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Six Pack Abs: Reality Check

While flicking through the TV channels, I had the misfortune to come across a fitness infomercial. Not just any infomercial - but a mini-epic flaunting one of those "6 pack abs" machines - namely the Ab King Pro. The commercial was a visual feast - sculpted physiques, smooth flawless tanned bodies, and, of course, rock hard abdominals.

Somehow I don't think his
bulging quads came from this machine

These commercials are among the most deceptive, dishonest, and downright sleazy sales-pitches you can find. Somehow, they give the impression that a simple ab exercise leads to a completely defined and muscular body. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Great abs have become the epitome of physical perfection - particularly among men. This obsession has been driven (in part) by mens magazines who equate a rippling Rectus Abdominus with virility, health, and happiness.

Here is a reality check:

You cannot spot reduce fat (except with cosmetic surgery).
An abdominal machine will aid in strengthening your stomach muscles, but will not magically strengthen all of your other muscles or miraculously melt fat from all over your body.
In order for abdominal muscles to be seen, your overall body fat percentage must be reduced. As a general rule men may need to be < %10 body fat, and women < %14.
Reducing body fat whilst maintaining (or even growing) muscle requires a consistent and long-term regime of correct diet, strength training, and cardio.
It is quite possible to train the abs without any gimmicky machines (there are many exercises out there - think crunches, hanging leg raises, side crunches).

Save your $119.99 - or you may end up feeling like Mark of Quebec:

i find this product cheap and totally exaggerated and over rated for its effect. do not buy this product

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83 Comments

Randy Smith

This is true – if I get my body fat below 10% I can see my abs – if not I need an MRI to see them. In addition I need to work my abs about three times per week along with general strength training and aerobic exercise.

These fitness models that sell exercise equipment typically utilize full gym workouts and strict diets to become fitness models – that is how they get the job of selling this junk to the consumer.

Use your money to join a good gym instead.

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Jim

The thing is, the fitness model has nothing to do with the product whatsoever. They are just hired by an agency to come and do the ad spot for an afternoon. They get paid their money and they go. The consumer is duped into thinking that ab gimmick was the cause of their physique.

Mike

I have been on a health regime for the past 3 months. low carb, high protien, low fat, low sodium diet, with plenty of exercise, 3-4 days a week consisting of cardio, strength training and lots of walking. I have dropped aobut 15 lbs, and have started to see my abs coming through! all i have to do is keep it up. i don't use any gimmicks, just determination. :)

I have read up and talked to people doing strength training. The most important thing i have heard is to REST. Working out doing weights and training is pretty much breaking down the muscles. it is the time in between the workouts that will allow the muscles to rebuild themselves. thus a high protein diet will help here. so you should work out one area per day, and leave enough rest days in between before you start working out that muscle group again. but when you do workout that group, go hard. then take a few days to rest it.

Jan

Excellent advice all around, Mike.

Wolfgang

Don't get taken over by (useless) machines - it's YOU, NOT the MACHINE, doing the job. I served for 5 years as an instructor with the special forces in my country and managed to turn couch potatoes into fighting machines within 3 month. They all could have modelled for "Beach-wear" or "Pro Ab King" after I was through with them.
We all did it without Pro Ab King or any other "device"!!!!
Ask any professional soldier in your neighborhood.
But, Pro Ab King would be a great bargain with the chisseled, perfect hair, perfect teeth TVbabes comming along, for the same throwaway price. :-)

dana

how often do you have to work out and wat should you eat in order to be able to see your abs ?

luke

im only 14 almost 16 and i do atleat 500 situps over a period of 3 days right, i say to my friends that i do that amount and they are sayin well why dont you have a six pack. well is it because my body fat is over 10 %. what can i do to make my abs come through and have a six pack because i hate seeing all the skiny kids at skool with the 6 packs hanging out just because they are skinny and they just poke out. could you email me a plan or a diet type thing if its possible??
thank you very much
luke

Tom

Luke, to answer your question, one must have very little body fat to have there 6 pack come through. See, abs are 2 side deal, one side is excersize and the other side is diet. I can really relate to you, I am 15, going to be 16 in exactly 2 months, and back freshman year in high school I was a short, fat kid with 21 or 21.5% body fat, by the end of sophomore year (about 1 week and a half ago) I have lost 30 (I went down from 154 to 124) pounds and am down to probably 6-7% body fat. When I was down to the 130-132 mark I did ab workouts non-stop like you and my top abs just barely poked through when I realized a little more body fat off my stomach and the abs will show through. I now have a six pack (it's light but still very visible) so what you should do is, first cut all the crappy foods such as chips anything high in fats, run or jog outside to burn off the fat you've got on your belly, and continue doing your ab workouts. You probably have a good strong six pack underneath your fat since you do in fact do ab workouts, but just doing ab workouts won't make the fat dissapear. If you go all out on the abs, running, and diet within a couple of weeks you'll see your six pack in the morning when you wake up (because you are dehydrated in the morning) and by the end of the month your six pack will be there whenever you flex. It is damn near immpossible to get abs to show through say 10-12% percent body fat, trust me I've tried, you would have to have some abnormaly large abdominals to do that. See in 9/10 people the fat they gain first starts in the stomach, as well as in 9/10 people when they diet and excersize the fat in there stomach is what goes away last, it is the hardest thing to get rid of because thats where all fats are stored, so even if you have like a strong upper body and upper abs you may still have a little roll down there at the lower portion of your stomach. So remember, Luke, excersize regularly (such as running, swimming, biking), cut off unneseccary fats from your diet, and keep on doing ab workouts. You should also try doing 6 inches and leg raises to work the lower abs, those are the hardest to form.

Ben

Even if the machines work, or not you still have to feel the burn. You cant expect abs by being lazy. The key for me was drinking lots of water and staying away from the simple sugars, like cake and cookies

dana

luke,
try doing the dance dance revolution game for play station.. if you already do ab work outs alot then you probably have a six pack under a layer of fat... you need cardio to burn the calories and fat.. it is hard to target an area if this was the case then fat people would have skinny faces becusae they exercise there mouth by eating.. so you need to do cardio to burn fat and you need to eat a strick diet also .. so people are naturally skinny but for those who are not... some need to do a diet of low sugars.. more protein like chic and fish and brown rice and veggies and lots of water but DO NOt cut out carbs.. i am in medical school and i know that by cutting out carbs u cut out oxygene to ur brain

Andrea

Yeah good advice... although I still bought this equipment. I never took any notice of the models and all that bull****. This thing is like a lazy way of exercising cause you do it all in one spot. Yes I did get a sixpack but only cause i trained 3 times a week strength training and 4 times a week cardio like a game of football/jogging/etc... I eat normal healthy food, and i don't care about eating less carbs and stuff, eat healthy with enough proteins, vitamins, etc... just don't eat junk food too often, and if you really wanna stay healthy and have a six pack, try using the stairs and don't get lazy

PixelSlave

It's quite ludicrous to read this thread when the ads returned by Google is showing "How to Get Six Pack ABS".

will

hey everyone. i am an 18 year old active male. i run atleast 3 miles a day, and mix in some speed training through the week. i want to get a six pack and was wonderin if anyone can tell me a diet and ab workout to get me there thank you soo much. if you can e-mail me that would be great.

naldo

Will, the problem I see is that your doing too much cardio,you do burn fat but at the same time it eats your muscle away. You need to ease in cardio. Atleast every other day, have enough protein in you diet and have enough rest, try having weekends off to rest and keep the diet. I work every other day and the end of the month I change my routine and take a week off. In that week of rest I notice my muscle bigger, stronger and less fat. It feels sucky taking a week off but is worth it. Hopefully you can reach ur goal.

lexi

hi. my names lexi im 14, bout 5'5 in height, slim bodied. but there's this one problem, my tummy. my legs, arms are slim. how can i slim down my tummy , like 5 inches slimmer? prom is comming up. my tummy is really fat. like 28 inches. can you pls send me an exercise for the tummy , so my waist would be trimmed down. im gonna wait for your reply. thanks a lot!

David

To all who read this:

Ab training is THE hardest muscle group to obtain results. It's a frustration for a lot of guys. I hit a patch of time where I really started gaining muscle size and power. I made the mistake of getting into a routine of weighted ab training. It makes common sense but I didn't realize before how they are muscles just like all the others in your body. Now, my waistline has grownto about 36 inches however, I can still see the top four and general outline of the bottom ones. I'm very frusrated, and need any help or advice anyone can offer about dieting to still maintain this rate of growth but shed some more body fat. It sort of feels like the opposite happened of what I wanted to happen. I'm more than willing to trade resistance training tips for ab/dieting tips. Please help! EMail me!

matt

I'm 17 and currently at 7.2% body fat and can clearly see my abs, but my main concern is my eatign haha im terrible, only have loads of tips that arnt mentioned here, or exercises that can help me more...

i know i already have a "6-pack" but i want to make it more solid and stand out even more.

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