

Transversus abdominis, located beneath the internal and external obliques and rectus abdominis. The six-pack itself is formed by other bands of connective tissues running horizontally across the muscle.

It is divided by the linea alba, a thin band of connective tissue that runs down the front of your abdomen.

What looks like six abdominals are actually one muscle: the long and narrow rectus abdominis. The rectus abdominis is your “six-pack” muscle. The abdominal wall consists of five muscles: the rectus abdominis, external oblique, internal oblique, transversus abdominis, and pyramidalis. It also assists in moving your spine as needed and helps you maintain good posture. It creates intra-abdominal pressure that helps stabilize your trunk when you lift a heavy load and allows you to perform vital actions like breathing, coughing, and even pooping. Your abdominal wall contains and protects your organs. Spending minutes to hours grinding crunches might offer some benefits in sports where extreme muscle endurance is important but does nothing for visible abs. The right abdominal exercises, a good ab routine, and a proper diet will do wonders. In other words: your abs work like the other muscles in your body. That’s why combining the best core exercises and a healthy diet is the key to six-pack abs.

The muscle mass still needs to be in place. At the same time, you can’t simply diet your way to great abs. Getting your body-fat levels to six-pack status is mostly about diet. If your abs are covered by fat, you can have the most prominent washboard abs in the world, but no one can see them. Your body fat needs to be low enough to see the fruit of your labor.Your abs respond to progressive overload and the same effective rep ranges for building strength and muscle mass as your other body parts. You must build enough lean mass in your abdominal muscles to develop the hallmark “six-pack.” For some reason, many people train their abs using light or no weights and perform hundreds or thousands of reps.For them to become visible, two things need to happen: Even if you’ve never seen them, you’ve got abs.
