“Abs are made in the kitchen”. Have you heard that one before?
What it usually means is, having great abs is all about keeping your body fat low. Some even say that ab exercises hardly matter.
Well, it’s not quite true.
In fact, plenty of folks have a low body fat percentage but their abs are “meh”.
Yes, it helps to have less belly fat. It’s pretty hard to see abs if you are carrying a significant amount of extra weight around your midsection.
But the fact is, developing your abdominal muscles matters a lot if you want an eye-popping midsection. And by building strong abs you will be able to see them without having a ridiculously low body fat.
The Not-So-Secret Ingredient
Developing your abs requires strength-building exercises.
If you aren’t overweight, the size and thickness of your abdominal muscles will determine whether your stomach looks toned or skinny-fat. If you are carrying extra belly fat, developing strong abdominal muscles will be a shortcut to looking fit sooner.
According to “The World’s Most Ripped Fitness Model” Obi Obadike, men can see abs at 12-13% body fat if they have thick abs. Women can see abs at 14-16% body fat [source].
You can get thicker, stronger abdominal muscles without targeting them directly all the time. There are many types of exercises that will develop your abs:
- swimming
- pushups
- squats
- yoga
- pilates
- rowing
- kickboxing
The list could go on and on. Any activity that activates your core will lead to abdominal strength.
However, if you want more defined abs, you’ll need to exercise them directly.
A Shortcut To Getting a Six Pack
If six pack abs has been a longtime goal of yours, it is completely achievable.
One sneaky trick is to do abs every single day. Yes, a lot of people say you shouldn’t, but it’s another shortcut for getting defined abs.
Doing this helps you 1) increase the size of your abs, and 2) neurologically train your ab muscles to stay toned a strong.
You can get away with doing just a little bit every day. Even if you only do 100 reps of some basic ab bodyweight exercises you’ll see results quickly. If you’re really ambitious, you can do a lot more.
High-Repetition or Low-Repetition?
For some reason most people only work their abs with high-repetition workouts. Even if the other parts of their routine involve sets of 5-10 reps, they almost always do many more reps of light bodyweight exercises for their abs.
This is not necessary.
There are plenty of exercises that will work your abs hard enough that you won’t be able to do more than 10 reps.
Try this:
-lay on your back holding a medicine ball
-hold the medicine ball above your head with your arms extended straight
-perform a V-up, transferring the medicine ball to in between your ankles at the height of the movement
-lower your arms and legs back down, squeezing the medicine tightly between your ankles
-repeat, this time bringing the ball back to your hands
If you choose a challenging weight, you shouldn’t be able to do more than 8-10 in one set.
For The Best Abs Possible
Everybody with a “wow” stomach takes abdominal muscle development seriously. Unlike most gym goers, who are happy to train their arms and legs hard but usually make treat abs as an afterthought.
Don’t be afraid to work your abs hard. Most of us who take it easy on our abs will feel sore after a brutal ab workout, but if you do it regularly you’ll get used to it fast.
The best abs program we’ve seen is the Ab Torture program. It’s guaranteed to make you feel more sore abs than you’ve ever felt before! And it’s also almost guaranteed to get your the best abs of your life. Almost because it’s up to you to actually follow it, of course.
But you have to be willing to put up with some serious workout pain. Up to you 🙂
