The Necessary Body Fat Percentage for Six-Pack Abs

One of the top reasons guy want a fat loss program is because they want six-pack abs. They’re smart enough to know that they need to rip the fat off their stomachs to make their abdominal muscles visible. They also realize that the only true way to get the fat off their bellies is to reduce their total amount of body fat.

This leads to the question, “What is an ideal body fat percentage for six-pack abs?” The answer is, “it depends.” Specifically, it depends on your sex and your genetics.

Women naturally have a higher body fat percentage than men. Even worse (for guys) is that men usually store more of their total body fat around their bellies, forcing them to achieve a really low body fat percentage before their abs can be seen. A woman doesn’t need to get her body percentage down to the same level a guy would for her great abs to be visible.

Your genetic makeup also affects the way locations where fat is stored on your body. For some lucky people, any excess body fat is stored evenly around their frame. For others, it seems that every ounce of extra fat goes right to their belly or butt. This means that two people whose abs are clearly visible may have body fat percentages that differ a good bit.

There are no tests that will tell you what percentage you would need to achieve yourself to have six-pack abs. The only way to find out is to keep pushing your body fat percentage down and see what happens. You need to keep pushing your body fat percentage down until your abs are visible.

Ok, ok. I’ll stop beating around the bush and tell you what fat percentage you need to reach to achieve 6 pack abs. As you read in the preceding paragraphs, it is impossible to give a single number that works for everyone, so the best I can do is give you a range of percentages taken from a range of sources. If you want your abs to be obvious, you’ll need to get your body fat percentage into the following ranges:

Men: If you want your full six-pack of abdominal muscles visible, your body fat percentage will have to be less than 11%. If you get it down below 8%, you’ll almost certainly have a clearly visible six pack.

Women: You have to get your body fat percentage down to something less than 17%. Going under 14% would be even better. Your target percentages are higher numbers than the guys have to hit, but remember that you naturally have a higher percentage of body fat, so your job is just as tough as for the guys do.

So there you have it. You know your target at last. If you’re an average American male, your current body fat percentage is somewhere around 17 to 26%. If you’re an average American female, your body fat percentage right now is between 22% and 26%. It won’t be easy to hit your targets, but it isn’t impossible. You just need to find a solid fitness plan and stay with it until you get where you need to be.

To succeed in getting your body fat percentage down to a level where you can show off your six pack, you will need to take off some weight to lose the belly fat. To get unbiased free report of weight loss secrets, visit