One of the top goals that individuals have and state to their personal trainer is that they want to ‘get six pack abs’.
Six pack abs are like a hot commodity in the fitness world – everyone wants them but few every actually obtain them.
The reasoning behind this most often due to the amount of work it takes to get a set of six pack abs. While it is perfectly possible for most people to get a toned midsection, most won’t be able to put forth the degree of effort and dedication it takes to do so.
That said, it’s important when structuring your six pack ab training program to really keep your main goals and priorities in mind.
Different abdominal goals will come with very different methods of training, so being sure to identify exactly what it is you’re trying to do will ensure you step forward in the right direction.
Here’s what to know.
The Goal of Six Pack Ab Definition
If you’re goal is to get a really defined set of six pack abs, which is the most common goal, then you actually need to back away from abdominal training altogether.
While performing some ab exercises is important – don’t get me wrong, they should not be the focus of your workout program.
Why so?
Because regardless of how many crunches, sit-ups, and hanging leg raises you do, if you’ve got a pesky layer of fat covering those abs, they are staying in hiding. Like it or not, if you want your abs to show through, you’ve got to remove that fat.
And, unfortunately, crunches, sit-ups, and hanging leg raises don’t burn a whole heck of a lot of calories while you’re doing them, therefore, they aren’t going to do much in the way of helping you torch that body fat.
Therefore, you’re much better off focusing your efforts on the diet side of the equation, and then being sure you’re doing appropriate fat loss cardio and a solid weight lifting program.
That is what will strip that fat.
Everyone has abs, it’s just a matter of who doesn’t have the protective layer covering them.
The Goal of Six Pack Ab Strength
If, on the other hand, your goal is to really develop strong abs, either because you are involved in high level sports that require you to have a very strong core or because you are really concerned with preventing back pain and other midsection injuries, then you will want to focus more on doing the abdominal strengthening exercises.
Likely, your best bet here is to actually perform weighted ab work, since muscles typically grow strongest when they are subjected to an overloading stimulus – that overloading stimulus being the weight plate you’re holding while doing your crunches.
You’ll often see people doing crunch after crunch after crunch over on the stretching mat, but this isn’t really doing all that much with regards to strength building or fat loss.
It is important to note though that with weighted ab work, your muscles could potentially grow larger (if you are eating a calorie surplus, hence are providing additional energy to build larger muscles), so that needs to be taken into consideration.
Most people after aesthetic goals will not appreciate this since it will actually cause the waist to look wider, rather than slimmer.
True, if body fat levels are low enough you will see definition, but waist size will still increase (particularly if you’re doing side bends and exercises of that nature).
So, be sure you determine what your goal is with your abdominal training. Training for strength and training for a six pack are quite different.
This isn’t to say you can’t training for both at the same time – you can, but you must then make sure all components are in place.
If you’re goal is solely to look great naked though, then you might want to move away from doing so much time on those ab mats and start spending more time lifting weights and doing cardio.
For more help with six pack ab training, have a look at Ab expert, Mike Geary’s Truth About Abs program.
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