Visible Abs

[Qazwsxedc]

What percentage of body fat do i need inorder to have visible abs?

in my more fit days, i was done to around 10% body fat and still couldn't see distinct abs (they were only slightly visible). I wasn't big BIG but althetic looking - but still no abs. i could barely pinch any fat off my stomach too..

[forseti-6]

Not sure, but I'm 12% and can see faint outlines of abs. My guess would be around 8 ish...

[Annabella]

you can be around 12 and 13 and still your abs can be seen

[cait987]

Unless you have good genetics or have been doing cruches for 35 years, you need aprox 8 - 10% BF really depends. Some people can get them at 12% its all about when you lose the last of your belly fat but in most people belly is the last to go which is around 8 - 10%

[Qazwsxedc]

ahh. cool.. well i'm a long ways off from my more fit days.. i'm prolly at 35% body fat now. hehe... and i'm not even a heavy person either - 5'8", 145lbs.. but all the fat i've accumulated over the years have gone straight to my stomach.. booooo

[benjamin]

Yea 8% sounds about right. I was 12% a few months ago and my stomach was flat but I couldn't see them at all. I'm down to 10% now and I can just barely see the outline, hopefully I'll be able to see them completely soon.

[mikeysj]

i heard just 11 or 12 % should give a sign of abs

[mikeysj]

everyone's probably different though

[saut]

I'd have to say that it's mostly genetics. I have never (until about a year ago) really followed any regimented workout plan and I eat like I have three stomachs, yet I have a very visible six-pack. It's good to be skinny!

[jay-g]

Workout for a year and eat healthy, then you might have some visible abs. Getting visible abs, is one tough task.

[hilbert25]

The key part of visible abs is big ab muscles. I have next to no ab muscles, and I've had very little visible abs at 4% body fat (tested to tenths of a percent accuracy, that summer I took part in a body fat study).

Thus to get abs, do things like 8 minute abs, or get an ab roller. Any reasonably healthy person could probably start to get them in a month or two with a good routine.

[st33lr4t]

none of this 8 minute abs. do you do 8 minute biceps to get them bigger? train them like you train anything else...low reps high weight once maybe twice a week doing crunches. then get yourself down to single digit bf and your set.

[SiNai]

A combination of both techniques is good. I'm around 13% and can see my abs fairly well. I've high weight, low rep, and high rep/no weight, and noticed some good gains from both techniques. I just need to watch my diet better :/

[cait987]

The key part of visible abs is big ab muscles. I have next to no ab muscles, and I've had very little visible abs at 4% body fat (tested to tenths of a percent accuracy, that summer I took part in a body fat study).

Thus to get abs, do things like 8 minute abs, or get an ab roller. Any reasonably healthy person could probably start to get them in a month or two with a good routine.

Hmm, normally I dont prefere to respond to a post two times, but who exactly did your bodyfat test? 4% bodyfat is more or less ... impossible, even if you had never worked out your abdominals in your life they would be popping out, and it is impossible to maintain 4% BF for more then a few hours due to water retention so

A. You were Dead
B. You were in a bodybuilding competition
C. The Person who did the test sucked at it

Now, more power to you if you have 4% BF but the odds of it are very slim, and the odds of no abdominal muscles with 4% BF well, defy all logic seeing as how 3% BF means there isnt a single speck of visible fat on your body the only fat left is the fat that cushions major organs in your body. (Tendons pop out, veins are everywhere, you can see the peoples bones etc at 4-5% BF)

Now, that wasnt the main reason I responded, moreso I did because of the fact that 6 second abs and all those stupid machines dont work, the only way to get abdominal muscles to a decent size is a good workout plan, if your heavier and dieting down you can just use your own body weight as resistance and use some more complex movements, or if your light just do weighted crunches and you will see them.

However, Abs are made in the kitchen Your greatest concern to get abs is getting the BF low enough it is a simple feat to get the muscles once you lower your BF to that point.

[Dant0007]

I thougth 4% was the cutoff, and 3% is unhealthy. I had a friend who is a personal trainer who has been at 4% when he was in the military. Now he's about like 30%, fatass, but he's trying to get it back down. If you want to get visible abs get liposuction, and get rid of the fat cells that are there. I've been at 9% and still couldn't even see outlines, my genes just suck. FInd a new hobby, like traps

[hilbert25]

Originally posted by cait987
Hmm, normally I dont prefere to respond to a post two times, but who exactly did your bodyfat test? 4% bodyfat is more or less ... impossible, even if you had never worked out your abdominals in your life they would be popping out, and it is impossible to maintain 4% BF for more then a few hours due to water retention so

A. You were Dead
B. You were in a bodybuilding competition
C. The Person who did the test sucked at it

Now, more power to you if you have 4% BF but the odds of it are very slim, and the odds of no abdominal muscles with 4% BF well, defy all logic seeing as how 3% BF means there isnt a single speck of visible fat on your body the only fat left is the fat that cushions major organs in your body. (Tendons pop out, veins are everywhere, you can see the peoples bones etc at 4-5% BF)

The 4 tests were hydrostatic weighing, caliper, tape measure, and electric. They were performed multiple times over the course of 4 weeks. The results ranged from low 4's to mid 5's. I guess I must have been dead then.

I had a really low fat diet, was running 80+ miles a week at well under 5:45 pace per mile, doing weights, and probably weighed about 130 pounds at 5'10". Even with that, I still had next to no definitition in my stomach, it was kinda scary. Nothing like most of the other people I was working out with.

You say that you do a few high reps to get bigger biceps, that's true, but what do you do if you want lot's of lot's of definition? You do lot's and lot's of reps. 8 minutes straight of abs is probably more than you spend continuously on your biceps in any given session. Do that everyday and you're going to get much better defined abs.

Have you even seen what 8 minutes of abs entails? It's 8 different exercises, 1 minute each, no rest, high intensity. Not just crunches, including bicycles, leg lifts, and v-ups.

Like I said, diet doesn't help if you've got nothing to see. You need to work to get defined abs, and high rep stuff is the easiest way to get there (with absolutely no money spent). And if you want to do low rep high intensity stuff, try an ab wheel.

[Nitrox]

I am at 11% and I have ab. definition. However, I was at that a year ago and my abs didn't show. Then I started going nuts with every possible variation of crunch and a year later here we are. My point, bf% is only a factor

[powder]

Ab roller, no question. Nothing I've tried gives you more and better results rep for rep. Plus they work your back, chest, and shoulders really well too.