The Truth About Six-Pack Abs and Body Fat

Pushups and situps are two of the most often performed and well-established workouts around. Why? Because they work out areas that are important to us, for our strength and also our image. Right now we’re going to focus on the abdominals, that elusive six-pack, that sleek?mid area that you just know other people are judging you on.

Just how elusive is it? For some people, it comes naturally. For others, it doesn’t seem to matter how many crunches they do, how far they run, or how well they eat, it always seems to take a little more. Whatever your position on the road to a six-pack, there’s always a benefit in learning and understanding how the muscles work, so you can better plan and adjust as you go.

Breaking Muscle have put together a range of different exercises we can use to acquire them, along with a list of claims that don’t quite add up to abs:

Do this exercise or series of exercises and “poof” there?s that elusive six-pack. No one wants an un-sexy fat gut so they jump on the latest workout gadget or routine that purportedly offers the desired look. Month after month, abs-slimming advice is put out there. Why, then, don?t we see more ripped specimens traversing the planet?

Fair point. It takes more than hard work and perseverance, it takes smarts and understanding of what works and what doesn’t.

Check out the rest of the article for some workouts that work, and remember:

Work your abdominals. They are important muscle groups relative to your health and functional ability. But don?t spend an inordinate amount of time addressing them for the sake of reducing body fat.