How to Get a Six Pack

Step 1

Cut down your body fat percentage! No matter how much abdominal work you do, if you're not at least 12% or 11% body fat, and a male, you will NOT see your sculpted abs. If you are a female this number is around 15% to 14%. So, keep in mind that the MOST important part of getting a six pack is to drop your body fat levels through the floor. This can be hard to do. I'm not kidding either. It not only involves eating a strict diet, which we'll discuss later, but it also involves doing what I call "High Intensity Interval Training" or HIIT.

To do HIIT, hop on a treadmill and start with a five minute warm up, walking at a nice brisk pace. After five minutes you'll begin your first "round". A round consists of 1 minute sprint as FAST as you can and 2 minutes of jogging at a comfortable, light pace. Do 4 or 5 rounds and then end with a 5 minute walking cool down. This may be a lot more challenging than it sounds. When I started, I could only do my sprints at about 6.5 miles per hour and my jogs at around 4 or 5 miles per hour. However, keep up the hard work like I did and eventually you'll see those numbers climb through the roof. Now days I am doing my sprints at a whopping 11 miles per hour and my jogs around 7 or 8 miles per hour. I'm sure as heck covered in sweat when I'm done though!

Do HIIT 2 to 3 times a week and you'll start seeing your body fat percentages plummet in about a month and a half.

Step 2

Work those abs! Even though dropping your body fat percentage down is the most important step to getting a six pack, it is also very important that you develop the muscles in the abs as well. I recommend doing the following work out every other day. It's important you don't do it any more or any less frequently than every other day because, if you want to see results, you must give your muscles time to recover and regrow.

So without further adue, here is the routine. Do 25 reps of each exercise.

In & Outs - Balance on your tail bone, raising your feet and legs about a foot into the air and extend your arms straight into the air above your head. Lean back, straightening your back and bringing your chest forward to engage the abs. To perform a rep, bring the knees into the chest and extend back to starting position. It is important you keep the chest up and the back straight so you feel it working your abs.

Bicycles - In the same position you're in when you do In & Outs, with your legs off the floor and hands in the air, act like you are riding a bicycle by pedaling your feet forward.

Reversed Bicycles - Exactly the same as bicycles, but pedal your feet backwards.

Hanging Knee Raises - Hang from your pull up bar with hands in wide grip distance from each other. In starting position, have your knees bent with your calves extending behind you. To complete a rep, bring your knees to your chest while holding your upper body static and keeping it from moving anywhere. Drop your knees back to starting position.

Side To Side Knee Raises - Very much similar to hanging knee raises, except to do a rep you move your knees in a circular motion starting from the left, wrapping around and touching your chest then slowly dropping your knees down and to the right. Repeat in the opposite direction. Every time your knees hit your chest is one rep.

Mason Twist - Get in the same position you are in during In & Outs, but clench your hands together in a double fist in front of you. With your knees, feet and legs about a foot off the ground in front of you, twist to the left and touch the ground on the left side with your double fist. Go back to center and repeat on the other side. You want to do these fairly quickly. Every time you touch the ground is one rep. Unlike the other moves in this routine, you want to do 50 reps instead of 20.

Over a few weeks you'll start to see your six pack take shape while doing these exercises a few times a week.

Step 3

Eat healthy! The amount of calories that each individual needs to eat varies, depending on their current weight, but the types of foods you'll want to be eating to get a six pack consist mostly of lean proteins such as turkey, tuna or chicken breast. You'll also want to have a fair share of healthy, low glycemic carbs such as brown rice, whole wheat bread and fruits and vegetables.

You should be eating six small meals a day in order to keep your metabolism up and running nice and fast, with each meal spread out about 3 hours. I know, eating that often gets to be a pain in the butt, but how bad do you want that six pack? I usually just pack a small bag of almonds and another bag of tuna (no mayo) and eat small portions on my two breaks and my lunch break at work.

No more donuts, ice cream, pizza or greasy fast food! Yeah, it's going to be hard at first but when you have a lot of chicks checking you out it's worth it, trust me.

If you're really serious about busting your butt and getting a nice case of six pack abs, you'll find a way to do it. Those who truly want something will always find a way to have it. Those who don't will only find excuses.