Do I Have to Build Muscle to Get a Six Pack?
Tuesday August 24, 2010 | Posted under Fitness | 21 comments
It depends what kind of muscle we’re talking about here. Do you have to build up the rest of your muscles in order to also get a six pack, or can you just worry about your abs and losing fat?
Technically, You Have A Six Pack Already
If you could just lose enough fat around your stomach, you’d be able to reveal your abs, and voilà — there’d be a six pack right there. It wouldn’t be spectacular by any means, but it’d at least be something.
But is this something you’d actually want to do? Hell no!
All The Reasons This Is A Terrible Idea
First of all, it’s not really possible in any practical sense of the word. The idea that you can lose enough fat to reveal your six pack without building muscles anywhere else is incredibly impractical and likely unsafe.
And yet — this is exactly the path that so many people pursue when they decide to take up cardio as a driving force in changing their bodies, and pay absolutely no attention to anything else.
If you’re on my site and looking for info on fat loss routines, you’ve come to the right place. But you’d be amazed to see the tunnel vision that some people have — they see a six pack, and decide that a cardio-based fat loss plan is the only real way to achieve it.
Don’t Pursue This Route, Even For A Day
Every day that you try and ignore your strength building — while simultaneously pursuing the goal of a six pack — is a wasted day.
Not only will strength training help you SHAPE your body (you’re never going to get into the shape you want just by going for long runs), but it means your workouts aren’t a repetitive hell that you dread every time.
And that’s crucial — working out your brain and keeping the ability to feel motivated and excited about your workouts is as crucial as the workout itself.
Besides, Imbalanced Muscles Look Awful
Ever seen someone who clearly spent way too much time on his arms/neck/shoulders and not nearly enough on the rest of his body?
These people always look ridiculous — they never have the ripped, balanced, kick-ass body that’s perfectly capped by a set of six pack abs, but rather the opposite. They look terrible. And by the same token, anyone who tried to develop only a six pack — either through pure fat loss or by only training the abs (an awful, insane idea), would look just as bad.
Muscle Building Is Not Up For Discussion
You need to do it.
You’ll want to do it.
And to get any of the following:
- a six pack
- a ripped body
- a lean, toned body
- a beach body of any kind
You have to do it.
You don’t have to become a Bodybuilder!
But listen, I am not saying you have to become a bodybuilder to get six pack abs, NOT AT ALL! In fact I myself like the lean and ripped look. The Brad Pitt in Fight Club look. But think back to that movie. Now I have seen Brad Pitt quite a few times in real life and he is not a HUGE guy, yet in that movie he looks really good, why? Because he is well proportioned and has a good amount of muscle to show his body’s over all shape, not just his abs and that is what you want to do as well!
So to recap! Yes you can get six pack abs without building any of your other muscles (including your abdominal muscles) but you will have to get REALLY ripped. It is much better and easier to build some muscle and combine that with a good clean diet and workout program to get lean so that your six pack abs become the cherry on top of a great body rather than them being the whole cake! 
Talk To Me
Know anyone trying to get a six pack who refuses to lift a single weight? Was that you, not so long ago? Tell me about it!
You might also like:
-
3 Advanced workout techniques to build muscle faster
-
Abs Workouts - 8 Ways to Stay Motivated And Get Ripped
-
Home Workouts - 5 Tips to Make Exercise an Habit
-
Can you Build Muscle and Lose Fat at the Same Time?
Comments
Leave a Comment:
BEST OF SIX PACK FACTORY
Recent comments
- Posted by Marius
great program! congratz peter!! i will start today - Posted by prasanna
how many reps we have to do for each exercise - Posted by khaled yahya
hi peter great informatioms thanks - Posted by eelco
lets get it started uhu!
Join us on Facebook
i dont understand , so no cardio working is neded in order to get a
six pack?
Shall I take proteins if I want only loose little bit fat and increase my muscle ? In one word, I want become shape body… ??
You don’t need to do cardio no, but cardio will help. The thing is that most people ONLY do cardio. They become really skinny and maybe have six pack abs but nothing else. So what I am saying is do some weight training, get some more shape, build some muscle because then you will get six pack abs much faster and easier.
You can, that should be fine!
is jumping rope a kind of cardio
whew .. i was sorta going to jump to my own conclusions about six packs .. thanks for the info Peter.
What I am doing to loose fat and get six pack is to combining the upper body to the lower body in super sets. everytime i do for examble chest I am doing direct squads. I do only 15-20 min cardio for warm up,sometimes interval.You need to maximize your pulse,I have 170-185 pulse .Tell me Peter if its good what I am doing,and what can I do better. Thanks.
Best Regards,
Mario
Yip, very good cardio in fact! Listen; don’t stop doing anything you like doing, even if that includes cardio. I go for a bike ride EVERY single morning of my life because I like it and in fact it helps me get results much fast. The goal of this article is to tell you that you should not JUST do cardio and expect to get a sexy hot shapely body, because you won’t.
Mario, that sounds pretty good from what I can make out. I don’t know your full workout but doing HIIT cardio and mixing that up with some super set body weight training is very good!
so, it means to get a good phsique we have to do cardio as well as wt training. do i get it right?
one more thing
is there any ratio btwn cardio and wt training for example 35% cardio and 65% wt training?
if yes then what is the ratio which we can follow to get good phsique
Thank you Peter, keep the grea working. Do you have a full training programm to loose fat and get six pack and programm about bouilding muscle? Can I buy a complete programm from you? Those videos are very good,but i need the right combination.
Regards,
Mario
I think that people automatically assume to get ripped or six pack abs they should focus on a high amount of cardio. Although it has its health benefits too much cardio can cause you to become catabolic. Any ripped physique is attained from focusing primarily on weight training workouts that stimulate your metabolism and an indirect product of this will be an eye popping six pack. So rather spend 60-70% of your training time on weight training workouts than long distance slow marathon runs etc for example.
Mario,
I do have the program I used during my body transformation but we are just upgrading it right now. The old version is for sale here: http://www.system84.com
Ahh very good Peter,maybe I will wait for the upgrade.I will check it out of course.Thx Peter.
Regards,
Mario
Np. The upgrade shoudl be out in about two weeks and it is going to include a full 12 weeks HOME workout programe as well for everyone who can’t get to the gym. I will let you all know once it is ready so just keep an eye on the website.
Hey Peter,
When you were doing your body transformation, how many hours a day did you spend in the gym/working out?
Thanks.
Just 1 hour per day! But I did not have any money or a car back then so I did cycle to the gym and back. I suppose that can be seen as an extra 30 minutes of cardio
.
Yes. And as far as ratios. Well I would spend 80% of my time on weight training ( And I am not just talking about lifting heavy weights at the gym, this is also full body weight training circuits at home ) and then I would spend 20% of my time trying to do HIIT cardio.
Haha thanks Peter. I already do about 30 mins cardio daily so I should be alright
I don’t have any equipment at home though, is that a major problem?
I lift and do HIIT lost 40 lbs and now people say I look good but to skinny I’m 28 male 5″7 143lbs only fat I got is on my lower stomach like I can see a 4 Pack but plateaued and can’t seem to get bigger muscles or lose that stubborn fat any suggestions ??? Supplements I use is multi,whey,creatine
Supps means nothing if your diet is not right. If you want to build muscle you need to lift heavy and eat right.