Representing, as they seem to, the pinnacle of physical fitness and muscularity in men, there is really little wonder that most men profess to want six-pack abs. Yet, despite this widespread desire, very few men actually succeed in reaching this goal.

The main reason tends to be a focus on the wrong aspect of working out. The average guy looks at bodybuilders with their six-pack abs and figures he's got to really work his abs out constantly, just like the bodybuilder guys probably do.

The fact that most men miss is that the first key to six-pack abs is lower overall body fat. Well, technically, it is lower tummy fat. However, fat burning doesn't occur just in one area, so the focus needs to be on overall fat burning. Without this focus, it doesn't matter if you do have rock solid six-pack abdomen muscles; no one will be able to see through the fat that covers them up.

Burning fat isn't complicated, in theory. It simply requires burning more calories than you consume. If you burn more than you consume, you lose weight; if you consume more than you burn, you gain weight.

There are only two real ways to burn calories, metabolism and exercise. To reach optimal effectiveness at getting rid of the extra fat around your midsection, you should obviously work on both of these areas.

Speeding up your metabolism is definitely something you can do, even though many people seem to erroneously believe that your metabolism rate is locked in genetically. Drinking more water, building your muscles and eating nutritious foods more often are three strong steps in the direction of a faster metabolism.

The change in your eating habits is due to the fact that the three-meals-a-day plan is horrifically inefficient for the human body. Eating this way makes us take in a lot more energy per sitting than we can burn effectively. Instead, start eating five to seven smaller meals a day. Also, while we're discussing diet, make sure those meals are nutritious and not full of empty calories from junk-fast-food.

To help keep your metabolism up, once you establish your new eating pattern, don't skip on meals. Skipping meals seems to be a very popular way of trying to lose weight, but it's a horrible plan. When you skip a meal, your body starts going into conservation mode, holds onto the fat in your body and slows your metabolism down.

With your nutrition coming into line and your metabolism going up, let's cover the exercise portion of the plan. You need to do some cardiovascular exercise regularly to burn through those calories and melt the fat off of your stomach. Getting to your six-pack abs as fast as possible means you need to balance the cardio with weight training as well, to tighten up and start building your muscles.

Don't just focus on your abdomen; work on building the muscles in your entire body. You can pay some extra attention to your abs, but be sensible about it and aim for balance.

After hearing horror stories from guys who have spent forever trying to develop their six-pack abs, you'll be amazed how quickly you can develop your own six-pack when you focus your attention towards the right areas.