Contrary to most people’s core beliefs, the biggest mistake they make in developing a set of six pack abs is that they spend too much time solely focused on building them up.

They work endlessly on sculpting their abdominal areas with various ab specific exercises. They can often be seen doing hundreds of reps of various crunches, leg raises, twisting exercises and so on.

On the hand, if they would have spent a majority of that time on a suitably planned full body workout program, it would have produced a much better metabolic response. This would also serve to increase the fat-burning hormone levels within their body.

You can find additional details on the right exercises to bring out your abs in Mike Geary’s Truth About Abs eBook.

Forest for the Trees

Losing that stubborn stomach fat, which covers the abs, is crucial for most people to finally be able to notice their abdominals.

Disappointingly, pumping away with hundreds of crunches and leg raises will not result in much of a metabolic or fat burning hormonal result.

Keep in mind, that only a full body workout program, combined with proper nutrition, will serve to strip off that stubborn belly fat and reveal the six pack set hiding below.

Specific Abdominal Exercises

First off, full body exercises will contribute the majority of a workout for the abs and the entire core area to quite a respectable level.

Specific abs exercises can be scheduled into your routines about twice per week. These abdominal specific workouts should normally only take about 5 to 10 minutes at most, with very small rest periods between exercises.

Once you are past the early phase of gaining initial abdominal strength, you will want to consider working on higher resistance exercises that will stimulate the muscle fibers to a much better degree.

One example, of a higher resistance abs exercise, is when you do hanging leg raises with a correct pelvic curl up. Most people, that have been spending too much time with hundreds of reps of crunches, will usually only be able to do a few solid reps when they first try some of these higher resistance exercises.

Intervals Work

Unlike the slow steady pace of a cardio exercise, variable intensity workouts can produce lasting fat loss.

This will help you to stimulate the greatest metabolic response in your body. In essence, the greatest metabolic and hormonal response is realized with a variable intensity and strength training program.

Even if you are not yet in good physical fitness, you can still benefit by following an overall lower set of intensity routines. Working out at these lower levels, you would still be using this variable intensity, by alternating between higher and lower physical exertion levels throughout your workout.

As in any type of physical exertion routine, it is always safer to get the go ahead from your doctor before starting a variable intensity exercise.

Train Regularly

Workouts can seemingly get boring or stale at times, partly because people can get discouraged if their progress comes to a screeching halt.

To break through any training barriers, you just need to realize that there are a number of various training styles and techniques to learn.

Then mixing in these various training styles, you will build stronger joints, by reducing repetitive movement pattern overloads and by varying your training stressors.

At the end of the day, one of the best ways to attain a lean, muscular and healthy body is through a steady weight training schedule with free weights, some cardio and the occasional ab exercises.