a "six pack"?
A. Sit ups, crunches and all the other various abdominal and core exercises are
excellent ways to strengthen your core and allow for proper posture and minimize
back soreness. When performing the various exercises you are actually strengthening and building muscular endurance. You may technically already have
a "six pack" but can't see it because you have a layer of subcutaneous body fat
between the muscle and the skin.
Subcutaneous body fat is a layer of fat that exists between the muscle and skin
and will obscure muscle definition not only in the abdominal region but also
other parts of the body as well. The only way to get rid of this fat is through proper diet and cardiovascular exercise to burn extra calories. Depending on your specific body type, generally having a body fat percent around 15% and below is where you will see sharp definition to reveal the six pack abs you seek. However, this is hard to maintain especially as we get older. Some people, myself included can carry as much as 18-20% body fat and still see the basic shape and outline of the abdominal. Genetics will also play an important role as some people are genetically prone to store body fat around the midsection. It is also extremely important to note that dropping your body fat extremely low is not only unhealthy for many, especially women, but may cause a host of medical issues such as missed menstrual cycles, hair lost, vitamin and
mineral deficiencies, organ failure, lost of absorption of fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K and other issues.
The saying most often quoted is "Abs are made in the kitchen". All the crunches in the world and every various ab routine will strengthen and tone the abs just as any other muscle. It isn't until your nutrient intake is regulated and your percentage of bodyfat is low enough to reveal the muscle under the layer ofsubcutaneous bodyfat that you can show off your abs. So my friend, clean up your diet, do your cardio and you too should be sporting a six pack by next summer!