The Truth Behind Abs

I saw an intriguing tweet the other day which seems to be a popular phrase circling the internet at the moment amongst fitness forums. It essentially says that abs on a skinny guy doesn't count. It was at least a saying that I hadn’t heard until now and I realised how true this was. Abs are perhaps the most sought after part of a man's physique, and the part which many women look for on a guy too over any other feature. But how easy is it to achieve a chiseled core? I for one have had major trouble finding my six pack when the rest of my body seems to progress. My chest, shoulders, legs, back, and arms have all grown bigger, more pronounced and defined, but although my abs are visible and I have a strong core, I still have those couple percentages extra in body fat that keep me from looking as good as I want to look. Now that could be down to the fact I'm relatively new to the regime of a fitness junkie, as I didn't start getting into shape until just about over a year ago. But I'm quite sure that depending on where you start, it's definitely possible to achieve a decent washboard stomach in a shorter period of time.

So why is it so hard for a bodybuilder? And why is it that skinny guys seem to achieve it with ease? Well the truth may seem simple and the clue is right there in the difference between those trying to put on mass and those who, well, don’t. Considering the obsession with abs that this generation of health conscious people has, it's surprising how confused we can be about the illustrious six pack. Some articles will tell you that direct abs exercises like crunches or planks, for example, will build a rock solid core. Other publications will say you first have to melt away the fat on top of your abs. That is after all why 'skinny' guys have abs - because their body fat is so low. But really it's a combination of the two that will get you the abs you want - direct, and indirect.

A high intensity workout that kicks your metabolism into overdrive will initiate the fat burning process and decrease the body fat around your middle, as well as the rest of your body. That's what makes your muscles pop and more defined after a cutting phase, for instance. Doing such workouts can achieve a higher metabolic rate for up to 48 hours after exercise. Combine this with an abs routine that directly targets your core and makes the abdominal muscles burn, and the six pack will come in time. It's just a case of sticking at the high intensity workout like HIIT cardio so that your body fat gets lower and lower. This of course, however, depends much on your diet too, as generally speaking burning more calories than you consume means your body has no choice but to shred the fat.

Unfortunately for us bodybuilders though, eating less calories than you burn is counter productive - building is in the word bodybuilding for a reason - it's not called bodylosing! And eating less than you burn means muscle loss as well as fat loss. So how can you achieve abs while bulking? Well, I've actually yet to see an effective plan that will achieve both. And that's basically down to the biology of our bodies. Neither can really work at once. That's why the cutting phase you hear bodybuilders talk about is a phase. Because it's a part of a bigger plan where the rest of the time you're packing in calories - building your body, growing, gaining weight - all to get to your desired size. So how come bodybuilders aren't fat? At least many of them. That's because the ones that aren't pay just as much, if not more attention to their diet than their actual workout regime. This is where consuming the right amount of macronutrients, which I've stressed the importance of before, will make or break your success. You'll find that you can easily eat 3000 or more calories a day and yet still eat less of the bad nutrients, if you can call them that, such as saturated fat for example, than the average person.

All of these factors contribute to how quickly and how defined you will see your own abs. Because they are there. Everybody has them. Just as everyone has a brain. It's just about how you use your brain to get achieve the results you want. A strict diet, strict regimen, and a strict overall lifestyle is what will get you those abs. And that's why a set of them always look better on a muscular physique more than a skinny one, because you have to work harder to get them. So don't be despondent if you're working out every day and yet still don't have as impressive a set of abs as the guys you see on the beach. Instead of analysing the appearance of your core, ask yourself if the guy you're comparing yourself to has the chest, the arms, the legs and the shoulders that you have. You'll get the abs you want, but don't worry about it until you're the build and size that you’re after. That's my advice on getting abs. As long as you’re paying as much attention to the food you put in your mouth as the work you put in at the gym, abs wont be far away when you shift your focus from your brawn to your belly. And aren’t abs just way more impressive with a big chest and shoulders to match? Just something to think about.