Building a Six-Pack: Use Proper Nutrition & Focused Exercise

The perfect body requires the perfect amount of skill and hard work to go into it, which means that you’ll need some way to measure this.

The preferred way should always be how much weight you’ve lost or gained, however, as anyone who recently became fit will tell you, there is nothing as amazing as looking in the mirror and seeing your six-pack starting to take shape.

Getting a six-pack where your squishy stomach is right now requires that you apply a lot of work, focus, and make changes necessary to your life. It is one of the first goals that everyone entering the world of exercise will aim for and one that will show your progress the most.

The steps required to getting the mythical six-pack are not easy, requiring focus, hard work, and more self-control than you ever thought you would be possible of applying. Along with all the exercises that you will need to do, there are nutrients, foods, and many other things that you will have to keep an eye on.

Here’s how you are going to stop yourself from eating a packet of crisps to build the perfectly sculpted six-pack.

How long does it take to get abs?

Depending on the type of body you currently have, it can take anything from a month, to well over a year to see your six-pack taking shape.

This is owing to the natural differences we all have and the extra fat that we all carry around with us, with many body shapes requiring that you do a lot more to see even the first muscles taking shape.

Thin bodies

If you are already rather thin you will easily see the formation of a six-pack forming, owing to less fat being in the way.

The secret to a six-pack is that the muscles are already there, they just need to be trained into shape, meaning that if you’re thin they will start appearing simply because they are now larger.

Thin bodied people usually have the opposite problem than overweight or normal people have, as they gain muscles they can get on the wrong diet.

Creating a situation where they easily start showing their new muscle mass but, they are not consuming enough nutrients and healthy foods to continually train their bodies.

These mistakes mean that while they easily start showing definition in their muscles, when they train too hard their muscles can start to be permanently damaged.

The lack of vitamins, energy, and fats can cause malformation of the muscles, causing less than desirable looks and lengthy hospital visits when pushed too far.

Normal bodies

A normal bodied person is hard to describe, it could be someone that’s never been overweight or underweight, or just someone that’s never eaten in excess. The normal bodied person will have neither muscles, nor will they be looking for clothes in the 5XL range of clothing.

These are also the people that struggle the most when keeping to an exercise, not because they are lazy, but because they are the least likely to see benefits immediately.

If you have a normal body you won’t necessarily lose weight, nor will you gain so much muscle mass that you can see all the new shiny muscles across your body.

Creating a problem, because you will have to work harder and longer to begin seeing your six-pack. Luckily, because you are already on a relatively healthy diet and your body fat ratio is correct your muscles will be a lot more defined once they are visible.

A normal person that works towards a six pack might see results within three to four months, however, they will usually feel the difference in their muscle mass long before it becomes commonly visible.

Overweight Bodies

Unfortunately, these are the last people that see the benefit of their training, usually because the large amounts of fat are already hiding large muscles. Something few people realize is that overweight people that are relatively active may have larger muscles than the average person.

Owing to them usually have to lug their larger bodies around, which can be a benefit when it comes to training. As you start watching your intake and regularly exercising you will lose a lot of the weight you carry around.

Which is why it’s important to exercise while you lose weight, this allows you to keep the muscles you already have.

Once your fat is at the right level you will see that your body already has a clear definition, however, this is a lengthy process. Nothing happens over night and losing weight while exercising can take up to a year or more to show full results. Many overweight people will only be able to see their six-pack after a year of dieting and proper exercise.

How to get a flat stomach?

The first step to getting a true six pack is getting rid of everything that may hide your perfectly toned muscles, even if you only have two of the muscles to show at the time.

Which means you need to get a flat stomach, losing the fats that hide your six-pack, sometimes all you really want is a flat stomach so you can effectively look down at the floor unobstructed.

• Lose weight: The most obvious answer and always the first place to start, losing all the extra pounds that you carry around with you is the first and most important step to gaining a flat stomach. The advantages of losing weight are innumerous, seeing as you can buy smaller clothing, feel more comfortable, experience less health issues, and too many other things to list.
• Measure properly: You may never be able to have a truly flat stomach, now this is perfect, because most people with perfectly cut six-packs aren’t able to have a flat stomach. Many people think that just being flat is perfect, while in reality we all have different shapes, and measuring yourself and finding out what type of body you have will greatly affect what you see as a flat stomach.
• Body shape: Short, tall, round, square, or even hourglass shaped, no two people on earth have the same body shape. Knowing what yours is and working towards that is possibly the biggest secret that celebrities will never tell you, having a flat stomach might be nice and runway models may look good with them, but you might look much better with a nicely defined muscle tone than just a squishy stomach.
• Focused exercise: No exercise ever truly trains one part of the body only, every single way of exercising trains several parts at once. However, there are exercises that stress certain parts more, at home you can easily do sit-up, pushups, or planks to train your stomach muscles. This won’t burn the fat that is there, but it will make the growing six-pack much more refined and defined.
• Controlled intake: This is important, it is easily the most important thing to losing or gaining weight. You need to watch what you eat and when you eat it, snacking at the wrong times, or even at the right times on the wrong things, will make you gain weight really fast. A controlled intake alone will let you gain a flat stomach, even if you aren’t exercising all the time

Everyone can get one

Another secret of having a six-pack is that anyone can get one, from the youngest person in the gym unsure of how anything works to the oldest grandpa trying to regain his youth.

Having a six-pack is a basic part of our bodies, you can almost say we’re born with it, just that they’re a little undefined, and probably cuter.

If you are willing to put in the time, the focus, and the exercise you can tone your body into shape and your six-pack will emerge from its hiding spot.

Once you’ve started the journey it is important not to stop or compare yourself to other, getting the perfect body is about being the best version of yourself.

Which is why everyone can get one, some body shapes are meant to have six-packs, whether you’re a mom or you just turned 21.

Don’t be discouraged if you have one already though, there is always more to be had in the world of exercise, it requires a lot of hard work and even more focus but above and below the regular six-pack there is still the eight-pack set of abs to be aimed for.

Though you might be getting a bit fanatical if you have an eight-pack on your stomach, your core can only get so strong.

Getting a six pack without the gym

Training without a gym is one of the dreams that everyone that is unhappy with their body dreams for. Which is why it’s important that it is always possible, it just requires a lot more focus and lot more time. This is because when you enter a gym you enter one, two, or even three hours of intense focus while training.

Training at home requires that you do the same, but you may want to stretch it out over the day, going for a run in the morning and doing muscle training in the evening.

Luckily, all you need to get a perfect set of abs is to do proper core training. Using small weights or kettlebells will greatly increase the effectiveness of your training.

Getting the perfectly toned body of your dreams and working towards a six-pack at home requires more than just burst of exercise. Knowing the right ways of training and getting it all done throughout the week is the only way of perfectly reaching your six-pack, but you should also be training throughout your daily life.

Sometimes choosing not to do something physical in the laziest way possible is the only way to getting a perfectly toned core.

The diet plans

This is important, and it is the one place every human being on earth fails, even The Rock has mentioned how he can’t resist some treats when he isn’t being careful. Which is why it’s important that you know what to eat, how much to eat, and when to eat.

Having a diet plan ahead of schedule and creating controlled bursts where you treat yourself is a lot better than simply denying everything you like. Every dietician that knows what they are doing will have a balanced diet instead of simply disallowing you any and all foods.

• Eat less: This is something that few people seem to realize when they start losing weight, they know they have to do it, and they know it’s important, but they still try to fight it. The simplest way of losing weight is to eat less during your day-to-day life. Food, as good and amazing as it is, will always be the leading culprit to why your are gaining weight. Even the most active person on earth will gain weight if they are always eating.
• Eat proper: When you do eat, you need to eat less junk food, the one thing we all hate doing is moving towards eating healthy foods. What few people ever realize is that this includes not eating sauces with their meals. Healthy foods are both light and make you feel like you’re still hungry when you really aren’t. This is because we are all used to feeling stuffed when finished eating, when in reality feeling slightly hungry all the time is actually much healthier and better.
• Control intake: Apart from eating less, you need to control the total intake that you do, drinks, snacks, or even just a small sweet will work against you reaching your six-pack body. This means you need to be in constant control, only letting go in your dreams where you can safely consume as much as you want, just be sure it stays in the dream.
• Calorie count: Sometimes it’s hard letting go of what we love, especially when you live on a shoestring budget. Getting things that are only healthy can be costly, which is why calorie counting can be a big help, instead of just forsaking all the usual foods, figuring out how much calories you can consume each day and sticking within that limitation will let you be much more effective in losing weight. Just stay away from the sweets and breads still.

Losing Weight First

Before you can even think of showing your six-pack to anyone, anywhere, you need to lose the weight you have that is causing it to be hidden right now.

Getting your muscles toned is not the only step to being the man or lady with the body. Some of the strongest people out there still have a lot of extra body fat, this is because they gained muscle mass wrong.

If you switch from an inactive lifestyle into a super active one without controlling your eating you will gain a lot more weight when you eventually stop.

Unfortunately, this is the same for six-pack abs, getting to a level where you can always see them means that you need to lose all the extra pounds that you carry around.

Even if you aren’t planning on exercising, losing weight will let you become a much healthier person, able to enjoy doing a lot more with life. Besides, when you do decide to go chasing after you perfect six-pack abs you will have a much easier road to follow.

Final Thoughts on How Long Does it Take to Get Abs

Having a six-pack is the one goal that anyone entering the world of exercise strives towards, your road can start by simply picking up the right weight or putting down that box of cookies.

Once you set your mind to it, you will find that it is a lot easier to reach a full six-pack and live a comfortable life than you thought possible.

Just be sure to always have fun on your journey to having the perfect six-pack abs!