subject: Chasing the Six-Pack Abdomen [print this page] Chasing the Six-Pack Abdomen Chasing the Six-Pack Abdomen
Magazines and movies are filled with images of svelte people with with sleek six pack abdominals, causing everyone who walks into a gym to want the same. Unfortunately, too few understand what it takes to achieve that kind of shape and that lack of information makes it very difficult and often impossible. Ripped abs are more a function of diet and genetics than exercise and knowing that is half the battle.
I once had the opportunity to work on a film crew making an action picture. Both of the actors playing the leads were well muscled and took every opportunity to show off there taught abdominals while on set. In their trailers between shots, however, they would whine like little girls about having to fast to keep their stomachs so photogenic and talk whistfully about the stack of packcakes they would demolish the day that the production wrapped. By the way, those male models you see with the spectuacular midrif musculature have typically been dehydrating themselves for three days prior to the photo shoot.
You cannot expect your abdominal muscles to be visible if they are being hidden behind a layer of fat. For those wanting a six-pack, 10% or less fat as a portion of body weight for men (20% for women), good genetics and consistent training will get you movie star abs. The amazing condition of the actors who appeared in the movie "300" was the result of six-month of rigourous training with a strict diet. If you have that kind of time and devotion to give, go for it.
For those of us without unlimited time and money, working out your abdominals with a range of exercises three times a week, with careful and good eating and good genetics, should get you some definition. Go beyond sit ups, though, and work the entire area. Barbell squats and deadlifts are great abdominal exercises, as are planks, leg lifts, pushups and pullups. A well thought out routine can work the mid-section hard while still giving you a good all body workout. A six-pack is not an unreasonable goal, you just need to be reasonable about how your achieve it.
