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fat, 6 packs & flexing (1 Viewer)

teleopa

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Do people only get 6 packs when they flex their abs?

I know lots of people say that you have to get rid of any fat covering the stomach area to have a 6 pack but howcome you sometimes see people on TV (e.g. footy players, WWF wrestlers etc) who have a bit of a belly but then they flex their abs and it suddenly becomes a 6 pack? Does this not suggest that you can have some fat on your stomach but still flex and get a 6 pack? Or does flexing = cheating? Like are you supposed to have a 6 pack without flexing?
 

SnowFox

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Everyone has some sort of muscle on them, fat does cover a large majority of this. Athletes have little fat on them, thats why muscle can be seen all over them.

Abs are harder to "see" because of all the fat the goes there, along with thighs and biceps.

Flexing just pushes the muscle up, contracting really. Place your left hand on your right bicep and move your right arm as if your lifting a weight (find a can of bake beans to actually imitate weights). You can feel the muscle under the fat moving.

As for wrestlers and footballers having a bit of a belly, yet showing of a 6 pack, i can assure you, it aint fat. Protein shakes will do that to you.
 

loquasagacious

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Actually it is fat. For sports like wrestling and football it is important to have as much muscle mass and strength as possible - this is easier to achieve when carrying a slightly higher bodyfat %.

To get abs you need to have low bodyfat. To get low bodyfat you exercise more and eat less. When you do this you loose some muslce mass and some strength. This doesn't matter for bodybuilders and they will have <5% body fat going into a competition so they look ripped.
 

Omie Jay

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Do people only get 6 packs when they flex their abs?

I know lots of people say that you have to get rid of any fat covering the stomach area to have a 6 pack but howcome you sometimes see people on TV (e.g. footy players, WWF wrestlers etc) who have a bit of a belly but then they flex their abs and it suddenly becomes a 6 pack? Does this not suggest that you can have some fat on your stomach but still flex and get a 6 pack? Or does flexing = cheating? Like are you supposed to have a 6 pack without flexing?
a friend of mine has a visible 6pac without needing to flex, simply because he has very little bodyfat.

if u tense it then of course it'll bulge out more, its visibility just depends on ur bodyfat/
 

russs

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6-pack thing is mostly genetic.

I have a six-pack and had it before I added an ab routine consisting of 3 sets of 8 machine crunches every two weeks or so.

To get a six-pack you need to be of ecto-mesomorph build. You need to have a light bone structure, but ability to pack muscle easily. This kind of build will get you a six-pack with pretty much no work.

If you are not an ecto-meso, you will need to diet hard + do tons of ab work to get any sort of results.

All-in-all, the actual presence of a six pack really has little use. (except to get girls to stare at you on a beach).

Oh yeah, and flexing does make abs more prominent. But you should really have it without flexing.
 
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Pain

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Yeah abdominal muscles are good for taking punches and throwing faster,stronger punches -- only with right form of course. Also, a message for russ, if he sees this, how do you determine if you are ecto-mesomorph etc? Is their a reliable criteria around on the net?
 

russs

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Yeah abdominal muscles are good for taking punches and throwing faster,stronger punches -- only with right form of course. Also, a message for russ, if he sees this, how do you determine if you are ecto-mesomorph etc? Is their a reliable criteria around on the net?
To test for ecto bone structure, simply try to touch your middle finger with your thumb around your wrist. If they overlap, you are an ecto (light) build. Then you must also posses the ability to pack on muscle, which you will see (in about 4-6 weeks) once you start training.

Of course, nearly everyone can get a six pack with enough hard work. Just some people have it far easier than others. I see some people in the gym busting out 100's of crunches with no results, while others are easily ripped.

Ecto/Meso/Endo



The guys to the right line will have easier time building abs. The guys to the left will be bigger with both muscle and fat - harder. The build on the bottom is the worst.
 
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Omie Jay

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woo im an ecto (whatever that means), and yeah i already know that i have the ability to pack on muscle, known that for a few years now..
 

gibbo153

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Everyone has some sort of muscle on them, fat does cover a large majority of this. Athletes have little fat on them, thats why muscle can be seen all over them.

Abs are harder to "see" because of all the fat the goes there, along with thighs and biceps.

Flexing just pushes the muscle up, contracting really. Place your left hand on your right bicep and move your right arm as if your lifting a weight (find a can of bake beans to actually imitate weights). You can feel the muscle under the fat moving.

As for wrestlers and footballers having a bit of a belly, yet showing of a 6 pack, i can assure you, it aint fat. Protein shakes will do that to you.
Actually it is fat. For sports like wrestling and football it is important to have as much muscle mass and strength as possible - this is easier to achieve when carrying a slightly higher bodyfat %.

To get abs you need to have low bodyfat. To get low bodyfat you exercise more and eat less. When you do this you loose some muslce mass and some strength. This doesn't matter for bodybuilders and they will have <5% body fat going into a competition so they look ripped.
this x2

some people make the elementary mistake of thinking they don't have abs if they can't see them. of course you have abs, otherwise you wouldn't be able to sit up. as has been stated, the key thing about having abs visible without tensing them is how much body fat is located on your stomach.

especially for males, the stomach is one of the most likely places where fat will be stored.

another mistake people make is thinking ab work will directly correlate with how visible they are. if there is too much fat on your stomach you will just be toning the muscle under the fat.

so yeah, as stated, its basically about how much fat is on you, as well as how much ab work you do.
 

E-Hawk

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I'm an ectomorph which means i've got a high metabolism. Therefore i have no body fat.

But if you want abs, you're gonna have to lose the fat around your waist. Best way to do it is jogging. With the footy players they've got some fat but have got more muscle.

If you wanna see something that will shock you, search for Ronnie Coleman on youtube...world's biggest bodybuilder, you would think he has a gut but it's not, its just muscle
 

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