Saturday, February 27th, 2010 | Exercise

The number one question I’m asked when I tell people I’m a personal trainer is “How do I get a six pack?’’ or “How do I get rid of the fat on my abs?’’.  Most people’s natural answer to that is to do a TON of crunches.  However, there is a lot more to having a six pack than just doing crunches.

In order to be able to properly train the abs, you have to first learn the basic anatomy.   First is the rectus abdominus.  These are the muscles most known as being your “6 pack”. Their job is to bend your back forward, the same movement involved in a basic crunch.  Next we have the internal and external obliques.  Their job is to twist your body and bend your back to the side. Because of their angled position, they can help flatten your abs, helping shrink your waist line and love handles. The obliques are also very important in many sports because of the twisting motion involved (baseball swing, golf swing, etc).  Lastly, we have the transverse abdominals.  They are a very deep muscle that act like a weight belt or back brace to stabilize your back.  It is very important that all of these muscle groups are worked in order to achieve a balanced core.  Now that you know the abs are capable of performing different movements, you can train each of the muscles of the abs in order to flatten your stomach as much as possible.

Another aspect of having strong looking abs is removing the layer of fat that lies on top of the abs.  Many think that the ab exercises alone will help remove that fat layer.  However, you can have very strong abs without having a six pack.  Take professional strongmen for example.  These guys have incredibly strong abs.  They have to.  If they didn’t, there’s no way they’d be able to lift the weight that they lift.  However, they have a layer of fat on top of the abs, so you don’t get to see how much muscle is really there.  Showing off their six pack is not a priority in their sport, so they don’t lower their fat percentage like a bodybuilder would.  So how do you lower your body fat percentage to show off the abs?  Cardio.  You must do enough cardio so that your abdominals can be seen through the layers of fat.  How much cardio really depends on how much fat you currently have to lose.  Some may have to do just 20 minutes a day, some may have to do a lot more than that.  I wish there was a black and white answer for all to know but everyone is different.

Another way to cut fat from the midsection is proper nutrition.  If you are constantly eating fast food and drinking gallons of soda, there is no way you are going to be able to see through the layers of fat on your midsection.  The diet you consume must be high in protein and low in fat.  This paired with the cardio work that you are doing should dramatically bring out the definition in your abs.

Now that you know what to do, go out there and try it!  If you still need help on what specific exercises to do or what foods to eat, contact me and try one of my many personal training services that are custom designed for you to get in shape!