Anyone who works out at some point wants to have a better physique than what they started with and many will say would love to have the Six Pack look. Washboard abs that make people's heads turn and thinking that person could be a Supermodel or Bodybuilder. Ripped, Shredded, Symmetrical and Muscle Popping abs that would definitely make someone an elephant in the room; but does it have any real significance?
Having a Six Pack wasn't a major deal until the early era of Physical Culture where you had many strongmen and physique builders sprouting muscle everywhere, men like Sandow, Pandour, Arco, Maxick, Grimiek and others having strong and powerful core muscles that looked like they were carved out of granite. The funny thing is compared to today, many people who sprout a six pack don't have anywhere near the level of strength the old timers did. The mainstream media today shows that having a Six Pack is a source of strength and confidence which part of that is true (not so much the strength part) and it does take some work to develop it along with diet and training but in the end, what does it really show other than the external?
It doesn't take too much to understand that if you have a low percentage of body fat, it's much easier to show some form of muscle but if we took that context for granted we would be naive in the fact that yeah you can show a Six Pack but there's no real muscle behind it and that person doesn't necessarily have to be in world class shape to some kind of stomach muscle. There was a term Karl Gotch used to determine the strength and condition of a person, it was the difference of Counterfeit Muscle & Conditioned Muscle; the Counterfeit was that yeah he looks strong and powerful but if you fought him or put him through certain fitness tests, that strength has little to no value and his stamina and endurance is weaker than a 10 year old asthmatic. The Conditioned is where he may not look like a million bucks but he's got tremendous strength and stamina along with less chances of getting injured. If you want to see this in action, look up Maurice Smith Vs. Mark Coleman.
A Six Pack can be awesome but if you don't have the strength and endurance to back it up, does it have any value? Some of the strongest people on the planet today don't have washboard abs and some of the weakest do, see where I'm going with this? For the most part, I believe if you want a strong Core, you do things that don't just give you muscle but the strength to take a hit and strengthens the internal organs. One of the very best exercise to build a conditioned Core is the Ab Wheel, just rolling it out and back is a far tougher exercise than the typical sit-up. Most people can't do more than 10-15 let alone maybe 5 but once you can do 20-25, that's pretty good, 50 would get you decent shape and 100 or more would most likely make you damn strong.
If your goal is to get a Six Pack, go for it, make it work for you and I want you to achieve it but if you also made it stupid strong, than you get the best of both worlds. I want you to have both but yet make them valuable in life as well. So does it really matter? You decide.
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