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Do You Need to Do Crunches for a Six Pack? Ask a PT

Last week, we took a look at whether plastic bottles could be lowering your testosterone levels (quick answer – yes they can, but the impact would be minimal). This week, we’re talking abs! Specifically, do you need to do crunches for a six pack?

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Do You Need to Do Crunches for a Six Pack?

Question: I’d quite like a six pack this year, but I HATE doing ab exercises. I’ve heard that abs are “made in the kitchen”. Does this mean that I don’t need to train them?

Answer: The statement “Abs are made in the kitchen” has always irritated me. Not because I completely disagree with it, but because it over-simplifies the debate. Let’s get one thing out of the way, everyone reading this email has a six pack. Every single one of you.

You are born with abdominal muscles, and you will die with abdominal muscles. You would die even quicker without them! So, abs are not made in the kitchen, they are something that you are born with. In the same way that your biceps are not made in the kitchen, nor are your eyeballs or your organs.

But that’s me being obtuse.

What people mean when they say that they want a six pack, is that they want a visible six pack. To get a visible six pack you need to have a very low body fat percentage. As improving your diet and creating a calorie deficit is crucial, it is fair to say that without an effective diet you will not have a six pack.

Learn more about improving your diet here

How To Build a Six Pack

But, to say that six packs are made without exercise isn’t really accurate either. If you’ve seen a very skinny person, you will notice that many of them don’t have visible abs. Even when they have very low body fat percentages.

That’s because your abs are like any other muscle. They need stimulation to grow, and the more they grow, the easier it is to see them under your skin. So, the answer is that you need to get a very low body fat percentage via diet and exercise. But you also need to grow your abdominal muscles through ab exercises.

Some people say that you don’t need to train your abs directly, as many exercises such as squats, deadlifts [1], lunges, and overhead presses will work your ab muscles. This is true, but if you want visible abs, you will need to do some form of ab-specific exercises.

So, I’m sorry to say that despite the famous saying “Abs are made in the kitchen” you are definitely going to need to start crunching if you want a visible six pack.