I can honestly say (and maybe not the best training I have
done) but I did not do any isolated ab work for my first few figure
competitions and placed 1st and 5th (not too bad). The
reality of it is your diet and weight training has a far greater impact on your
washboard than any number of sit-ups, crunches, or hours on the “Ab blaster.”
1 Everyone
has a six-pack. It;s true, you really do. If you
were to strip away the layers of adipose tissue you would see a nice rectus
abdominis (stomach muscle) that has that definition you hope to see in the
mirror.
2 Sits
ups will not get you a six-pack.Yes sit-ups will help strengthen
your abdominus muscles (that is if you do them correctly – do not strain your
neck!) but the reality is they aren’t doing anything to bring those muscles
into visability. Think about it for a second. How many times have you seen the
guy at the gym who has that tire around his waste doing sit ups everyday but
nothing looks different? Sure hisstomach muscles might be in great
shape endurance wise and utilize oxygen efficiently but do they look any
different? Nope. This is not to say you
cannot do sit ups on your quest for your washboard, but it is saying if you
only run and do sit-ups, you will not be washing your clothes anytime soon.
3 Abs
are made in the kitchen. Okay, I know, I can be really cheesy but
let’s face it, whoever coined this term was a genius in my eyes! It’s true. Remember what we said about the
tire? In order to make this go away, we
must alter our nutrition. Nutrition is about 80-90% of the task when it comes
to optimizing our physique and performance. Start by replacing major starches
such as bread, cereals, rice and pasta with vegetables, lean protein, and
complex carbohydrates such as brown rice or quinoa. To big of a jump? Cut out the soda, and stop
drinking your calories!
4 A
complete weight lifting routine will be “bringin’
sexy “abs” back.” Yup, that’s it Justin Timberlake
can help you get through a sweat sesh to get those abs. The reality of it is,
you are training your core while you are training other body parts. This is especially
when performing large movements such as squats, lunges, pull-ups, & push-ups.
Of course like any fine-tuning you can do some isolation ab exercises to chisel
them out a little bit, but the bulk of getting those ridges will be achieved
through heavy total body lifting.
And there you have it, the quick and dirty on getting your
six-pack to show. It’s not easy (let’s be serious if it was everyone would have
one), but it’s not impossible! And next time you’re in the kitchen as yourself,
will I be able to use my washboard if I eat this? J
Until next time, remember Abs are made in the kitchen and
eat your lean protein!
Kel
