Six pack abs are definitely one of the most sought after features for many men. This often comes from a mixture of the images fed to us by the media (the Men’s Health covers and the Calvin Klein models) coupled with a belief that abs are what women look for in a man.

Let me tell you now as a bodybuilder that abs are overrated. Sure they’re important, and they’re great to have, but in reality visible abs aren’t even a sign of particular strength. What they are a sign of is low bodyfat, which while generally a good thing, doesn’t necessarily reflect health. Furthermore, women don’t find abs nearly as attractive as most guys think and many prefer arms or bums. The problem is, that even if women would be attracted to you for your abs, they’re not going to see them until you’re getting undressed – at which point you’ve probably already pulled (unless you go around challenging girls to hit you in the stomach…).

People who come onto bodybuilding forums asking how to get a six pack abs without any interest in the other aspects of their physique or health are often laughed off as vein, weedy and misguided. Like everything, abs should come as a result of general health and all over strength and fitness.

If you currently can’t see your abs it probably means that your bodyfat percentage is slightly too high. Everyone has abs, so if yours aren’t visible it’s not a case of you needing to increase them in size. Additionally, everyone has a six pack abs, as your stomach is actually just one sheet of muscle that’s divided into six as opposed to six individual smaller muscles.

So if your stomach is soft, hundreds of sit ups won’t rectify this problem as it’s impossible to target fat loss. Instead then you need to be doing higher amounts of CV (such as running, swimming or cycling) and cutting your intake of carbs and fats (which staying high in protein). That’s not to say you shouldn’t be training your abs for strength at all however and core strength is actually highly important. Furthermore, while strengthening your abs won’t make them visible on its own, it will mean that they’re more prominent once you’ve stripped your stomach of fat. So do do the sit ups, just do more CV.

Another mistake many people make when trying to get a toned stomach, is that they just work the abs with straightforward sit ups and crunches. This is a problem as it neglects the surrounding muscles, most notably the obliques which are visible on either side of the abs. Without realising it, these are probably a large part of what you admire about most models’ stomachs as they really accentuate the abs and make the mid section appear twice as shredded.

In fact though, you shouldn’t just be training your abs and your obliques either, for as I said – abs should be the result of a whole body fitness. By training your whole body you’ll burn more fat and increase your body’s capability to build muscle. Furthermore, almost every single exercise you perform (except perhaps isolated movements) will affect the abs in some way. So stop looking for a quick solution to getting a Brad Pitt-like stomach and start getting into proper shape!

Mack LeMouse

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