The Interesting Search For Female Six Pack Abs

This week's post is from my good buddy Tristan Lewis over in America. I met Tristan back in November when I went to a fitness conference in Disneyworld, Orlando, and since then we hit it off and have kept in touch since.

Tristan is a great guy and I love his fitness philosophy which is very similar to mine.

Okay, handing you over to Tristan now. hope you enjoy the guest post.

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Firstly, I want to say hi, my name is Tristan Lewis from MaverickFitnessCoach.com and I’m really thrilled to be working alongside my good mate Sam Winkworth to bring you new and exciting fitness, fat loss and body transformation advice. Sam is an outstanding trainer and a great friend and what he offers his clients and customers is cutting edge advice – but you all know that of course!

This is probably aimed more at the ladies today, but I’ll make up for it with something for the guys next – so today I’d like to discuss the idea that six pack abs are not just a male orientated desire and how women of all ages and current fitness levels should be training for and expecting this unique fitness aspect as part of their body transformation.

You see the reality is that women should not only be aiming for a small waist, or trim thighs and buns…but also a beautiful, feminine sculpted set of six pack abs - it’s real important to dismiss the stigma that abs are only for men and women should just focus on the ‘flat belly syndrome’. And here’s why…

The basic anatomical facts are that every human has ‘six pack abs’ – let’s use that term as our ‘keyword’ for a truly spectacular midsection. But these abs are typically covered by our bodyfat and that there is the issue with regards to actually seeing them.

We can break down abdominal training for men and women into two areas. One will be training for muscular development of the abs and all other muscles and the other training for fat loss to reveal not just the abs but sculpt your entire physique as well.

Women need to understand that firstly they’ll be very unlikely to create a visual appearance of ripped, rolling slabs of abdominal muscle – this simply will not be the case as genetically a woman carries less testosterone than a man and will not build the muscle like their male counterparts….BUT here’s where we need to continue and encourage all women to actually STILL concentrate on working out for that ‘female six pack abdominal appearance’.

Because whilst a woman can dismiss the fact right here that they’ll look like a man or have garish ab muscles, the idea of training for six pack abs puts them into the absolute correct exercise psychology of correct and proven fat loss and body transformation training.

You see of course it’s possible to set a goal of a nice lean tummy and firm thighs but the workouts you’d employ to achieve a stunning female physique with ‘six pack abs’ will REALLY be putting you into ‘full body transformation territory’ where fat is burned, muscle pathways are re-ignited and real physical change occurs.
What I’m saying is all women will genetically create their own unique look, their own slim, toned and tight body and midsection, but also their very own six pack abs. And the training that you attempt to get ‘six pack abs’ is the type of training that will deliver all the other aspects you are desiring in your new body image or transformation. It will not be just ‘six pack abs’ but a full body makeover.

An example is this:
I run my own Bootcamps called Intensity Bootcamps as well as training clients one on one. A majority of my current Bootcamps are ladies wanting to firstly lose body fat but secondly create a lean, toned and tight body. We had a discussion and around 70% told me they’d typically been in their gyms with the goal of a lean tight midsection and trim body firmly in place and the tools they were using were your typical long form cardio of 40 minutes plodding away on a treadmill or a cycle staring at the tv’s etc. I know you know what I mean, you see it all the time in most gyms.
Now it’s certainly not bad to do if you are concentrating on say running a marathon or for an endurance sport, but even then it’s worth mixing it up.

So I said to them, well look let me put you into this Bootcamp where the training will be exactly the same as what a man would do, with short burst intensity exercise, resistance circuits, explosive and reactive workouts – all designed to get you out the gym quicker but also to incorporate the resistance exercises to build lean muscle that in turn both sculpts and shapes your own particular fit female physique but burns more calories than simple long form cardio.

When I told them we’d be aiming to build lean muscle the initial reaction was ‘Whoa! – we don’t want big muscles or six pack abs like the guys train for.’

Now that ideology is common and perfectly understandable. BUT as we continued to discuss this I told them about the misconceptions in fitness training today that a woman is going to be threatened with bulky muscles if they lift weights or train like a ‘typical male counterpart’. This is fallacy. (The actual truth is all women should be training with resistance weight training as a major component of their routines for the very fact that it will burn more calories), it will create the lean and long muscles you wish for and it will give you the physique you are genetically meant to have.

And that is not big, muscular or bulky because unless you want to dabble in the world of steroids and excess testosterone you simply will not create that look – you simply won’t be able to.

So how does this philosophy all tie into the original topic of the search for female six pack abs. Well here it is:

I train all my female clients as I would any male client (ok, not in everything because some want to train for marathons or endurance sports etc and we change it up) but primarily I expect my lady clients to take up the same exact challenges as the guys because I’ll tell you this, in all honesty, I see the ladies I work with are so much more capable of doing more than they think they can it is almost unbelievable. I push them because ladies don’t seem to complain as much as some of the guys I work with (no offence men!) – I give them a challenge and they crush it!

Yes, maybe the next day at lunch or in the bar they chat with friends and say ‘Tristan got us doing this! Can you believe it!’ You know, but the fact remains they absolutely ‘kick butt’ as my American friends say.

And therefore I train them to develop FEMALE SIX PACK ABS because not only will this sort of training create strong core and supportive muscles and a midsection that is in optimal shape, but as we discussed further up, a woman, no matter what she thinks, will not develop garish six pack abs but the beautiful, lean feminine abs that a woman is capable of. The true ‘female six pack abs’; not just a small waist with weak floppy muscle underneath the skin, or nice hips and thighs still with a rounded back and loose abs….no – REAL solid feminine core musculature that will look stunning.
Of course the lower the body fat % the more you’ll see your abs. But physics has given women the same abs as men – the same muscles in your midsection – give or take- that a man has. If you were meant to have just a smooth, little tummy you’d only have one smooth muscle running down your core.

You –as a woman – deserve to show off your ‘six pack abs’ and trust me it will be a look you’ll adore as much as all the people staring at you!

Your training will consist of (full body intensity circuits, resistance training, body weight circuits and also a bit of cardio) if you still like all that – and it will be varied, enjoyable, challenging and exciting!

Ultimately you need to know that as a woman you SHOULD be training for ‘six pack abs’, you should rest safe in the knowledge you’ll not get bulky by training for such, and you need to trust that the workouts you do with Sam, with me or with any trainer who knows their stuff will transform your entire body into the type of feminine physique you see on magazine covers.

Nature’s given you a gift. (It’s up to you to train optimally and be proud to show yours off – it’s all in your mind and you are capable of anything you desire to put your mind to). So again: don’t think six pack abs is a keyword for men only – it is absolutely what you need to be training for as an integral part of your fitness program. Not just because it will offer support, structure, core strength and optimal performance but also because it will look incredible on you – mark my words – and it’s not as hard to achieve as you may have thought….

There is such a thing as Female Six Pack Abs – you’ve got them, now you just have to train them and allow them to be one of the key components in your full body transformation. You can do it! Believe me, I see it all day long with my clients.

Ladies are capable of a level of training that is phenomenal to observe.

Until next time, I wish you all the best and look forward to hearing from you and seeing how you’re doing.

Cheers all,
(Tristan Lewis
MaverickFitnessCoach.com)

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More posts from Tristan soon guys.

Train hard and be strong,

Sam