How to Have Six-Pack Abs

Shortening the Road to a Six-Pack

Good nutrition, Calabrese says, is absolutely essential for overall physique. Calabrese employs the garbage-in, garbage-out theory. Consuming most of your calories from processed and fast foods, she says, is going to produce an unhealthy body lacking in nutrients. Make good food choices, on the other hand, and you’re on your way to a leaner you.

“If you’re eating natural and whole foods you can eat more than if you’re eating processed foods,” says Calabrese.

Though Calabrese says it comes down to the equation of calories-in, calories-out, she doesn’t recommend counting calories. She advises eating five to six small meals a day. This way, she says, your metabolism keeps stoked all day long, which gives you energy and keeps you from overeating.

“Exercise alone is great for expending calories, but without watching your diet, it’s going to be a long, slow road to getting a six-pack.” For your abdominal muscles to show, you have to shed the fat that lies on top.

Cardiovascular conditioning, whether it’s running, walking, or taking a cycling or dance class, can help burn calories. Combined with a balanced diet, aerobic exercise helps you lose the fat built up above the muscle.

Experts agree that the combination of a healthful, nutritious diet and cardiovascular exercise are needed to train your abdominal muscles.

Ab Workout: More Is Not Better

“You’re not going to reduce fat content without either a whole heck of a lot of abdominal work — which is unnecessary and a waste of time — or some kind of aerobic activity,” says Richard Cotton, exercise physiologist and spokesman for the American Council on Exercise (ACE).

Abdominal muscles consist of three layers. The very deepest layer is the transversus abdominis, which acts as the body’s girdle, providing support and stability and plays a critical role in exhalation. Next is the rectus abdominis, which flexes the spine. Closest to the surface are the internal and external obliques, which turn the trunk and provide the body with rotation and lateral movement.

Exercise physiologist and certified diabetes expert Rich Weil recommends training the abdominals much the way you would any other part of the body.

“Abdominal muscles are no different than any other muscle group. They should respond the same way.” Hence, if you wouldn’t do 50 bicep curls, you don’t need to do 50 abdominal crunches, he says. Just work smarter by slowing down to try to isolate the muscles you’re working.

Six-Pack Abs: Reality or Pipe Dream?

So what about the six-pack? Is it attainable? Can anyone get it?

Although possible, most experts say it’s rare.

“Six-pack abs is really a pre-cellulite phenomenon. It tends to be reserved for those in their teens and 20s,” says Cotton. “It gets more difficult as we age because we get more subcutaneous body fat.” However, with the right genetics and strict program, even people in their 30s and 40s can have six-pack abs.

Genetically, women have a disadvantage when it comes to that. Their bodies store more fat than men. For good reason, says Calabrese. Women’s bodies are designed to bear and nourish babies and fat is the primary energy source to support fetal development. In addition, Calabrese says, men generally lose weight quicker as a result of regular exercise.

For women to lower body fat enough to have a six-pack, says Cotton, “that might even interrupt their menstrual cycle.”

That’s why Cotton doesn’t encourage such extreme goals.

“I personally think it’s on the order of ridiculous,” he says. “If you’re spending that much time on your abs, you’re wasting time and taking time away from other muscle groups. It’s a show muscle.

“When I have clients that are obsessed with that, I work on values and self-acceptance. People want a perfect body, they want a Lexus and they want a 3,000 square foot home. They’re objectifying the body.”

There are important reasons to train the midsection, however. The core muscles of the abdominals strengthen the torso, improve posture, decrease low back pain, and reduce risk of injury.

Abdominal training can also improve other areas of fitness. If you’re a golfer or tennis player, working with a stronger core is going to give you more power behind your stroke or serve and reduce risk of shoulder injury. A stronger torso, for example, will put less strain on your knees while running.

Ab Exercises

So let’s get to it. Here are the experts’ choices on the most effective abdominal exercises. These should be performed two to three times weekly (for beginners, two is plenty to start). Each exercise should be executed until the point of momentary muscular failure, which should happen between 30 and 90 seconds. This is considered one set, which should be no more than 15 to 20 repetitions. Rest for 30 to 60 seconds. Concentrate on performing each exercise slowly with good form. Work up to completing two to three sets of each exercise.

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Reverse Crunch: Lie flat on the floor with a neutral spine, with knees at a 90-degree angle, feet a few inches off the floor and legs together, hands by your sides (behind your ears if you’re more experienced). Focus on contracting your abdominals to lift your hips up and in toward your rib case. Exhale as you contract; inhale to return to starting position. Done correctly, this exercise isolates the lower half of the rectus abdominis and the transverus.

Ab Exercises continued…

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Bent-Elbow Plank: This exercise works the whole trunk, particularly the transversus abdominis. Start by lying on your belly and then lift yourself up onto your toes and forearms (elbows in line with shoulders) while contracting your abdominals and keeping your back neutral. Hold that position for five seconds, then rest and repeat. Ultimately, strive to hold the pose for 90 seconds without any rest — for one set. If you’re more experienced, you can also do this exercise on your hands and toes. (As a beginner, start on your hands and knees with a neutral spine and simply contract the abdominals on an exhale without moving your back.)

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Bicycle: This exercise works your obliques as well as your rectus abdominis. Lie on your back, hips and knees bent at 90-degrees, chest curled over ribs, hands behind your head. Extend the left leg out while bringing the right knee in towards the chest and rotating the left shoulder toward the right knee. Keep the arm from crossing the face. Rotate from the trunk through the center to the other side without dropping your chest. Move in slow, controlled movements without shifting your hips.

If you perform these exercises consistently, says Calabrese, you will notice a significant difference in the strength and tone of your entire torso within six weeks.

“Be consistent,” she says. “Be patient and believe a flat stomach is possible.”

Balance Your Way to a Stronger Body

Having a hard time lugging those groceries up the stairs? Feeling a bit wobbly when you get in and out of the shower? If you’re slowly losing your balance and coordination, don’t be surprised. It happens to all of us as we get older. But the latest fitness trend sweeping health clubs across the country just may help you keep your feet on the ground — literally.

 

Balance, or core training, is not new, says Kevin Steele, PhD, an exercise physiologist and vice president of sports and marketing for 24 Hour Fitness, headquartered in San Ramon, Calif. “Physical therapists and athletic trainers have used these techniques for years.” Now, though, gym rats everywhere are bouncing and wobbling their way to a stronger “core” — as the muscles that surround your trunk are called. Without strong trunk muscles, you’re more likely to suffer from chronic back pain, lose your balance and fall, or be more prone to injury when doing other workout routines.

 

“Your core is the essence of everything you do, from your day-to-day activities, to your athletic pursuits,” says Steven Ehasz, MES, CSCS, exercise physiologist and wellness coordinator for the University of Maryland Medical System. “It doesn’t matter how strong your arms and legs are if the muscles they’re attached to aren’t equally as strong.”

 

A strong core is also responsible for your sense of balance. “Balance not only requires equilibrium, but also good stability of the core muscles and the joints, particularly the hip, knee, and ankle,” says Leigh Crews, spokesperson for the American Council on Exercise. There are several ways to address balance and stability training, says Crews, including balance boards, stability balls, the Reebok Core Board, Bosu (which stands for “both sides up”) balls, as well as yoga, and other forms of mind-body training and martial arts, such as Pilates and tai chi.

 

Maintaining one’s balance (or equilibrium, physical stability, or steadiness), is primarily coordinated by three systems, explains Gerry Green, director of the Fitness Center at Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J. The first is the vestibular or auditory system, located in the inner ear, which acts like a “carpenter’s balance” to keep you level. The second balance coordinator is the proprioceptive system, which uses sensory nerves called proprioceptors that are located in the muscles, tendons, and joints. They give signals to the central nervous system, which gives you a kinesthetic sense, or an awareness of your body posture and spatial awareness. And finally, there is the visual system, which sends visual signals from the eyes to the brain about your body’s position in relation to its surroundings.

 

Your balance may be “off,” says Green, for a number of reasons, including illness, injury, poor posture, muscle imbalances, or a weak core.

The popularity of balance or core training can be seen in health clubs across the country, says Bill Howland, director of research for the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association in Boston. “The majority of clubs and fitness centers now offer some form of balance training,” says Howland, who reiterates that the idea behind this activity is not new, but like yoga, seems to have found a new popularity.

“As we’re getting older, we’re becoming less concerned with sculpting our body, and more concerned with staying active and functional,” says Howland. “With core training, your joints and muscles work in tandem, just the way they do in real life when, for example, you have to balance yourself while walking upstairs with bags of groceries in your arms.”

 

Balance aids, such as the Bosu Balance Trainer — a vinyl dome that resembles a ball cut in half, with one side being flat and the other functioning as a platform on which to perform exercises such as push-ups and crunches — requires a collaborative effort of major muscle groups, says Norris Tomlinson, national director of group exercise for Bally Total Fitness. With the Bosu ball, says Tomlinson, you can get the benefits of cardiovascular training, strength training, and balance training. “It’s a much more efficient way of working out,” he says.

 

You can buy balance balls and boards for home use, but Steven Ehasz suggests that it’s better to work with a qualified trainer — at least at first — who can determine where your muscle imbalances are and plan a routine that addresses your specific weaknesses.

 

While boards and balls are popular and may liven up your workout routine, you can work on your balance and core strength on your own, with no apparatus at all. Simple yoga poses, such as the tree pose, can help improve balance and stability, says Leigh Crews, who adds that when practicing balance positions, remember to change the direction that you look in order to increase the challenge to your balance. You can also challenge your balance by standing on one foot and closing your eyes.

 

Exercises such as squats, lunges, step-ups for the lower body, and standing rows, shoulder presses, and other standing exercises for the upper body will also help develop balance, says Gerry Green, in addition to helping improve your posture.

 

Once you get started with balance training, says IHRSA’s Bill Howland, you’ll be surprised at how quickly you take to it. “We were all doing a lot of these moves in grade-school phys ed,” he says. “This is not rocket science. It’s a simple, proven, and time-honored regimen.”

The Basics: Build Muscle for Better Health

We all know how important cardiovascular exercise is — how it’s great for your heart, cholesterol, and blood pressure. And whether you choose to walk, bicycle, or jog, you know that any exercise that increases your heart rate helps you burn calories and melt away unwanted pounds.

But that’s only half the equation.

For a balanced fitness program, strength training is essential. It can slow the muscle loss that comes with age, build the strength of your muscles and connective tissues, increase bone density, cut your risk of injury, and help ease arthritis pain.

“Strength training is very important, not just for your muscles but for your bones,” says certified fitness trainer Debbie Siebers. “It’s preventative for [bone-thinning] osteoporosis and other problems.”

Studies from the CDC have found that muscle-building exercise can also improve balance, reduce the likelihood of falls, improve blood-sugar control, and improve sleep and mental health.

And let us not forget the weight-loss benefits. Not only does it make you look trimmer and shapelier, but building muscle also helps you burn calories — even after your workout is done.

“Three to four hours after a strength-training workout, you’re still burning calories,” says Seibers, a creator of fitness videos including the “Slim in 6″ series.

Strength training is especially important for dieters. When you lose weight, up to a quarter of the loss may come from muscle, which can slow your metabolism. Strength training helps you rebuild any muscle you lost by dieting — or keep you from losing it in the first place.

Getting Started

So you’re convinced of strength training’s virtues. But just how do you go about getting started?

The weight room at the gym, with all the buff bodies and complicated-looking equipment, can be intimidating to a beginner. Indeed, for someone with back or joint pain, just picking up a weight might seem daunting. Then there’s the issue of proper form: Without it, you could do more harm than good trying to build strength.

Your best bet when starting out, the experts say, is one-on-one help from a qualified fitness trainer — whether it’s a personal trainer you’ve hired, or an instructor at your gym. A trainer can address your personal goals and limitations and can help you with alignment and execution of each exercise.

“I can’t tell you how many people I see with a knee injury because they were not taught correctly how to do a lunge or squat,” says Sue Carver, physical therapist with A World of Difference Therapy Services in Little Rock, Ark.

Siebers also recommends checking out books, videos, and/or fitness- and health-related web sites for guidance on exercises and form.

Indeed, good technique, not heavy lifting, should be your primary goal in the beginning, Carver says.

Getting Started continued…

Siebers recommends using a heavy enough weight to feel resistance, but not strain or pain. Your individual body will determine just how much that is, and you should err on the light side at first; five pounds may not seem like a lot, but it’s better to be conservative than suffer.

And how much should you work out? According to the American College of Sports Medicine guidelines, beginners should do at least two days per week of any type of strength-training exercise. Your workout should consist of 8 to 12 repetitions each of 8 to 10 different exercises working all the major muscle groups — chest, back, shoulders, arms, abdominals, and legs. (A repetition is how many times you lift the weight, pull the rubber tubing, do a pushup, or whatever.)

Machines or Free Weights?

Both free weights and weight machines work well, and experts say there’s no evidence that one is superior to the other, so this is largely a matter of choice.

Machines are a good idea for people who are overweight and/or out of condition, since the exercises are generally done seated and with back support, Seibers says.

But if machines are not an option, investing a few dollars in a set of light dumbbells and/or some resistance tubing can give you what you need to start toning those muscles.

Whichever option you choose, keep your moves basic at first, the experts say. For the arms and upper body, try these exercises:

• Chest presses
• Reverse flies for the back
• Overhead presses for the shoulders
• Bicep curls
• Triceps kickbacks or extensions

For the lower body, don’t start out with squats and lunges, which can put too much impact on weak joints. Instead, try:

• Quadriceps extensions for the front of the thigh.
• Hamstrings curl for the back of the thigh.
• Side-lying or standing leg lifts to work the inner and outer thigh.

And don’t forget to work on strengthening your “core” muscles — the ones in your abdominal and lower back area. Core stability is key to avoiding injury, according to Carver. “Somebody with strong upper extremities but no core stability can hurt themselves doing a bicep curl, for example, if they can’t stabilize the trunk,” she says.

You’ll also avoid injuries — and get the best results — by varying your workouts. For example, if you work the biceps, back and legs one day, work the triceps, chest and shoulders the next time you train, Siebers says. Alternating between muscle groups gives the ones you worked plenty of time to recover.

Incorporating stretching in your strength program will also help keep injuries at bay, says Carver. Most important, don’t push too hard. Carver always cautions people that “feeling some discomfort in the muscle is OK, but feeling it in the joint is not.”

If you have a health condition or previous injury, you may need to do modified versions of certain exercises or skip them altogether, she says. That’s when it’s especially important to work with a fitness trainer.

Staying With the Program

Success comes from structure and constant support, according to Siebers. “Calendar it up,” she suggests: Chart your week of exercise out in advance so you know exactly what you’re expecting of yourself.

Having a friend to train with is one of the best ways to stick to a program, Siebers says, even if he or she is a cyber-pal.

“Internet chat rooms and support groups really help to motivate,” she says. “There are a million people out there in your same situation getting online every night and encouraging each other. People need that day-to-day hand-holding.”

But perhaps the most important things you need for a successful strength training program — or for successful weight loss — are patience and acceptance, she says.

“The problem is, people look too far down the road trying to see the big picture too quickly,” she says. “You have to try to accept and love yourself today and know that each day, you’re going to get better.”