You can know with mathematical certainty how long it will take you to get a six-pack.
The following formula is a kind of six-pack calculator, check it out.
You will need to break the 10% body fat barrier in order to see a defined six-pack. Women need to get below around 17%.
Update! You can now get this done AUTOMATICALLY for you by using the new Six Pack Calculator below!
All you need to know is your current weight and body fat percentage. If you don’t know what your body fat percentage is, plug your stats into my ‘Body Fat Estimator‘ in the sidebar of this site.
How did you do? Probably quicker than you thought I’d guess. Let me qualify your result by saying the following…
The calculation is based on the new fat-loss formula contained in the NEW Total Six-Pack Abs, not on any other system.
It tells you when you will hit the 10% body fat barrier, which is the level of body fat you need to break to see your abs. If you want to get totally shredded, yes it will take you a little longer
There are 2 answers - Best Case & Worst Case. Let me explain this…
The calculation is using the least amount of fat you will lose on the program to calculate the worst case (which is 1.5lbs per week), and the most I expect you can lose per week as the best case. In ‘Total Six Pack Abs 2‘ you’ll see why this is MATHEMATICALLY CERTAIN to happen. 
You might still want to work this out manually. Why? This way you can also see exactly how many pounds of fat stand between you and your six pack! Read on…
For example, let’s take a guy at 18% body fat weighing 170lbs.
The first thing that needs to be ascertained is the actual amount of body fat he is carrying.
* Simply multiply 170 x 0.18 = 30.6lbs of fat.
From this we can determine how much lean mass he is carrying:
170 – 30.6 = 139.4lbs lean mass.
So, what’s the goal here? This guy wants to hit 10% body fat.
* We now take the GOAL body fat percentage from 1 i.e. 1 – 0.10 = 0.90
* Now divide the current lean body mass by this figure:
139.4 / 0.9 = 154.89 (rounded to 2 decimal places)
So, our 170lb man would weigh 154.89lbs at his goal body fat percentage of 10% (assuming no muscle gain which certainly CAN happen).
* Next we subtract the goal weight from the starting weight:
170 – 154.89 = 15.11 lbs, let’s call it 15 pounds of fat loss.
The question now is: How long does it take to lose 15 pounds of fat?
Well, it depends on the program you are using. A lot of programs use 1lb of fat loss per week as the top goal. If this were the case then the BEST you can hope for is 15 weeks or about 3.5 months to reach the goal of a six-pack. However, bear in mind that this best-case scenario rarely happens, most people go some weeks with a half-pound, quarter-pound, or even NO fat loss.
A good fat-loss program should result in what I call ‘meaningful‘ fat loss, which is AT LEAST 1.5 pounds of fat loss per week, and sometimes 2-3 pounds under certain circumstances. Also, this fat loss should be continuous – no stalls. If fat loss dips below 1.5 pounds per week then it’s time to employ another weapon in our arsenal to get it back up there.
So, a really efficient plan should see this 18% body fat guy reach his goal in about 6 weeks (best-case), or around 10-11 weeks at worst.
So you can see that gaining a six-pack isn’t the excruciating process it’s often made out to be.
Yes, you will have to experience some hunger along the way but so what, it’s worth it. An overweight person shooting for ‘normal weight’ can get there without much hunger, but a normal person shooting for the ‘very lean’ body type will have to put up with this somewhat. Again, a good program will minimize this feeling but will not completely eradicate it.
But hey, 6 weeks isn’t too much to ask for what probably amounts to years of poor eating habits, is it?
Here’s those steps again summarized for you
(1) Get your body fat percentage
(2) Work out your fat mass and lean body mass in pounds
(3) Subtract your goal body fat percentage from 1
(4) Now divide your current lean body mass by the result of the calculation in step 3. This gives the goal body weight.
(5) Now take this figure from the starting weight to show the amount of fat loss required to reach goal (in pounds).
I hope that was helpful to all you six-pack seekers out there.
Take Care,
Mark McManus, trainer & author of the BREAKTHROUGH Arm-Maximizer program “The Arms Blast Experiment Revealed!” & the NEW fat-torching system “Total Six Pack Abs”
On facebook? Click ‘like’ below, please? Pretty please? Go on – it only takes a nanosecond! Thanks
The Muscle Hacker is Mark McManus, a trainer committed to helping others build the body of their dreams. Mark is a naturally skinny guy who overcame the hardgainer's curse through years of research and personal experience. Whether you want to build new slabs of muscle or drop your body fat percentage to reveal 
{ 12 comments }
Great article Mark, helps to give others inspiration for what is the hardest part of any weight loss program – getting from being “normal” weight to having a six pack.
I’m trimming down at the moment and I’m finding it difficult to keep my motivation – I crave carbs – but having read your e-book on glycemic load and eating a high fat, low carb diet I am able keep my focus, most of the time anyway!
The trick is to a) know what you should be doing to loose that 1lb a week without loosing muscle and then 2) develop the habits that mean you keep loosing it!
The thing is fat loss in a particular spot doesn’t run in a linear fashion.
Your personal pattern is determined by health, hormones and lifestyle… for example you could loose fat for a while on the stomach, then this will seemingly stop as the majority of fat loss will switch to hips and buttocks for a bit, then maybe to the chest.
Just my thoughts…
Hey Mark,
Cool that you provided everyone with a formula. Most of us like step-by-step instructions!
I wonder though, isn’t it true that there is some variability (for men) in that 10% figure? In other words, it’s possible for someone to be 8% and not really show a 6-pack if they haven’t done any core strength training (anything from squats to planks to crunches or whatever), right? And similarly, someone would be 12% bodyfat but still have nice abs if they have emphasized building the abs, right? And of course, there are genetic variations.
While it’s a small point, I know some people who have gotten really frustrated that their bodyfat gets measured at 10% and they have no abs. They ask me “why”, but it turns out all they do is run marathons, do curls and bench press, and situps. Uggh. So I say “no wonder you can’t see your abs – you aren’t doing anything for them!” Am I off base here?
Thanks for that Article Mark, I’m currently on Tspa after coming off another weight gain program that involved many carbs, after going back to the carbs I realised I gained too much fat and decided on tspa for my second or third run. I feel I’m doing well with TSPA this time, I started at 16% body fat and I’m 6 weeks in. Still a while to go yet. I know you go over it in tspa but I’m not always comfortable with doing a carb up just incase fat loss slows, whats your advice? should I keep up with them once per week as your plan outlines.
Also whats your advice after 8 weeks, a STOP week or just carry on.
Thank you
Thanks a ton I have a long way to go 24 weeks with your calculation so here I go.
Thanks again
@Darrin. Yes, 10% is a guideline but some people can see them at slightly higher percentages and some have to go lower.
The genetic variation and the actual size of the abdominal muscles DO count. However if someone has quite big abs (in terms of raw size) they’ll still not be defined at 12%, though they might show through if they are really flexing the muscles themselves.
@WhoAmI. I’ll email an answer to you as I don’t use this site to discuss specifics of the book (just emails and the member’s forum).
@John. Good luck bro.
Hey great formula..thanks for telling it…it is really a cool…
Could you tell something about the exercise needed for abs….please mention it with pics…
Great article Mark. It really helps to point out to everyone what a realistic fat loss time frame is. A lot of people get started with unrealistic expectations and give up after only a few weeks of dedicated effort – usually only a few weeks away from their goals!
Hi Mark,
Really nice article.
This article gave me an exact guidance to get my six packs abs. In here, you gave us the detail for each steps.
Can’t wait for your next article.
Joe Revod
what about the obese people in the 300lb range. with stretched skin they will never show six pack abs without plastic surgery when they hit there goal. they will be in shape but not look it, any suggestions.
13 weeks and counting! I will let you know how it goes!
Cheers for the inspiration mark!
hello there my body fat percent is 12 1/2 my lean body mas is 130 i weigh 148 pounds and i am 5 ’7 how many pounds would i need to drop to get to the 10% body fat so my abs show more
Comments on this entry are closed.
{ 2 trackbacks }