Can running give you six pack abs?
Let’s get straight to it. A study from 2011 published in PubMed looked at “investigate the effect of abdominal exercises on abdominal fat”. They looked at 24 people, a balance of men and women, between 18 and 40.. and their finding was this:
Six weeks of abdominal exercise training alone was not sufficient to reduce abdominal subcutaneous fat and other measures of body composition. Nevertheless, abdominal exercise training significantly improved muscular endurance to a greater extent than the CG.
Running doesn’t give you abs in my experience
In my experience, just running can’t give you six pack abs. We all saw US Runner Noah Lyles break history (as reported by Forbes) as he whizzed through the finish line with their rock hard abs, and we’ve thought, “ooh running can give you abs”. I thought that back in the day too.
But there’s a reason elite athletes and professional runners have ‘abs’. They’re elite. Professional. They’re not running once, twice or three times a week and eating a balanced (ish) diet like a lot of us. (Note I didn’t say most of us – never want to make sweeping statements).
But let’s just pause for a moment.
Everyone has abs
We say abs like it’s this fancy thing. When we say “abs”, we mean a ripped abs so you can see the “tone” or “definition”. But let’s just reflect there for a moment. Every single person has abdominal muscles. That’s all we’re referring to. It’s just that the elite of us – they have an exercise and diet routine that’s not in the ‘norm’ of the masses.
Abs aren’t made in the gym
I would also stress that these flat abs aren’t made in the gym. They say they’re made in the kitchen and they’re right. If you run regularly throughout the week, maybe 3-4 times even, and then pizza, junk food and chocolate most of the time, do you think you’ll get flat abs? No, obviously not.
But you can strengthen your abdominal muscles in the gym
I still stand by “you need to eat the right foods to keep excess weight off”. But I do wholeheartedly believe, from my own experience, that what you do in the gym can help, at least a little. For me, it wasn’t a case of ‘ab workouts’ and googling ‘ripped abs exercises’ for weeks and drinking raw eggs. I know some celebrities do that.
No, but I do combine and balance strength training and running. I also find my pilates to help my running include good ‘ab workouts’. So for example, here are some of the exercises I’ll do in the gym or classes to strengthen my core, as a runner.
Russian Twist
Here’s a video demonstrating the Russian twist for your core from Live Strong Women. I’ll often do this in the gym – you do feel ‘the burn’.
Dead bug exercise
Here’s a video from the Children’s Hospital Colorado on the dead bug exercise. The swaps from side to side are actually quite hard!
Pilates based leg circles
Here’s a video from Pilates Anytime – I’ve done this many times, it looks easy – but it’s quite testing!
Running alone didn’t give me a six pack
So can just running give you abs? No, well it didn’t get me ripped; and for the record, I don’t think it should be a health indicator! But if you want a stronger core muscle(s), you can implement:
- core based exercises – like the ones above
- get into running as a beginner – I have a guide for how to get into running if you’re overweight
- be mindful with your food, drink and lifestyle habits
And give it time! Just like running, you need to be doing it regularly enough and not just for a week or month.
Similar question I hear a lot.. can running grow your glutes?
