Six Pack Abs Talk

Today I thought I'd talk about that ever popular subject- six pack abs.

First off, the body stores fat and burns fat based on your own individual biochemistry. Thusfar you are also not able to spot reduce fat, that means reducing fat from a specific part of your body. That said, scientists are apparently working on a way to make this possible.

Now when it comes to six pack abs you need to think about the way your specific body stores fat. For example, some of us keep fat in our lower body, some of us keep it in our abdomen, and some of us distribute fat equally throughout the body. In fact there are names for the type of body that you have.

An Ectomorph is a typical skinny guy. Ecto’s have a light build with small joints and lean muscle. Usually Ectomorph’s have long thin limbs with stringy muscles. Shoulders tend to be thin with little width. Typical traits of an Ectomorph include small “delicate” frame and bone structure, flat chest, small shoulders, they are thin, have lean muscle mass, find it hard to gain weight and have a fast metabolism.

A Mesomorph has a large bone structure, large muscles and a naturally athletic physique. Mesomorphs are the best body type for bodybuilding. They find it quite easy to gain and lose weight. They are naturally strong which a platform for building muscle. Typical traits on a Mesomorph include being athletic, having a hard body with well defined muscles, a rectangular shaped body, they're strong and they gain muscle easily. The Mesomorph body type responds the best to weight training. Gains are usually seen very quickly, especially for beginners. The downside to Mesomorphs is they gain fat more easily than Ectomorphs. This means they must watch their calorie intake. Usually a combination of weight training and cardio works best for Mesomorphs.

And the Endomorph body type is solid and generally soft. Endomorphs gain fat very easily. Endo’s are usually of a shorter build with thick arms and legs. Muscles are strong, especially the upper legs. Endomorphs find they are naturally strong in leg exercises like the squat. Typical traits of an Endomorph are a soft and round body, they gain muscle and fat very easily, are generally short and “stocky”, have a round physique, they find it hard to lose fat and have a slow metabolism. When it comes to training Endomorphs find it very easy to gain weight. Unfortunately, a large portion of this weight is fat, not muscle. To keep fat gain to a minimum, Endomorphs must always train cardio as well as weights. Usually supplements may not be needed as long as the person has a high protein intake in their diet.

Note that the body types mentioned above aren’t set in stone. In fact, most guys have a combination of two body types. These combinations are either Ectomorph/Mesomorph or Mesomorph/Endomorph. It is not uncommon to find a pure Mesomorph that gains weight like an Endomorph for example. Remember too that no matter what your body type you can build a big, ripped, muscular physique. Even the skinniest of guys can bulk up. It may be harder but if you’re willing to put in the hard work it can be done.

With all of that said, your hormones determine how you burn and store fat. Many men for example store fat in their abdomen because of their Testosterone levels, whereas women who store fat in their lower body have higher Estrogen levels. Some women however will store fat in their abdomen rather than their lower body. For the women who store fat in their lower body, it is easier for them to get six pack abs. Basically, everyone is different, and how your body stores fat will determine how easy or hard it is to get six pack abs, and where you store fat the most is likely the first place fat will go on and the last place it is going to come off.

That said, you cannot get rid of fat on your abs by doing numerous crunches and other ab exercises. A six pack is basically an ability to see through the skin and see your muscle definition. If you have lots of fat on the muscle you won't see the definition. Note that for guys, if you're skinny already and you want to build out those muscles, you can put a dumbbell weight over your chest and ab area and this will bring out the muscle definition. I regularly do this at the gym myself. However, if you are not skinny and you have lots of fat over your ab muscles, and you then start to do weighted ab exercises, chances are that the ab muscles will push the fat in front of it out further, thus making you look fatter. The key is to burn fat through various forms of exercise such as cardio first, and then when you are thinner, you can start adding weights to your crunches to enhance your six pack abs. If you're a woman though, the last thing you want to do is weighted crunches, particularly when working your oblique muscles because you will gain a thickness around the side of your waist that simply doesn't look attractive on either men or women.

Now you understand the way your body works, you also need to understand that when it comes to achieving six pack abs, it is all about diet. You need to focus on avoiding processed foods. You need to keep the sodium content you consume low so that you're producing less Cortisol in your body which can store fat. You also need to do high rep weight exercises. You too need to drink lots of water. Plus you need to have a calorie deficit. And you need to do lots of cardio.

Ok that's the Six Pack Abs Talk over with. Glad we could chat.