For many people, a six-pack is the epitome of athleticism and maximum attractiveness – and often the main goal of all efforts during training.
That muscle is often covered with a relatively high percentage of body fat doesn’t make it any easier to show off its assets. It is therefore all the more important to know how you can make your washboard abs visible with the right training and optimal nutrition.
Abdominal muscles: worth knowing about the six-pack
Is a six-pack even healthy?
While regular fat, visible from the outside on the butt, thighs, and hips, serves to keep us warm and insulate the body, fat on the abdomen can be a common sign that visceral fat has also built up.
This is fatty tissue that wraps around organs in the abdominal cavity such as the liver or intestines high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attacks or strokes.
Basically, this means that a washboard stomach, which is only visible because there is hardly any fat on the stomach, is healthier than no six-pack or too much fat on the stomach.
Can Anyone Get a Six Pack?
Basically, the less body fat you have, the better your abdominal muscles will appear. From around 10 percent of men and 15 percent of women, the pad on the stomach is usually small enough to expose the abdominal muscles.
If the body fat percentage is higher, the washboard is not visible. The FIT FOR FUN body fat calculator tells you how high your body fat percentage is and how much body fat is ideal for men and women.
Women have to work a little harder to get a six-pack than men because evolutionary fat distribution means that they have up to 35 percent more body fat than men and a lower basal metabolic rate.
The extent to which the muscle develops (yes, it’s actually just one!) depends on the number of tendons that run horizontally across the rectus abdominis muscles, giving the abdomen that typical six-pack shape.
The number of these tendons varies from person to person, usually there are two or three, which give the typical washboard appearance, but there are times when there are no tendons running across the stomach, which is why it’s entirely possible that you’ll never get a six-pack abs can.
In most cases, however, incorrect training or diet is to blame for the fact that the muscle does not develop.
How do you visualize a six-pack?
The misconception that you just have to train your stomach with enough crunches so that the fat on your stomach melts and a six-pack appears is stubborn.
It is clear, however, that abdominal training does not automatically result in a trained abdomen – the fat on the abdomen must first be removed. To burn it, only endurance training and an appropriate diet will help.
Suitable endurance training is, for example, interval training, running or cycling in combination with strength training that allows the muscles to grow. This is how the belly fat melts while the muscles grow at the same time.
In order to start melting fat effectively, you should know your total turnover in advance, which is made up of the basal turnover and the performance turnover, i.e. the amount of energy that the body needs in addition to the basal turnover for its activities.
We can only lose weight if we consume fewer calories than we expend.
The so-called EMS training can also have a positive effect on the abdominal muscles. The EMS training should have positive effects on the strength and performance of the muscles, and train the deep muscles particularly well. Curious? At eagle fit you will find numerous solutions and accessories for training at home, in the studio or on the go. Discover here.
The right diet for your six-pack
It’s not for nothing that they say: A six-pack is made in the kitchen. With the right diet – in addition to cardio training – you can melt the fat on your stomach.
Basically, this means avoiding calories as much as possible (especially in the afternoons and evenings so that the body can use the time it takes to break down fat overnight), but eating more protein and fat.
Animal products such as lean meat, fish, eggs and cheese are ideal sources of protein. But vegetables such as beans, lentils, peas or soy can also provide the muscles with a sufficient amount of protein. A common guideline is around 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight.
The best FIT FOR FUN dishes for the six-pack
Dos and don’ts on the way to a six-pack
- Avoid empty calorie carriers! Foods that provide energy quickly are digested just as quickly. This will make you hungry again.
- So eat more foods with so-called polysaccharides such as potatoes, cereals, rice or vegetables, as they are only metabolized slowly by the body and thus ensure a long-lasting feeling of satiety. You should avoid readily available single and double sugars, such as those found in fruit or desserts.
- Buy fresh rather than canned. If you can’t make it to the vegetable stand, use frozen food. The good ingredients are largely preserved by shock freezing.
- Bring variety to your diet. Combine ingredients again and again. For example, you can prepare peppers raw in a salad, as ratatouille, gravitated or stuffed.
- You should also stay away from alcohol. It inhibits fat burning and can lead to bulges, especially in men, where the fat is mainly deposited on the abdomen.
Read More: Muscle Building at home: The Best Exercises
Six-pack training: the best exercises
Crunches, mountain climbers, leg lifts. If you want to get a steel-hard stomach, you have to alternate your strength training in order to set new stimuli and not let a training routine arise.
If you are looking for the ultimate workout for your stomach, you will find a number of effective exercises in our videos:
Important note: The information in no way replaces professional advice or treatment by trained and recognized doctors. The content of fitmodell cannot and must not be used to independently make diagnoses or start treatments.