You’ve reached phase 3, so it’s time for an abs workout to get your core ready for the exhibition case. You’ll need a combination of two items to accomplish this: It would help if you were trimmed with about 12% body fat; men will notice the outline of their abs, while women will observe a definition of around 17–18% body fat. For comparison, magazine cover model types typically range between 5 and 7 percent for men and 14 and 15 percent for women.
You must have well-developed, muscular abs. Your abs will only push through lingering body fat and give you the dense, toned look you desire if you have a particular level of lean muscle. So some of those “icing on the cake” rectus abdominis movements come in handy here (though, as you’ll see later, you’ll still be utilizing safer and more functional techniques than sit-ups or crunches).
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Dropping Fat to Show Off Your Abs
At the most basic level, the only thing that matters for fat reduction is to create a calorie deficit. Regardless of what supplement vendors or shady infomercials tell you, science reveals that you can’t “spot reduce” and direct your body to drop fat on that unpleasant region just below your belly button. But you can increase muscle in a single place while losing fat all over your body.
There are numerous strategies to achieve the necessary calorie deficit. The by-the-numbers method involves figuring out how many calories you need to eat each day to keep your weight the same and then eating a few hundred fewer calories than that. You can do this on your own using a body weight calculator or with the help of a coach, who can help you set specific goals based on your wants and needs. Assuming you are moderately active and work out three or four times per week, a reasonable ballpark figure is a 500-calorie-per-day reduction for men and a 300-calorie-per-day reduction for women.
Stay calm. While most want to lose weight quickly, those “lose weight fast” diets are deceiving. Regardless of what the latest diet craze claims, research reveals that the maximum pace of “good” fat reduction is roughly 1-2% of body weight every week.
Another tricky element is that the faster you lose fat, the slower you lose fat. Using the percentages above, you can see how someone weighing 250 pounds could lose up to 5 pounds weekly, while someone weighing 180 pounds might struggle to lose one.
Almost everyone feels like fat reduction is happening slower than they would like. Yet, proceeding slowly and sustainably rather than quickly and crashing is preferable. According to some studies, the average individual spends six weeks on a strict diet and then 14 weeks off of it. If you have a trip in 12 weeks and want to drop 20 pounds to look good in your new bikini or stand shirtless at the beach, the time to start is now.
The Best Abs Workout
To grow, your abs, like any other muscle, require time under tension, metabolic stress (that nauseating yet delightful burn you’ve felt during sets of crunches), and muscular damage (which sounds terrible but refers to the process of creating microtears in muscle tissue so that it can heal stronger).
Here’s how to make it all happen:
Initially, you’ll continue lifting weights with compound movements three to four times a week. For instance, squats, rows, and deadlifts make you stronger from head to toe, work your abs, and give your body the training response it needs to change.
Second, incorporate “anti-movements” into your workouts to develop a strong, stable, and injury-resistant core.
Lastly, you’ll make moves that focus on your abs to get the deep muscle separations that are needed to see your abs.
But, as you’ve read numerous times in this post, sit-ups and crunches aren’t your best options for reaching objective #3. Why? Because those movements repeatedly bend your spinal discs, a process described as consequential damage. Instead, here are five excellent exercises that will help you build lean muscle for beach season without putting you in danger:
1. Holding a Hollow Body
The hollow body hold is a gymnastics move that teaches you to brace and hold a neutral spine while using your whole rectus abdominis muscle.
Look up while lying flat on the ground. Flex your knees and point your toes away from you, flattening your lower back. Straighten your legs while raising your arms perpendicular to your chest. Maintain a flat back and lift your head and shoulders off the ground. Try to accomplish these at least twice a week.
2. Lift Your Legs While Hanging
A popular workout for targeting your lower abs is the hanging leg lift. You’ll stretch the lats, generate a firmer grip, and develop more muscular forearms by maintaining your elbows slightly bent and shoulders retracted (i.e., held down and in rather than creeping up near your ears).
Grasp a pull-up bar with a double overhand grip, squeezing it as tight as possible while keeping your elbows slightly bent. Tuck your shoulders into your back pocket and hold them there.
Lift your legs to just past 90 degrees, producing an L shape with your body. Pause for two seconds at the top, then lower with control. Too difficult? Then, try them with your knees bent, lifting and holding for 5–10 seconds.
If you find it difficult to hold on to the bar, try the Roman chair variation, which relies on your elbows and upper torso for support.
3. Rollout of the Stability Ball
Stability ball rollouts are a great way to strengthen your abs and prepare for the ab wheel rollout, which is a more difficult challenge.
To begin, kneel on the floor (a yoga mat beneath your knees may be helpful) and face a stability ball with your arms extended in front of your body. Your hands should be on top of the ball. Brace your abs to keep your back from arching, then bend forward and roll your arms as far as possible over the ball, lowering your entire torso toward the floor. Then, draw your arms and torso back in the other direction until you are back in the starting position.
4. Ab Wheel Removal
Ab wheel rollouts are lethal for developing solid and thick abs. They not only help you grow muscle, but they also force you to resist unnecessary lower back extension.
Kneel and grasp the wheel’s handles with your arms locked out beneath your shoulders. Roll the wheel forward as far as you can without moving your hips or arching your lower back, then roll back.
5. The Cable Crunch
Remember when crunches and sit-ups were fashionable? There are still effective methods to perform the crunch, but this is another variation that puts you in a position where you are less likely to injure your back and where you may add extra weight to make it more challenging. Like any other exercise, progressive overloading with weight can help you create more muscular abs.
Kneel in front of the pulley and grip the ends of a rope tied to the high cable along your face. Lean forward, your chest aimed at your pelvis. Return to your starting point and repeat the exercise.
Here’s what it looks like to combine all those exercises into a single session:
Abs Exercise Routine Example
For 4-6 weeks, repeat this sample routine 2-3 times per week.
Two sets of 8–12 reps, rest 90 seconds, ab wheel rollout OR stability ball rollout.
Three sets of four seconds each were followed by a 45-second break.
Hanging Leg Raise: Do 3 sets of 12–15 reps with a 45-second rest.
Three sets of 15 reps of cable crunch, rest 45 seconds
The Key Takeaways
Think about “core” before “abs,” and start with exercises that work against an extension, lateral flexion, rotation, and activation of the glutes; this aids in injury prevention.
Then there’s performance. By completing compound lifts with your core adequately engaged, you will develop core strength as well as full-body strength.
Finally, add some level of direct ab exercise while improving the core’s ability to inhibit movement to get show-worthy abs. Take a steady approach to fat loss to show off your hard work with a lean, defined midsection.
Above all, you need a well-balanced training program to build your best-looking and best-performing body.
[…] Your preventative dose is at the start of your workouts. You will perform core activation work before lifting. Core activation is a set of core exercises that “wakes up” all of the muscles in your trunk by asking them to execute activities they usually complete. (Click here read Part 1) (Click here read Part 3) […]