GENETICS AND ANATOMY OF ABDOMINAL 4-6-8 PACKS

 

ANATOMY

The abdominals are called the RECTUS ABDOMINIS MUSCLE and is one continuous sheet of muscle. It does not consists of different "heads", or individual muscles like the deltoids/biceps and the legs respectively. When we say ABS, we are referring to one muscle whereas when we say DELTS we are referring to the front, lateral and rear delt heads which each has an origin and an insertion. Just google more on muscle anatomy to know more about these latter terms. The abdominal muscle runs from the ribcage to the pelvis. There are dividers called "tendinous inscription" which give the abdominals the appearance of tiles or "packs" as they are more commonly called.

Gibert Alaskadi Abs

 

GENETICS

We are born with a certain number of these dividers and the way that they are arranged on the abdominal muscle sheet. Most people have dividers that are arranged in such a way that the abdominal sheet is divided into six blocks, hence the proverbial "abdominal six pack". It is not possible to create more dividers by exercising to turn a 6-pack into an 8-pack. If this was possible then Ronnie Coleman would have had a 6-pack rather than a 4-pack.

 

4 packs, 6 packs or  8 packs

 

 As you can see in the picture, Frank Zane and Ronnie Coleman have a four pack. Ahmad Haidar displays a classic six pack. Achim Albrecht and Nasser El Sonbaty were both born with a lucky eight pack. Achim and Nasser didn't train harder than everybody else to have these eight packs and neither were Ronnie and Frank lazy to train their abs. Furthermore, some people may have 5 or 7 abdominal blocks or their 6 blocks can be arranged in a "disorderly" manner like Flex Wheeler's.

 

Elton King Horn's  6 packs

 

THE TAKE HOME LESSON

We cannot do anything to increase the number of abdominal blocks that we have. I don't know if it is surgically possible at present. What all of us can do is to train and diet to make our abs visible. There is a difference between the number of blocks "that we have" and "what is visible". If you can see 8 blocks, please rush to kiss your mom and dad. If you can see only 2 blocks, then work and diet your ass off to decrease your bodyfat percentage so that you can see more of the 6 blocks that you most probably already have but which are hiding under bodyfat. That being said, I must work hard myself.

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