If your six pack workout is flimsy, your quest for abs is a lost cause. Almost everyone has their focus in this workout all wrong though. Finally, you may stop wasting your efforts and start getting the abs you want.

First, calorie burning is the goal of your six pack workout. A high body fat percentage is the leading reason that someone does not have six pack abs. Seldom is it about lack of muscle mass.

If your pulse rate isn’t high enough during your workout, you have the wrong focus. For the physics explanation of how to do this, you simply enhance the work you do. Work is identified as force divided by time and is a measure of energy, which means you may either improve your speed or resistance, or decrease the time it takes to complete. If you aren’t dripping rivers of sweat by the end of your work out, slap yourself across the face, go back, and do it right.

Secondly, the actual abdominal exercises should be focused around muscle maintenance (possibly muscle gain depending on a number of factors). You should be in the low to mid rep range. Over 20 reps is normally considered endurance training. Sometimes you’ll need to add some extra resistance for this to be challenging. For ab work, this is usually either held on the chest, behind the head, or between the feet, depending on which side you are lifting.

The last mistake is the missing element of consistency. By this I do not mean doing the same exercises each time, mixing up your style of workout can keep things fresh and challenging. What I mean is having a relatively constant frequency when it comes to your six pack workout. Try to hit at least three times each week.

Easing up on this schedule will roll you out of the momentum you built. Lack of this element may also cause your caloric balance to shift from negative to nothing, causing you to stop losing body fat. It wouldn’t be that bad every once in a while if you could always get back to it, but missing “just one” workout is nearly never just one workout.

Not ready to scrap your old six pack workout? Learn five simple ways you can enhance your existing six pack workout (and don’t forget to grab your free report on 27 ways to boost your metabolism).