The Muscle Couple has been asked for years by many people from all walks of life on the quickest way to attain “6 Pack Abs”.

We’ve wanted to do a blog to set the record straight.

It really is possible for anybody to attain 6 pack abs.

What is required is determination, focus, and a scientific approach practiced over a lifetime.  We define this scientific approach as the TMC 3 PRONG AB SOLUTION (revealed in full detail below)

Maybe the best way for us to write/explain how to achieve this look is to analyze this incredible video from Scooby found on youtube.

Scooby has done an excellent job dispelling 6 myths about attaining 6 pack abs in the video.

TMC offers our own unique commentary expounding upon and digging deeper into his myths and even adding one of our own.

Without further adieu.

• Myth #1-You Only Need to Perform Regular Ab Exercises to Get 6 Pack Abs-

Scooby’s advice here about lowering your body fat to see your abs is essentially right on the money.   You absolutely must create a negative caloric balance (net caloric deficit) from either eating less calories, doing more cardio or optimally a combination of both.

There is much debate in health and nutrition circles about the type of diet best to reduce body fat the fastest.  Low Carb, High Fat, Iso-Caloric (Zone), Mediterranean all provide studies proving their effectiveness.

In truth, it’s all about the amount of kcals you consume more than the type observing the all important rule of 1 gram of protein per # of lean body weight. This allows for peak metabolic efficiency and maintenance of muscle even when eating below maintenance kcals.

• Myth #2-You Can Get Abs in 8 Minutes a Day-

Again, Scooby’s advice is solid.  Anybody who says you can get abs in 8 minutes is a day is complete charlatan and to be avoided.  It takes years of practicing the TMC 3 PRONGED AB SOLUTION

1. Daily, intelligent clean eating (observing periods of below maintenance calories)getting 1 gm of Protein per pound of lean body weight, high EFA consumption, and carbs from green vegies and low glycemic sources
2. Daily HIT/or intense cardio
3. EOD productive ab training contracting your rectus on every rep

Without all 3 of the above, 8 minutes a day of any form of ab training won’t get you anywhere.

• Myth #3-You Can Spot Fat Reduce

We’re going to go against a bit of Scooby’s advice here and tell you it is physically possible to “spot fat reduce” through the usage of drugs and specialized training protocols.   His advice about “cardio and caloric reduction” eventually leading to gradual fat loss and even pulling off the last bit of stubborn fat is however correct.

There have been a few studies performing incredibly high reps targeting the resistant area shown to accelerate fat loss and increase lipolysis at the stubborn sites.  By in large, spot fat removal is a complete myth for all but a select few.

Only an advanced dieter/athlete utilizing growth hormone and/or newer chemical agents injected at the stubborn site, combined with advanced thermogenic and lipotropic lotions (designed to work through trans-dermal absorption) can achieve any success of preferentially reducing adipose/visceral fat from the stubborn area. (Realizing these are only ancillaries to speed up the process when the dieter is still maintaining a significant net caloric deficit and probably consuming additional multi-phasic thermogenic supplements)

• Myth  #4-To Get Abs, You Have to Buy Something-

It is impossible to disagree with Scooby’s advice here.  You don’t need to buy anything to achieve abs.  You just have to maintain a NET CALORIC DEFICIT  and consistently observe the TMC 3 PRONGED AB SOLUTION.

You should not underestimate the importance of using thermogenic supplements in order to boost metabolism and dull appetite.  These would be the only “recommended ancillaries” to buy when embarking on a rigorous diet designed to shed body fat to attain noticeable 6 pack abs.

• Myth #5-To See Your Lower Abs, Requires the Performance of Special Exercises-

Scooby is right for the most part. It’s impossible to effectively isolate the “lower abs” as the rectus abdominus is one muscle and is recruited as one unit in full force.

Where he errs is in not explaining differing lower abdominal muscle fiber appearance.  Hopefully the pictures displayed of lower ab muscle hypertrophy show the various and different structures based on genetics.

All of these pictures portray maximum body fat reduction and intelligent ab training.  Unfortunately, not all men/women are created equal when it comes to having visible, defined, ripped midsections.

GENETICS plays a HUGE ROLE in lower ab development/aesthetics even when a NET CALORIC DEFICIT and the TMC 3 PRONGED AB SOLUTION is utilized effectively.

“6 Pack” of normal abdominal musculature

“8 Pack” Abdominal wall of genetically blessed

“5 Pack” of a “Diverse” Abdominal Muscle Structure

“4 Pack” of genetically inferior lower ab structure

• Myth #6-You Need Long, Grueling Ab Workouts to Get 6 Pack Abs-

This is completely false.  As Scooby reiterated multiple times in the video, caloric reduction and cardio creating a continual “net caloric deficit” will shed the body fat over your midsection.  What will then be visible is your genetic abdominal wall. In order to reveal a “6 pack abs look” you must train your abs with purpose and intensity to make them hard and etched.

Your rectus abdominus although much smaller than larger body part muscles, still needs to be effectively trained in order to develop full, thick and rigid (ripped)muscular walls.  You must learn to contract your rectus and utilize the principle of progressive overload when training.  Train your abs to be bigger, thicker and harder(utilizing weights or progressively harder resistance) just like you were training any other muscle group.

• Myth #7-This Image is A Realistic Portrait of “Everyday Walking Around Abs”

Folks this is a picture of a Contest Ready Bodybuilder/Physique Competitor who has dieted down to the last remaining day or two before his contest.  This requires enormous sacrifice, water and electrolyte restriction, carb depletion and a multitude of other restrictive practices and nutrient increases/decreases like diuretics etc.

Nobody on this earth save for the MOST GENETICALLY BLESSED MUTANT MESOMORPH can actually walk around looking like this on a day in day out basis.  Also remember most of the pictures you see of “ripped abs” are guys flexing or isometrically contracting their rectus to make it more pronounced and noticeable.

Please don’t ever believe the pictures of bodybuilders and athletes you see in the various muscle mags depict a realistic every day condition of somebody who has great abs.

Even somebody performing all the work to get a great 6 pack still holds a bit of water, sodium and skin over the top of them “most of the time”.   Think of that natural look as something like this:

TMC trains abs “at least” 4x a week.

Usually we finish our rest pause lifting programs with either 3 sets of hanging leg raises til failure by themselves or sometimes super-setted with rope cable crunches til failure.  This is determined by our level of fatigue from the prior training session.

When we’re dieting down really hard for a show<HINT-HINT> or photo shoot, we will also perform abs at the end of our cardio workout.

We’ll provide much more in an upcoming article detailing the type of diet and cardio necessary to maximize the TMC 3 PRONG AB SOLUTION.

We hope this helps clear some things up for many of you.

As always, we’re available for questions or commentary about any of this.

Have a great weekend!

MIHWCS