6 pack abs have been one of the most hotly debated issues in the fitness world. Some people claim that the only way to acquire them is through hundreds of crunches, using weights, and sweat. Others say that you don't need to workout your abs at all, and that the main factor in seeing your abs is to exercise normally and lose weight.

Who is right?

A Brief Understanding of the Abdomen

The abdomen refers to that part of the body that covers your sensitive organs including those that deal with the digestive tract. Within the abdomen, you have the spleen, stomach, kidneys, adrenal glands, small intestine, colon, pancreas, liver, and more. Did I also mention that important blood vessels that lead to the aorta and inferior vena cava are found within the abdomen?

It is one of the most critical points in the body, which is why until very recently, anyone with a gunshot wound to the stomach was considered a dead man due to infection and inability to stop internal bleeding.

The abdomen, along with your lower back, also makes up the core of your body, which supports your midsection and spine. Not only does having a strong lower back and abdomen make you strong, but it also helps prevent back pain and preserves a strong body to age with into the future. Needless to say, the ab muscles are one of the most important muscles when it comes to playing a part in keeping your entire body together.

[Ab muscles...not to be confused with the American Bureau of Shipping & Affiliated Companies...]

Vanity vs. Real World Application

Because the abs play such a critical part in your overall health and body, no matter how or for what reason you're training, you will benefit from strenghtening them. That being said, depending on what you're trying to achieve, the methods you use will be different. The reason for this is because someone who wants rock hard, six pack abs for vanity reasons probably doesn't want the kind of massive abs that slight portrude and can actually make you look fat. If you're just training to look good and be healthy, then isometric exercises, which tone and harden the abs as opposed to growing them, is definitely the best way to go.

For fighters and players in sports with physical contact, it's an entirely different story. As we mentioned earlier, the ab muscles function to both stabilize your spine and midsection as well as to protect some of the most critical organs in your body outside of the heart and brain (which are protected by other structures). Because of this, people who are in a situation where impact on the area is likely, the most important thing to do is to give as much rock hard padding around the abdominal area as possible.

That means increasing the size of the abdomen through exercises like weighted sit ups and crunches. It's also not a bad idea to pad the muscle with a bit of fat to decrease the force of impact, which is why some of the best heavy weight fighters (George Foreman comes to mind) have always had a bit of fat on them. I would like to note that those of you who are training your abs just to stay fit and healthy, isometric exercises are probably the best bet since weighted sit ups and any kind of exercise that has spinal movement has a risk of hurting your back.

Getting a Handle on Training Frenquency

Once you've decided on how you're going to train, the question becomes, "How often should I train my abs?" Personally, if I'm training with isometric exercises, I will at times train every single day unless it feels extremely sore. That is because isometric exercises are tightening the muscle, while not making it grow, so there's no real reason for long rest periods.

If training with crunches and weighted exercises however, I would recommend long rest periods. Depending on who you are and the kind of training you're doing, this can be anywhere from one rest day to only training the muscle once a week (bodybuilder training). Reaching a balance is something you will acquire with experience.

Rafi Bar-Lev is a former combat medic and the founder of Passionate Fitness.

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