So we've said that the way to achieve six pack abs is to build strong abdominals and then to reveal them.
If you've got strong abdominals, how then do you 'reveal' them?
Revealing your 6 pack abs...
Having a strong set of abs will not make them visible so long as they are covered by a large layer of subcutaneous fat. Performing tons of crunches hoping to make them pop out over the skin is a fallacy.
You 'reveal' them by reducing the amount of fat covering them up.
The way to reduce the amount of body fat covering up your abs is to create a caloric deficit either by taking in less calories, by burning more calories through exercise-- or some combination of both.
Fat in the body is stored in the form of triglycerides. To be burned as fuel by the body, lots of things need to happen. In part, these triglyceride molecules have to be broken down to 3 fatty acid molecules and 1 glycerol group.
It's the free fatty acids which end up oxidized by the mitochondria in muscle fibres to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP, the 'energy' molecule) that essentially 'empty out' our fat cells.
You have absolutely no control over which fat cells release these molecules into the bloodstream so that your muscles can eventually use them for fuel.
This means there is no such thing as 'spot reduction'. You simply cannot target fat loss in specific areas of the body.
In other words, performing tons of ab exercises in an attempt to reduce fat in the abdominal region, or arm exercises to reduce fat in the arms, or leg exercises to reduce fat from the legs... is not possible.
Fat loss occurs in the body in a general fashion.
In general, for biological and physiological reasons, women carry more body fat than men. It's believed that the female body requires this fat for childbearing and hormonal functions.
It's not uncommon for women bodybuilders to be at around 8 percent body fat. For women's 'fitness competitions', many will attain somewhere between 10 and 14 percent.
Top female athletes may also typically maintain this level of body fat percentage.
Male bodybuilders often reduce their body fat percentage to about 5 percent during competition giving them excellent definition.
However, you should know that most of them do not maintain these low body fat levels throughout the year.
Nor is it typically recommended to the general population for health reasons. In fact,
'healthy' body fat percentages
for both male and females are considerably higher.
This is why it's not always advised to strive for such low body fat percentages. There simply is no prudent way to alter body composition without some inherent risks.
Thus, caution should always be applied.
Many women and some of us older guys are not really after 6 pack abs. However, the following principles still apply for general weight loss.
So for guys who really want it, you'll start 'seeing' your 6 pack abs when you successfully reduce your body fat percentage to somewhere around 9 to 11 percent. Women may start seeing their abs at around 12 to 14 percent.
These are approximations and may vary from individual to individual.
How then, do you know how much body fat you will need to lose to see your 6 pack abs, and how long will it take you to achieve this?
Here's one way...
Suppose you're a male weighing 180 pounds. You've just had a body composition assessment done by your certified personal trainer who tells you that you have a body fat percentage of 16 percent.
What does this number represent?
This number simply means that 16 percent of your total body weight is fat.
So if you weigh 180 lbs, then 16 percent of your weight, or 28.8 pounds is body fat (i.e., 180 lbs x 0.16 = 28.8 lbs).
Recall that whatever isn't fat is considered your lean body mass (LBM).
Therefore, if you weigh 180 pounds and 28.8 pounds are fat, then the rest of it, or 151.2 pounds is your LBM (i.e., 180 - 28.8 = 151.2).
This means that at 180 pounds and 16 percent body fat, you have 28.8 pounds of fat and 151.2 pounds of muscle mass.
How much work will you have to do, and how long will it take to reveal your 6 pack abs?
To calculate an ideal or desired body weight, you can use a formula such as this one:
Ideal Body Weight = LBM / 1.0 - (desired BF%)
Your abdominals will start to become 'visible' at a body fat percentage (BF%) of about 10 percent, therefore if your desired BF% is 10...
Ideal Body Weight = 151.2 lbs (LBM) / 1.0 - 10% (desired BF%) Ideal Body Weight = 151.2 lbs / 1.0 - 0.10 Ideal Body Weight = 151.2 lbs / 0.90 Ideal Body Weight = 168 lbs
Hence, if you were to maintain your current lean body mass and only lose body fat reducing it from 16 to 10 percent, your new ideal body weight would be 168 pounds.
Therefore, you need to lose 12 pounds of body fat (i.e., 180 - 168 = 12).
If
one pound of fat
represents 3500 calories, then this means you will need to create a total caloric deficit of 42,000 calories (i.e., 3500 x 12 = 42,000)-- either through caloric restriction, increased caloric expenditure, or preferably both.
You already know that a
healthy weight loss rate
is 1 percent of body weight or approximately 1 to 2 lbs per week. So at this rate, it should take you approximately 6 to 12 weeks to achieve your six pack abs.
From a mathematical perspective this is all nice and tidy.
Bear in mind that these techniques are simply tools to help you approximate your goals and remember that in real life you will most likely be losing a little bit of lean body mass despite your best efforts to sustain slow and steady fat loss.
But such a method is still a good way to get an idea of what your fat loss goal might be, and about how long it may take you to get there.
So, now you know approximately how much of a caloric deficit you need to create to reveal your 6 pack abs. What are some of the best ways to achieve this work? What role does nutrition play? Follow along to Part 3 to get 6 pack abs...
