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How to Get Defined Abs
Seeing your abs – or any other muscle group for that matter - is
strictly the result of having low body fat levels. You get low body fat
from proper diet and cardio, not from doing hundreds of ab exercises.
It may seem like your lower ab muscles are hard to develop, but it’s not
really an issue of muscle development at all – you simply store your
fat in the lower abdominal region more readily than other parts of your body.
Most people don’t have their fat distributed evenly throughout their bodies.
Each of us inherits a genetically determined pattern of fat storage
just as we inherit our eye or hair color. In other words, the fat seems to
"stick" to certain areas more than others. Men often tend to store fat
more readily in the lower abdominal region (the "pot belly").
In women, the "stubborn" areas are usually the hips, thighs ("saddlebags")
and the triceps ("grandmother arms"). These are the first places the fat
goes to, and the last places the fat comes off.
You could focus on more "lower ab" exercises like hanging leg raises,
reverse crunches and hip lifts, but even these won’t help,
as long as you still have body fat covering the muscles.
You can’t "spot reduce." I would suggest cutting back the volume
on your ab training and spending the time on more cardio instead.
Here is a typical ab routine for defining your abs:
• Hanging leg raises 3 sets, 15-25 reps
• Hanging knee ups (bent-knee leg raises) 3 sets, 15-25 reps
• Incline Reverse Crunches 3 sets, 15-25 reps
• Weighted Cable Crunches 3 sets, 10-25 reps
For maximum fat loss, you should do cardio 5-7 days per week
for 30-60 minutes. You could mix up the type of cardio you do
(stationary cycling, stairclimbing, elliptical machines,
and other continuous aerobic activities are all excellent fat burners).
Once you are satisfied with your level of body fat and your abdominal
definition, you can cut back to 3-4 days per week for 20-30
minutes for maintenance.
As for the diet, here are a few fat-burning nutrition guidelines in a nutshell:
• Eat about 15-20% below your calorie maintenance level
• Spread your calories into 5-6 small meals instead of 2-3 big ones.
• Eat a source of complete, high quality protein with each meal.
• Choose natural, complex carbs such as vegetables, oatmeal, yams,
potatoes, brown rice and whole grains.
• Start with at least 50% of your calories from complex carbs
and reduce carbs slightly (esp. late in the day) if you are not losing fat.
• Avoid refined, simple carbs that contain white flour or white sugar
• Keep total fats low and saturated fats low. Aim for only 15-20%
of your total calories from fat. A little bit of "good fat" like flax oil is
better than a no fat diet.
• Drink plenty of water – a gallon is a good goal to shoot for
if you are physically active.
1000+ reps of ab work four days a week is an amazing feat of endurance,
but that’s not how you get abs. If your abs are covered up with a layer
of fat, you won’t be able to see them, no matter how many crunches
or sit ups you do. You "get abs" from reducing your body fat
and you reduce body fat mostly through diet and cardio.
For more info, download Defined Abs, a free ebook.
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