Many people look at professional athletes, famous celebrities, models in magazines, even their fit next door neighbor who looks great in his swimsuit and wonder how they manage to get into such good shape. They wonder what the big secret is that allows those people to show off their flat abdominals and enjoy a physique like a Greek statue. The secret is that there is no secret: Losing fat around the middle will reveal your abs.
Anatomy
Everybody has abdominal muscles. The abdominals are primarily made up of four main muscle groups---the rectus abdominus, which is your superficial abdominal muscle, the "washboard"; the transverse abdominus,which is your deeper abdominal muscle; and the external obliques and the internal obliques, which are your side abdominal muscles. These muscles work together to flex and bend your torso as well as provide stability for your body. Your abs are working all the time in conjunction with your other core muscles to keep you stable and upright.
Unveiling the Beauty Within
The reason that not everyone's six pack is visible is that it is covered by fat. When the body takes in too many calories from food and drink, it converts the energy into fat so that it can be stored for later use. The majority of fat deposits are in a layer under the skin, which is why you get that "spare tire" around your stomach. When you take in more calories than you can burn through metabolism and exercise, you store it as fat. When you take in fewer calories than you burn, you lose fat. The bottom line in getting flat abs is getting your nutrition under control so that you lose fat.
Cardio
In the past, people used to believe that by doing endless sit-ups they could melt the fat off their bellies and end up looking like a chiseled Adonis. That is known as spot reduction, and it is just plain wrong. The only way to melt fat efficiently is to do large, sustained, full-body movements such as running, cycling and swimming. Depending on the intensity of exercise and other factors such as body size, these activities typically burn between 400 to 1,000 calories per hour. As a point of reference, there are 3,500 calories in a pound of fat.
Resistance Training
Another activity that should not be skipped is resistance training. In addition to burning calories, full-body, compound movements such as squats, deadlifts and push-ups build lean muscle tissue that increases your resting metabolic rate. With more muscle mass, you will burn more calories even when you are resting.
Abdominal Exercises
There is no secret routine that will make you have great abs. Abdominal muscles are just like any other muscle group and should be worked with a variety of different exercises and using increasing resistance as you progress. There is no need to do thousands of sit-ups to get a six pack any more than there is a need to do thousands of biceps curls to get big biceps. Muscle is muscle---train it accordingly.
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