There are over 500 different ab exercises out there, but only 2 actually helped build my six pack abs. I reveal which they are in this article.

To get well-defined six pack abs, it’s not just about having low body fat.

If that were true, why do some people get really lean, yet you can’t see their abs? On the other hand, you have others with just as much or even more body fat have abs that pop.

Of course, there’s a genetic aspect. But it also comes down to how you train them.

Back in 2017, researchers followed 28 college soccer players to analyze the effects of ab-focused training.

The ab exercises they used weren’t the “best” options I’ll show you later on, but they still led to some pretty good results. 

After 10 weeks, on average, their upper abs grew by 2.1mm, their middle abs by 1.9mm, and their lower abs grew the most by 2.7mm.

This might not sound like much, but even a few millimeters can make a big difference in how defined your abs are — and contribute to the look of six pack abs.

So, of course, you can make them more visible by losing weight and reducing the layer of fat between your abs and your skin. But another (overlooked) way is just to increase the size of your abs so they poke through that fat more.

This is especially useful if, like me, you’re a hard gainer who wasn’t naturally blessed with thick abs, to begin with.

But here’s the thing. Most abs exercises you see online won’t help you actually build your six pack abs.

Advice To Avoid If You Want Six Pack Abs

Take planks or even butterfly kicks, for instance.

These are both great core-strengthening exercises, but they’ll do next to nothing for actually building those six pack abs.

Why? Well, all they’re really doing is stabilizing your core like they would during a compound movement.

Trying to plank your way to six pack abs is kind of like trying to wall-sit your way to bigger quads. 

See, the main function of your abs is to bring your rib cage and pelvis together by rounding the spine.

And so, this brings us to one of the most common myths I hear about effective ab training when trying to build six pack abs: “When performing ab exercises, you’ve gotta keep your back straight.”

Take leg raises, for instance.

For years, these were my go-to ab-exercise, and it turns out I was doing them wrong pretty much all (of) the time because of this advice!

See, if your back stays flat and all you do is swing your legs up and down into an L shape, your abs will contract to stabilize, but really, it’s going to be your hip flexors that do all the work.

And it’s not just leg raises.

This is a common problem with most ab exercises — at least, with how they’re typically done.

But the thing is, it’s actually pretty easy to build your six pack abs once you stop letting your hip flexors do all the work. 

And the nice part is you can emphasize either your upper abs or lower abs more based on the type of exercise you do. So, to keep things simple, let me just share my 2 favorite exercises for both, and the ones I really credit for building my six pack abs.

2 Best Exercises For Six Pack Abs

Let’s start with the lower abs. 

A lot of new research suggests that muscle regions closest to the moving body part will grow the most.

So, for example, leg curls have been found to grow the lower hamstrings closer to the knee more than deadlifts, which seem to emphasize the upper hamstring closer to the hip.

So, to target the lower abs, we just want an exercise where the bottom half of our body moves towards the top (half).

And even though I now know how to do leg raises with the correct form, I actually still prefer another exercise for my six pack abs training.

See, if you’ve been keeping up with my recent articles, especially the one where I explain how to gain muscle twice as fast, you’d know that muscles seem to grow best when challenged in their most “stretched” position.

Now I am funding and helping run a study starting this month to investigate this further, but so far the evidence is quite promising.

But the problem with leg raises is that they challenge your abs most near the top when they’re contracted. We want an exercise that does the opposite.

So how can we accomplish that?

Reverse Crunches (Lower Abs)

Well, we can make it more difficult at the start by laying back on a bench and doing reverse crunches.

But you’ve gotta remember what I just said about your hip flexors.

If your back stays straight, they’re going to be doing most of the work.

So, instead, bend your knees in towards your body and think about raising your hips up and crunching your knees towards your chest to actually round your spine. Think “C” shape instead of “L” shape. 

Go as far up as you can then slowly control the way down.

But I’ll admit, this is a tough exercise.

So let me first show you a more beginner-friendly version followed by a more advanced one you can gradually work your way up to.

For beginners, bring your knees closer to your chest and try to just lift your tailbone off the bench without swinging your legs. If you can do that, you’ll still effectively hit your lower abs.

Once you get stronger, try to get higher and higher and then gradually straighten your legs out more to simulate the effect of adding weight to the movement.  

To make it even more effective, you’ll want to increase the stretch in your abs at the bottom.

For that, I’d highly recommend getting an ab mat and placing that between your lower back and the bench.

Here's the Amazon link to the one I'm using if you're interested.

Crunches (Upper Abs)

Ok, now let’s focus on the upper abs.

For the lower abs, we wanted to bring the lower body up towards the torso. But now we want the opposite: an exercise where we fold the upper body towards the lower (body).

Again, I’ll show a beginner version first, then a more advanced version I’ve personally been seeing amazing results with.

Now the easiest way to hit the upper abs as a beginner is with crunches. But again, you’ve gotta avoid the all-too-common mistake of flattening your spine and moving in an L shape. 

Instead, think about folding your chest down towards your pelvis into a C shape.

Your spine should extend out to stretch your abs, and then your abs should contract to fold your chest over your pelvis.

Now, with crunches, just try to get your shoulder blades off the ground. Any higher than that’ll just be your hip flexors taking over.

But if you want even better results from each rep, again, use an ab mat.

Trust me; this fixes many issues with these ab exercises as it gives them enough of a stretch and challenge in that bottom position.

You can also always use a stability ball, bosu ball, or, at the very least, a rolled-up towel, which, as you can see, still lengthens the abs a bit more.

How To Progress Crunches

But once that becomes too easy, I’d recommend moving onto a rope cable crunch.

This is the last time I’ll say it, but you’ve gotta pay attention to your hip flexors with this one too. 

If your hips are swinging back to your heels every rep, you’re just using momentum and your hip flexors to move the weight.

Again, focus on the spine.

Lock your hips at 90 degrees, lock your arms next to your ears, and then contract your upper abs as you try to fold your chest down onto your abs.

When done properly your hips should remain in one position while your spine extends and arches on the way up to stretch your abs and then rounds on the way down as your abs fully contract.

It might take a few reps to get the hang of these if you’ve never done them before, but once you feel comfortable with the exercise, you can make them even more effective by turning around and pulling the rope away from the cable.

All the same tips apply.

You just have to get used to balancing, and maybe go a bit lighter to start out. A longer rope also helps with this one.

Once you get it right, you should feel that your abs are most challenged at the very beginning, in their most stretched position. (Exactly what we’re going for.)

The Key To Building Six Pack Abs

But here's the key to growing your abs and building those six pack abs: train them like any other muscle.

Hard with progressive overload, but also give them time to rest.

I recommend doing 3 sets of each exercise for 6-12 reps. Once you can do 12 reps for all 3 sets, then bump up the difficulty or add a bit more weight. 

Start with training them once a week and if you're really serious about building your six pack abs, bump it up to twice a week. 

TL;DR

• Getting well-defined six pack abs is not just about having a low body fat %. You’ll also need to increase the size of your abs so they “poke through” more.
• If you’re serious about building six pack abs, avoid making these mistakes: 1) picking core-strengthening exercises and 2) letting your hip flexors take over.
• Research suggests that muscle regions closest to the moving body part will grow the most.
• So, for lower abs, use reverse crunches, and for upper abs, use crunches (progression: rope cable crunches).
• The same form tips apply to both exercises. Think “C shape” instead of “L shape” and focus on the stretch.  
• The same basic hypertrophy principle applies when building six pack abs: train them like any other muscle — hard with progressive overload, but also with sufficient rest.

What Next?

But honestly, you could have the largest abs in the world, but they'll still remain hidden if they're covered by too much fat (translation: no six pack abs!).

To get the best results, you’ll wanna combine ab training with a proper plan to get rid of the excess fat covering your abs. So check out this article, where I cover the best science-backed approach to losing belly fat in just 1 week now.

But if you’re looking for more guidance and just want a proven, step-by-step plan that takes care of all the guesswork for you, just take our quick, free analysis quiz below to discover the best Built With Science program for you and your body:

Click the button below to take my analysis quiz to discover the best program for you:

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Thanks for sticking to the end, and I’ll see ya next time!

By the way, here’s the article summed up into a YouTube video: