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6 Pack Abs Workouts - Exercises To Get A Lean Flat Stomach

This is my first - and no doubt not my last article about abs. I'm always getting asked about them - either on facebook or just the other day in the gym (while I was training a client which I thought a bit rude!) But let's be honest - there is no other part of the body we want to develop and show off more than the midsection. We all want to possess killer abs - male or female, young or old. But what do you really need to do in order to develop a lean, defined and sexy midsection?

Below I have listed the four key areas I feel need to be addressed to develop a killer midsection and listed them in the order of importance. You might be surprised to see that abs training is last. The four key areas to be addressed are:

1. Nutrition
2. Interval Training
3. Resistance Training
4. Abdominal Training

1. Nutrition

You cannot get your abdominals to stand out and trim your waistline, unless you address the area of nutrition. The only way to get your abs to stand out is to remove the layer of fat that is keeping them from been exposed.

All the abdominal training in the world will do very little to remove the fat from your midsection. You need to look at your nutritional habits and meal planning, as well as using interval training and a full body resistance training plan to stimulate your metabolism and burn the fat that covers your abs.

2. Interval Training

Steady-state cardio is good, but you really need to be using "Higher Intensity" interval training, in order to boost your metabolism and continue burning calories for several hours post workout. Interval training can be performed via running, cycling, rowing, etc.

For example, treadmill running is a great way to get in your high intensity interval work. Basically you will want your workout to last no more than 20 minutes, including a warm up and cool down period. Here's an example HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) Treadmill workout:

3 Minutes warm up period.

90 Seconds High Intensity Running.
60 Seconds Active Recovery (Walking at 5kmh or less)
Repeat x 6 (This equals 15 minutes)

2 Minutes cool down period.

If you find that during the 60 second active recovery period you want to walk faster than 5kmh or want to jog, this means that you were not working intensely enough during the 90 second high intensity running section. If you're working intensely enough you will need to walk slow, believe me!

3. Resistance Training

You and your personal trainer must piece together a full body, free weight based resistance training program, with the focus placed upon the "BIG LIFTS" such as squats, dead lifts, presses and pulls. These exercises will do more for your abdominals than any isolation exercise or abdominal gadget could ever do.

Just because you don't feel the burn in your abs, doesn't mean they are not being worked during these activities. The emphasis here though is to increase your muscle tone/mass so that your resting metabolic rate is high and so burning off more fat.

4. Abdominal Training

You will need to incorporate some effective abdominal training exercises into your program, but you really don't need to do as many isolation based exercises as you think. You may need to recondition your thinking on this one, as it's hard to accept for most people. Here are some of the problems I see with people and their abdominal training routines:

- Too much emphasis placed on trunk flexion
- Too many exercises performed in the supine position
- Too many repetitions and not enough load used

Instead you should focus on performing fewer repetitions and add some additional load to the exercises.

The abdominals can be trained in many positions and with the use of various tools for the purpose of creating additional load. There are many tools available, but some of the more commonly used tools include:

1. Cable pulleys. Used for loaded kneeling crunches and rotational exercises.
2. Med balls, weight plates and dumbbells. Great for adding load to almost any exercise.
3. Stability balls are useful for some exercises, but personally I feel they are overused.
4. AB wheel. Great for forward and diagonal roll outs.

The simple push up is, believe it or not, a great exercise for your abdominals. There are literally dozens of push up variations you can perform, so you will never get bored.

Originally article appeared on shapefit.com. Additions by Scott S Sherwood.

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