It seems you have to loose some fat and as you are used to running I would propose you to look at your diet and run longer runs in a moderate pace, not too slow.
I started running again after 2.5 yrs. of doing virtually nothing, gained 10kgs. and lost 7 again after started running for 4 months now, I train 5x per week appr. 70 to 90 km per week and especially the long runs of 1.30 min. are real fatburners for me, I started these runs in a slow pace to get myself adjusted to the running and do them now in a fairly moderate pace this gives even a better effect as my wife starts complaining about the fact that I am getting too skinny, besides the fact that I take care of my diet, not too much fatty food, but I am not on a diet I just eat fresh and simple food.

eat 500 cals per day UNDER your daily requirement. any more than this and you will go into a STARVATION mode and your body will hold onto your fat, not give it up for oxidation.

dont eat late in the evening, (2.5 to 3hrs before bed) what you dont use, you will wear in body fat.

divide your daily calories into 6 meals a day, with the last meal slightly smaller. equally spaced out.

Eat long release carbs and stay away from sugars unless its just after you have trained.

Oh yes and dont forget aerobic training 3 times/week.

Hope this is a help, or maybe you already knew this.

Hi

It seems that diet is the key, along with an enhanced muscle base to raise the metabolism.

A logbook of your goals and subsequent successes along the way to achieving your six-pack is also a good idea to employ.

hello. i am a 17 year old amateur body builder and preparing for my first contest and i am in search of my first six pack as well. Glad to report that I finally found it. The key to getting ripped, in my opinion, is to keep a diet journal, counting every last calorie and all of the protein, carbs, and fats you eat. It can be tedious at first but it becomes a routine after a while, just like everything else. That way you can know exactly what it is you're eating and how many calories you can cut out of your diet in order to achieve your goals. As you progress, begin to remove calories, say 200 or 300 per month, until you begin to see your abs. don't cut out such a huge amount of calories that it drives you crazy...however go slow and steady and the fat loss will be permanent, as long as you maintain a relatively strict diet and exercise daily. Cheating every once in a while WILL NOT HURT, rather it helps and is recomended. But only every once in a while. Maintaining a journal, along with diet and weight training, will definately get you where you want to be in terms of fitness goals. Good luck and i'm certain you'll get your six pack!

Hi Dadsa,
I feel your pain. My core has always been a bit cubby, and no matter how much I work out or whatever the fat just doesn't seem to go away there. I have a relatively strong core but there's a slab of fat over my "sixpack". (My friends in high school actually dubbed it "the inflated sixpack" because I have definition beneath the chub ? ) I am going to take the other's sugestions (some of which I have tried already) and hopefully see some results. I do believe, however, that some people just aren't made to have sixpacks no matter how hard they try. Maybe we're two of those people...who knows? I am just trying to focus on ensuring that my core stays strong no matter how much fat I see, and how much of a sixpack I don't see. We'll see how things go from here...Good luck! wink

I had the same problem as you. Now my six pack is starting to show after 8 weeks. This is what I did. Along run three times a week over 8k's. Eat well. Tryed keep away from carbs and fatty foods (its hard).

For my ab workout I was doing crunches and it was doing nothing for me. I was bored one day and watched my girlfriends Pilates video. I tried the
ab workout in it and it burnt like hell. before this I was doing 5 sets of a hundred cruches a night a feeling nothing.

I worked the pilated method into my ab work out and started to get results. From this video I also learnt how important breathing is. It oxidixes your muscles somehow. And I also learnt good posture and technique so my abs were doing the work and not my back.

The video was called windsor pilates and the the series of 5 for the abdominals. I started doing 5 sets of this every other day. and then after two weeks every day.

Good Luck.

Like most other people have said here the key is diet, of course you have to be training correctly as well. Try to eat most of your carbs before your evening meal and cut out as much saturated fat as possible.
Early morning runs are a great fat burner and its better to use weights and do crunches rather than hundreds of situps. But no matter how much weight or how ever many crunches you do, if you do not lose the fat covering the abdominal muscles your six pack will never show. Also don't be fooled into thinking you can exercise your abs with weights every day, this is a common myth but they are like any other muscle in the body and need time to recover twice a week is plenty.

TOUGH BUT VERY VERY EFFECTIVE;
fast for seven days. Just water or diluted fruit juice.
By day 3-4 you will feel a little lethargic, push through it.
By day 5-6 you will feel fantastic, keep your feet on the ground.
By day 8 you will have reballanced your entire system.
Re-educate your food intake easily as the need for food will have diminished.
Eat a varied diet, maintain a ballanced supplimentary intake.
Crunch 6 sets of 15 - 20 no more than three times a week.

RESULTS- six pack to be envious of in just 1 month.

plus- willpower increase, stamina increase, and plenty of other good mental and physical benefits

good luck

This is a ridiculous idea, how are you suppossed to function after 7 days of not eating!!
Your body is not stupid, if you do not eat then your metabolism will slow right down causing it to stop burning fat and start using muscle to get its energy from which is the opposite of what you want.
To burn fat, which is what you want to do to get your six pack showing, you need to speed up your metabolism by eating 5-6 small, low fat, high protien meals a day, cut down on carbs and use an effective weight training program along with some cardio vascular work.
Starving yourself is definately not the answer!

Thanks for your very emotive response Tom. I know that some one is listening at least!

You know, when anyone ventures into the realm of athletisism or competetive sport, it always begins with the hardest battle. This battle is against the mind.
As the physical persuit of excellence continues, so, the body takes advantage and dominates the whole.
This obsesive control and persuit of knowledge about how and what to feed the body to attain certain features or benefits has some merits based on Science, but however, at complete disregaurd to common sense. It is true also to say that common sense is not that common.
The food we put into our body has benefits AND non beneficial use. What we need we keep or transmute. What we do not need we transmute and dispose of.
The principle is simple. Disposing of substances our bodies DO NOT need, takes energy!
Every gland, system and vital organ that promotes this process NEED some form of energy produced from some form of product from some source in the body.
It's a simple ethic to then wonder how much, if any at all, of actual productive and beneficial substance is left for practical use in muscle growth and repair, and basic drive.
Detoxing in this way, eliminates the residue of nonbeneficial products.
Burns body fat in a safe and commonsense fasion, Feeds the motivation and psychologically imposes the will over the body!
Any athlete will tell you that they visualise their performance prior to physically acting that visualisation out. (or; impose their will over their body)
The metabilism is a function of the body that is either left to plod at its own pace or instructed by the will.

It is an easy trap to forget that the body is the car and not the driver.

p.s. Maybe a more subtle way of putting your views across may be more appropriate tom!
No man knows everything.

p.p.s. Also a little tip for those who may like to try it;

In your workout routines try supprising your body by stop start workouts.
the body is a creature of habit! I don't know of any habits that are completely beneficial.