text: what is a fast/good way to get abs? i need to work out my stomach and would love to get abs. i have a layer of fat over them!!!  do i need to lose weight before working them out or will working my abs lose that fat? any amazing tips?? there is no way to lose fat in a certain area. your stomach muscles along with your lower back muscles and obliques work together like a weight lifter's belt, acting as a slimming corset. if your obliques get huge they will make you look wider. you may or may not be after these love handle muscles. now to answer your question.  http://www.netfit.co.uk/abd6.htm   the best way to gain strength in the abs according to recent studies which were cited in fitnessrx magazine is to work the abs with heavy weight 3 times a week.  strong abs, however, are large and undefined like the guys in the world's strongest man competition have. most people don't want that.   if you are going for looks, getting to the single digits in body fat percentage will automatically give you some visible abs. i'd do that first.   the best way to gain definition in the abs is to work the abs using an ab routine, going from one exercise to another (without rest time)targeting different parts of the abs. abs are unique muscles in the fact that they benefit from being worked daily. you can do your ab routine every day.  my ab routine consists of 15 exercises, 16 reps each (12 reps for beginners), and takes me about 10-15 minutes. the reps are done about 2 seconds per rep. if you do them right, you should start to feel a burn after your first set of 16 and that burn will not go away for the whole time. use crunches, not sit-ups. sit-ups give you rest time each rep which is not inducive to gaining definition.   i am a guy and am answering from personal experience. the following results are for a skinny male. your results may vary some. although you get a 6 pack in the first couple of months, in 6 months you will have great abs! in a year your abs will be the best you have ever seen, unless they are hidden by fat.  you don't have to read the rest. when you get stronger (in about 6 months) you will be able to do the routine back to back. in a couple of months from that point you will be able to do it for hours. at this point it doesn't seem like the abs get too much more defined but they will look better than any abs you see on ab commercials on tv.  note that you will feel be very sore the first time you do the routine. if you don't work your abs the next day because they are sore, then they will be sore the next time you work them. however, if you tough it out and work them while they are sore you will stop feeling sore after about 2 minutes of exercise. also, if you continue to work through the pain every day, in about 2 weeks your abs will not feel sore any more. taking l-glutamine can make you feel less sore and aide in recovery. the body uses glutamaic acid (an essential amino) to make l-glutamine so don't worry, glutamine is not like steroids or something. the majority of your muscle is made of glutamine. on this routine you will gain abs fast and if you don't have much fat around your midsection, you will see these results right away. a few years ago i found this website http://www.netfit.co.uk/abd6.htm it's all you really need! this info is out of date though. a new study showed that utilizing one of those exercise balls in combination with crunches can get better results.