6 Pack Abs? Can Anyone Have Them? 🤔

The following Blog is part of my Personal Trainer series.

(Above - back in 2013, I had plans to release an online training program based on my own training experience. That never quite happened 🤦🏾).

Firstly, you don’t need to do exercises to get abs. Believe me. What you need to do is drop your body fat through conscious eating and then wait and see what genetics has in store for you. Because yes, anyone can get abs—they’re part of your anatomy. Underneath the adipose tissue (a nicer way of describing fat) lies a washboard.

How it looks—what I mean by that is whether you have a 4-pack or an 8-pack—is determined by your genetics. And as legend has it, genetics skips a generation. You can thank or hate your grandparents for the way your abs look (once you drop your body fat into single digits for men and under 20%-ish for women).

That is it. That’s the science of getting a six-pack. Something so simple indeed. So, so simple. Sit-ups won’t get you a six-pack. What they will get you is a visit to the osteopath. I might be biased based on my body and my anecdotal experience, but training abs the old-school way is so unnecessary.

When you're my age (46), the art is to train smart and train for your age and lifestyle (running around dad), not to train “hard.”

The image below is of my abs as of Wednesday, 2nd April 2025. I’m going to be honest about how I’ve got them back at my advancing years. In all honesty, the lighting in my boxing room was being kind to me, too—that plays a big part in my "look."

I’ve been told my midsection looks like a face. I can’t see it myself 🤔

Firstly, I’d like to point out that I do not look like this all year round. Come the winter months, I pack on a bit of timber—I need the extra calories to help me train, and the extra bit of fat keeps me warm. But come summer, when my Zaccy and I spend most of our time in the garden playing footy in our pants, I want to be light and lean.

It always feels so good to be lighter in the summer.

If someone has a six-pack all year round and they’re not an athlete, in my opinion (I’ve been in this game for over 20 years), they have an eating disorder. Unless you’re an athlete, this isn’t normal—and the six-pack-all-year look, for many, isn’t even healthy.

I see jabronis all the time on social telling us to eat better on the weekends and not to eat too much over Christmas, and I look at them and they have the body of a 12-year-old. Depriving yourself all year round for your social media is not healthy—physically or emotionally.

So no, I do not have a six-pack in the winter months. There’s a hint of one, but it’s hidden or kept under wraps by the extra body fat that piles on during the cold months.

For those who like metrics, in the image above I am at 10% body fat. After summer, I’m usually around 15–16%. That’s still low for most brothers my age, but it’s not “fight weight”—it’s more of a “gimme a month” shape. Know what I mean?

So how do I get my six-pack? And that’s important. How do I get MY six-pack? I’m not telling you how to get yours. I’m just sharing my experience to help you understand.

We’re all different, and I hope by reading this you might be inspired. I’m not telling you what to do—I can’t stand it when some jabroni with an obvious eating disorder on social tells you what you should do to get a six-pack.

For context, I’ve been training for a long time. Over 15 years. Never to be a bodybuilder—your genetics take you down that route—but I’ve always tried to stay in shape. I’m not telling you that I got my six-pack in three weeks by doing dead bugs. That would never happen. Again, trust me.

I’m a science guy, but I also trust and massively value my anecdotal experience, having done this for a long time.

TBC

I will update in real time with my training diary and more importantly, what I eat. What I don't and my supplements.

ZAHIR AKRAM

https://www.akramyoga.co.uk/personaltraining