How to get a six pack might be easier than you think! All it's going to take is some dieting, plenty of weightlifting, lots of abdominal exercises, and some aerobic exercise. The process is pretty simple. All you need to do is stick to your regimen, and put in the time. Who knows, you might be the next cover model for Men's Health magazine or Self magazine in no time at all.

What Is A Six Pack?

What's commonly referred to as a "six pack" is your stomach muscle, otherwise known as your rectus abdominis. Although it looks like several separate muscles, the rectus abdominis is actually one single muscle. Besides holding your organs in, the rectus abdominis is crucial to standing up, bending, and virtually any other type of motion. The rectus abdominis is divided into eight sections by horizontal and vertical tissue. That's why a well developed six pack looks like a pack full of cup cakes.

Why Is A Visible Six Pack So Important?

Having a great looking mid-section is more than just looking healthy and sexy! It means you're fit! Overweight correlates to so many diseases like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes to name a few. So, if you want to just look great at the beach, that's fine! What you're doing for yourself by developing your six pack is really a matter of health.

How To Develop Your Six Pack

To develop your six pack, you basically need two types of resistance training, whole body and area specific training.

Whole body exercises, such as squats, dead lifts, bench presses, and the Olympic lifts such as the clean and the snatch work the body out as a single unit. This is actually the most effective way of weight training, and this type of training gives you functional, athletic strength without increasing your size too much.

In order to develop your stomach muscles, though, you need abdominal specific exercises. Most people think crunches are the exercise of choice. According to a recent study, bicycles are the best abdominal exercise. In this study of 13 common ab exercises done by The Biomechanics Lab at San Diego State University, traditional crunches were almost at the bottom of the list at number 11!

Diet

You can have great abs, they just might not be showing. Making them show is a matter of diet, not so much of exercise. You need to be taking in only enough calories to support your activities. The extra calories you're currently eating are keeping you from looking like the cover model on this month's Men's Health Magazine.

You need less than 10% body fat, on the average, for your abs to show well. Good diet possibilities are those that limit carbs like my favorite The South Beath Diet, or The Zone, or others. Talk with your doctor and choose the one that's right for you.

The Six Pack Plan

Having a goal is the first step. You want to create that great looking six pack, first. As you do, you need to lose weight so your six pack shows. It's difficult for most people to put all of this together into a plan that really works, though. A great resource that I really like (and that works) is Michael Geary's book,The Truth About Six Pack Abs. Geary's book is the number one rated abdominals ebook in the world. He's sold tens of thousands of copies.

You definitely want to check out Geary's book. He knows what he's talking about, and his stuff really works.

See you on the cover of your favorite fitness magazine!