Your Metabolism and Great Abs
One of the most common fallacies about why people don't have great abs is that they don't have the metabolism for it. That is, they think their metabolism is too slow to allow them to lose fat and develop great abs.
This is a mistake.
While you may not have the same genetic and metabolic gifts that the worlds greatest athletes and models have, very few people have metabolic conditions that would prevent them from developing great abs. That said, your metabolism does tend to slow as you get older, making it harder to keep the energy up and the belly fat off. So one good way to get great abs would be to rev up your metabolism to burn up some of that fat.
Revving Up Your Metabolism
Cardio workouts are the most common way people try to rev up their metabolism. And it works, burning additional calories and using up fat as long as you stay on that machine or keep pounding the pavement. But step off the machine or stop striding along at speed and your metabolism quickly slows down again. You could try to keep your metabolism high by doing cardio longer, but at some point you either need to get on with the rest of your life, develop a repitive stress injury, or bore yourself to tears.
There is a better way.
In recent years, many researchers have concluded that cardio workouts are not the best way to rev up your metabolism. Studies show that high-intensity, highly-variable exercise works better and faster for strengthening your body, protecting your heart, and revving up your metabolism.
These kinds of exercises more realistically simulate the kind of activities our bodies were designed for. Our ancestors didn't jog for hours. No mammals do that. Instead, our ancestors lives were filled with short bursts of strenuous activity (like killing dinner) mixed with rest. Their heart rates went way up then way down. Our bodies are made for that kind of activity and respond well to it.
These kinds of activities also have an advantage when it comes to boosting your metabolism. When you engage in high-intensity activities like sprinting or lifting heavy weights, your muscles get damaged a bit. That's healthy and normal and not a problem as long as your body gets rest too. Here's where the increased metabolism comes into the picture. Because your muscles get damaged by high-intensity workouts, your body needs to do repairs when you are resting.
That requires energy, which boosts your metabolism. Studies have shown that your metabolic rate will be higher for as much as a day or two after a hard workout. Doing these kinds of workouts helps you burn the fat right off your belly, even when you aren't in the gym or at the track.
This is why programs like The Truth About SIX PACK ABS put their emphasis on highly-variable, high-intensity strength training workouts and short intense running activities like sprints and stair-climbing instead of hours of boring cardio for developing great abs.