Current:Home > NewsNo, you aren't likely to get abs in 30 days. Here's how long it actually takes. -Core Financial Strategies
No, you aren't likely to get abs in 30 days. Here's how long it actually takes.
View
Date:2025-04-13 23:31:33
While getting a chiseled six-pack is certainly easier said than done, just about everyone is capable of doing so at one point or another throughout their life. Accomplishing this starts with a strict commitment to eating right and being willing to frequently engage in stomach-strengthening exercises.
"There are multiple exercises to improve abdominal and core strength," explains Dr. Shelby Johnson, a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist at Mayo Clinic, Rochester. These include planks, crunches, reverse crunches, sit-ups, hanging knee raises, mountain climbers, scissor kicks, leg raises and bicycle kicks. "Even squats, lunges and standing arm exercises can target the core and are good for stabilization," she adds.
What are abs?
Abdominal muscles, usually referred to as abs, are a set of muscles located toward the front of one's body that consist of five main muscles: external obliques, internal obliques, transversus abdominis, rectus abdominis and pyramidalis.
These are muscles that nearly everyone anatomically has, so the idea of "getting" abs is a bit of a misunderstanding, says Austin "Ozzie" Gontang, a licensed psychotherapist at Pacific Pearl of La Jolla and the director of the San Diego Marathon Clinic. The trick to getting what we think of as defined or chiseled abs, however, is building these existing muscles up and making them visible, he explains.
Doing so isn't only about building confidence or looking more attractive to others though. "Abs play a role in the overall function and stability of the human body," Gontang explains. They are also part of one's core group of muscles and help stabilize and move the spine and pelvis. In this way ab muscles help strengthen other muscle groups throughout the body and can reduce one's chance of injury.
Is it possible to get abs in 30 days?
As beneficial and desirous as obtaining visibly defined abs can be for many people, it isn't something that happens overnight. Though many home workout challenges proliferating across social media promise abs in as little as 30 days, the experts say that amount of time is only possible if one is already close to getting them anyway.
That's mainly because it isn't possible to have visible abs so long as that group of muscles remain covered by excess body fat. "Depending on your current body weight, genetics, and approaches to diet and exercise, burning excess fat alone may take 6 months or more than 1-2 years, even if you follow a strict diet and exercise routine," says Dr. Michael Fredericson, director of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the co-director on Longevity at Stanford Medicine.
How long does it take to get abs?
Because of this, the first step towards gauging the length of time it will take to obtain visible abs is to ascertain a healthy body composition for your body type, then drop any excess fat accordingly. Gontang explains that men typically need to achieve a body fat percentage below 10-15% and women below 15-20% "in order to make their abs visible." It can be helpful to meet with a registered dietician to ascertain what your body fat percentage currently is. There are also various body fat calculator tools online that can also be useful in determining a starting point - but it's important to understood that such tools fail to take into consideration a person's race, metabolic health, and the amount of muscle mass vs fat mass one has.
More:How many muscles are in the human body? The answer may surprise you.
After accounting for such factors and accurately determining your current body fat percentage, you can start better tackling eating choices and aerobic exercises to begin trimming down, if necessary. "It is recommended that 1% of body fat loss per month is safe and attainable" as you do this, says Fredericson.
At the same time, you can also start working on building up your ab muscles by regularly working on any of the aforementioned ab-strengthening exercises, so those muscles will be prominent after any excess fat has faded away.
The disciplined combination of both healthy eating and ab-strengthening exercises can, over time, help you achieve any goals related to obtaining defined abs. "If one is starting with an average body fat percentage and adheres to a disciplined diet and exercise plan, it might take anywhere from 3 to 6 months to start seeing noticeable changes in abdominal definition," says Gontang. "If you start with a higher body fat percentage, however, it will take longer to reduce fat to the level where abs are visible."
Beyond diet and exercise, other lifestyle factors also play a role in getting visible abs. "These include stress, sleep quality, and genetics," says Johnson. Because of all such factors, "improving your core strength and creating more defined ab muscles can be a slow process you my need to be patient with."
veryGood! (732)
Related
- All That You Wanted to Know About She’s All That
- Friends imprisoned for decades cleared of 1987 New Year’s killing in Times Square
- Yellowstone’s Kevin Costner Introduces Adorable New Family Member
- TikToker Campbell Pookie Puckett Apologizes for Harm Caused by Insensitive Photos
- NFL Week 15 picks straight up and against spread: Bills, Lions put No. 1 seed hopes on line
- 'Black joy is contagious': Happiness for Black Americans is abundant, but disparities persist
- Nikki Haley's presidential campaign shifts focus in effort to catch Trump in final weeks before South Carolina primary
- Firm announces $25M settlement over role in Flint, Michigan, lead-tainted water crisis
- Former longtime South Carolina congressman John Spratt dies at 82
- An armed man found dead at an amusement park researched mass shootings. His plan is still a mystery
Ranking
- DoorDash steps up driver ID checks after traffic safety complaints
- Mystery surrounds SUV that drove off Virginia Beach pier amid search for missing person
- Former Ohio Senate President Stanley Aronoff dies at 91
- Child Tax Credit expansion faces uncertain path in Senate after House passage
- SFO's new sensory room helps neurodivergent travelers fight flying jitters
- Activists renew push to repeal Kentucky’s near-total abortion ban
- Police in Georgia responding to gun shots at home detain 19 people, probe possible sex trafficking
- NBA trade deadline: Will the Lakers trade for Dejounte Murray?
Recommendation
Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Hi Hi!
Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus and SZA are poised to win big at the Grammys. But will they?
Ex-Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohannon gets 15-year, show-cause penalty after gambling scandal
Mystery surrounds SUV that drove off Virginia Beach pier amid search for missing person
Global Warming Set the Stage for Los Angeles Fires
11-year-old boy shot after being chased in Atlanta; police search for 3 suspects
With no coaching job in 2024, Patriot great Bill Belichick's NFL legacy left in limbo
Netflix reveals first look at 'Squid Game' Season 2: What we know about new episodes