All you need to build six-pack abs | Core Training 101

The video provides a summary of why core training is unnecessary for building a strong, aesthetic core and what is actually required to achieve that goal. The key points are:

• Visible abs are primarily determined by low body fat, not core strength. Reducing body fat through a calorie deficit is the key to revealing a six-pack.
• Core strength is not the limiting factor for most functional movements and athletic abilities. Focusing on compound exercises that target the major muscle groups is more important for improving overall strength and mobility.
• An efficient strength training routine focused on the six basic planes of motion can build full-body muscle mass and strength in under 40 minutes per week, without the need for dedicated core exercises.
• By first building overall strength and muscle mass, and then reducing body fat through a calorie deficit, one can achieve a ripped, aesthetic core without wasting time on ineffective core-specific training.

I’m going to just come right out and say it. I do not train any core exercises, and if your goals are a ripped six pack or the ability to move like this, you don’t need to either. In fact, I think you should avoid it. In this video, I want to show you why core training is unhelpful and even harmful for building the aesthetics and ability that you really want and show you what you actually need to do to build the most ripped, strong core imaginable. Just realise that everyone can tighten up their core and build a firm set of abs that they are stoked with with very little time, but it does require you to be absolutely clear on what you’re doing. So if you want to stop wasting time doing crunches and finally get a result, then let’s get started. So let’s talk about aesthetics first.
Most people, whether they admit it or not, when they go and train core, are interested to some degree in how their core looks, which is fine, but you need to understand that core training is not going to get you there when it comes to getting six pack abs or a flat stomach. These looks actually have nothing to do with the strength of your core and everything to do with body composition. And what this means is imagine shrink racking yourself, sucking out all the fat that is currently sitting under your skin, covering up all your muscle. As you keep sucking this layer of fat out, your skin is going to sit tighter and tighter on your muscles until you can see every bit of definition and separation between them. And as that process happens, eventually everyone is going to be able to see the definition of their six pack.
Your abs are already there, but when you’ve got this layer of fat underneath your skin, you can’t see the separation between them, and it does not matter how big you get them, how much you build up the muscles. If the fat is sitting in between them, you’re not going to see the separation. No one at 10% body fat has ever said, oh, my abs are too small. Once you lean enough, you have a six pack done. The big mistake that so many people make is also the best part about this because this general idea that you can spot reduce fat and that somehow doing lots of sit-ups will remove some of the fat specifically around your abs, which is not how human physiology works. The good thing about that is that as you actually do this and get your body fat down, get lean to the point where you can see your six pack.
The six pack ends up being the least valuable part of this whole process because how often do people really see your stomach? Abs are cool when you’re at the beach, but otherwise no one really cares. What’s really incredible about getting lean is what it does to your face and your body’s overall frame because to get lean enough to have a six pack, you’re going to have an athletic build that looks great in clothes and a face that is lean and chiselled and attractive. You can see the difference in what this process has done to me simply from me building some muscle and getting leaner. Okay, so what about functioning, which know it has nothing to do with how we look. Isn’t core training really important for having a strong core and being stable and functional? If you want to build real strength and have a really high level of mobility and the capacity to move your body through space, your core is not the limiting factor.
Your prime movers are the big muscles that move your shoulder, your hip, your elbow, your knee, your core is an accessory. It helps stabilise, but it’s not the thing. You get stronger to move really well. Easy example, take a front lever. People look at this and think, oh, that’s crazy. Core strength must have such a strong core, core stop being a limiting factor for me years ago, very early in my progression towards this movement, once you’re around intermediate level strength, you generally have all the core strength you need to progress to elite levels. In all these body weight movements, the front lever is a back exercise. It’s a pulling movement. Progressing to this level is all about how much force you can exert at your shoulder to pull your arms down. And here’s the thing to realise, even if your core is the limiting factor, if you’re focusing on building big movements like this, it’ll catch up just by virtue of you continuing to build your strength towards full body heavy strength goals.
Anything that’s the weak link is going to be the thing that needs to grow in order for you to progress to the next level. So to take a step back here, you could train your core until the cows come home, build more ab strength than anyone in the world and still be 15, 20% body fat and unable to see a single ab muscle and still be too weak in your prime movers to do anything impressive or even just have good day-to-day mobility for real life. For example, you haven’t built up your horizontal pooling strength, the strength of your lats, your rear shoulder, your upper back, then you’re going to be way two weeks to do a front lever or any decent progression of the front lever. And look, the problem is, and this is what I’m so passionate about, every bit of time and energy that you put into core training is time and energy taken away from doing the work that actually would get you those things.
Elite level strength and a six pack if that’s what you want, or just a flat stomach and decent daily mobility because these things are very limited resources, and if you are doing something for a result, then you want to make sure that you actually are getting that result in return. So what should you do in set? Okay, I’m going to make this really simple. Let’s start with function, because then aesthetics are really easy. If you want to build the core strength you see me doing or just improve your general ability to move your body, then it’s really simple. As I said, if we build up the right movements, then all the muscles are going to catch up and develop in the right proportions to allow you to actually move your body really well. We don’t have to reverse engineer things. We just aim to build function and the individual muscles and abilities will develop accordingly to achieve that function.
So if we just focus on building our strength up on six basic planes of motion, then that gives us the ability to move however we want. Core will catch up if and when it needs to, as will other parts of your body in this process. As you get to higher levels, you’re going to develop a serious full body muscle mass required to continue progressing to higher levels of strength. Now, you can do this really efficiently. I’ve got lots of videos on how we do it less than 40 minutes a week at home. It doesn’t need to be time consuming. The point is that you put all your energy into doing this properly. If you forget about your crunches and you hanging leg G raises and you just do this right, it will work in very little time. So that’s function. Then aesthetics, we’ve talked about body composition, wanting to shrink wrap, get rid of at least enough of that body fat that we can see the muscles underneath and have nice looking abs.
The reason I started with function is that the more muscle mass you have, the easier this is to do. Now that you’re building your strength up to high levels on your basic planes of motion, you’re going to be developing as much muscle as possible, which is very important To illustrate this, imagine you’re shrink wrapping like we said before, and the physique underneath is a spindly stick figure. It’s not going to look that good. But if we’re shrink wrapping around the physique of an action figure, it’s going to be a much nicer result once we’ve sucked out all the fat. So that’s why we start with training and building up strength and therefore muscle, and then we can think about reducing the fat that surrounds that muscle. How do you do this? One way, one way only hit a calorie deficit for one or more periods of four to 12 weeks, depends how much body fat you’ve got to lose as to how long this process of fat reduction will take.
But basically you can just repeat those four to 12 week calorie deficit cycles until you’re lean enough that you can see your abs and they’ve actually succeeded in getting a six pack. So that’s literally all you need to do to get a ripped set of six pack abs and the core strength, if I can still use that term, to move your body extremely well, increase your strength in six basic planes of motion and reduce your body fat percentage through controlling your energy intake. I hope this saves some of you some time and frustration because it pains me to see people training core with no clarity as to why that will never get them the core that they want. When there is that actual process that works, that can be done from home in less than 40 minutes a week, doesn’t require you to be a fitness freak to do it. If you want help nailing either of these two things, full free training is linked below to get you started. Otherwise, drop me your questions below. Thanks for watching and we’ll chat soon.