You should always work hard for what you want. That way if it turns out to be easier than you thought, you are that much further along by the time you find out! There is nothing to lose in working hard and everything to gain. Working hard is not enough by itself, however; you need to work smart! Make plans and stick to them to the very end. This is the only ways to succeed in getting six pack abs or in getting anything worth getting! This stuff is not complicated and to think it is is only an excuse to not take action.

Do the hard exercises and do them right! Your body needs good stimulation in order to grow with each workout. A light workout is only useful to get blood to the area and aid recovery after an intense workout. Other than that, light workouts serve no practical purpose! Calories can be much more easily burnt through intense exercise and you can build some muscle while you are at it! On top of burning off fat and building real muscle, intense exercise will not take up a large portion of your free time. Real training is intense but also brief. Your body does not need to have energy stores used up to make progress; you need to push your muscles, not drain your blood sugar levels to make progress.

Cardio does help. Just like with muscle training, you should keep it intense and brief. Once again, you just need to stimulate the body to make changes. Wearing yourself out completely is a pointless exercise that will burn calories in the short term but damage your body and make you gain it all back with interest in the long term. Do sprints if you can not think of anything else to do. Sprints are a reliable way to push your body to the limit so long as you can bring yourself to that level mentally. Learn how to sprint properly and aim for speed. If you aim for speed, you will find that you exert your self harder than if you aim for, say, pumping your legs as hard as you can. This is all mental in nature and you need to respect that fact.

Take care of this stuff and do so consistently and you will know how six pack abs are made. You will know because you made them yourself! Enjoy!