Is your goal to get a rock hard core – and when you lift up your shirt, show off 6 pack abs? Your body naturally wants to pack on fat around your midsection, and even if you’ve been workout out for awhile, you may find that as flat as your belly gets, you still aren’t seeing any definition to your abdominal muscles. Here’s some tips to turn that “slab” into 6 pack abs!
Tip #1 – Diet
To get great abs, you have to do two things. Loose fat, and gain muscle. Getting rid of that fat around your midsection means you not only need to work out to burn fat, you need to refine your diet to make sure your workouts aren’t fighting your body adding fat – it’s working with your body as it looses fat. Refine your diet so you’re eating healthy, and also drink plenty of water.
Tip #2 – Make Everything a Plank
Get yourself in a pushup position with your arms fully extended – this is a classic plank. But you don’t have to be in a prone position to work your transverse abdominis. In fact, you can do any number of standing exercises while simultaneously doing a standing plank-like movement. As long as you tense your core and hold it during bicep curls, overhead lifts, or even lateral raises, you’re going to make progress on your core.
Tip #3 – Don’t Rest Between Reps
When you rest between each rep, you take the resistance and tension off your abs. Crank through all your reps without resting and you’ll truly carve your abs.
Tip #4 – Hold That Peak!
Let’s say you’re doing hanging leg lifts, for example. When you lift your legs up – don’t just drop them again, hold them for a second or two at the top of the lift before lowering them. You’ll be squeezing those muscles at levels you’re not accustomed to, helping you to gain the most out of your workout.
Tip #5 – Add Progression Into Your Workout
Don’t just stick with the same workout – add to it. For example, if you’ve always done 3 sets of 20 reps of sit ups, you’ll need to change it up to get more out of your workout. Progression means building overload into your workout. You can do this by adding weight, adding reps, or decreasing rest time between sets. Add one of these three variables to your next workout to break your abs out of their rut!
