Most people automatically think of crunches and sit-ups when they think about making the effort to build perfect abs for (probably) the first time in their lives.

The unpopular truth is, it’s really going to need 4 distinct activities to get the type of abs you see showcased on TV and in the movies; there aren’t any short cuts, sadly. All four activities are necessary and they’re focused on creating the all-important combination – lose fat, build muscle.

Your Diet

The major realization here is, you can spend 24 hours a day working on crunches but if you still have too much body fat, you’ll never have great abs.

So, one key thing is that your diet has to be one that supports fat loss. Meaning, first, think about calories — you need to eat fewer calories than you burn. Second, you need a good balance of carbohydrates, proteins and fat – and yes, there IS healthy fat. You need the protein because you want to build muscle and also to help muscle recover from the damage caused by exercise; and, protein can help you to control your appetite. You need carbohydrates for energy, of course. And healthy fat because some forma of fat – and most fat in people’s diets is NOT the right type of fat – are an essential part of a balanced diet.

Cardio Exercise

Why cardio exercises, specifically? Because 3500 calories = 1 lb of fat, so if you want to eliminate the layer of fat that hides the abs, cardio helps to burn the calories, and therefore burn the fat.

Strength exercises

Strength training has the biggest impact on the metabolism … meaning, if you perform strength training regularly, you’ll literally put your body in a position where the metabolism speeds up and … you’ve guessed it, your burn fat more quickly. Large muscle exercises – squats, bench presses, lunges, etc – performed regularly will have a bigger impact on metabolism even than cardio and certainly more than small muscle exercises (bicep curls, for example) although it all helps. The faster you burn the fat … the faster you get those ripped abs you’re working so hard for.

Abs-specific exercises

And only now do we come to the exercises that most people have in mind from the outset – crunches, sit-ups, and leg-lifts in all their variety.

So, this is the path you need to take for great abs; but the biggest obstacle isn’t actually associated with any of these. The biggest challenge is purely mental, and it’s simply this – are you willing to pay the price?