“How do I get 6-pack abs?”
This has to be the #1 question asked by men. Well, it could also be, “How do I get a bigger chest?” We’ll answer that one next time though…
First off, it’s important to remember that crunches alone won’t get you the results you want. If we think about our “abs”, they are composed of layers of muscle topped with layers of fat and layers of skin (see image below).
To see your ab muscles, you need to lose the fat on top of them. Additionally, you want to build the muscles to make them more visible once you’ve lost the fat.
1. LOSE FAT
We all know (I hope) that losing fat comes down to burning more calories than you consume. You can do all the ab exercises you want but if you consume more calories than you burn, your fat will still be there, and your abs will be hidden like an apple under 10 comforters. So the #1 consideration for “6-pack” abs is diet.
2. BURN OVERALL CALORIES: SPOT REDUCING IS A MYTH
Another misconception is spot reducing. For the most part, you can’t spot reduce. This means that any cardio or fat-burning workouts you do to burn stomach fat will also reduce fat throughout the rest of your body. You can’t target only one area to lose weight.
3. BUILD MUSCLE
Choose exercises that will hit the major core muscles: transverse abdominis, internal and external obliques, serratus anterior, spinal erectors, and the “6-pack” muscles of your abdominis rectus.
*********************************
You can check back to this link for exercise ideas!
Sources: irreverent gent, bodybuilding.com, men’s journal, crossfit, darebee