Six Pack

[buttheadyeah Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close buttheadyeah]

Who wants to try to get a six pack with me?

I've read how much it helps in the sack and how healthy it is...well im gonna be trying and 5/20/09 marks the day this journey begins...hop on board if you wanna try.

[Lazy 8 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Lazy 8]

Who wants to try to get a six pack with me?

I've read how much it helps in the sack and how healthy it is...well im gonna be trying and 5/20/09 marks the day this journey begins...hop on board if you wanna try.

What's your plan/routine going to be?

[Thimsile Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Thimsile]

Already beat you to it! haha sorry. You should have no hard time at all getting a six pack as long as long as theres not too much body fat there. When I started training martial arts I was able to get a six pack in about a month and now I've had one for about three years. I always tell my friends to punch me as hard as they can in my stomach and it doesn't ever hurt haha.

Anyways, when your working abs, you should always keep going until you burnout (can't do anymore reps). Starting out I'd say tou should do 30 crunches, 30 Russian twists, 30 side leg raises, 30 leg lifts, and 10 good v-ups every other day. This will work not only your abs, but your obliques as well.

By the way, a Russian twist is a regular situp but when you get to the top you need to rotate your core one way, throw a punch, then rotate the other way and throw a punch.

For side leg raises you need to lay on your side with your bottom arm spread out to the side holding you up slightly. Now bend your legs and bring them towards the ceiling while you curl and tighten up your obliqeus. You should feel a burn after 10 or so.

And v-ups are the hardest. Lay on your back with your arms stretched straight up over your head and your legs straight. Now bring your legs AND your torso up simultaneously and touch your hands to your feet. The only thing that should bend is you waist, arms and legs straight.

Keep posting on this thread because I would like to see how it goes for you. Good luck with it!

Oh and make sure you're getting plenty of protein.

[buttheadyeah Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close buttheadyeah]

ok what im doine is push ups pull ups and weights lol
i dont need ab workouts cuz my abs are there just covered in fat.

[PESG Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close PESG]

There is a common misconception about "six-packs" in the fitness world. People think they have to work their abs every day and work them harder than all of your other muscles. In reality, the key to getting a six-pack can be found mostly in your diet. Everyone has abs but most people have too much fat covering them. I never work my abs and I never will. But I have a six-pack because I'm lean in the stomach area (132 lbs). Just staying in decent shape, doing total body workouts, and simply keeping the fat off of your gut is all you need to get defined abs. Crunches, V-ups, Mason twists, and bicycles are the best core exercises

[buttheadyeah Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close buttheadyeah]

yup thats why im not gonna workout abs to get my sixpack..i do pull ups and push ups ..up to 500 push ups a day and it burns all the fat away....

[buttheadyeah Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close buttheadyeah]

btw im 5' 10" and 180 lbs..mostly muscle i just have this layer of fat over my abs..its gotta go.

[kingpole Retired ModeratorPEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close kingpole]

btw im 5' 10" and 180 lbs..mostly muscle i just have this layer of fat over my abs..its gotta go.

Big Al reccomended some low intesity cardio not getting above 6-65% of your max heart rate. tnhis way you maintsain your muscle mass and cut back on adipose tissue.

Also i believe you need to work those abs as well as cardio, diet, and resistance training (weights) i got a 4 pack now i can feel them.

[SouthernJoe Member Find all posts View Profile Close SouthernJoe]

Buttyeah if that's all you have to work with I'm gonna through some additional suggestions.

Throw some dips in there, air squats, one legged squats, burpees, etc. be creative with bodyweight stuff, do them at angles, mix up the workouts. You can do a great workout of say 5 pullups, 10 pushups, 15 squats for one round for 20 min.

You can really increase fat burning through the use of HIIT sessions or better yet a protocol called Tabata. What is tabata? It is a type of interval training that utilizes anaerobic and aerobic modalities into a really short, intense workout.

basically you pick a time say 4 minutes of work and you break that up as follows: choose your exercise like air squats or burpees and do 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest and repeat until you complete 4 minutes of work.

That is a great way to get the far burning engine working.

Also look towards your diet, Shoot your protein intake to 1.0 G/lbs of body weight to preserve muscle, keep carbs generally low but eat the majority of your carbs in the post workout window ( about 30 - 90 min after exercise), and stick to healthier monounsaturated fats like olive oils and avacados, etc. Be sure your food comes from natural whole foods and not sugar, or excess grains and cereals.

You don't need to do a long ab workout either, google static exercises like L-sits and planks for ideas, quick simple and effective.

[Going411x7 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Going411x7]

Dammit! I'm really committed to losing that last 15 pounds and getting my six pack back. You guys have helped motivate me. I'm back in the pool for five miles a week and back to six small meals a day. This combo helped me lose the first 15.

[Jelqasaurus Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jelqasaurus]

Just an FYI for anyone doing v-ups: this exercise puts a ridiculous amount of stress on the spine, and should be avoided at all costs! It also is a very poor choice for spinal flexion, which the abs do directly (more often than not, people pike at the hip rather than crunch through the core). Perhaps the worst choice of an ab exercise on the planet. Whoever invented it, as a matter of fact, should be shot. A lot.

This brings me to my next point; leg raises. These also DO NOT WORK THE ABS! People will tell you that it does, and so will Muscle & Fiction magazines. The fact is, the joint moving is the hip which the abs do not control. At all. You may be performing an isometric contraction (static, holding) and thus working the abs slightly as a stabilizer. However, we do not define exercises by what muscles are used for stabilization, only what is happening concentrically.

Working your core has many advantages. Also, it allows for a six-pack to be leaner, sexier, and more visible at higher bodyfat levels. The goal is for every muscle in the body to be worked at least somewhat on a regular basis. Even if this means 100 crunches a week.

Joe hit the nail on the head: do some HIIT (better for PE anyway) and watch that diet! You're about the same stats as me, pretty much. I'm 5'9" about 180 (although I'm roughly 8% BF and have abs). Shouldn't be hard for you to get "in shape" judging by your older posts about high school. Also, high protein diets are usually a good idea.

Good luck, bud!

[cujo Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close cujo]

I am currently driving myself nuts with the big six pack need. I do high intensity cardio exercises twice a week and abs exercises 4 times a week...I eat healthy and have little fat intake. My current body weight is 67kg and my friend i am still struggling to obtain the big six. Visit the bodybuilding.com website you'll find a forum where dudes with sick abs reveal their secrets...Lets do this and better yet lets start an email group...where we exchange progress pics...

My email address is [email protected]. I have also joined the Body Building group and is known as Cujo80...

[C.Phantasy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close C.Phantasy]

Doing "Planks" are the best way to get an defined 6 pack.

And as someone else stated, working out your abs can be counterproductive because it can make your muscles become big and it will look like you have an "belly" even if you have low BF %.

And as Larger said "It is the full man that counts,not just a part".

[Jelqasaurus Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jelqasaurus]

It's funny how many topics start out or end up being about fitness... which happens to be my area of expertise.

Everyone thinks they have some secret answer to abs/fat-loss/weight management, yet their theories all boil down to the simple principle of food and work. To be honest, you can take it from Ronnie Coleman or Lee Priest, Kai Greene or Frank Zane, anyone will tell you their own, personal workout for abs (or anything else, for that matter). The fact is, they do what they like. There is no one exercise to end all exercises. For anything. Except squats. <3 squats.

No but seriously, to analyze particular exercises you gotta look at things from a philosophical point of view. Abs are a muscle that operate on the spine. What exactly do abs do? Spinal Flexion (forward curling of the back; perfect example being a crunch).

There are two types of exercises: isotonic and isometric (also isokinetic but this is not really possible without special machines, typically only available to physical therapy patients).

Isotonic: exercises that involve movement through a range of motion. An example would be a bicep curl; you start with your arm fully extended and end the exercise with your elbow (hopefully) fully flexed. Flexion is defined as a decrease in joint angle. Also, joints flex; muscles contract.

Isometric: exercises that are performed using static contractions to maintain or hold a position. An example of this exercise would be a wall sit (or as C.Phantasy mentioned, a plank). These exercises are used with good form and typically have longer durations than isotonic exercises. They also do not consist of reps, rather a timed duration.

Having said this, exercises such as the plank, v-sit, leg-raise, and sometimes even sit-ups when performed to exhaustion, are all examples of isometric exercises, as they do not involve spinal flexion (except sit-ups, for a period).

Now, does this mean isometric exercises are bad, or not as good as isotonic? Not necessarily. It is all dependant on what you plan to achieve through exercising. If you want a rippling, washboard, cheese-grater six pack, you probably should go for more isotonic exercises. If you want a very balanced, stable core with somewhat more endurance (I feel sketchy saying that because it's not necessarily 100% accurate), then you should do more isometric exercises.

Now that you're all experts about types of muscle contractions, riddle me this: what exercises do you think you want to do for a clearly more visible six pack?

Fyi, a crunch is the most effective ab exercise (and yet, the most basic) for a number of reasons. This exercise, when performed properly, isolates the abs and involves no other muscle groups whatsoever. A sit-up is essentially a crunch with some hip flexion towards the end of your rep. The spine can only curl 30-45 degrees, so at some point your abs are fully crunched and your hip flexors kick in to get you the rest of the way up. This, in my opinion, exhausts you sooner, and doesn't allow you to do as many reps as if you were doing only crunches.

My point isn't to make anyone feel like an idiot, but moreso to myth bust any GET A RIPPED SIX PACK IN 4 HOURS articles you may read in magazines or on BB.com.

Edit: Also, it is very important to switch it up on a regular basis. So other random exercises (other than a crunch) are not bad to do once in a while, I just wouldn't make them my forte of my workouts.

[C.Phantasy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close C.Phantasy]

It's funny how many topics start out or end up being about fitness... which happens to be my area of expertise.

Everyone thinks they have some secret answer to abs/fat-loss/weight management, yet their theories all boil down to the simple principle of food and work. To be honest, you can take it from Ronnie Coleman or Lee Priest, Kai Greene or Frank Zane, anyone will tell you their own, personal workout for abs (or anything else, for that matter). The fact is, they do what they like. There is no one exercise to end all exercises. For anything. Except squats. <3 squats.

No but seriously, to analyze particular exercises you gotta look at things from a philosophical point of view. Abs are a muscle that operate on the spine. What exactly do abs do? Spinal Flexion (forward curling of the back; perfect example being a crunch).

There are two types of exercises: isotonic and isometric (also isokinetic but this is not really possible without special machines, typically only available to physical therapy patients).

Isotonic: exercises that involve movement through a range of motion. An example would be a bicep curl; you start with your arm fully extended and end the exercise with your elbow (hopefully) fully flexed. Flexion is defined as a decrease in joint angle. Also, joints flex; muscles contract.

Isometric: exercises that are performed using static contractions to maintain or hold a position. An example of this exercise would be a wall sit (or as C.Phantasy mentioned, a plank). These exercises are used with good form and typically have longer durations than isotonic exercises. They also do not consist of reps, rather a timed duration.

Having said this, exercises such as the plank, v-sit, leg-raise, and sometimes even sit-ups when performed to exhaustion, are all examples of isometric exercises, as they do not involve spinal flexion (except sit-ups, for a period).

Now, does this mean isometric exercises are bad, or not as good as isotonic? Not necessarily. It is all dependant on what you plan to achieve through exercising. If you want a rippling, washboard, cheese-grater six pack, you probably should go for more isotonic exercises. If you want a very balanced, stable core with somewhat more endurance (I feel sketchy saying that because it's not necessarily 100% accurate), then you should do more isometric exercises.

Now that you're all experts about types of muscle contractions, riddle me this: what exercises do you think you want to do for a clearly more visible six pack?

Fyi, a crunch is the most effective ab exercise (and yet, the most basic) for a number of reasons. This exercise, when performed properly, isolates the abs and involves no other muscle groups whatsoever. A sit-up is essentially a crunch with some hip flexion towards the end of your rep. The spine can only curl 30-45 degrees, so at some point your abs are fully crunched and your hip flexors kick in to get you the rest of the way up. This, in my opinion, exhausts you sooner, and doesn't allow you to do as many reps as if you were doing only crunches.

My point isn't to make anyone feel like an idiot, but moreso to myth bust any GET A RIPPED SIX PACK IN 4 HOURS articles you may read in magazines or on BB.com.

Edit: Also, it is very important to switch it up on a regular basis. So other random exercises (other than a crunch) are not bad to do once in a while, I just wouldn't make them my forte of my workouts.

You seem to know your vodoo very well.

If the discussion cares to evolve we can bring alpha & beta receptors into the picture.
The kind of fat you got around your belly or chest area is a "stubborn fat" type. You may ask yourself why no Tv coach or personal trainer have mentioned this?
"Why is it stubborn and not like the rest of the body?"
First of all, this has a lot more "estrogen" in it. Testosterone = Fat loss,Estrogen = Weight gain.

Second,when we burn fat the body uses its bloodsystem to get to the fat that needs to burned during excercise. But ex. Belly fat has a very bad bloodflow quality,which means its harder for the body to reach into that area to burn fat.

Third,there are more "anti-fat burning" receptors (Alpha vs beta) in the belly fat which makes it harder to burn fat in that area.

The key component which I validate for myself is that with better bloodflow (Cardio health) you can improve the blood flow to the bellyfat. When your body gets more used to cardio like HIIT your body turns more easily to usage of fat (and even scratches the belly fat area). Therefor my home-made equation is:

Cardio(HIIT,Fartlek etc. which triggers testosterone & Growth hormone elevation) + Abs work(Or chest work to get rid of Gyno)+Cycle of High Carb/Low carb days x Time= Best alternative you have got.