How Do You Get A Six-Pack Fast?
Q: I’d like to be in better shape at the last minute of an island vacation that I booked several months ago and have been looking forward to every day since. That’s right, the event is by no means a surprise to me! So yeah, how do you get a six-pack fast?!?! Please help me so that during my trip, a new whale sighting record isn’t set from all the times I take my shirt off and swim in the ocean!!!
A: The “six-pack” is the colloquial term for the rectus abdominis, which is the largest muscle of the abdominal wall and has tendons that divide it into sections that give the illusion of six separate muscle segments. Being that everyone has a rectus abdominis, everyone by default has a six-pack. What everyone doesn’t have is a visible six-pack, or a rectus abdominis that isn’t covered by a layer of body fat. So based on the nature of your question, it’s safe to presume that what you want to do is lower your body fat percentage to see your abs as quickly as possible.
Typically, the ballpark figure for the six-pack to become visible is a body fat percentage of around 10 percent. More specifically, the body fat to aim for is 6-17 percent for men and 12 to 24 percent for women. How long it’ll take you to reach that level of leanness depends on your starting point and what you do to strip the fat, such as the amount of calories you reduce from your diet and whether or not you perform cardio as a complement — not how many crunches or sit-ups you do!
While exercises like crunches and sit-ups are important for strengthening and developing the shape of the six-pack so the muscles are more prominent when they’re visible, direct ab work doesn’t actually make the abs visible. That’s because it’s not possible to spot reduce, or do exercises targeted at a specific area to burn fat there. Instead, the body loses fat from all over, with different areas losing it at different rates. So on account of overall fat loss being the determinant factor in making the abs more conspicuous, the bulk of your focus should be on lowering your food intake so you’re in a calorie deficit. Optionally, you can also engage in cardio and other forms of physical activity to increase energy expenditure so the body burns additional calories. From there, throw in crunches, sit-ups, leg raises, flutter kicks, ab wheel rollouts, stability ball pikes, and other exercises to make the abs more defined while placing the onus on the quality — not quantity — of reps to ensure that the abs are doing the work instead of the back or hip flexors.
As we see, there is no special process to getting a six-pack, as all it involves is losing fat to make the abdominals more visible. But once again, the length of time it takes for that to occur depends on your initial level of leanness. So while it might take someone as little as 30 days, it’s more than likely going to take you much, much, muuuuuucccchhhhh longer based on the visual image of yourself that was painted in your query. That being the case, the only six-pack you’ll be getting anytime fast is the one you’re opening up the BevMo app to order for immediate delivery to your house to drown away this bad news, buddy!
Now, does anyone else have a fitness or nutrition question of their own that they want to ask?
Glossary: abdominals, abs, caloric deficit, calories, cardio, crunches, diet, exercise, fat, fitness, muscle, nutrition, reps
- How To Eat Healthy During Thanksgiving - November 20, 2024
- Weight Loss Tip: no.2620 - November 20, 2024
- Is Going To The Gym Once A Week Enough? - November 19, 2024
