hard I exercise, how good my diet. I suspect that the same is true of muscular development, cutting, etc

Surf-Matt

I mean in terms of shape - I thought I was a bit too slim so hit the gym hard and put on three stone in 18 months.

I decided I'd gone a bit OTT (surfing and running were harder) so trimmed off a stone.

Both took effort but both very achievable.

If you are determined you can run fast, be built, cycle fast, whatever.

ride_whenever

You'd be amazed what can be achieved if you really put your mind to it and put your body through the wringer...

You will always get faster/stronger/better. It's just a case of is the deterioration caused by aging going to out weigh it. But even as you are going into decline, training will counter it to an end.

Check this out for a good example.

Paulie W

ride_whenever wrote:

You'd be amazed what can be achieved if you really put your mind to it and put your body through the wringer...

You will always get faster/stronger/better. It's just a case of is the deterioration caused by aging going to out weigh it. But even as you are going into decline, training will counter it to an end.

Check this out for a good example.

I know we're off at a tangent here but the body does have physiological limits - so you cannot always get faster, stronger, etc - but I accept that most people rarely reach those limits because of psychological factors (how far these psychological factors are truly 'in the mind' and how far they are the body protecting itself from potential damage is another question). Ageing, agreed, will reduce that physiological potential.

To get back on topic I was simply pondering whether the potential to get a six pack is at some level physiologically determined or limited, i.e. do some people have the potential to get a better, more defined six pack than others or to get a six pack with less effort than someone else. My experience is that this is the case.

ride_whenever

Unless you cannot lose fat, then you can always get a six pack.

It is as simple as a low BFP. You really don't even need big muscles, you just end up with a poorly defined six pack, the best ones are small muscles with very little fat (gleaned from observation of women...)

26 to Life

Paulie W wrote:

Do some people have the potential to get a better, more defined six pack than others or to get a six pack with less effort than someone else?

Absolutely.

Different peoples bodies distribute fat differently, different skin characteristics, tans...there're probably loads more factors.

I'd have thought anyone could get a sixer if they went for it, even if they're going against the odds. Wheter they'll be healthy at the point when they have a six pack is another question.

Paulie W

OK, I'm labouring this point now but I think it's kind of being missed. I accept that a low body fat % with fair abdominal muscle development will likely lead to someone having a 'six pack'. I suspect, however, that for two people both with say 15% BF, that fat would not necessarily be distributed in quite the same way across their body. With me, fat seems to sit around my waist and stomach so even when I've been in tremendous shape my six pack has not been particularly impressive or defined.

26 to Life

Yes.

Surf-Matt

Paulie - my cousin was similar. Trained like a nutter, was pretty slim but couldn't get a six pack so gave up!

Some body shapes are slim but so retain fat around the middle - sort of an endomorph.

You could still get a six pack, it just might take more effort.

Rule of thumb is that you need bf under 12% for a six pack to be visible, however strong your abs are.

senoj

I find, its a lot easier to draw them on.

pastryboy

BullFreerider wrote:

I try to avoid gorging on eggs though, they are high in cholesterol. Fish such as tuna, herring, mackerel are the best way to go, I have at least 10 tins a week of those.
.

So avoid one of the healthiest, most nutritious foods there is (the cholesterol in eggs being bad thing is a myth debunked years ago) and work on giving yourself mercury poisoning - good advice