The secret of how to get 6-pack abs is simple.
You don’t need crunches.
You don’t need bicycles.
You don’t need leg lifts, mason twists, sit-ups, woodchoppers, v-ups or balance ball passes.
You don’t need any of that. You can not give any f*cks about your abs and still roll out of bed looking like you’re the only female member of the 300 (or an Amazon warrior from Wonder Woman).
See, to get 6-pack abs, you don’t actually need to focus on them. You can get amazing, washboard, defined, even 6-pack abs as a by-product while you’re busy doing your regular workout.
It’s like a freebie!
Why not do ab exercises?
If you like working your abs, and want to do exercises that specifically focus on them, by all means, do them! The point of this post isn’t to tell you ab exercises are bad or pointless. I still do them sometimes, and I love how varied, creative and convenient ab exercises can be.
Plus, you may be doing an activity or fitness program that requires a strong and stable core, like aerial arts or advanced calisthenics.
I’m addressing people that are focused on the look of defined abs and are looking for an efficient way to get it all done. It can seem daunting if you think you need to do a whole ab workout, however small, on top of your regular workout.
Some body parts need to be targeted for visible change, but the abs? Not so much.
When I set out on my recent fitness journey, I had no plans for a 6-pack. And yet I got one. How?
Well, it happened by accident. I used mostly bodyweight training, but there are other methods if you really love lifting heavy sh*t (that isn’t your body).
(Also, apologies for the potty mouth today. I’m riled up!)
How to get abs with no ab exercises.
The way you get defined abs without targeting them is a two-part effort:
- Lots of compound and/or full-body movements
- Manage your body composition
That’s really it. You’re working primarily with just two factors: muscle strength and fat loss (or maintenance). Pretty simple, huh? Let’s dig in.
Compound and/or full-body movements that target the abs.
What are compound movements? They are exercises that work more than one muscle group and/or joint. Some exercises inherently do this, like squats or pull-ups, and some combine two movements to become a compound one, like thrusters, sumo deadlift and high pull, or renegade row with push up. With almost any compound movement you need to use the abs, at least somewhat. But they don’t need to be the main muscle group you’re targeting in order to get results.
There are loads of methods and equipment you can use, but in my experience, I’ve gotten the most mileage (i.e., the best abs) from two kinds of workouts:
- Bodyweight training.
- Kettlebells.
Bodyweight training and how it helps you get 6-pack abs.
With bodyweight workouts, the ab factor mostly comes from two exercises: push-ups and pull-ups.
In fact, when you do bodyweight training only, pretty much everything you do on the upper body is some kind of pull-up or push-up. The exceptions are isometric holds, which are neither pushing nor pulling, and dips, which one could argue is a kind of push up, only vertical on a bar. Both of these exceptions, however, also usually work the abs.
Push-ups primarily work the chest and triceps, and pull-ups primarily work the lats and biceps. But you know what they have in common? That’s right, boys and girls!
The abs!
The abs are working.
You might not feel your abs working when you do push-ups or pull-ups, but that’s only because it’s not the major muscle group you’re working. You’re kinda distracted—either by the burning sensation in your chest or arms, or by the task of lifting your chin over the bar.
In both exercises, you need to stabilize your entire body in order to perform the movement. With a push-up, you need to keep your body rigid and change that rigidity slightly as your body moves up and down.
With a pull-up, you’re exerting even more energy as you lift your whole body (that’s a lot of weight, even if you’re tiny) with only your arms and back. In order to do the exercise properly, you have to keep your body as rigid as possible. This avoids injury, but it also makes it a lot easier. The less instability you can produce, the easier the movement. (The same principle in reverse is why kettlebells, balance balls and bosu balls make exercises more challenging.)
The beauty of this is that it’s a natural reaction to the task at hand. You don’t need to think about tensing your abs while performing either exercise, so it can feel like a freebie result of your workouts.
How to incorporate push-ups and pull-ups in your workout.
Try to work on pull-ups at least twice a week. If you do an upper-/lower-body split, add them to your upper-body workout.
Because the muscles are more easily exhausted with the upper body (at least in women), an easy way to form a workout is to do a countdown clock of 20 minutes (10-15 if you’re a beginner) and move between two to four exercises.
Remember that you want to be exhausted by the end of the workout, not the beginning, and you should feel some struggle about halfway through. Choose an amount of reps that accomplishes that. Most likely, the first set will feel ridiculously easy, but that will change 20 minutes in after you’ve done 10-30 sets. Check out my workouts, especially this one, which has this format.
Pull are hard, though. How can I incorporate them if I can’t do them?
I have a two-step process for incorporating pull-ups. Ready?
- Plan for them.
- Do what you can, including modifications. No excuses.
Pull-ups are a beast, I know, but you can do them with practice. Consistency is key. I have a whole post on this if you want to check it out.
Bottom line is this: You need to make it a priority if you want to nail the pull-up. The way I did this was by installing a pull-up bar in my apartment so I could just hang on it or try a pull-up when I passed under it. I tried daily, sometime several times. Getting pull-ups is as much about coordination as it is about strength, and both will get better with consistent practice.
Aussie pull-ups are the most satisfying pull-up modification, but they won’t work your abs as much as a hanging variation. So if you’re including Aussie pull-ups in the bulk of your workout, but be sure to try some negative pull-ups or assisted pull-ups (see my post for what these are) on the side until you can move into the harder variations.
When you create your workout, you may only be doing a one-rep set of pull-ups. That’s okay! That’s great, actually!
Also, don’t be afraid of modifications as the workout goes on. If you can do one pull-up and not much more, once you get tired you can move to assisted pull-ups. Your muscles tire very quickly with pull-ups.
Jump in and give it a shot! Try a workout with pull-ups or modifications in it, either one you made or one you found. Then once it’s over, assess if it was too hard or not hard enough, make notes for next time, and adjust.
Push-ups for 6-pack abs.
Push-ups are much easier than pull-ups, but they are still wicked hard. They also have dozens, probably hundreds, of variations, so you won’t get bored, and you’ll be able to target those abs in a multitude of ways. I’ve nailed down over 60 variations that I’m putting in a post for y’all.
They also are easy to modify, with knee push ups, wall push ups, incline push ups, or box push ups, so you should be able to do these from the get-go.
Kettlebells for the (6-pack) win!
The other effective method for getting 6-pack abs is kettlebell training—as long as it includes a good number of full-body or compound movements.
Kettlebells are a bit daunting if you’re not familiar with them, but I highly suggest including them in your workouts if you’re interested. It’s more than worth it. Not only do they make regular exercises more difficult, their structure gives you loads of swingy and flippy things you can do (YES, those are the technical terms 🙂 ).
And—here is where the abs come in—there are so many exciting full-body exercises that require you to stabilize with the abs: windmills, turkish get-ups, crab reaches, and so on. There are literally loads of them.
However, be careful when doing any of these exercises. If you’re not experienced with kettlebells, start with light weight. Also, perhaps do full-body compound exercises that aren’t as treacherous, like thrusters, clean and squat and press, or bent over row and clean. These are all a little easier to control, but still get the abs working.
Either/or/and.
You can do only bodyweight or kettlebell workouts, or a mish-mash, maybe with other methods or equipment. Other methods to check out that also work your core are sandbag training, medicine ball training, and Pilates.
If you have a good number of full-body ab-stabilizing movements, you will get stronger abs and a stronger core, and it will simply be a by-product of your amazing workout routine, while getting stronger and leaner in the process.
Oh yeah. That “leaner” part. That brings us to the second factor of getting 6-pack abs with no ab exercises…
Fat loss.
All the ab exercises (or full-body exercises that involve the abs) won’t help if you have fat covering your abs. This part is a bit of a DIY, and a bit of whatever cards you were dealt.
Genetics.
We all store and carry fat differently, and most of that is determined by our genetics. Some women carry more fat on their lower body (*raises hand*), and some carry it mostly on their abdominal regions. For the latter group, you’re going to have a harder time getting visible 6-pack abs, just like people like me will have a harder time getting defined legs.
But seriously—that’s okay. Be good with that. Having a strong core is worth its weight in gold. You will be stronger, have better posture (which will also make you look younger), be able to do more, and have less pain. And you’ll still look amazing. Remember—fitness is about taking the body you were given and making it the best you can. And by “best”—that’s entirely up to you!
Diet.
Ever heard the expression, “Abs are made in the kitchen?”
You need to eat smart to have a lean, strong body. Regardless of your current body composition and dietary needs, you need to get enough protein to build muscle, and you need enough nutrients in your diet to keep your body healthy and energized, especially through a workout.
Beyond that, if you need to lose fat, you need to eat less than you expend. Period. How you do that is up to you. Regular calorie-counting is, I think, extremely depressing and can lead to disorders (that’s my experience), but you could try that. You could try intermittent fasting, Whole 30, a ketogenic diet, counting your macros, a vegan diet, or whatever works for you.
I strongly suggest that whatever you do, stick to whole foods, including whole grains, and make sure everything is minimally processed.
HIIT.
I’ve talked before about how amazing HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is, but seriously, it’s the workout style that generally will get you the fastest results as far as fat loss goes. This is especially true if you’re new to HIIT.
Also, HIIT targets visceral fat, which tends to show up as belly fat. And having less visceral fat puts you at less risk for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and breast cancer. It will also likely help you in your quest for amazing abs.
So there you go! The lazy way to abs (that isn’t really lazy). There’s no need to worry about neglecting your abs if you’re including them in some way in your workout.