How to Get Six Pack Abs: The Definitive Guide
Many people want to have a sculpted set of abs for specific reasons. Some think of it as a sign of an incredible overall physique. But others just want to look as hot as hell with their shirts off.
But the thing that hurts me the most is that the majority of people either become prey to myths like "achieve a six-pack in 3 days or three weeks". Sorry to be the party pooper, but you are living in a dream if you believe in such BS.
That's because gaining abs is a slow and steady procedure of following a proper nutrition plan and hitting the core muscles correctly, and, of course, consistently being dedicated.
Some essential facts to know
First, you need to know that no two persons will get six-pack abs in the same time frame due to factors such as your current body fat level, core muscle development, and of course, genetics play a vital role as well.
Secondly, even though I mentioned six-pack in the article's title, you need to know that the number of visible abs (whether four, six, eight, or even ten) you achieve is primarily determined by your genetics.
But most people have 6 of those blocky abdominal muscles (aka abs).
Now, we should look at what gives us those rock-solid abs. And it doesn't matter whatever nonsense a non-educated ticktocker might've told you. Two things will remain unchanged and are the only ways to get to abs.
And those are your "body fat percentage and core muscle development, period." Most of the work depends on your body fat/leanness.
So, in this article, you'll learn the following:
1. Cut down on body fat (With nutritional changes and cardio)
2. Some highly effective ab development workouts
You heard that right, simply squeezing out set after set of crunches and planks isn't going to cut it, and the fat over your abdominals need to be reduced to the degree that your abs become visible. The less fat you have over your gut, the more chiseled the abs will appear.
So, let's take a deep dive into these factors individually, shall we?
Improve your nutrition to shred off fat
Alright, I said it before, and once again, I want to make it very clear in case you missed it.
"Ab workouts alone aren't going to get you the abs you desire, and it's necessary to lose excess abdominal fat."
We know that everybody's got abdominal muscles, but if there's heaps of fat covering them, they are just going to look a muffin top even if the abdominal muscle development underneath it is on-point.
The leaner you are, the more your abs will be visible. Plus, Dietary changes are going to be the easiest and fastest way to shred the layers of fat that covers your abdominal muscles. Because abdominal exercises alone aren't going to help reduce that belly fat.
In fact, according to the United States National Library of Medicine, also known as "PubMed," "Six weeks of the abdominal exercise was not sufficient to reduce abdominal subcutaneous fat."
And here's one more bomb on your head, spot-reduction of fat, like that of your belly or any other specific area of the body, is impossible. You’ll need to trim down on overall body fat, which will eventually also get you a lean gut.
Wondering how that's going to happen? Read on cause the following are the nutritional changes you need to make to shred your body fat away.
Reduce the number of calories you take
Now that you know that you need to reduce overall body fat to get lean enough for visible abs. So let's see, what's the actual driver behind the reduction of body fat?
And that is to be in a "Calorie Deficit." In Layman's terms, you need to eat fewer calories than your daily expenditure. Because excess body fat is the accumulation of extra calories in the body. So in a way, these fat tissues are calories/energy reserves of your body.
In order to use those reserves (body fat), you need to put your body in a state where it doesn’t get its required amount of energy/calories from food intake. This is going to make your body tap into those energy reserves to fulfill your calorie requirement.
Conclusion; your body will eventually start using that excess body fat for calories, and you’ll lose that fat over time. Pretty straightforward, right?😉
Now, I bet you've got at least two questions in mind:
- ) How to know my daily caloric requirement? &
- ) How many calories to slash from your daily caloric requirement?
To calculate your daily caloric requirement, head over to the calculator I linked here. You'll need to input some metrics, and you'll get a pretty close estimate of your caloric maintenance level.
Now that you've calculated your daily calorie needs, let's lay out how much of a deficit to create in it. To be honest, it mainly depends on how fast you want to lose fat and how much of a deficit you can bear.
For example, let's take 2500 calories as the caloric maintenance of a person. One pound of fat on your body is roughly equivalent to 3500 extra calories.
So, to lose 1 pound of fat from your body per week, you'll need to create a total caloric deficit of 3500 calories in one week. You can easily get the deficit of a day from this number. Divide 3500 by 7, and you get the magical number of 500 calories per day of a deficit.
That means if your daily requirement is 2500 calories, subtract 500 calories from that, and your daily caloric intake should be eating 2000 to lose a pound per week.
And that is the sweet spot for how fast you should be losing fat. I'll suggest not any faster than 750 calorie deficit per day. Now, I know you're eager to get lean, but the greater the deficit, the more difficult it'd get for you. Plus, the faster you lose weight, the more risk you have to lose any lean muscle mass you might have.
You can track the number of calories you eat per day from foods with some tracking apps like myfitnesspal.
Oh, and one important thing. As you start losing pounds of weight, eventually, due to a decrease in weight, your caloric maintenance will decrease, and so will the number of calories you need to be in a deficit. So, don't forget to recalculate your calorie deficit amount as you lose some pounds with time.
Increase your Protein intake
Even though a calorie deficit is the only way to create fat loss at the end of the day, there are some supplemental ways to make that deficit easy.
One way would be to increase the amount of protein ratio in your meals. That's because protein is highly satiating, so it'll keep the cravings low and stop you from binge eating. Hence, it'll reduce the overall calorie consumption, which we know is the main act here.
A small study shows that "27 obese and overweight people felt the loss of appetite and healthy by increasing protein intake".
Plus, protein is necessary for muscle development and recovery. You can either add protein to your routine through whole foods or via protein powder. However, my recommendation is to add some protein-enriched foods to your daily diet cause that's going to be easier, healthier, and more economically friendly.
That doesn't mean protein powder is bad; it’s actually great. It's just that protein from whole food sources is a better nutritional option overall. You can still have one scoop of protein powder a day to make it easy to reach your daily protein goal.
As a general rule of thumb, you should be taking at least 0.7–1 gram of protein per pound of your body weight per day, depending on your activity level.
For example, if your body weight in pounds is 180 lbs, multiplying that number by 0.7 results in 126 grams. So, for this weight, you should be taking 126 grams of protein per day at a minimum.
If you do some sports on a routine basis or you follow a workout program for building muscle, then 1 gram per pound is best to ensure muscle-protein synthesis.
Calculate whatever amount of protein you need per day and aim to take at least that amount in a day. You can always take more than that to help you feel more satiated, but there isn't any other major benefit to that.
Say Goodbye to Processed Foods
Ah! the hard part for almost everyone reading this article finally arrives. And I know it's pretty darn hard to bid farewell to our favorite potato chips and cookies. But hey, to gain something, you have to lose something.
If you want those super-hot abs you always dreamt of, you got to let go. Plus, Processed foods are deficient in micro-nutrients and are highly dense in calories without being satiating, which we know is counter-productive to our goal. Because when something is not satiating, we got to eat more of it, and when it's calorie dense, it becomes just the worst.
You can easily end up eating more calories than you require, which will cause fat accumulation rather than fat reduction.
The United States National Library of Medicine seems to have the same perspective as me, "People who consumed highly processed foods in routine seem to eat 45% more calories and are mostly obese".
Now, I'm not saying to completely annihilate processed foods from your life because that's going to make it feel hard to stick to your healthy lifestyle. You can have a small amount as long as it's within your caloric goals.
Cut out refined carbs
Here it is! your greatest enemy whom you thought of as your good ol’ buddy, but in reality, this is the destroyer of your dreams. Don't get me wrong, carbs themselves are not bad but rather essential for having enough energy.
It's refined carbs that have all the essential fiber and nutrients ripped off of them. You are just eating incredibly calorie-dense foods if you keep enjoying refined carbs, such as some immensely sugar-coated donuts.
"There is a huge amount of population in the category of obese and overweight cause the major part of their diet includes refined carbs."
But not all carbs are bad, as mentioned before, and some of them provide long-lasting energy. Eat whole food sources of carbs like vegetables, legumes, and fruits that are enriched with healthy carbs.
The fact is that refined carbs give short-term energy, which, once used, will push you to eat more and promotes appetite. On the other hand, whole foods contain healthy carbs, which give energy slowly and keep you replenished throughout the day to keep you going.
But same here, guys. You can eat a small number of refined carbs, so you don’t deprive yourself. But don’t go overboard like usual, and eat beyond your caloric deficit.
Adding cardio to your routine
As we now know that fat loss and a lean enough body will make the abs visible, and we also discussed the nutritional changes to make to eradicate that fat.
There's also no denying that cardio is another great supplementary way to add to our calorie deficit to lose fat at a faster pace. That's because aerobic exercises help us burn extra calories.
So, let's say you reduced 500 calories from dietary changes, and you do some cardio to burn an extra 250 calories. This amounts to a total calorie deficit of 750 calories.
Or if that feels difficult, reduce only 250 calories from your diet and burn 250 from cardio to maintain a 500 caloric deficit if that's easy for you. Great, right?
Besides everything, it's good for ensuring the health of the single most important muscle in your body, guys, your heart. Calorie burning aside, 150 minutes of total cardio per week is a must to maintain good cardiovascular(heart) health.
And there are also tons of other health benefits to cardio which we’re not going to discuss in detail here.
Following are some simple and effective cardio exercises to get in shape:
· Running
· Jogging
· Cycling
· Swimming
· Doing your favorite sport (Soccer, basketball, etc.)
The best workouts to get six-pack abs
I mentioned it before. If you noticed, anyways, I am going to repeat it. Every single human has "abdominal muscles" or "abs." They either lack muscle development or are just covered with fat. In most cases, it's both of these reasons.
Before heading in further, if you directly jumped to this section and skipped the part before, I'll highly recommend giving it a read, as without fat reduction, exercises are useless if you want to have abs.
Now, to move on, there are four abdominal/core muscles.
The most major one is the Rectus Abdominis, which creates the appearance of your abs, and is a long muscle that is extended vertically alongside the abdomen length. This muscle is what we need to emphasize most.
Besides this, there are internal obliques, external obliques, and also transverse abdominis. For a visual representation, you can check out the image below:
Working these muscles out like any other muscle group will initiate muscle development. This means training our core with dedicated ab training and adding progressive overload wherever possible.
Now, to the part you are waiting for, what are workouts for achieving six-pack abs? I've listed some proving and best workouts to do the magic trick.
Note: Due to the small size and natural genetic structure of the abs, they can't grow drastically in size like other muscle groups and won’t end up extending your gut like a bubble. But consistent core training will eventually help those blocks(abs) develop and pop out with more definition.
Hanging knee raise
How to do:
Use a pull-up bar to hang while your palms facing away from you, and your arms should be as far as your shoulders while keeping your feet together. Bend your knees back so that your feet touch your hips while keeping your abdomen straight. Engage your core for stability.
Now keeping your legs in this position, lift your legs to your chest (touching the chest isn't necessary, go as high as you can while making sure there's some degree of spinal flexion). This works your rectus abdominis primarily.
Slowly come to the previous state and repeat this process. Do at least 3–4 sets of 10–12 controlled reps with proper form.
Sprinter Sit-ups
How to do:
Lie flat while your arms with your sides and your legs extended. Sit up suddenly while bringing your right arm forward and bending your left leg back to the chest. Do the same process with the left arm.
This setup looks somewhat like you are sprinting, and it mostly works your obliques to stabilize the entire act. Do at least 3 sets of 10 reps on each side as a beginner.
Rope Crunch
*This exercise will require a cable machine. But it's a fantastic exercise due to its ability to overload progressively, and it's my favorite.
How to do:
Attach a rope to the cable pulley on a cable machine and grab it from the ends. While grabbing it, kneel down on your knees at least 3 feet away from the cable machine while your heels support your buttocks.
Keep your back straight and lean forward at about a 45-degree angle while your arms are bent such that the rope is just ahead of your head.
Now, engage your core and push downwards and behind in the direction of your knees. The position should mimic the contraction you get from normal crunches.
Use a weight that lets you do 8 repetitions on the minimum and 10 reps on the maximum. As you progress in your routine and that weight becomes easier for 10 reps, increase the weight according to the above-mentioned criteria.
Note: The purpose of this exercise is to pull the weight as you bend your spine to create a load on the abs. Don't pull the weight with your arms, and keep them in a static position while pulling downwards.
Oblique / Bicycle Crunches
How to do:
Lie on the ground such that your legs are a little bit lifted off the ground. Keep your legs together and straight while your arms are closed behind your neck like a normal sit-up.
Lift the right leg and extend the left arm and bring the leg to the extended arm. Do the same with the other side. That's one rep down. Even if you aren't able to touch your knees to your elbow, don't be sad, as it isn't necessary.
3 sets of 8 to 10 reps would be enough on each side to provide the required stimulus to your obliques and somewhat to your rectus abdominis.
Russian Twists
How to do:
Sit on the floor in a normal but tight position while your knees are bent, and your feet should be touching the ground. Hold some lightweight dumbbell or a Madison ball in your hands and lean back slightly. Now lift your feet a few inches from the floor while keeping your knees bent. Twist your torso to the right side with the dumbbell beside your right hip. Restore to the previous position and repeat on the left side.
This exercise is a great core stabilizer and helps strengthen your entire core.
This process will count as one repetition, and 3–4 sets of focused 10–12 reps would reign supreme.
Frequently Asked Questions — FAQs
1. How to sustain the abs once achieved?
This is by far my favorite question I've ever been asked. You need to understand that to live a healthy and fit life; you need lifelong dedication, control, and discipline.
What this means is that once you get those abs you wanted for so long, you'd still need to be disciplined to maintain them. Because if you again start to eat in an unhealthy manner, you'll end up losing the physique you gained with so much hard work.
The good news is that you can stop being in a caloric deficit. Now, you can eat whatever your caloric maintenance is now and keep at the healthy weight you're at now.
Even though I'd recommend not stopping your ab training regimen but if you need a break for a week or two, sure.
2. What’s the optimal workout volume for abs?
Good question. Just because I listed 5 exercises in the article doesn’t mean you have to do all of them daily.
Your abs aren’t a huge muscle in terms of its size and don’t require that much stimulus to develop.
2–3 exercises per workout are all you need and make sure to do the workout at least 2 times in a week.
A great workout plan would be doing Hanging knee raise and Rope Crunch. Add either oblique crunches or sprinter situps if you want some obliques work as well. But the former two would also suffice perfectly.
3. How long will it take to get abs?
Now, let's answer the question before heading out.
You see, two factors decide how long it will take you to get the abs you want.
Your current condition
If your belly looks like a muffin top right now and there's an enormous amount of fat covering your abdomen, then it is going to be a heck of a task. As we talked about above, the fat on top of the core must be eliminated for the abs to be visible.
There's not a fixed amount of body fat for visible abs for everyone. But about 14% is at what you'll most probably start seeing your abs, and the leaner you get, the more they'll pop out. Get a rough estimate of your current body fat percentage here and see how much body fat you need to lose for getting to 14%.
Depending how much fat you need to lose, and at what pace are you losing fat will decide the time it’ll take to reach the six-pack.
The higher amount of fat, the more time it will take to lose it and see the look of your abs. But remember, don’t lose more than 1% of your body fat per week. Any faster than that and you’re at risk of having shitty energy levels daily and potentially losing any muscle that you might have on your frame.
The look you’re aiming for
The second factor will be your target. To be honest, as you're burning off layer after layer of fat, you'll begin seeing some striations and abdominal muscle definition, aka abs.
Now the question is, how much of a star-busting look of abs do you want? If you're happy with some less developed and less lean abdomen, then great. You reached your goal.
But if your dream six-pack look is like Arnold Schwarzenegger, then you might be disheartened by the results. Because it can be extremely hard to get to such incredibly low levels of fat percentages and sustain them in your daily life. 99.99% of people won’t be able to live properly below 10% body fat. Go any lower and excessive hunger, stress, low energy levels and just a shitty feeling will be your full-time partners.
Not to say that you'll need to maintain your caloric deficit for a long time before coming back to your maintenance level.
Conclusion
There is more to achieving six-pack abs than just some workouts. It is a combination of a nutritious diet, cardiovascular activity, and a proper ab training regimen that would lead you towards a lean physique and developed core. And necessary topping of dedication, patience, and hard work is a must.😉
