5 Reasons You Can’t See Your Abs

Developing your six pack doesn’t mean that your six pack will become visible. Below are Top 5 reasons your abs are still in hiding. How can I get a six pack? Everyone does; you just perhaps need to develop it or show it off more!

1. Too much bodyfat

How to get visible abs? Just drop the bodyfat. No matter how well developed your core is, you will never see your six pack until you do not get to a particular bodyfat range. For men, that’s usually below 10% and for women it’s around 10-15%. The most effective way to do this is to clean up your nutrition. Take away the refined sugar and processed foods, start carb cycling and if needed drop some of your slow digesting carbs as well. Substitute with vegetables and lean protein.

2. No ab muscles

This one’s pretty obvious and thus the other side of the coin. However low your body fat might be, your ab muscles won’t show if they are not developed. Abdominal exercises are going to be of immense help here and if done with enough variety can answer the age old question of how to make abs pop. An important thing to remember here is, now there are fads of extremely high reps with people doing 500 reps for crunches. Unless you want to train your core for endurance, stick with weighted exercises in the 8-10 rep range along with some high rep work for the obliques.

3. Not limiting alcohol

You can’t expect to get a six pack with a six pack of beer in the fridge. If you can’t reduce your alcohol intake, then kiss the get ripped abs quotient away. Not only are alcohol and muscle building inverse activities, chronic alcohol consumption can lead to reduction of testosterone and fat loss abilities but also you’re going to be mentally lethargic in the gym. A drink here and there does no harm but if you’re partying every weekend, start reducing the alcohol and trust me it will be the best way to get abs.

4. Cardio

Notice how I explicitly stated cardio instead of too little or too much because the problem is at both ends here. Too much cardio will actually lead to muscular atrophy or simply put a loss of muscle and too little will still keep high level of bodyfat on you. In both scenarios you are not going to see your abs. Cardio exercises should be done in a short interval with a high intensity. Not doing this will lead you to the path of working on your abs without seeing results.

5. Unrealistic expectations, Genetics and/or hormonal problems

Before I explain this, do understand why this is last. Do not use your genetics as a crutch to state I can’t build my abs. Just because you got dealt a hand doesn’t mean you can’t do anything else.

Now that we have cleared that abs are also not going to be shown if you have unrealistic expectations, meaning if a person is at 25% bodyfat, you can not see your six pack abs in a month no matter what the online ads tell you. Likewise, some people are just not meant to reveal their abs because of genetics and it’s harder for some to do so. A certain genetically gifted individual might see his abs at 18% bodyfat whilst average people might see it at 6% bodyfat. The difference can be shortened by consistent training and nutrition along with proper supplementation.

Hormones are still king and if you have diabetes and/or thyroid you will have to train and eat around that time. Don’t forget to consult your doctor before you start on your six pack journey.