How to Build that Perfect 6-Pack

Posted by Chris on Jun 14, 2009 in Workout Info | 1 comment

Almost everyone loves the look of abs, especially over flab. The look of a defined 6 pack is something that takes a lot of work, but is not impossible. If you have perfected your diet already, and use supplements to help increase definition, strength, etc. the process of hardening your abs will be much easier and much faster. The biggest problem I tend to see when it comes to abs is the stubborn belly fat. Doing 1 million crunches a day won’t make you shed that tummy fat any faster then doing 1 crunch a day, albeit it will add strength and make the abs more noticeable, you can’t spot-burn fat. In case you don’t know, spot burning is where you work a muscle group that is covered in fat in the hopes that your body will burn this fat faster, it has been scientifically proven that you can not spot burn fat, and that as you become leaner your body will naturally burn fat from around your body. Also note, this is usually the note that discourages people, stomach fat is usually the last thing to go.

Three Basic Ab Areas:

There is a lot to your ab muscles, here’s a picture:

We will be focusing on three major components of your abs:

1. 6-Pack area, lamen terms for the major portion of your abs
2. Obliques, there is interior and exterior but we will be focusing on both as obliques
3. V-Cut muscles below your abs

So we have determined what muscles we want to target, but why (besides aesthetics) do we want a perfect 6-pack? The answer is quite simple, your abs make up your core, the more strength you have in your core, the stronger you will be in other lifts (especially the bench press!!!) A strong core pretty much makes a strong you, so now that we have a reason for building or abs that doesn’t make us conceded, let’s begin!

How to Shape Those Abs

All of the workouts should be used in conjunction with a good diet, and plenty of fat burning cardio (check out this article). Like everything else you need to be motivated, and patient. Let’s begin:

The most common approach to building your abs is crunches or sit-ups, since most people know how to do those, lets look at some more advanced stuff.

6-Pack Area

Weighted Sit-ups

Grab yourself a comfy feeling plate (to begin maybe a 10lb or 25lb plate) and a decline bench, or a sit up bench. With the sit-up bench you will be more easily able to hold your self for the workout. To begin we lock our legs into the leg holders and lay down. Now to perform and ordinary sit up we would just crunch our abs as we bring our upper body up and then go back down parallel to the ground, not back to the resting position. So for this workout we just hold the plate to our chest, where our arms should be anyway, and continue to perform a normal sit up. I have found that doing 25 rep sets works the best, since by the end you can really feel the burn in your abs. Three sets should do you just fine.

Now for the weighted crunches, we lay on the floor and hold the plate to our chest and perform crunches as we normally would, except with a plate.Just like sit ups do 25 reps for 3 sets. You can also use a weight ball instead of a plate, and you could even use a partner with the weight ball to toss between each other.

I generally prefer to do sit-ups to crunches, simply because I can more evenly feel the burn across my abs with sit ups while crunches only really hit the top packs.

Ab Machines

Most gyms have these now. They are the machines that come in a few different varieties but all do essentially the same thing. The machines allow you to increase or decrease the weight while using your abs to compact the machine. The machines help you build abs and you can really feel the burn after a few sets of crunches.

Flat Leg Lifts

This is the same workout as the one in my article about PT, or working out when you can’t make the gym. You lay on the ground, put your hands in a diamond behind your back, and lift your legs off the ground by about 6 inches, while keeping your legs together. You raise your legs another six-twelve inches and then lower them back to the starting position. This work out really helps to form the lower packs as well as a nice v-cut.

Leg Swing Crunches

These are similar to crunches but really help buff up your interior ab muscles. Lay on your back with your legs up at a 90 degree angle, and move your knees forward and back a few inches at a time, after 30-45 seconds you should feel a deep, new muscle burn. Working these muscles should help to push your abs out!

Obliques

Weighted Side Bends

Grab yourself a 45lb plate and hold on to it! For side-bends the main idea is to keep your back and legs perfectly straight, while bending at your side and then coming back up. With the plate in your right hand, bend toward your right side (don’t bend your arms!) and then bring your body back up to a straight position. The target is 3 sets of 10 reps, but if this weight isn’t enough grab a heavier dumbbell. Now switch hands and continue! This will help to create that nice sharp top part of your v-cut and build side-ab strength. Note: if you are having a hard time keeping your body straight, look straight up, generally when you raise your head up your back tends to straighten out.

Sideways Crunches

This workout will require either a nother person or something to hold your legs to the floor. For this workout we are lying on our sides, and crunching sideways. Sounds simple enough right? The hardest part is having something to keep your legs flat on the ground, to give you a firm base to lift from. A partner generally works best. After doing a few sets of these you will really feel the burn, don’t forget to switch sides!

Side Leg Lifts

This is great especially if your gym has a leg lift ‘machine’ you want to look for the thing that has arms reaching out with handles sticking out, a back rest, and elbow rest. This machine allow you to hold yourself in the air with your upper body, and lift your legs in different ways. If you rotate your body sideways (not a fully 90 degree turn) and lift your legs sideways with your obliques you will know you are doing this work out correctly, because it will burn like hell but pay off in the long run. Another 10 reps 3 sets should do fine.

V-Cut

The best way to form the deep v-vut (the area below your abs that leads from your hips to your groin) is to work your lower abs and have a low body fat % (importance of cardio!)

Leg Lifts

Let’s go find that leg lift machine and work our lower ab area. For this work out you want your back flat against the back rest and to lift your legs parallel in front of you, then slowly lower them back down. It is best to keep your legs straight during this entire workout, if it becomes to difficult bend at your knees and continue. 10-15 reps and 3 sets will do good.

Flat Leg Lifts

This is the same workout as the one in my article about PT, or working out when you can’t make the gym. You lay on the ground, put your hands in a diamond behind your back, and lift your legs off the ground by about 6 inches, while keeping your legs together. You raise your legs another six-twelve inches and then lower them back to the starting position. This work out really helps to form the lower packs and will give your v-cut a nice boost.

Importance of Abs

So now we are well on our way to a killer six pack just in time for beach season! Our abs provide critical support and most of the workouts we do in the gym, even in cardio. remember that even though strong abs look good, they also help increase your strength in other areas.

With that being said, I need to go do some leg lifts, feel free to leave comments or ask questions!

Related posts:

1. Physical Training When You Can’t Make the Gym
2. The Forgotten Muscle – An in Depth Forearm Workout Guide
3. Exercise Overview: Variated Bentover Barbell Rows
4. Workout Plans and Information
5. The Art of the Bench Press