best way to 6-pack-abs?
 

Hey, this just happens to be my first post. This seems like a very nice e-community, if you will, hah.

I wanted to hear some suggestions on how you (or someone you know) got their 6 pack going. I'm currently thinking about buying ab rollers or an ab machine but I'm not sure if I should do that or just stick with the usual 200 situps/crunches a day.

Thanks in advance :)

abs
 

well, you'll have to tell us if you're female or male.

either way, if you have a "gut" or beer belly, you can do all the sit ups in the world, but you wont see it unless you lose the fat there first.

doing sit ups and crunches makes the stomach muscles stronger, but doing cardio will reveal their "true beauty"

Matt, yeah, sad but true! I now have decent ab muscles but there is still a thin layer of fat hiding them from e.g. attractive blonde girls.

a similar thread seemed to reckon you'd need to be down to between 8 and 12% body fat before they appear, but obviouisly the more you work on them, the more fat they should show through.

I think it's better to do a reasonable amount of crunches (sets of 40 my last gym induction recomended) and lots of cardio.

in short get your body fat into the single digits (cardio/lifting + nutrition) and work those abs. stick to crunches.

Thanks, btw I'm 18/m.

Yeah, it all comes down to diet. But just remember abs are just like any other muscle group. They need to have a recovery time. Don't think doing crunches everyday is the best thing to do.

i decided to go with an ab dolly and improve my diet. thanks for the input guys.

Weighted ab exercises + a VERY stringent diet. Unless you are genetically blessed, getting a nice 6-pack is a pain in the ass. I gave up on it. I like Taco Bell too much :-D

Simple, Drink lots of 6 packs.

Seriously, unless you're genetically predisposed, you can plan on spending a good portion of each day excercising and controlling your diet to get those defined abs you see on t.v. Not that thats a bad thing. You just need to be committed and determined.

definately do weighted exercises for our abs, and work them out only 2-3 times a week at the most. Things to do are kneeling cable crunches, lying crunches with a weight on your chest, leg raises with a weight on your shins (balancing it over both legs)...

Treat the abs like any other muscle group - 200 crunches every day won't do anything but make you tired and build endurance.

so what sort of weights would you recommend? I'd always assumed the weight of the torso/legs would be enough... suppose a little more weight never hurts though!

cheers,

from other posts looks like you need to have about 8-10% body fat....


when i used to work out Hard Core and had what seemed like no fat i was at 14%


so yes its hard...but i didnt diet properly i always ate what i wanted

build the muscle, then spend tons of time leaning down so that your body fat is in the 10% or lower category and then you'll see abs... until then, you'll have them.. they will just be protected by a nice "cushy" layer =)

I have done crunches since my son's birth and that works extremely well.

From what I've heard, abs are made in the kitchen. You can do all the cardio and sit ups in the world, but if your diet is suspect, that pack won't show up.

Personally, I'm tryin to get the 6pack too. My routine is alternating days of lifting / basketball (5 on 5 full court, multiple games for more than an hour), and just cutting out some of my weakness foods, like ice cream, too much chocolate, etc.

Also, drinks lots of water, and don't neglect weight lifting! Muscle helps burn fat, and fat is (as far as i know) evenly distributed and lost among your body.

Good luck! I know I'll need it.

As aa1037 pointed out, they are made in the kitchen.

You could have the strongest abs in the world but if you have fat covering them, nobody will know. Trim the fat, see the abs. The fat-trimming is the most difficult part of it.

exactly!

a thing about the eating habbits involved... eat often, but little.. that makes you burn more fat. build your stamina.. like go jogging for an hour or whatever.. and crunches

Dude, start running.

I lost 20 pounds in 3 months running cross country. Granted, I was 16 years old and still growing and had the puberty thing going so I guess it was easier then, but anyway.

Running is huge though. You gotta go easy the first few weeks, depending on your skill. The abs are any runner's core, and along with supplemental push ups and sit ups, a decent diet, and patience you should see progress.

Unlikely to happen unless you're working out your body on a regular schedule with a prestine(sp?) diet. The first step is to cut out chips, pop, chocolate, icecream, etc all together.

I find that if you are just looking to tone up your stomach then try some bicycle crunches...
get into the crunch position and then when you come up go from side to side with your torso and move your legs like a bike... do about 50 of them to start and then keept adding up.

And then also lay on the floor with your feet in the air and have someone hold onto your ankles... you'll hold onto their calfs/ankles. They'll start to push your legs down and you will try to keep them from hitting the floor.. make sure the person swings them from side to side also :-P

And if you want to loose wait and get fit then start some kind of rutine diet... no snacking... and just do the above.... that is probably the cheepest method.. if it works.

If you do a search in this forum for a member named "plan9" you'll find some good advice from a subject matter expert.

:thumbsup: Welcome to TFP!

Thanks to all. I have a better diet now, and I've lost 2 inches in about a month. I haven't really been working on my abs a whole lot, but I <b>have</b> been lifting a LOT and also playing full-court basketball every day for about 1-2 hours.

Thanks again for the input :)

Some people just arn't meant to have 6 pack abs. Im a fairly skinny guy so thats probably the only reason I have a 6 pack. I can tell you this though, don't go out wasting your money on these ab machines, most of them don't work. If I were you I'd stick to eating healthy and doing sit ups every day. Don't kill yourself trying to do 100 at a time, do about 3 sets, 6 reps on each side a nite. If you have a lot of fat in the stomach region then I'd suggest jogging or running and try to lose some of the gut and then start sculpting, hope that helps some.

"why have a six pack when u can have a keg" quote from a fat guy at my school.