Six pack.... Am I a lost cause? :(

C

Chris111

0
Hey, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Chris, I'm 13(14 in December) 5'5'' and I weigh 111.5-114lbs depending on the day. Anyways, I've been trying to get a six pack since early summer because of this girl I like... Of course, at first I was doing it all wrong. I was going up all the way instead of just a little bit off the ground...

Anyways, I have no idea what my fat % is. I'm pretty small(my BMI is 18.6.. That's for adults though) If someone could tell me how to find out my fat % I'd be grateful.. Anywho, back on subject, I've been doing 5-10 reps of 20 crunches per night off and on through the summer. I haven't seen much effect so far so I'm getting discouraged. Since school started, every night I've been doing 5-10 reps of 20 and still nothing. I look small, kind of like Tim14's pic, but no signs of a six pack......

Maybe I have a thin layer of fat near my abs that's not very visible but is still there? What am I doing wrong? Am I too fat? Am I doing the crunchs wrong? (I put my knees bent and life myself so my lower back is still on the ground and make my stomach tight) Is it because I only started doing them regularly this month? Shouldn't I see something other than a flat stomach and a bit of a circle around my abs with the right lighting by now!? I mean, I know 2 and a half weeks isn't long, but I've been going steady for those 2 and a half weeks and off and on for like 3months(meaning did about 200 crunchs in all 1 week, 800 the next week 1000the next week 100the next 0 the next)...

Should I go on a diet? Change my routine? Or what..? Help :(
 
Well I won't even get into you doing it for a girl... You need to watch what you eat, diet is a bad word. You shouldn't actually be eating less, just eat healthy. At your age this will make all the difference in the world. No soda, no candy, etc.
 
At 5'5" for a guy, you are probably pretty thin already if you want to get good stomach muscles, you would do well to just do 3 sets of 35 sit ups every other night, I would bet this would get you a pretty good six pack. If you did it for a few weeks. What I suspect it is, isn't that the muscles arn't there, its just they are so little that you can't see them well enough.

Other than that, just eat healthy, and you'll do fine. Just use common sence, and don't over eat on things like cake, candy, ect. It's all pretty basic stuff.
 
Thanks :) I'm going to try that. As for me doing it for a girl, I probably wouldn't really care about a six pack and just work on my biceps otherwise. I'd probably go for a sixpack later on however... But yeah, my biceps have really suffered for these crunches... I've been doing 200+crunches a night last little while and by the time I've done them I feel like doing my homework and going to bed(it's usually around 10-11pm I do this)..

So, I'll try this healthy bit. Shouldn't be hard, when I was younger my parents would always praise me for eating healthy without them telling me to.. I've always loved fruits and vegetables even oatmeal is one of my favorite foods that I've put aside recently. Also, are miniweats good for you.. I figure they're made out of oats or weats or whatever(hence the name :p )...

One last thing, let me get this straight, a rep is how many you do in each section of a set right? Like if I do 3reps of 20 I'd have done 60crunches in all? And a set is all of the reps together....? Confusing.

Anyways, thanks again.
 
As long as they're not FROSTED mini wheats lol... A rep, repitition, is one full movement, so 1 crunch is one rep. You do 20 reps in one of your sets. 3 sets of twenty reps, means 60 reps total!! :)
 
Okay, awesome.. So should I not work my abs today? I did 5 sets of 20 yesterday... Would I be overdoing it if I did another 100reps today? Would it make my abs not grow? Can I work on my biceps or would that have an effect somehow?
 
Hey im Tim_14 the guy u mentioned :p

I used to do what ur doing now with the crunches but abit more intense and i did them everynight, but ive looked through this forum and have realised that i should only be exercising my abs 3 times a week, so i do a almost full body workout (mainly focusing on my abs) every second night and ive gotten bigger and my abs have increased drematically.

I uped my cardio aswell and thats doing all good too :D

So yeah if ur aiming for a six pack then only exercise once every second night, do ur cardio and eat a clean diet.

Good luck with this chick man! Ill add my progress pic so u can c how much doing it every second night can improve u!
 
Cool.. looks like your sixpacks coming in :D I'm gonna put down what I have for my weekly schedual and diet, tell me what you all thing:
Monday-Some cardio(whether it'll be burpees and all that indoor stuff or walking/running)
Tuesday-Work abs
Wednesday-Work biceps
Thursday-Work abs
Friday-Cardio(I always feel extra lazy on fridays and mondays)

Diet:
Breakfast=Porrige, sometimes frosted miniwheats( I figured out they have 240carbs, is that good-I drink skimmed milk too btw)
Lunch=Salad with side of fresh fruit, or Fruit with side of fresh veges
Supper=Whatever the family's having if it's not too fattening, if it is, mini wheats, porrige or light popcorn
Snacks=Lightpopcorn, fruit or vegetables, miniwheats(this is if I'm hungry, I never needed much food to live on, I usually missed breakfast or Dinner before and lasted on 2meals)

Will this work?
 
Well, being that you are 14- 15 I would not say that it was even possible to call you a lost cause of anything. You have no idea what your body will look like in five years. For all you know you will look like brad pitt in five years without trying or you may look like chris Farely while pushing weights six times a week. Most people do not even begin lifting until halfway through highschool.

Now, before I say anything else I need you to clarify something. you can not do 5-10 reps of twenty reps. That simply does not make sense.

At any rate variety is the key. Go to your local library and pick up any book on strength training and skip to the abs section. Do all of the exercises that you know you can do correctly. Do not end any set until the pain is unbearable and then only rest long enough that you can start up again. If you are waiting more than a minute you are pussing out. Now the fact that you have been doing this for weeks is a little silly. I have been training abs for years. I let people punch me there because my gut is rock solid. I have done more cardio than billy blanks and yet I only have so so looking abs. Your best bet is overall body development. The chicks dig that more anyways and you will see results in your gut much faster.

But the chances of you going from flab to a rock solid six pack in the next month is astonomical- and useing your present program provided you mean that you are doing sets of twenty are galacticly improbbable. Lay off the junk, lift the heavy iron and get back to me in a year or so. Any questions?
 
Howcome Tim_14 went from average looking stomach(like mine) to a noticable six pack in near a month.....? What was your routine Tim? Damn.. Am I too fat? I mean, I only weigh 110lbs today.. If I've been working my abs so long, shouldn't I see some kind of cricle somewhere? This is damned discouraging.... I'm close to giving up. I've been doing set upon set with no effect.. I just don't see the point in keeping on doing rep upon rep until I'm exausted if the only reason my abs aren't showing is because of fat.. Is there any way I can check my body fat %??? I don't look fat, I look damned skinny, but who knows..
 
I have a freind who works out less than half as much as I do and he is 5 inches shorter ten pounds heavier and benches about double what I do. He never diets and says that he is afraid to do more than he does or else he will get the big muscular look. It kills me but I cried about my genes a long time ago and now it is time to get to work with the genes I have. If you need to cry about it go ahead but when you're done get back to the gym and become art
 
My quest for a six pack and large biceps etc begins this coming Monday, I've just got over a heavy cold, so don't want to risk it returning until I'm back to full health - e.g. Monday.

My programme will be...

MONDAY - Abs; 2 x 15 crunches, 2 x 15 leg raises, 2 x 50 back cylces, 5 x 15 press ups. Cycle; 25 minutes on indoor bike. Game of football.

TUESDAY - Weights; 2 x 15 chest presses, 2 x 15 flyes, 2 x 30 side bends, 2 x 15 hammer curls, 2 x 15 bicep curls, 2 x 15 bent over rows, and then holding the weight on each arm for as long as possible, until it gives way. Treadmill; 25 minutes.

WEDNESDAY - Same ab routine. Game of football.

THURSDAY - Same weight routine. Rowing machine; 25 minutes.

FRIDAY - Same ab routine. Game of football.

SATURDAY - Same weight routine. Shuttle runs; 15 minutes.

SUNDAY - Rest day.

Good enough to achieve my goals? If I need more variation, tell me what I need to do to alter my program please. Ta.
 
@adeox, your routine is a little limited there m8. If you're wanting to get bigger I would recommend this method.

Do 2 body parts per weights day. Do no more than 3 excersizes per body part with 3 sets of 8 reps for each excersize (total of 18 sets of 8 reps per workout). Work your abs on a weights days doing 3 sets of 15-20 crunches (weighted if you can manage). Take no longer than 30 - 45 mins to do your workout (takes me about 30 mins tops to get this amount done). Rest a day in between weights days too to allow recovery.

You stated in your post the you wanted bigger biceps and abs, if you train you biceps only, sure they will get bigger, but your arms will still look small. This is because you tricep takes up the majority of your upper arm. If you train your triceps and your shoulders, you will get the cuts and definition between the bis, tris and delts where as you wont have this by training biceps alone. The same goes with your chest, if you don't train it, your abs wont look as defined at the top. Also don't forgot about your legs, they are the biggest muscles in your body, and if you train those bad boys, it will send your metabolism into overdrive, so you'll burn more calories when your not working out. Squats are the best excersize for your legs as most people will tell you, however not recommended if you train alone as I do for obvious reasons.

Here is my workout, notice how i train 1 of each movement on each weight day, ie back (pulling movement) & shoulders (pushing movement).

Monday - 40 mins weights (Back & Shoulders & Abs) & 20 - 30 mins Cardio

Tuesday - 1hr Cardio & 1 Leg Excersize 3 x 8

Wednesday - 40 mins weights (Chest & Biceps & Abs) & 20 - 30 mins Cardio

Thursday - 1hr Cardio & 1 Leg Excersize 3 x 8

Friday - 40 mins weights (Back & Triceps & Abs) & 20 - 30 mins Cardio

Saturday - rest

Sunday - Spend a couple of hours at the gym doing a less intense full body workout (not every week).

I hope this gives you some ideas. Give me a shout if you want me to go into a little more detail on actual excersizes.

Iffy
 
I would work 1 or two bodyparts a day and do three to six sets of three to six exercizes per bodypart. The rep range is not particularly important as long as it is between 6-15. but keep the rests under 1 min 30. Preferably under a minute.

Football probably provides enough cardio that you don't need any more cardio as it may infact hinder your attempts at new size.
Now if you really want to focus on biceps (though I personally would recommend bis and tris for a full and equal effect) than do a few sets throughout any day that you feel physically capable of doing them. Not mini workouts- just a quick set before work- a quick set when you get home a quick set before bed a quick set when you wake up ect. Then Blast them on their special day.

And Eat
 
hey, my abs arent anywhere near noticalbe sixpack from my point of view, but all i do is:

Cardio everyday (jogging) i do this for 20+ minutes and when i can i go for a jog in the morning

20 pull ups
100 sit ups
50 crunches
20 weight crunches (11lbs weights)
30 reverse crunches
50 v-ups
another 50 crunches
another 20 weighted crunches
100 sit ups
11lbs weights 50 each arm
70 pushups

and im thinking about adding in squats. But clean diet and cardio! O and i only do those exerices every second day, but cardio everyday.
 
myeah.. 100 lbs on my chest during decline sit ups about 10 reps (3-4 sets)good enuf? lol..
 
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