Let's face it…everyone would love to have a set of abs like Gerard Butler in 300. Shredded abs are the ultimate representation of an overall healthy and fit individual. The illustrious 6-pack is by far the most widely sought-out body part for both men and women alike. All together, Americans spend millions of dollars each year on ab-specific products and fat-burners alone, and crunch away endlessly in the gym with the hopes of waking up one day with a carved-out midsection. With all of the emphasis people put on developing their abs, the real question is: why do so few people have the washboard abs they’re looking for? Go to the beach and look around, how many unfamiliar people do you notice with a 6-pack? To be honest…probably a lot, but I’ll bet you most of them are in a cooler (ha ha).
Unfortunately, here’s the reality of "the situation":
- Building abs takes a lot of time, effort, and dedication
- There is no “magic” exercise or machine that will get you six-pack abs, it requires a combination of many factors
- There are so many misconceptions about how to develop a six-pack that people often waste a lot of time and effort focusing on the wrong things, and quite often things that are counterproductive.
My goal is to help clear the air, clarify the factors that actually contribute to a ripped midsection, and reveal what I feel are the most effective methods for developing one. Hopefully this will save you some time, money, and frustration, and more importantly get you on the right path to a midsection of the gods.
First off, it’s important to understand the different components of the abdominal region and their functions. Contrary to what people may believe, our abs actually serve a purpose besides making us look sexy without a shirt on. Strong abs are responsible primarily for: - Naturally correcting posture so that the body is in proper anatomical alignment
- Strengthening the lower back and reducing back pain
An added benefit of building strong abs is the reduction of belly fat. Belly fat is responsible for numerous health problems including heart disease. Not only will working on your abs make you look good, but you’ll get stronger and healthier in the process.
The abdominal region is made up of 4 muscle groups:- Rectus Abdominis: The rectus abdominis (RA) runs vertically down the midsection from the chest to the pelvis. These muscles are closest to the surface and form the visible 6-pack. The RA is responsible for any movement that involves bending forward (flexion) or backwards (extension) like in a traditional sit-up.
- External and Internal Obliques: The obliques run diagonally along both sides of our midsection. They are responsible for rotating the body and form the “v-cut”. Stronger obliques can help flatten out the love handles.
- Transverse Abdominis: Think of the transverse abdominis (TA) as a belt that runs around your midsection. It runs below the RA and is not visible. As you strengthen the TA that belt tightens and sucks in your entire midsection. Strengthening the TA is important for stabilizing your abs and keeping them flat and tight.
- Serratus Anterior: The serratus is the group of muscles directly below the chest and lats. They look like fingers that run diagonally along the midsection. They assist movements that involve the RA, chest, and lats.
Believe it or not, ab exercises contribute a very small amount, only about 10%, to the ab building process. About 90% of the process comes from a clean, nutritionally sound diet and cardio. Most people who actively work on their abs have some form of a 6-pack, but it’s covered by a layer of fat. In fact, in order to see your abs your body fat has to be at-or-below 10% for guys and 17% for women. That’s a very low %, which is why developing visible abs is such a difficult task. With that said, people spend way too much time doing ab exercises and not nearly enough time focusing on the more important factors: diet and nutrition, cardio, and lifting-weights. Here are a few basic tips for how to approach abdominal training:
- The most critical factor for having a nice set of abs....drum roll....is being able to see them! In order to burn fat your body has to be in a caloric deficit via eating less or exercising in some way (ie. calories burned has to be greater than calories consumed). If you’re curious about individual calorie needs I’ve posted a calorie calculator on my blog in the links section.
- Stay conscious of the foods you’re eating and try to make smart choices. Easy ways to help eliminate extra calories are to cut out soda and sugary drinks, drink less alcohol, eat foods with fiber to reduce hunger (switching from white bread to wheat bread helps), eat more whole foods instead of junk foods, and drink a lot of water. I won't go too in-depth about nutrition right now, but clean nutrition is a critical factor for revealing your abs.
- Do some form of cardio at least 3x per week to burn calories. Choose some form of cardio that you enjoy (or at least enjoy the most) and can motivate yourself to do consistently. Good sources of cardio include: using the treadmill/elliptical/bike/rower in the gym, playing sports, or even just walking instead of taking public transportation. Every little bit of extra exercise you can get will burn extra calories and help get you to your goal faster.
- Add in weight-training. Weight-training is not just for guys...I highly encourage women to weight-train as well. Weight-training is great for a few reasons:
- Not only does it burn a ton of calories during the actual training, but it also boosts your metabolism for nearly 24 hours afterwards! That means more calories burned when you're watching TV, sitting in class, and relaxing.
- Weight-training has been proven to burn a greater percentage of calories from fat tissue, as opposed to burning calories from stored carbohydrates or muscle.
- Your body's muscle burns more calories at rest than your body's fat does. The more muscle you have on your body, the more calories you will burn naturally at rest. A good balance of cardio and weight-training will help build muscle, burn calories, and result in effective fat loss.
- Lastly, focus on abdominal training. There is absolutely no need to work your abs more than 2-3 times per week max. If you work your abs too often you won’t give them the time to adequately rest and recover. Muscles grow at rest, not in the gym. Working your abs every day is counterproductive and can actually prevent your abs from growing...so don't waste your time! Keep each ab session to no more than 10 minutes long. The abs are surprisingly an easy muscle group to build compared to the rest of our body, they need a small amount of stimulation to grow and develop.
- For ab exercises, keep sets in the 12-20 rep range. Reps should be slow, deliberate, and under control. I really emphasize squeezing and tightening your abs at the peak contraction point (i.e. the top of a crunch when you're abs are really contracting) to get the best results. Higher reps have been proven to stimulate the abs better, but keep it to 20 maximum per set.
Ab Exercises Still Matter...
With all of that said, choosing effective ab exercises is still a critical part of the process. Here are a few of my favorite exercises that I like to incorporate into my training routine whenever possible. It’s important to switch the exercises you do every few weeks so that your body doesn’t adapt and stop growing, so choose new exercises every once in a while.
Plank: The plank works your entire core region, specifically your transverse (remember the ab belt). Planks will really help tighten up your abs and give it an overall flatter look.Think Brad Pitt abs in Fight Club.
Move into push up position and place your forearms on the ground in front of you. Brace your abs and hold yourself up steady for as long as you can. Make sure to keep your back straight throughout the entire exercise and keep your butt low.
Keep track of how long you can hold it for, and then the next time you do it shoot to improve on your time. For a more advanced version, hold yourself up with only your right forearm and left foot for a few seconds, and then switch to your left forearm and right foot. Rinse and repeat.
Swiss Ball Jackknife: For the swiss ball jackknife you’re going to need a blow-up exercise ball. Move into push up position, except this time place your feet on top of the ball. Brace your abs, keep your hands in place, and pull your knees in towards your chest. Roll the ball back out to the starting position and repeat.
Medicine ball throw with a partner: For the medicine ball throw you need a medicine ball and a partner. Face forward and have a partner stand off to your right. While keeping your hips stationary ask your partner to throw you the ball, and when you catch it rotate your abs all the way to the left, and then powerfully torque your abs back to the right and throw them the ball. Make sure that your partner switches to your left side after so that you work the opposite side of your core. This will really work your obliques and entire core.
If you play baseball of golf this is a great exercise for increasing your overall power.
Bicycle Crunch: The bicycle crunch is one of my favorite exercises for overall abdominal development. It works both the obliques and RA simultaneously. Studies have been done and the bicycle crunch has been proven to be one of the most effective ab exercises. Start by lying on the floor with your knees up and your legs at a 90 degree angle. Extend your right leg straight out and crunch your right elbow over to your left knee. Return to the starting position, then extend your left leg straight out and crunch your left elbow over to your right knee. The motion should look like you're riding a recumbent bicycle...without the bicycle of course.
Activity in Rectus Abdominis |
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Captain's chair | |
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Traditional crunch | |
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Activity in Obliques |
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The tables help highlight that traditional crunches and ab machines, such as the ab rocker and ab roller, are much less effective compared to a variety of other exercises. The bicycle crunch is a great exercise and should be a staple in any ab routine.
Swiss Ball Crunches: The swiss exercise ball crunch is much more effective than the traditional crunch, and it puts a lot less stress on your back and neck. When this gets too easy, hold a weight behind your head and crunch. Make sure that you really squeeze your abs at the top of the crunch.
Reverse Crunch and Pulse Ups: Both exercises directly target the lower section of the RA.
· Reverse crunch: Lie on your back with your knees in the air and your legs at a 90 degree angle. Without moving your upper body or head slowly lift your butt up off the floor, hold it for 1 second, and then lower.
· Pulse ups: This is similar to the reverse crunch, but it's a little bit more advanced. Lie on your back and stick your legs directly up in the air. Like the reverse crunch, lift your butt up off the floor without moving your upper body or head, hold it for 1 second, and then lower.
Abdominal Weighted Windshield Wipers: Sounds like a tongue twister right? This exercise is for those of you who are feeling ambitious and have well-developed abdominal strength. It's difficult, but it's an amazing workout. One of my personal favorites. It's a little complicated at first so I'll break it down step-by-step.- Get a barbell or set of dumbbells that are equivalent in weight to what you can normally bench press.
- Lie flat on the floor with your legs straight out and hold the barbell/dumbbell directly over your head. Your arms and upper body shouldn't move at all. You should comfortably be able to hold the weight for the entire exercise, if it gets too heavy use a lighter weight.
- First raise your legs straight up as if you were doing a leg lift, except your butt comes off of the floor at the top of the movement. Basically combine a leg lift with a pulse up.
- Once your butt is off the floor, drop your legs down to your left side so that your feet hit the floor.
- Bring your legs back up, and drop your legs all the way to the right side.
- Bring your legs back up to the middle and drop them down to the starting position.
- Rinse and repeat for at least a set of 10.
I couldn't find a good picture of this exercise because it's not widely known, it's more of a makeshift exercise.The picture serves as a good illustration of how your legs should move from the center, to the left, and then to the right. This will work everything...your RA, lower abs, obliques, transverse, and it will even serve as additional strength training for your arms and chest. For people who lift weights, compound exercises such as squats and deadlifts are another effective way to indirectly train your abs. Your abs are critical for stabilizing your back. When doing squats, deadlifts, shoulder presses and other exercises that require you to keep your back straight, always keep your core tight to prevent back injury. That core-tightening is a very effective ab training technique on top of traditional ab training. These big lifts will also boost your metabolism which is beneficial for burning fat, and stimulate the production of HGH and testosterone which are important hormones in the muscle building process.Hopefully this will help clear up some of the confusion regarding ab training and give you a better idea about the different components that play a role in building a rock-hard midsection.
