when most people think of a tight toned
body six-pack abs are the first thing
that comes to mind and why not the
washboard looked at a six-pack provides
has been the symbol of the perfect body
since a time of ancient Rome sadly most
people who try to achieve a six-pack
fail because sculpting a six-pack takes
more than a few sit-ups each day today
we will look at what it takes to get a
six-pack including why you can't see
your abs the role your diet plays in
getting a six-pack and the best
exercises to sculpt perfect abs and also
how genetics can affect your results
let's start with the diet there's an old
saying in the fitness industry that ads
are made in the kitchen not in the gym
and it is mostly true it doesn't matter
how much you work out or how many
sit-ups you do if you are carrying extra
body fat you are never going to have or
at least show a six-pack eating your
diet in order and losing weight and body
fat is essential if your goal is to have
a six-pack and you need to start by
figuring out how many calories you need
each day so you can manipulate them to
work in your favor now there are a lot
of online calculators you can use to
calculate your daily calorie needs and
I'll go more into that into my how to
lose weight video which talks more in
depth about how calories work and fat is
burned but for now a good rule of thumb
is to add a zero to your body weight and
then add two more of your total weight
amounts to it for example I currently
weigh 160 pounds so I would need 1,600
plus another two times 160 which is 320
this comes out to 1920 calories which is
a super rough estimate and will vary a
lot on your activity level body fat and
other things now that we have the mass
out of the way and know how much you
need to eat it's time to manipulate your
calories to lose weight the best way to
encourage weight loss is through a
combination of eating fewer calories and
exercising more this will create a
calorie deficit that forces your body to
burn stored body fat you can find out
more about how this works in my video on
how to manipulate calories to lose
weight one of the best exercises to
encourage weight loss is high-intensity
interval training this kind of cardio
takes advantage of using high and low
intensity exercise to raise your
metabolic rate for longer helping you
burn more calories and fat over the
course of the day rather than just when
you are exercising it may seem a little
counterproductive to focus on cardio
when you're trying to get a six-pack
but unless your body fat levels are low
enough to see the six-pack you'll never
have that look you want in addition to
reducing your daily calories it's also a
good idea to increase the amount of
protein that you eat each day protein is
one of the main macronutrients and has
many jobs in the body including movement
and building and repairing muscle
tissues many people tend to focus on the
amount of carbohydrates they eat but
when you are trying to build muscle
increasing your protein intake is the
way to go if you're trying to build
muscle it is recommended that you eat
between 1 to 2 grams of protein per
pound of body weight so for me I should
eat between 160 and 320 grams of protein
per day to help build bigger abs if
you've ever tried to calculate this you
know that 320 grams of protein is an
enormous amount of protein that's like
106 chicken nuggets $0.24 abun 6 protein
shakes or 26 cups of cooked spinach for
those vegans out there it's a lot of
protein but it's manageable so now that
you know the best type of cardio for
weight loss how to manipulate your
calories and how much protein you eat
it's time to look at why you can't see
your ass or how to train them so that
they pop one of the biggest complaints
that many people have is they can't see
their abs despite hours of training and
a strict diet they do both of these
things but they still can't see their
abs there are a number of reasons why
you can't see your abs but a lack of
definition generally comes down to two
reasons one you have too much body fat
or 2 your muscles are weak and small if
your goal is to achieve a six-pack then
you must lose weight and lower your
total body fat levels otherwise you're
wasting your time training and you'll
never see the results of your efforts in
the mirror if that's what you're looking
for
however if your body fat levels are
already low and you still can't see your
abs then you need to build your muscles
so that they stand out the section of
muscles you see in a six-pack the part
that bulges out is called the muscle
belly and if this is small weak and
undefined then your abs will not stand
out even if your body fat levels are low
to make that ABS stand out you need to
train them to increase the size of the
muscle belly especially in your rectus
abdominis the muscle that gives the
six-pack its look also I want to mention
this losing weight is different than
building muscle in one main reason the
reason is targeting if I wanted some
massive bicep games then I would do a
full bunch of high rep bicep curls and
my biceps would eventually turn into
mountains however if I had these massive
bingo wings and I want to get rid of
them but Mike
girlfriend really likes my love handles
I can't choose what to get rid of your
body doesn't care if it's energy from
your waist your thighs your butt or your
arms it thinks of your body as a pool
and it takes from it all equally so for
your abs to show you're going to have to
get rid of a bunch of other body fat on
your body as well which is why a lot of
people give up early they do crunches
expecting their stomach fat to go away
when in reality the body is taking the
fat from the rest of their body as well
they want 10 pounds to drop off their
stomach when in reality two pounds is
coming off their stomach one pound off
each arm and three off each leg and they
just don't see the results there are
some other reasons why you may not see
your abs one is that you only do one
type of ab exercise to really sculpt
your abs you need to work on all of your
ab muscles
this means your rectus abdominis your
external and internal obliques that run
along the sides of your waist and your
transverse abdominis which is deep
inside your belly and wraps right around
your stomach from one side to the other
this is the muscle you feel when you
pull your belly button back to your
spine another reason is that you're not
training hard enough your abs are like
any other muscle group you have to train
them regularly and correctly if you want
to make them bigger there's a plethora
of AB and core exercises out there that
you can use to build add muscle the same
way you would using any other workout
for your other muscle groups there are a
ton of helpful apps out there that help
you build workouts that target specific
muscles as well another reason you're
not seeing your abs is that you're
training your abs every day you wouldn't
train your legs and your shoulders every
day without a rest so why would you
train your abs every day training your
abs really hard every day can lead to
overtraining
and this results in less definition
rather than more some people are really
dedicated for a week and they just train
their abs so hard but the trick isn't in
doing a whole bunch of work at once it's
to stay persistent it's going to be at
least a month before you see great
results on your abs back on overtraining
your abs your muscle fibers are breaking
and you're not giving them enough time
to heal and grow effectively although I
have heard abs and calves are two
muscles that you can train every day
moderately well you need to remember to
create a 6-pack is this low body fat
levels and define muscles give you the
ABS of your dreams so it's time to talk
about genetics normally genetics are
used as an excuse but when you're trying
to get a six-pack genetics can affect
your results
sculpting your six-pack depends on the
size of your muscles and the length of
your tendons some people are lucky
enough to naturally have larger muscles
that stand out even if they don't train
a lot even if you aren't blessed with
large muscles you can train them and
increase their size it will just take
more work the bigger the muscle belly of
your abdominals the more they will bulge
out but sculpting your six-pack isn't
just about how big your abs look it's
also about how they sit and this is
where genetics really plays a part the
tendons that join the muscles together
are responsible for how close or apart
your muscles sit longer tendons leave a
large gap between the muscles and
shorter tendons bring your muscles
closer together now sadly there's not
much you can do about the size of your
tendons but you can at least train your
muscles so they stand out and look good
one way to do this is to keep the range
of movements small as you perform ab
exercises when you focus on short range
movements at high repetition you create
higher peaks in your muscle belly this
makes them look fatter so they stand out
more they will push out of your stomach
further and have deeper valleys
performing short range movements is
simple just squeeze your abs during each
exercise for example as you do a crunch
really squeeze your abs as you crunch
before we get into the best exercises
let's talk about how you want your
six-pack to look most people want a
symmetrical chiseled look of the Statue
of David but the truth is your six-pack
may look different depending on how you
train and your genetics your six-pack
may appear tilted or uneven if you do a
lot of rotational exercises for example
your abs may be tilted to you're more
dominant side we also need to talk about
the difference between square and
stacked abs some people like the look of
symmetrical square abs but when it comes
down to it there really isn't much you
can do to change your abdominal shape if
you have stacked or asymmetrical abs
some experts say you can create a more
symmetrical 6-pack by simply
strengthening your obliques or the side
abs now for the information you've been
waiting for it the best exercises to
build a 6-pack but first a few tips on
training one through your abs like any
other muscle group plan your workouts
and aim to do a full ab workout at least
twice a week to compound exercises such
as squats deadlifts and overhead press
all engage your abs so be sure to keep
your abs strong by pulling your belly
button to your spine when performing
these exercises a lifting belt may be
needed as an aid it is okay to use I've
also been in many studies that those
three compound exercises I mentioned
before
are the best way to develop your abs for
a six-pack three make sure you include
some high-intensity interval training
once or twice a week to help keep your
body fat levels low and keep it watch on
your calories and for work every part of
your abs and don't forget your back you
need to work your transverse abdominis
obliques and rectus abdominus if you
want to get your six-pack there's
nothing worse than the pain associated
with opposing muscles that are out of
balance
there was a two-week period right tested
myself I did an experiment where I only
did benchpress curls military press and
tricep extensions along with my normal
leg day workouts I was going to spend
the next two weeks after this doing
exercises that only strengthen my back
so the first two weeks were spent on
strengthening muscles that pulled my
shoulders forward in the next two we're
going to be holding my shoulders back
what happened by the end of the first
two weeks was that the muscles pulling
my shoulders and packs forward became
stronger than my back muscles pulling
the opposite way and my bones and
muscles and tendons compensated and I
got these terrible tension headaches
because I was literally changing the
resting position of my upper chest your
posture can change dramatically if you
only do ab exercises and you don't
compensate your lower back muscles
pulling the opposite way this is very
important the following nine exercises
are the best for developing your entire
abdominal section and building your
six-pack of your dreams always keep your
abs strong and remember to breathe as
you work out the best exercises for
building a six-pack are hanging leg
raises this works your lower abs and can
be performed as hanging knee raises if
you don't why have the strength to
perform normal leg raises
number two is medicine ball crunch
adding weight to the standard crunch ups
the intensity by making your abs work
harder
number three is standing cable crunch
changing the angle on the standard
crunch stimulates your muscles and
varies your results kneeling cable would
chop this move target your obliques and
transverse abdominus as well as your
rectus abdominis number five is decline
bench crunch with a medicine ball the
decline position engages your lower abs
while the weight increases the intensity
of the exercise the next one is decline
Russian twist with a medicine ball
Russian twists are amazing for working
your obliques perform them in the
decline position to really sculpt your
obliques and feel the burn number seven
is dumbbell squats now it's really easy
to think of squats is just a leg
exercises but if you do them correctly
they fully engage your
whole core they also accurately build
your back muscles at the same time the
second to last exercise is exercise ball
pike
the pike is a great exercise for your
inner core and performed with your feet
on the ball you also have the option of
adding a twist
to target your obliques and the last
exercise is plank planks are tough but
wonderful you cannot seriously train
your core without adding the plank most
athletes add them towards the end of a
workout take things up a notch by
placing your feet on a chair or exercise
ball you can even perform side plank to
activate your obliques no matter where
you were starting from it is possible to
get a six pack and have the ABS of your
dream plan your diet to encourage fat
loss increase your protein intake train
your abs correctly and eventually you'll
have the ABS that others work all summer
for in no time
thanks for watching guys I really hope
you enjoyed this if you did check out
some of my other videos and subscribe
for more
Oh