Teens, including girls, can get six pack abs. I’m a certified personal trainer and have worked with teens and helped them get six pack abs. Getting six pack abs is not something that you must be over age 21 to acquire. My teen niece plays soccer and has a vague six pack going.
The six pack abs that a teen can acquire is the result of an overall low body fat percentage along with an athletically trained, or conditioned, body. This is why “thin” teens don’t always have a six pack, and the teens who do, aren’t necessarily waify or “skinny.”
A trim and healthy teen who does a lot of fast running will get a six pack. This fast running can be the result of being on a track team, or playing a sport that involves a lot of short bursts of speedy running, such as soccer and lacrosse.
Loading up on abdominal exercises is not necessary, contrary to common belief. If you’re a teen who wants a six pack, stop obsessing about abdominal workouts. I knew an 18-year-old man who had a genuine six pack and never did any sit-ups or crunches; he was a rock climber, which, of course, recruits abdominal muscles, but he had a very toned body and low body fat.
Starving yourself on a crazy restrictive diet will NOT get you a six pack, because starvation diets will force your body to feed on its own muscle, including ab muscle. The result will be a very unfit-looking middle with absolutely no definition. The six pack shows when the abdominal muscles are strong and toned, not wasted away from starvation diets.
Which kind of athletes always seem to have great abs? Remember the Olympic soccer player, Brandi Chastain? Boxers, including women, always have great abs. Look at track athletes, from 100-meter sprinters to 1,500-meter runners. All have great abs, though the six-packs of the faster runners are more pronounced.
Does this mean that teens need to run for hours every day to get six pack abs? No, not at all. The six pack will show only so much after a certain point of training, and it just so happens that elite athletes train hours every day.
But to get those enviable abdominal muscles requires only that the teen gets his or her body fat percentage down to what would be considered lean or trim (not skinny, waify or scrawny); while eating a nourishing diet of healthy foods and only occasionally junk food; and engaging in a sport that requires running; or, if you’re not the athletic type, you can do an exercise technique called high intensity interval training.
Read all about high intensity interval training HERE, including exactly how to do it and how much time per week you need to engage in it.
Because teens are still growing and tend to have faster metabolisms, there are some teens who can get away with a more junky diet and still have a six pack, if they are already lean and physically active. But for best results, strive for a healthy way of eating, and as for abdominal exercises, you can still do these to build tone and tightness in your middle, but I recommend three times a week for 10 minutes each session.
