I have a six pack. Ok. Sometimes I have a six pack. Ok, Ok. For like 2 months of the year I have a six-pack. This falls in between holidays and stress eatings and take out months and the dreaded winter flab beast of the Midwest. I mean, give me a break. I am not a fitness model or anything. I am not in the business of serious fitness. I am just a regular old 37 year old. But, I can whip out a six pack given a month’s notice.
Yes, this is mostly because I work out frequently, keep in good shape and have a good diet. I am not going to sit here and insult everyone’s intelligence and effort by saying everyone is going to be able to pull off a six pack in one month. That is obvious nonsense. One month is not long enough for some people to accomplish that, no matter what they do or how closely they follow what I lay out below.
Oh, there is not a doubt in my mind that almost anyone could have a six pack, given enough time, but a month is just not enough for some people because there are many factors that go into fat loss. Genetics, current weight, current diet, injuries, etc.
But, if you keep in pretty good shape – you exercise regularly and you eat somewhat healthy, have an injury free body that only carries a small spare tire and can be pushed hard- I think it is definitely possible for you to make your abs pop with a month’s notice. The way is simple but it requires some discipline and hard work and it goes like this:
Number 1 Six-Pack Rule: Create calorie deficits!!!
I promised this is as simple as you can get. Look. Despite all the diet voodoo and miracle fat loss crap you read and hear about, losing fat comes down to one tried and true simple fact. You need to burn more calories than you take in.
Sure, you can get way more specific and fall down the rabbit hole of fitness advice, to which there is some honestly useful and amazing advice out there that really works, but when you boil it all down, it comes out to calorie deficits. That is how you get rid of fat sitting on your belly and covering up the abs that are living under there.
So how do we create calorie deficits?
1. Cardio AND Weights!
There are basically two schools of thought in the fitness world regarding cardio for fat loss. There are the high intensity cardio folks and the steady state cardio folks. Ok. There is a lot of science that discusses the benefits and drawbacks of both of these, but the real simple answer of which to do is, do the one you will stick with!
High intensity cardio will get you a faster burn quicker, but it is a lot harder. Steady state cardio will take you longer to burn the same calories, but it is more sustainable. Pick whichever one you want and remember that all that matters is the calories you burn.
Just hitting cardio will do nice things for your body. It will lean you up, but it better be combined with weights, otherwise you are going to get that heroin-chic look that was huge in the 90’s. You will be plenty skinny, but there will not be an ab in sight.
When I want to get my stomach ready for taking off my shirt, I never stop hitting the weight room. I just add my cardio on to the time I train. I may lift lighter than usual with less rest in between sets, in order to balance the stress and strain of the added cardio, but I keep lifting, because the more muscle you have, the more fat you burn, as I said above, we are all about burning those calories!
2. Diet
I cannot sit here and suggest a specific diet that will work for everyone. Everyone is different and I don’t think diets as a whole work. You have to know your body and know what works for you to lose weight. I personally use intermittent fasting as a means to maintaining a functional eating plan for myself. It has a lot more health benefits than simply weight control, but some people will not be able to pull it off. That is fine.
Find an eating plan that works for you. I can say this with the utmost confidence that; if you eat lots of lean protein, about as many grams as you weigh, eat lots of greens, fruits and veggies, and fill the bit that’s left with some healthy carbs and healthy fats, that you are on the right track for fat loss and a six-pack.
3. Drink Water!
A gallon a day. Yes. That is a lot. But drinking water helps you to stave off hunger as well as helps with water retention – a big issue when trying to get that six-pack showing. Get a gallon jug, fill it up in the morning and every time you’re are hungry, jug water before you reach for food. Most of the times we seem hungry it is because we are thirsty, so stay hydrated and you will eat less.
4. Stop Spot Training
I just want to dispel a general myth about weight lifting. You cannot burn fat in particular areas of your body by working that area of your body. Seriously. You can’t. You can build more muscle in certain areas of your body, by working that area of your body, more often.
This muscle will help burn more overall fat and you will see more definition, but spending 20 minutes a day at the gym doing crunches and planks are not going to burn belly fat. Your time is better spent elsewhere in the gym to maximize results.
5. Diet Pills and Weight Loss Supplements
Let’s address this elephant in the room. Are their weight loss supplements and diet pills out there that work? Yes. Are they worth the side effects and the cost? Almost always my answer is, no.
Most of the diet pills out there are chalked full of ingredients that have never been actually linked to fat loss, or are seriously dangerous when taken in dosages high enough to make a difference. I recommend you skip the diet pills and weight loss magic and just put in the hard work necessary to achieve your six pack goals.
So what now?
So now that we have addressed some of the simple advice for getting your six pack, you have a good diet plan, you have a good cardio plan that you can follow and you are doing weight training so you don’t lose an muscle gains you have made while you cut out some of the fat, it’s time to look at some of the exercises you can do to make you’re abs pop.
The key here is not to constantly train abs, as we discussed above about the myth of spot training, but you should be throwing in some ab work at the end of your workouts 3-4 times a week in order to bring them out.
Below I will list a few of the best exercises for working your abs that you can fold into any workout. I suggest you pick two of these exercises and hit about 3 sets of 30 reps for each every other workout.
Exercises to do for your six-pack:
Cable Crunch
Bicycle Crunch
Hanging Leg Raise
Spiderman Plank
Lower Ab Leg Lift
Conclusion
Here is the truth about bringing out your six-pack. It requires hard work, discipline, structure and some physical and mental pain. If anyone tells you any different, they are lying to you. There is not secret, mystical fast track way to make your abs pop, but there are simple, actionable facts that I have outlined in this post to get you to your six-pack form.
So put in the work, create caloric deficits, exercise regularly with weights and cardio, eat clean and healthy, stay hydrated and skip all the magical promises that are out there. If you do all this, you can get your six-pack showing in a month and you can keep it for as long as you continue to put in the work!
Featured photo credit: Jasminko Ibrakovic via shutterstock.com
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