The body loses weight from the extremities in. So the last place to get really lean when you are losing weight is usually the hips, thighs and lower belly. Doing another exercise for that area is not going to hurt you but it probably is not the ticket you are looking for if you want to get really lean in that area.

The shortest route to getting rid of that extra tissue around lower belly is whatever it is that is going to cause you to burn off more fat. Depending on how you want to go about that it could be a more strict diet, more cardio or a higher level of intensity on your resistance training.

Another cause of the lower belly sticking out is bad posture. Sometimes the hip flexors get really tight and pull on the lower back area. This causes a sort of sway back look like you see on a tired old horse. The lower back gets pulled in. The glutes stick out and so does the belly.

Sometimes a good stretching routine that lengthens out the hip flexors and gets them to relax will flatten out the lower belly area. The glutes and lower back will level out a little and the front of the body will even out to the point where it is flat even when you don’t try to hold it in.

You can shorten the hip flexors by doing to much sitting and improper abdominal movements. Things like the sitting bikes for cardio always keep you in a shorten position. This over time can cause the hip flexors to shorten up by getting tight. You can see it become really apparent when people have a short walking or jogging stride. They will not achieve full extension on their stride.

When you do exercises like the hanging leg raise without lifting your hips, you can also tighten up the hip flexors. This will happen when people only lift their legs. You’ll know you are lifting with only the legs if you feel the burn in the crease where your upper thigh and front hip bones meet. Where you should be feeling it is in the front of your torso. A gradual fading burn from the lower area to the upper area of the abdominals. In order to accomplish that feeling you must lift your hips forward. Roll the front of your hips up towards your chin instead of only lifting the legs. It’s a small difference but will make all the difference to where the movement effects your body.

I hope that helps you out and remember that the shortest route to getting rid of lower belly fat is not a single magical exercise but a combination of stricter dieting, proper form and resistance training.

It all depends on your goals but your theory is right Karen. If you are training the abs for development, strength and size, they should be given rest and trained every other day at the most. However, overtraining a muscle will cause it to shrink and maybe that is the school of thought your husband is following. When you train a muscle every day, it does not get a chance to rebuild bigger and stronger and so it basically “eats itself away”. This does make you weaker in that area also.

Its not something that I would advise but people have been doing it for years. Then again, just cause everyone is doing it..doesn’t make it right!

Wild because most everyone ignores it except for six weeks prior
to swimsuit season, and woolly because wool is what infomercials
try to pull over your eyes when they try to sell you the “next fast track to a six pack.”

The truth is that unless you begin with an existing four-pack and an
effective dietary regime, there is no “fast track to a six pack.
Relating abdominal training to reducing the size of your waist is like avoiding regular maintenance on your car and then trying to repair any problems that arise by fixing the road; one is not directly related to the other.

From an abdominal training perspective, proper muscular function,
postural enhancement, and strength development are all
possible, even probable, via a sound exercise route, which is
what we are offering here. To dispel common myths and mythtakes,
use this as your abs primer. This is your Coles Notes for fit folks.

Note: This program is intended for healthy individuals free of
back pain. Exercising the deep abdominal and back muscles can
strengthen and protect the back by helping to prevent injuries;
however, abdominal training or any other fitness-based programs
should not be attempted without the clearance of your
doctor, physiotherapist, and probably your lawyer as well. If
your physician has cleared you to engage in this abdominal
training program then welcome to your future.

Do you really want a six-pack? The most important group of
muscles and the hardest to control for abdominal definition are
located just above your chin and below your nose. How you
look is what you eat, not what you do. This is not a diet book,
but if you want to see any indication of the stronger abdominal
wall we are going to establish in the next six weeks, we have to
deal with this, the toughest issue, first.

Regardless of how often and how well you work out, it is what
you eat that will be the number-one determinant of your
health. More than likely, eating is the last thing you want to
deal with while you get in shape, but you cannot put the cart
before the horse. It is far easier to make sure that you work out
hard five or six times a week than it is to eat well three or four
times a day. Did I say work out five or six times a week? Yes,
ultimately that is what this book is all about, getting off the
couch, putting down your fork, and stepping away from the
table.

Realistically we do not need rest as much as we need exercise.
We rest our muscles every day while sitting at a desk, in a car,
on the phone, or watching television. Fighting this trend and
changing your body is going to take a little pain, a little resistance,
and a lot of willpower. The truth is that you should be
physically active in one form or another as many days a week as
you eat. As we age our metabolism slows, our muscle mass
degenerates, and the frivolous food choices made in our past
catch up to us.

Any hope we have of proudly baring ripped bellies
lies in establishing functional long-term eating habits. Now I
am not saying you cant break out of the cave once in a while
and hunt down a pack of wild Oreos, but if its abdominal definition
you’re after, closer attention to dietary detail is a necessity.

The six-pack that Pete Estabrooks wants his clients to enjoy has no foam but plenty of body. He is a Calgary-based personal trainer who has built a business and reputation on making abdominal muscles stronger and more visible. Learn more about Pete and his six weeks to a six pack program.

 I just got your book and am about to start the program the day after tomorrow, I got to work all of tomorrow. Mainly I am concerned about ab exercises. The first phase described in the book only recommends 3 sets of crunches 3 times a week but I have been kicking my ass with ab exercises for a while now. My usual routine is 3 or 4 sets of crunches similar to the v-sit (20 reps each set) every other day. On the days in between I do 2 sets of the v-sit crunches, 2 sets of leg lifts (laying on the ground and raising the legs) and 2 sets of side crunches (both sides) 20 reps each set.

I don’t know if I am pushing myself too much but I can feel a lot of muscle under the “blanket” as you so eloquently called it, so when I start phase 1 should I change up the routine or stay with what I am doing? Also if there is some exercises you think I should incorporate into my routine I would appreciate it. People say its good to work your abs everyday, what do you think of this?

Answer From Ray:
******
Put your routine in there with some modifications. Instead of the crunches I recommend, do 4 sets of hanging leg raises to failure and that will do it for you. I do know that when some people train abs more than they actually should, that they do feel better about their waist line. The only problem is that it is only psychological. You are either training a muscle group to make it stronger, bigger or to have more endurance. Training abs every day could make them have more endurance, but it will not benefit their appearance, that is a result of fat loss.
*******

Also I have been doing 3 types of chest exercises. 1 bench press for lower chest, 1 bench press for upper chest and the exercise where I hold weights lying on a bench and bring them together over my chest (sorry don’t know the proper name)(RAY: These are called flys). With these I do the pyramid style of weights used in the “body for life” routine. I can see doing all these exercises in the 3×15 style you show in phase 1 but am I overdoing it? What do you think? Should I keep up the 3 types of chest exercises or stick to regular bench presses for now?

ANSWER FROM RAY:
******
Follow the program. This is too much for now. There is a time for more exercises and reps later in the third workout program of the FAT TO FIT SYSTEM. Another important note is that I need you to do each set of every exercise with a high intensity like your life depended on getting one more repetition. Think quality over quantity. Burn fat through cardio, not hours of weight training.
******

Lastly I have never been too happy with the exercises I have tried for my upper back, it feels like my arms burn out before I really start to feel my back muscles burn. I have been doing a the standard row exercise on a weight machine and the backwards fly exercise where I have weights connected on the machine and pull my arms back. Do I just need to strengthen my arms more or do I need a different exercise?

ANSWER FROM RAY:
******
You will be doing different exercises because of the program but the real problem lies in not enough mind muscle connection because of a lack of concentration or too much weight being used. When the weight is too heavy your body tries to help out the back by included the arms into the pull. I had the same problem when I started and then a big gym monkey came over to me and pulled the pin out of weight stack. Then he put it in at half the weight and said, “Now you will work your back”. Then he walked away! He was right, now I can get a pump in my back by THINKING of chin ups.
******

Thats about it for now I think. I know its a lot of info but tell me your opinion on how I can work all this stuff into the phase 1 series and I’ll get right on it. Thanks in advance for your help and by the way, this is the most info I have ever gotten for 20 bucks! Thanks for your time in this project. Thanks in advance for your help.

Joel Smith
P.S. I usually take cod liver oil, is this just as good as flaxseed oil?

FROM RAY: Kind of but not really. They both good and have their uses but each oil has a different blend of omega 3-6-9’s. Use up your cod liver oil and then buy flaxseed next time to see what you think.

www.FatToFitProgram.com

Anyway I wanted to put this notion to rest that there is some magic to getting a six pack. Sure there is some genetics involved in sculpting perfect abs but the two most important factors are diet and exercise.

What? Did you think there was a shortcut?

The diet part is fairly simple; you need to drop any extra fat. You have probably heard this before but there is no such thing as spot reduction when you are losing weight. You will lose weight proportionately, generally, as you lose weight. What you may find is that you have a large stomach and if that is the case of course you will lose that fat faster than you lose the fat on your legs but that is just because that is where the fat deposits will be easiest for your body to use.

As you probably know from reading other posts of mine I subscribe to the idea that people eat too many carbohydrates generally but I still do not support the Atkins diet generally. I believe that you must increase your protein to 20% of your diet, keep fats at about 20% of the calories of your diet and then have carbs as the other 60% of the calories of your diet. If you still have trouble losing you may be a bit sensitive to carbohydrates and you can up the protein a little.

As for exercise, to get a set of six pack abs you will have to do two things; get in an hour of cardio a day to increase your metabolism and start really dropping the fat and secondly make sure that you do your abdominal exercises at the start of your workouts.

For cardio exercise it does not really matter what kind of cardio exercise you get but it is always best to vary your exercise so that you do not overtrain any one muscle group. I never see people speak of this in regards to cardio training but I have found in the past with my bicycling that when I am riding a lot my legs get sore but the rest of my body recovers fine. So maybe try to alternate some kind of biking, swimming, hiking, running, brisk walking and even using a rowing machine if you have a chance. Do cardio almost every day, five or six days a week is good, seven days a week is pushing it a little too much in my eyes.

Next is the abdominal exercises themselves. There are three places to target for your abdominals, the obliques, which are on your sides, your upper abdominals and your lower abdominals. Doing abdominal exercises is something that some people believe you should do every day but I really believe you are doing well if you just do them every second day or three days a week.

For your obliques you can do twists. Simply sit on a bench with you body straight up and down and put some kind of a light bar or broomstick across your shoulders and then do twists twist from one side to the other as far as you can go for two sets of 100 reps. The key is to not use much weight at all as gaining muscle on your obliques will widen your midsection which is not something most people want to do.

To work your upper abdominals you want to do some kind of sit ups or crunches. I am more a fan of crunches as they are easier on your neck and mower back. Lie on your back with your legs up on the seat of a chair so that your legs are at a 90 degree angle to your body and then just lift your shoulders a few inches of the ground and then let them down again. This should put stress on your abs and you should feel it pretty intensely after just a few reps. be sure to do this exercise slowly and for at least three sets of 30 reps.

To work your lower abdominals you need to do something that raises your legs in the air as opposed to lifting your upper body into the air. The exercise that I prefer for this is a kind of reverse crunch that I do not have a name for. I lie flat on my back and hold something behind my head to keep my upper body stable and then I just bring my knees up towards my chest and back down to the ground again. If you get really strong this way you can try just lifting your legs straight out and up but sadly I am not that strong.

If you follow this plan you will se results very quickly and depending on how much fat you have to lose you can see rock hard abs fairly quickly. The other great thing about strengthening your abs besides looking better is the fact that strengthening your core makes you stronger overall and help out with your balance and even your stamina.

A: If you want to build a serious set of abdominals, routinely perform the following exercises and their variations: squats, deadlifts, chin-ups, and standing military presses. These multi-joint movements require a strong contribution from the abdominals to stabilize the core, particularly when heavy loads are used. It is not uncommon to hear clients complain of abdominal soreness a day or two after performing multiple sets with a decent weight of the chin-up or standing military press exercise – the ab prestretch will tap into fibers you never thought existed! And remember, your abdominals act as a natural girdle, or weight belt if you will, when performing all exercises, particularly squats and deadlifts. These muscles act as a bridge between your upper and lower body and are heavily recruited as stabilizers.

Sure, isolation exercises like pullovers, curls, and even triceps pressdowns also require a good degree of core stability; however, the loads used are relatively low compared to the big 4 mentioned above. In fact, according to Siff & Verkhoshansky, isolation becomes virtually impossible if large loads are used, and in many cases, the tension developed in the stabilizers will equal or even exceed that of the prime movers!* So, you see, the abdominals can be trained quite effectively as stabilizers – the physiques of top Olympic weightlifters will attest to that.

Q: I have been training for years and I can’t seem to feel any soreness in my abdominals anymore. Is there something I can do to wake these guys up?

A: ABSolutely! If you’ve been doing tons of reps of wimpy little abdominal exercises like most people, then it’s no wonder that you’re stuck in a rut. Remember, the abdominals are composed of primarily fast-twitch fibers. Here’s what I suggest to tap into those “guys”:

* pick big (i.e. multi-joint, compound) movements

* train in a full range of motion (get the prestretch when working abdominals)

* perform explosive concentric & slow eccentric contractions

* do lots of sets of low reps using heavy loads

* make sure you get enough rest between sets

Okay, so here’s the routine:

A1) Lean-Away Chin-Ups 6 x 1-3 @ 5-0-X-0, 120 secs.

* add weight to chin/dip belt, clear chin at top, lean back as you come down by pushing the bar away and make sure to go all the way down at bottom

A2) Standing Military Press 6 x 1-3 @ 5-0-X-0, 120 secs.

* clean the weight up to your shoulders, stand with your legs straight (yes, that means knees locked) and arch back slightly to maximize prestretch

B1) Decline Leg Raise/Plank 4-6 x 4-6 @ 5-0-X-0, 90 secs.

* this is similar to the move in Rocky IV, raise your legs until they are perpendicular to your body then shoot your hips up to form a bow from head to toe, slowly lower your body staying as rigid as possible.

B2) Sicilian Crunch 4-6 x 4-6 @ 5-0-X-0, 90 secs.

* laying supine on a Swiss ball, crunch inwards with the dumbbell resting on your chest then extend your arms out (completely outstretched, in-line with your torso) during the slow eccentric.

If you would like to finish off with a couple sets of wheel rollouts for as many reps as possible, be my guest. Make sure to work the legs and back/hip extensors during another workout. Rolling out of bed the next day should offer a pleasant surprise!

Let’s face it. Our eyes gravitate towards a flat and well toned abdominal region. We all want that elusive flat, firm and enviable look of ‘washboard abs’. The muscles of your abdominal region, and indeed the midsection aren’t isolated; they weave through your torso like a web of high-tensile steel, and it’s critical to train them the right way.

So how do you get results fast? A recent study by the American Council on Exercise has the answer. Let’s discover the 3 most effective exercises to get flat abdominals, the correct way to breathe during abdominal exercises and tips and tricks to get results faster. I have integrated these exercises to help thousands of clients get results. You can view my clients in action with exercise videos and download full color abdominal exercise routines, diet plans and ebooks by registering on my websites mentioned at the end of this article.

A California study conducted by the American Council on Exercise has determined that the classic sit-up is not the best answer for stronger, flatter abdominals. The conclusions were intriguing, to say the least. The traditional sit-up was among the least effective abdominal muscle exercises.

Sit-ups (in which you raise your trunk up from the floor with your knees straight or bent) involve the hip muscles disproportionately relative to the abdominals. This means the hip muscles work more and the abdominal muscles work less i.e they are not getting trained in the right manner. In addition, there is an unnecessary (and potentially harmful) strain on the lower back. The sit-up is not only ineffective, but potentially harmful.

There’s more, and it’s equally surprising. The study indicated that several gadgets for the abdominals were either ineffective or marginally more effective than a regular abdominal crunch, which doesn’t cost you anything, other than the time required to learn the right technique.

Now for the big news. The top three abdominal muscle exercises were:

The Bicycle maneuver. The Captains Chair. Crunch on an exercise ball.

For best results.

Start with 2-3 sets of each exercise, 8-10 repetitions. Increase by 8-10 repetitions each week till you work your way up to a set of 40 repetitions in each set. 2 sets of 35-40 repetitions a day for the abdominals is ideal, and you do not need to train more than that.

Breathing during abdominal muscle exercises.

With all abdominal muscle exercises, exhale as you contract / exert / come up / crunch your abdominals; inhale as you relax / lower / return to the starting position.

Points to remember.

1. If you have lower back injuries or pain, consult a doctor before you begin, so you don’t hurt yourself. Also see a physician if you are over 35, have been sedentary for a long time, have high blood pressure and/or cholesterol, are a smoker, have chest pains or shortness of breath or have had a joint or muscle injury.

2. It’s not the number of repetitions, but the quality and technique that gets results. Overdoing sit-ups can hurt your lower back. Besides, the best way to get those flat lower abdominal muscles is to be patient for 8-10 weeks, eat a healthy diet and do regular aerobic exercise.

The problem is that most of the abdominal exercises that are recommended all over the internet, and in magazines, etc, are not necessarily the best method to get that six-pack abs appearance. First and foremost, the most important aspect for great looking six pack abdominals is losing the extra belly fat that is covering them up. To be honest, most people already have decent abdominals underneath, yet the six-pack abs are simply covered up by all of that extra flabby stomach fat.

Instead of focusing so much on abdominal exercises to make your stomach flatter and more like a six-pack, you will lose much more body fat by focusing the majority of your training time with special combinations of high intensity full-body, multi-joint exercises. The best exercises for losing that abdominal fat are the exercises that work the largest portions of the body at once.

Exercises that work the large muscle groups of the legs, upper and lower back, and chest give you the biggest metabolic bang for your buck in terms of abdominal fat loss. Combining these types of big multi-joint exercises in high intensity super-set, tri-set, or circuit fashion gives you the biggest fat-burning and metabolism boosting response from your workouts.

And that is one of the best kept secrets for flat sexy abdominals that are actually visible as a six-pack!

Now when it comes to abdominal-specific exercises, another mistake most people make is mindlessly pumping away with hundreds of crunches and other meaningless abs exercises that barely give your abdominals much resistance to work against. If you want to actually develop your abdominals to the best extent possible, don’t waste your time with exercises that you can do more than 20 or 25 reps… that means you are definitely not doing an exercise that provides enough resistance to the abs. Exercises that give you enough resistance to get you down into the 6-15 rep range per set works great for the abs.

Generally, higher resistance abdominal exercises that provide a much larger stimulus to the abs come in the form of exercises that involve raising/curling the legs and pelvis either upward or inward closer to the trunk. A couple great examples of these higher resistance abdominal exercises are hanging leg raises or knee raises using a “pelvic curl up”, or an exercise like lying hip thrusts. Many times, the same people that can do 50 or 100 crunches, can’t even complete more than 2 or 3 properly executed hanging leg raises.

If you really want tighter flatter abdominals that look like a six-pack, remember that losing that extra belly fat is the MOST important factor. Also, when it comes to abdominal-specific exercises, always remember higher resistance exercises that involve curling/raising the legs and pelvis upward or inward are what develops the abs to the best extent possible.

What You Really Need to Know About Abdominals: Two Key Concepts You Must Meet to Let Out the 6 Pack

Introduction – Understanding the Abdominals

Congratulations!

You are about to learn about a region of the body that almost everybody wants but somehow the secrets escape them. The weight loss industry may be a billion dollar a year market but a close second is all the late night infomercials about abs, 6 packs, 6 second abs and how to get ready for the beach and show off that region.

When it comes to abdominal training there are two basic areas of confusion. First, the myth exists that a ’specific’ region exists like the ‘lower abdominals.’ Many people will claim their upper ab region is developing just fine but the lower abs are not responding to training. They are looking for a magic lower ab exercise that will target that region. If you do a search for any muscular images of the abdominals, it’s clear that the rectus abdominus (a long winded name for the abs) is just a single muscle running from the sternum to the pelvis. These ‘lower abdominals’ simply don’t exist.

The reason the lower region seems to be less responsive to training is that it is a natural fat storage area! Simply put, your entire ab region is probably responding to overall training but the lower region is simply not showing because it is covered up by a layer of fat. That area just happens to be the place that fat is the last to go. Very simply, the lower abdominal area is benefiting from your crunches and reverse crunches. The problem is, you just can’t see it!

TEST: If you don’t believe this then try this simple test: lie down on the floor in a typical crunch position. Place one hand on your lower abdominal area and the other on your upper abdominal area. Now perform a slowing crunching movement. You will feel both areas contract simultaneously as you curl up.

The second area of confusion revolves around exercise selection. Almost everybody still continues to perform hanging leg raises, knee-ups or similar exercises in an attempt to target the ‘lower abs.’ While these exercises do affect the abdominal area, they are not the best selection.

It’s easy to clear up this exercise selection confusion if you understand the differences between the hip-flexion and trunk-flexion. A muscle called the psoas and related muscles (this is located deep against the spine) are responsible for hip-flexion while your abdominals are responsible for trunk-flexion.

Hip Flexion: Occurs when your lift your knee (or knees) towards your chest. For example, when you do a hanging knee-up, you will feel a burning sensation in the lower abdominal region (this alone convinces most people it’s working that area). What is actually happening is the psoas is being stressed. You’ll never be lean enough to see this muscle! Of course the abdominals are involved in this exercise for stabilization but it’s not the primary muscle and so it’s not the most effective. Other concerns revolve around the psoas being overworked that can lead to back problems.

Trunk Flexion: Occurs when you perform an exercise where the pelvis and sternum approach each other during the movement. At this point, you are in a state of maximal trunk flexion. Going any further and you’ll engage the psoas muscle and you will be using hip-flexion (like in a full sit-up). When you train your abdominals you need to flex (or contact) your trunk.

FACT: For effective abdominal training, stick with trunk flexion movements (crunches and reverse crunches).

This series will focus on trunk flexion exercises so that tension is directly on the abdominals as that is the primary muscle we want to work. [Other muscles involved in stabilization will be involved but will not be the primary focus.]

That’s all! The abdominals are just a muscle like everything else. There’s nothing special about them that makes them any harder to obtain or develop then any other muscle group. Still, there are thousands of messages on community forums and fitness gurus everywhere get hundreds of messages a day regarding this. Not to mention the countless ab technology products that appear in stores every year promising a faster, easier way to get ripped abs. The purpose of this report is to tell you exactly step-by- step what you need to do to get ripped abdominals.

The Myths of Ripped Abdominals: – Countless crunches – Working them out every day – Strange machines or dangerous exercises – Fad diets – Fat burner pills – Marathon cardio sessions – Targeting lower and upper regions

The Secret of Ripped Abdominals: – Low percentage of body fat – Having the muscle to show

Did I just blow the end of the story for you? Hopefully not.

Key Concept #1: You Must Have a Low Percentage of Body Fat For starters, if you have a layer of body fat covering the region, you will never be able to show the abs. For men, this is the LAST place the fat will disappear from which makes it the hardest body part to show.

You “get abs” from reducing your body fat and you reduce body fat mostly through diet and cardio..

And yet, somehow this concept escapes people. In order for the abs to show proudly, you must have a low percentage of body fat! There’s really not a whole lot more to it.

Men: 10% or lower Women: 15% or lower

Why is that so difficult for most people?

Simple. In order to get your body fat that low you must be absolutely focused on your diet and fat burning metabolism. 99% of people (including myself) are not as perfect on the diet as to burn off our natural body fat stores. So in order to get rid of that last layer, you must burn off the last remaining body fat stores. And to do that you must have great nutrition habits (above and beyond just being active).

Key Concept #2: You Must Have Abs to Show

First off…

If you are 110 lbs and just skin and bones and 3% body fat but no muscle really, then it’s not a surprise why your abs aren’t popping out every time you take off your shirt. There are a few people I’ve run across that are well below the 10% body fat limit and yet they are puzzled when their abdominals don’t show. That’s almost as easy as 1+1. You MUST have abs to show!

You can have a low body fat percentage but if you don’t have anything to show, you’ll just see a flat stomach (which is good) but no definition and certain no ‘packs.’ There are also individuals who have 15% body fat but their abs are so developed they can show off a 4-pack. While they don’t have that low of a body fat percentage to classify as ‘ripped’ they do have great development and certainly the muscle is there. Just think what it might look like on them if they were to be 10% or lower?!

That’s where ab exercises come into play. Performing key abdominal exercises is a key to developing the trunk region to the fullest. Many people are looking for the illusive lower ab exercise or performing exercises they believe to target a certain region but are really working the wrong muscle. Having abs is as simple as doing the right core exercises. That will be part of the 6 months of ab training at the end of this series.

Now that you understand some key concepts in order to get the abs to show, let’s figure out how to eliminate that annoying layer of fat around them…

Stay tuned for Part 2 that will discuss why nutrition is 90% or More of Your Success.

Copyright 2006 Marc David

By fully understanding the functions of our abdominals we can then implement effective ways of training them. As you read earlier our abdominals allow us to “flex our trunks” or in other words bend forward. The best way to effectively train them is to replicate this movement while in the gym. The reason most bodybuilders train their abs is definitely to increase the overall definition of the abs. There are a number of ways to go about obtaining this. One theory is to eliminate the fat that covers the abdominals. This can be achieved through both dieting and cardiovascular activity. Another way to help define your abdominals is to do abdominal exercises intensely with very high repetitions. The reason for this is that you don’t want to add any unwanted mass to your abs. Cardiovascular conditioning is easily the most important aspect used to help a bodybuilder achieve defined abdominals. Bodybuilders use cardio as a tool to help shed unwanted fat. The key to effectively using cardio is to know exactly when to implement it into your routine. If you start doing it to early you will curtail all the gains you’re desperately trying to make, but if done to late you won’t have enough time to get your abdominals in the shape needed for competition. A good starting point is about 11 weeks out from your competition. This will give you enough time to cut your body fat and water retention.

The most misunderstood and under utilized tool for bodybuilders looking to obtain shredded abs is definitely dieting. I would go as far as saying that dieting alone is responsible for over 80% of a bodybuilders overall physique. If you look at it as, what you put in your body will either dictate whether your body gets bigger or smaller you’ll certainly understand what I mean. The general rule of thumb is that your body needs to have 4-6 small meals that are high in protein, spaced out over a 2-3 hour span to keep your metabolism high and prevent fat storage.

As you can see, nothing I’ve written here could be considered rocket science but many bodybuilders don’t take full advantage of this information. If you follow these simple guidelines you will achieve the washboard abs you’ve always dreamt of.