How to get a 6pack?

[bommy261]

i find it easier to eat on a calorie restricted diet if u up your vegetable intake alot. I eat probably 1-2 lbs of cooked vegetables a day. this has made the biggest difference in seeing my abs. I have always lifted weights and ran 2-3 times a week, but before eating a crapton of vegatables my bodyfat was too high to see abs.

i am a naturally big guy, this has worked for me and i'm 225 lbs and 5'10''.

but in the end its not that big of a deal whether u see abs or not.

 

[tortoise]

How to get a 6pack?

Other options.

 

[Koing]

Other options.

What a thread necro!

The issue with most people is that they have NO ABDOMINAL WALL DEVELOPMENT. They need to do *harder* ab exercises, be able to squat and deadlift a reasonable amount to build that abdominal wall. This takes year and isn't an over night job.

You are in either 2 camps: great genetics easy 6 pack or not and you have to put in years to do it. There is a big difference between a lightly developed 6 pack because you have some good genetics and your bodyfat % is low enough, or you have developed abs as your abdominals are strong and your bodyfat % is low enough.

Koing

 

[Corporate Thug]

Agreed here as well. I hardly ever do cardio (I probably should start at some point, I know); I just let the weightlifting and diet handle the six-pack component.

what about training the heart component?

 

[Java Cafe]

In the course of trying to win a bet, I went from having a real paunch to having "visible abs" (not a 6-pack) in the course of four months. Having gone through that experience, I am now convinced that getting abs to show is virtually impossible without a very strict diet regimen. Yet, my handheld fat measuring gizmo tells me that I am at 19% body fat, and my Withings scale reports I am at 21%.

So, if you are 9%, you should be looking shredded. How someone can get to 9% bodyfat and not know that there is no such thing as spot reduction boggles my mind!

So far as advice goes, Koing has nailed it completely.

 

[Koing]

In the course of trying to win a bet, I went from having a real paunch to having "visible abs" (not a 6-pack) in the course of four months. Having gone through that experience, I am now convinced that getting abs to show is virtually impossible without a very strict diet regimen. Yet, my handheld fat measuring gizmo tells me that I am at 19% body fat, and my Withings scale reports I am at 21%.

So, if you are 9%, you should be looking shredded. How someone can get to 9% bodyfat and not know that there is no such thing as spot reduction boggles my mind!

So far as advice goes, Koing has nailed it completely.

The person could just be skinny with 9% and have no clue about training. E.g. my mate was talking about a time when he was in uni around a mates house. Some guys were getting ready and this guy comes down the stairs topless. A girl makes a comment about how in shape this guy was. I was shown a picture of this guy, he was about 6' and about 10-12% or maybe less, whatever, but either way he weighted about 150-160lbs. I think he went to the gym a few times a week. HE DID NOT LOOK IN SHAPE AT ALL. He looked like he never went to the gym, no muscular development what so ever. He had the faintest of faint resemblance of visible abs. IMO he was not in good shape at all, he just looked thin skinny but different people have different opinions of what is in shape.

Body fat % gizmo/ hand machines are completely out of whack. It's very hard to get a fixed absolute body fat % reading. Under water testing or the chambers are more accurate for tracking but they read different to each other as well.

When you can see visible serratus muscles you are rocking single digits.

As for a 6 pack, if you want a good one you will have to be strict on your dieting/ eating lifestyle. No two ways about it. It will also involve years of training as well unless you have great genetics.

Koing

 

[NickelPlate]

Agreed. Doing a ton of cardio in a caloric deficit is hell. Doing light cardio and moderately heavy weightlifting is much easier to get through. Sure, recovery may be decreased a bit, but mentally, the workout itself sucks a lot less.

Can you explain what you mean by that? Is it the workout itself that sucks or just make you feel like crap all day?

Thanks.

 

[smackababy]

Body fat % gizmo/ hand machines are completely out of whack. It's very hard to get a fixed absolute body fat % reading. Under water testing or the chambers are more accurate for tracking but they read different to each other as well.

Would the water submerged machines be a more accurate body fat % measurement? I've always heard they were the best and calipers were the 2nd. The rest were just estimates. Just wondering.

Can you explain what you mean by that? Is it the workout itself that sucks or just make you feel like crap all day?

Thanks.

Have you ever done a real intense cardio session? Like an hour of HIIT. It sucks. It is much easier mentally to do weight lifting than to do intense cardio.

 

[Koing]

Can you explain what you mean by that? Is it the workout itself that sucks or just make you feel like crap all day?

Thanks.

It's the way it will make you feel. If you use up 400-500calories in an hr and you are only say eating 1500 (which is a very low amount for a guy) you will feel like crap after a few days. More so if you have been dieting for a while and then you do this. Your net calorie intake would be 1500-400 so 1100 a day!

Koing

 

[Koing]

Would the water submerged machines be a more accurate body fat % measurement? I've always heard they were the best and calipers were the 2nd. The rest were just estimates. Just wondering.



Have you ever done a real intense cardio session? Like an hour of HIIT. It sucks. It is much easier mentally to do weight lifting than to do intense cardio.

Yes the submersion tanks are better, and the bod pod chambers are also accurate. Calipers, don't bother when you are sub 10.

No one does an hr of HIIT. Usually for 10-15minutes. There really is no point doing an hr of HIIT if you want to lose fat. Just do 10-15mins hard.

Koing

 

[smackababy]

Yes the submersion tanks are better, and the bod pod chambers are also accurate. Calipers, don't bother when you are sub 10.

No one does an hr of HIIT. Usually for 10-15minutes. There really is no point doing an hr of HIIT if you want to lose fat. Just do 10-15mins hard.

Koing

When playing sports, I'd argue I did more than an hour of HIIT at a time. But more people probably don't do that.

 

[Koing]

When playing sports, I'd argue I did more than an hour of HIIT at a time. But more people probably don't do that.

I use to play Rugby and Football. It's not quite the same and some people push themselves much harder than others. Rugby and Rugby 7's was tough as f0ck, but it isn't the same as doing HIIT for 10-15minutes and doing it for an hr. You would be in PIECE if you did it properly.

I was dragged to do some metcon stuff with my bro and our mate. They have been watching too many videos of Klokov and his random WODS LOL. 2 pull ups to behind the neck, pc 50kg and press it twice. Repeat for rounds. No time limits, but an even pace. I did 7 and wanted to give up dragged myself to do 15 rounds. Mate was doing the same but he was using 72.5kg and stopped at 15. Bro went on to 20 rounds. Then 5minutes later did another 10 rounds...the horror man.

The 2nd and 3rd set of Tennis was exhausting as well.

Koing

 

[smackababy]

I use to play Rugby and Football. It's not quite the same and some people push themselves much harder than others. Rugby and Rugby 7's was tough as f0ck, but it isn't the same as doing HIIT for 10-15minutes and doing it for an hr. You would be in PIECE if you did it properly.

I was dragged to do some metcon stuff with my bro and our mate. They have been watching too many videos of Klokov and his random WODS LOL. 2 pull ups to behind the neck, pc 50kg and press it twice. Repeat for rounds. No time limits, but an even pace. I did 7 and wanted to give up dragged myself to do 15 rounds. Mate was doing the same but he was using 72.5kg and stopped at 15. Bro went on to 20 rounds. Then 5minutes later did another 10 rounds...the horror man.

The 2nd and 3rd set of Tennis was exhausting as well.

Koing

At soccer practice one day, we did 45 minutes of suicides because we couldn't all finish in the time limit. We got a minute rest between each. The entire team had to finish by some time, and if we missed it, we had to go again. That was a fun day. =( I could never imagine feeling that bad from doing any lifting weights. Even in football, in 100F weather, in full pads, I never felt like that.

 

[Koing]

At soccer practice one day, we did 45 minutes of suicides because we couldn't all finish in the time limit. We got a minute rest between each. The entire team had to finish by some time, and if we missed it, we had to go again. That was a fun day. =( I could never imagine feeling that bad from doing any lifting weights. Even in football, in 100F weather, in full pads, I never felt like that.

Sounds savage!

The worst for me is lactic training. Fixed gear bike on a turbo trainer. Sprint 500m in 30secs or 1000m in 1min30. I felt TERRIBLE after the 1km. I had to lie down and then I threw up when I got up

Koing

 

[Whisper]

what about training the heart component?

Depends on your goals. While I occasionally do cardio (i.e., once or twice per week on my non-weight days), I know that's not a strength for me, and I'm fine with that for the time being; I accept it's just a relative weakness in terms of my overall fitness level.

I believe the comment to which I'd replied was specifically asking about the necessity of cardio in developing a sixpack, though, hence what I'd said.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Depends on your goals. While I occasionally do cardio (i.e., once or twice per week on my non-weight days), I know that's not a strength for me, and I'm fine with that for the time being; I accept it's just a relative weakness in terms of my overall fitness level.

I believe the comment to which I'd replied was specifically asking about the necessity of cardio in developing a sixpack, though, hence what I'd said.

It depends on the person's build. Cardio can be very important in burning fat to get your abs to show, hence why cut phases are so heavily focused on cardio.

 

[hans007]

i've got about 4 of it. and it took quite a bit of discipline.

its like 90% eating though. i mean obviously it will help if you strengthen your core. but most people who have any interest in fitness at all probably already have a decent amount of muscle there.

the main problem is physics. if you have fat, it will be stored in the part of your body that takes the least amount of energy to carry it around while you are walking etc. so it ends up all on your ass or your stomach / midsection / thighs.

so basically if you lose fat, you tend to lose more from other parts of your body first. so you will have to lose more fat than you think , since it doesnt come off evenly everywhere for most people.

you need to be at a calorie deficit. i used to play a lot of basketball so i could get away with eating like crap. as i've gotten older and my knees have given up on me a bit, it required a bit more food management. if you want to still eat a lot, then you are gonna need to do cardio, intervals, run some wind sprints. go to a rave and dance for 5 hours... really burns the calories haha.

 

[QueBert]

mostly diet, but genetics make it impossible to figure out. At my gym there's a guy who works out every day hard and his cheat meals are maybe as bad as my good meals. He looks in good shape. His friend works out about half as much and eats California Burritos almost every damn day (steak + fries + cheese) from a place where they're the size of a small arm. And he's ripped, you can which one works out harder and eats better. But it's damn close considering how the 2nd one has basically the worst diet you could imagine.

 

[Koing]

mostly diet, but genetics make it impossible to figure out. At my gym there's a guy who works out every day hard and his cheat meals are maybe as bad as my good meals. He looks in good shape. His friend works out about half as much and eats California Burritos almost every damn day (steak + fries + cheese) from a place where they're the size of a small arm. And he's ripped, you can which one works out harder and eats better. But it's damn close considering how the 2nd one has basically the worst diet you could imagine.

It is A LOT easier for some guys to get a 6 pack than others.

It isn't impossible to figure it out. The guy who works out everyday should probably rest a bit more. No point training everyday unless he has specific goals. Does he squat or deadlift? Does he do hard ab exercises for say 6-10reps and not loads of crunches over and over again?

The guy who is eating burritos is getting more rest and burritos aren't too bad, it depends on what the rest of his diet is like. Matt Ogus eats like 1-2 burritos everyday. Some guys can cut on 200-250g of carbs and others can't. I know I can't

Out of the 2 which of them is stronger?

It's like this guy at my bros place of work. He works out a lot but we aren't sure what he actually does in the gym. Says he is in the same shape as my bro. They play at the company 7's tournament and no one can believe the shape that my bro is in. The other guy is no where near my bros shape. He looks moderately built but not built and has a bit of a gut. Not even a flat stomach.

Some guys get a 6 pack at 8% and others at 14%. It depends on how built your abs are. The more built they are the higher a % you can get away with.

Diet is 90% to show a 6 pack but if you have NO AB DEVELOPMENT you are f0cked.

Koing

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I have abs. Looks better in the morning during the week when my diet is good. I typically eat what I want but I've trained myself to like all the healthy stuff. Ive never been super strict like some people. I dont turn down a burrito when I want a burrito. I just lean towards chicken, salmon, steak, veggies etc etc. I've cut down on carbs recently just cause but I spent the last 4 months in Italy eating a ton of carbs.

Ive been working out for like 6 years, only the last 3 harder than before. My metabolism is pretty high too. Ive never been skinny, always been on the thick side.

My only problem is that I drink a lot on the weekends. I spend the week making it back up being healthy.