The amount of people who are letting their resolutions fly out of the window are truly saddening. The most common New Year resolution; attaining that perfect body is also seemingly the hardest one to stick to with diets and workout routines halting before they reach the midway point. As far as men go, the number one on the list of targets to achieve is the mythical yet elusive six-pack.
There’s a reason why every man from the point of puberty fantasizes and dreams about a six-pack; it’s the ultimate trophy of achievement. The six-pack in modern day terms are the equivalent of a hunter’s headdress in ancient cultures. The problem is there’s also a reason why the numbers of people who actually have the six-pack are as limited as they are; it really is very difficult to get six-pack abs without being genetically gifted.
Here’s a quick list of reasons why you might not be the owner of a finely toned six-pack and maybe just maybe you can get around to fixing them before your resolution flies out the window.
Low Muscle Tone
This is the most obvious and sadly also one of the most common reasons why you probably don’t have abs to look at in the mirror. Low muscle mass in the abs causes a lack of definition like in any other part of your body and makes it harder for the muscles to show through the layer of fat above it.
The simple fix is to add up a generous amount of ab workouts to your routine which combined with a decent weight schedule will develop your muscle mass.
Genetics
As hard as this is to believe, some of us have the odds stacked against us due to our genetic structure. Some people naturally carry excess abdominal fat which makes it next to impossible for your abs to show through, not to mention that the way your abs look on your body also has a lot to do with genetics.
If this is the case working against you, there isn’t exactly an easy way to overcome the problem; you might even reach very low levels of overall fat percentage without your abs showing. But like they say nothing is impossible and where there’s a will there’s a way.
Water
I know it’s difficult to make the connection between your invisible abs and your lack of water intake but the amount of water you drink can really impact your abs. The amount of processed foods we consume these days are very high and due to the high sodium content in these foods your body tends to retain water which in turn reduces muscle tone.
The fix is really simple, reduce your salt intake and drink up to about 10 glasses of water a day and you’ll see a difference in no time.
Sleeping
If you find yourself staying late at work and vowing to sleep in on the weekend to make up for it and if you're hoping for six-pack abs, you'll have to rethink that strategy. Lack of sleep causes increased Cortisol to surge through your system, and this potent hormone actually encourages the accumulation of stomach fat.
Get to bed earlier, not only will you see belly benefits because of it, but you'll be more productive during the day so you won't have to stay so late in the first place.
Carbs
It’s a popular misconception to cut down entirely on carbs in order to get lean, as effective as this might be during the initial stages of fat loss, over time hormonal activity in the body will cause your metabolism to shut down.
The reduced metabolism makes it impossible to lose fat and actually works towards gaining more fat to compensate for what the body has interpreted to be a distressful emergency situation.
Over-focus
Some men tend to focus all of their efforts onto their abs, resulting in workouts with a majority of ab exercises. The problem is that this type of workout does very little to contribute to an overall caloric burn and since the ab muscles are a relatively very small target area muscle development is minimal. The obvious fix is to follow a more evenly balanced out workout routine with emphasis on compound movements.
By Dilshan Senaratne
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