4 vs 6 vs 8 Pack Abs
Abdominal muscles are one of the most coveted part of the anatomy, yet the most difficult to keep and maintain. This is why they’re desired by everyone to give their physique a chiseled, defined appearance.
One of the reasons why abdominals are so difficult to maintain is because the body tends to store fat in this area first and a diet /nutrition protocols have to be absolutely in check for you to see great results.
With this considered, it’s still possible to not have the abdominals you’re seeking as genetics plays a factor how your abs are sculpted on your torso.
Whether you have a higher than average body fat percentage or are extremely lean at the moment, everyone has abdominal muscles that can be brought to the surface and developed as with any of the other muscles in the body.
How to Get The Infamous 8-Pack
To understand whether you can actually achieve obtaining a 8-pack, we have to understand how the abdominal muscle is developed and it’s true function.
The abdominals is really one sheet of muscle known as the rectus abdominus, which is separated by tendinous inscriptions, ligaments within the muscle that divide the muscle into sections. These ligaments can vary in size, thickness, and lopsided arrangements, which is why one set of abdominals can look completely different from another individual.
The function of the abdominals is to stabilize the body’s core while performing dynamic movements, or movements that require a strong abdominals to perform them.
When you perform a dynamic movement such as a pull-up, you’re utilizing tension on the core while you use your functioning muscles to pull your weight up against gravity.
On the other hand static movements such as planks don’t engage the abdominal muscles as much because the abdominals are not worked within a full range of motion. This put very little emphasis on the abdominals and can prove less effective with time.
Many trainees can hold a classic plank for 60 seconds, yet their abs are not blocky or have any definition in spite of this. To get defined abdominals trainees will need to train this muscle like any other part of their physique; heavy weights for both high and low reps.
Heavy weight training is important for development because it involves progressive overload as overload is vital to increase strength and to maximize muscle hypertrophy. A few sets twice a week should be plenty of conditioning for a strong set of abdominals over the course of 90-120 days training.
After a proper ab training regiment has been established, the appearance of your abs will be determined by the design of your tendinous inscriptions. If you have inscriptions beneath your navel button then it will possible to develop these muscles and make them more visible.
If there is no inscriptions in this area, you likely have the development of 4 pack or 6-pack abs, which is still quite impressive since the majority of the population struggle to have any visible abs whatsoever.
A general rule for any visible ab development is to maintain a body fat levels around 8-15% for men. The higher the body fat composition the more development is required for those abdominals to be properly seen.
Body fat levels can be as low as 6-8% with extraordinary definition in abs, however this is very difficult to maintain as your hormone levels will eventually crash and energy levels will start to make you feel like shit. Aim for 10-12% body fat levels for optimal results.
Body fat levels can be calculated using a DEXA scan from a fitness facility or using skin calipers that can be purchased.
Techniques for Developing Abs
As mentioned before, developing your abdominals will require both an effective training program and nutrition conditioning that’s catered to your body’s requirements. Everyone has different calorie requirements and a little experimentation is necessary to fine tune a calorie deficit to start to burn fat from your body.
The amount of calories required for maintenance is never static, meaning that as you go on a calorie deficit to burn fat this level will change as the dieting continues. You will need to figure out the amount of food consumed during the day that maintains your weight and then continue to lower the amount of food servings gradually each week.
This is much easier accomplished when you have proper coaching to assist with a combined nutrition and exercise program. Without this you can spend months trying to figure out how to break fat loss plateaus (see Why Is My Fat Loss Plateauing).
The Wrap Up
Abdominal muscles are desired by most fitness enthusiasts, yet getting them usually requires something of patience to obtain along with some hard work. Developing this muscle is one aspect of the training involved, along with well balanced and customized diet to help make this muscle become more visible with time. Try not to go extreme and push your body to its natural limits and pace yourself. Train your body to become the best version of yourself and try not to compare your results with other individuals as you continue your journey.
What else do you want to know?
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