The key to 6-pack abs

Everyone wants 6-pack abs and if you’re like most people, attaining a washboard stomach seems impossible. You do all the crunches and perform multiple sets of sit-ups, yet your abs are still nowhere in sight. So what do you do?! Well, it may be easier than you think.

Here are 5 tips to help you get that flat stomach you’ve always wanted:

1. Nutrition

You’ve probably heard it a million times, but it’s true; abs are made in the kitchen. You need to ‘fuel up’ properly before and after hitting the gym. You need quality protein (chicken breast, egg whites, beans, nuts and protein powder) and fibre rich carbs (oatmeal, yams, fruit and whole wheat grains) to keep your body in top form. Doing 500 crunches is great, but if you’re eating a pound of pasta and pizza every day, forget about seeing that flat mid-section. Make sure you’re eating 6 small meals a day, full of quality protein and fibre rich foods. Nutrition is vital to exposing your abs.

2. Exercise variation

Vary your ab exercises. Crunches and sit-ups are thought to be the best ab exercises, but these 2 alone, won’t get you abs. You need to vary your routines and keep your mid-section guessing. If you perform the same exercises each time, your body gets used to the exercises and your results will plateau. You need to change it up and make sure your taxing all parts of your core. Click here for some great ab exercises to get you on your way.

3. Proper form

A million reps of one exercise done incorrectly won’t get you six-pack abs. Pay close attention to your form and make sure you’re doing each rep properly. Don’t forget to breathe during each exercise and flex your abs at the top of each movement. Don’t get caught up on total reps, instead, focus on proper reps. 20 properly performed reps are much more effective than 200 incorrectly performed reps.

4. Don’t over-train

You shouldn’t train one muscle group more than 3 times a week and the same goes for your abs. Target your abs 3 times a week, no more. If you train your core more than 3 times a week, you won’t be able to properly rest and grow your ab muscles. And don’t forget, abs are muscles. They need rest and time to heal and grow. I like working my abs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. But feel free to work your core on any combination of days; Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays is also a good routine. Try not to work your abs on consecutive days.

5. Full-body exercises

Compound exercises like pull-ups, dips, push-ups, squats and dead-lifts do much more for your core than concentrated crunches. These exercises target your entire core and help build your obliques and smaller stabilizer core muscles. Building these muscles will help build those bigger 6-pack muscles. Why? Because they help with your form and keep your entire core strong. Check out my older post on the benefits of compound exercises.

There you have it, 5 tips to get you that rock-hard mid-section.