Science Explains Why People Have Different Numbers of Abs
Some people have six packs, while others have eight packs, and some even have four or two packs.
I came of age when defined six-pack abs were all the rage. This was during the dawn of the internet when billboards, magazines, and shows were full of skinny people showing off their “washboard” abs. If you don’t know, the slang term “washboard” refers to the popular 19th and 20th-century tool used for washing clothes. In this case, the ridges represent the crisscross lines across our abdominals, often creating two columns of three squares — hence “six-pack.”
Anyway, in terms of fitness, having a well-defined six-pack is generally considered a mark of superb physicality. The more defined these little squares on our stomachs are, the more impressive. While having a six-pack is the standard, some people have an eight-pack! Does that mean the latter is stronger? And what about people with two or four-packs? Are they weaker? Let’s find out.
Anatomy
First, let’s review some brief anatomy of our abdominals, or as we often refer to them, our abs. A group of five muscles comprise our abdominal wall, which runs from our ribs to our pelvis. Specifically, the pyramidalis, rectus abdominus, external obliques, internal…
