The Thinking Man's Guide to Ripped Abs: Mapping Out an Exercise Regimen

It is the first thing people notice when you take off your shirt. Whenever this occasion comes up, whether it's at the beach, when you're out mowing the lawn or relaxing with friends at your apartment's pool area, others are going to notice your physique. If you're overweight, the less sensitive around you may chuckle to themselves or make surreptitious comments to their friends in hopes of a cheap laugh.

If you're thin, you'll probably escape much notice either way. But if you have a six pack? Ripped, flat washboard abs you could bounce a quarter off? Then, and only then, will you attract the kind of attention everyone craves. But, as anyone who has tried it knows, it's not an easy road. And as with any road, you need a map if you hope to be successful. This is that map. With hope, you have some gas in the tank and aren't afraid of a few bumps along the way.

The Single Most Important Factor

You can spend all day everyday in the gym doing every abdominal exercise known to man, and no one will ever be the wiser if your body fat percentage is too high. You may hear this and say, "Well, that's not a problem for me, I've never been called fat in my life." Wrong. When we're talking great abs, there is a world of difference between "not being fat" and having a body fat percentage low enough for a six pack.

Eight to ten percent is the goal. Anything above this and you can forget about your great abs. There are some sites online that will calculate your body fat percentage for you using a few measurements, but they do not come recommended. Instead, buy a pair of digital calipers and use those for a much more accurate reading. These can be found online, too, and do not cost much in comparison to their importance.

How To Attain That 8-10 %

Therein lies the rub, eh? Well, it's as simple and as boring as you may have thought. Diet and exercise. But by that, I do not mean "going on a diet", or hours and hours of aimless wandering in the gym. By diet, I mean a complete overhaul of your eating lifestyle. To do anything less will leave you without the results you're looking for. And the first rule is to find, through a bit of trial and error, where your personal caloric maintenance level is.

This is the amount of food you can eat per day and never gain or lose a pound. Once you find this level, the rest of the puzzle is simple. To lose a pound of weight in a week's time, you must consume 3500 fewer calories than you need to stay at maintenance. So if your caloric maintenance level is 2,000 calories/day, you must reduce your daily caloric allowance to 1,500 calories/day. It really is that simple. There's no need for a low carb diet, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, or any other wacky diet. In the end, they all accomplish the same thing, which is to reduce your caloric intake.

Another factor in your diet is the timing of your meals. You may have heard it going around recently that you should eat at least six small meals a day, rather than the old standard of three large ones. This is the golden truth, and you should make an attempt to incorporate it into your life. This not only keeps you from getting too hungry at any point in the day (leading to binging, and soaring far above your calorie needs), but it keeps your blood levels steady and it keeps your metabolism running hot.

As for exercise, we're talking cardio, cardio, cardio, and plenty of it. There are a never-ending supply of ads on TV telling you how you can use this or that to reduce stomach fat. It's all lies. This is probably one of the most misunderstood concepts in the world of fitness and weight loss. Millions of people are under the mistaken assumption that there are specific exercises they can do to reduce their love handles, or their pot belly, or their chubby cheeks. It's a fallacy, and it's one that has lived for long enough.

Read the next sentence very carefully. There is no such thing as spot reduction. Period. To lose fat, as described earlier, one must consume fewer calories than one burns. One way to do this is to reduce your calorie intake, as we discussed. The other way is to increase the calories burned, which is done through cardio exercise. Running, walking, swimming, jumping jacks, playing Dance Dance Revolution.

Pick your poison, and make sure you do it for at least forty-five minutes a day, six days a week. A lot of you read that and your eyebrows furrowed and your thoughts turned to the hundreds of articles you've read that only recommend fifteen minutes of exercise three days a week, right? Those articles are telling you how to maintain a healthy heart. I'm telling you how to get into phenomenal shape. There's a world of difference.

Working Those Abs

Of course, losing all that weight won't do you any good if you haven't got the goods underneath, right? Here are the three ab exercises you need to sculpt those muscles into the shapely six pack men will envy and girls will swoon over. The guide for sets and reps is very simple. Do as many reps as you can until failure.

Failure is, by definition, the point where you simply cannot do anymore of an exercise without rest. One set per exercise, twice a week. That's all. There's no need to overdo it, and over training could bring you worse results than under training. Follow this guide, and you will have the rock hard abs you want.

Crunches. The bane of every exerciser's existence, they are nonetheless an important part of your routine if it's a six pack you want. Lie flat on the floor, belly up, with your arms crossed on your chest. Each hand should be touching the opposite shoulder. Lift your torso towards your knees, and lift your knees towards your torso. "Crunch" it in the middle, hold it, and then release. Rinse and repeat.

Decline sit-ups. This is that intimidating bench in the gym that looks like something only Rocky would use. Don't be afraid. Lie on the bench with your feet secured by the padded bar at the top, place your hands behind your head, and raise your torso as far as it will go. It's that simple. Try not to let your arms do the work.

Leg Lifts. This is the best exercise for those pesky lower abs, which are the most difficult to establish. Lie on a flat bench face up, and grab the top of the bench with your hands. Keeping your feet together, lift your legs until they are at about a 30-percent angle to your torso. Lower them slowly until they are almost (but not quite) touching the bench. Up and down. Feel the burn.

The G word

Unfortunately, the sad truth of the matter is this: even by following all of this instruction to the T, you may never have the abs you've always dreamed of. Oh, you will develop a physique that 95 percent of the world's population will not have, but you may never be ready for the cover of a fitness magazine. This is due to that most dreaded of things: genetics. Some people simply don't have what it takes to develop, say, "Mark Wahlberg" abs. If this is you, don't get discouraged. Do as much as you can, and live secure in the knowledge that you look better than all of your friends, if not all of the male models.

Putting It All Together

The road to great abs is not a well traveled one, and it will not be easy. It takes an enormous amount of willpower, and there are no shortcuts worth taking. But the end result is something to be proud of, and it is a goal few will ever accomplish. How long it will take you will depend on a number of factors, but the most important tool you own is this: perseverance. Anyone can follow a strict diet and exercise plan for a day. It is those that have the willpower and determination to follow it day after day, month after month that will have something to show for it when it's all said and done. I have no question that you can do it. The only question that remains is: will you?