2023-08-24 14:27:28
We are not going to lie to each other, see his abs appear in the mirror enough to increase his self-confidence in his potential for attractiveness, as superficial as that may seem.
Unfortunately, most people waste their time and effort in useless actions when it comes to developing their 6 pack…
And since summer has passed by and you’re probably on the opposite path, which consists of having seen a few love handles appear, let’s go back to the X steps to put in place now to develop your abs and your muscle definition. .
1/ Do everything to join the club of 10!
For some, it will be necessary to reach 10% fat mass to see the abs, for others, 15% will be sufficient, there is no magic number!
No, I’m not talking regarding people who earn 10k a month, anyway, that kind of salary would mean frequent restaurants and a danger to your shelves!
I’m talking regarding 10% body fat…
Because it’s there, the reality, you’ll never see your abs if your body fat percentage isn’t low enough.
Becoming “dry” is therefore the first step and also the most important. Without it, it’s very simple, the others that follow will be in vain…
The good news is that you may already have strong abs, the bad news is that they are buried under a pile of fat.
Note that the 10% is an arbitrary number, because in reality, it will depend on everyone.
You may have noticed that you may not store beer in the same way as your colleague, but generally among men, the bidou is preferred.
“Ok all that is great, but how do I do it concretely?”
Dig the deficit…
Once once more, no reference to your bank account, fortunately, but to your daily calorie consumption.
Your first objective is to calculate the number of daily calories consumed and deduct 30% from this number: BAM!
Example: following carefully recording the average number of calories consumed over the last 14 days, you realize that it is 3000 kcal.
3000×0.3 = 900, you have to eat 2100 kcal per day from now on!
Then you must not forget that this deficit must be progressive!
Your body will adapt, your metabolism will fluctuate, you have to constantly adjust.
For that, weigh yourself every morning under the same conditions and at the end of the week, take an average.
If you lose at least 0.5% of your body weight per week, great, continue with this deficit, otherwise increase it by 200 kcal/day.
Read also: 9 eating habits to adopt from the start of the school year to lose weight effortlessly and erase summer excesses
Increase protein
To help you not starve yourself with this new deficit, make sure to give protein a lot of weight at meals.
It is just as crucial as the calorie deficit since it will allow you to:
To maintain your muscle mass during your weight loss, To keep you satiated since proteins are the macros that offer the most satiety power.
Try to aim for at least 1.5 g of protein per kilo of body weight per day (120 g therefore for an 80 kg person), to be adapted according to the situation.
To know everything, read: Proteins: define your daily intake according to your objective
2/ Attack the problem from the other end
This step does not replace the first, which, I remind you, is non-negotiable!
That being said, by developing the muscle mass of your abs, you will be able to see them appear at a higher percentage of body fat.
So, instead of having to reach 10%, you may have results as early as 14% with well-developed abs.
Never a fan of crunch had chocolate bars…
“Okay, so concretely, I gorge myself on series of crunches and sit ups”
And not unhappy… experience proves that it does not work at all!
You’re not going to magically burn belly fat by doing 1000 reps of sit ups a day (some have tried… He does 100 sit ups every day for 30 days, here’s the result).
Even science went into the field, in this study for example (1), participants had to send each other 4 hours of abs training per week for 6 weeks.
Result ? Nothing, peanuts, no loss of belly and still hidden abs… that’s why step 1 remains the key.
Static, the best way to go nowhere…
Do you think you will get big arms by strongly contracting your biceps for 30 seconds 3 times a day? For the abs, it’s the same…
“Well then, I’m going to embark on a sheathing challenge, isn’t that right?”
Lost !
When you want to develop a 6 pack worthy of the name, it is better not to count on the cladding…
For what ?
Because the exercise is far too easy!
Even out of shape, I’m sure you can already hold the plank for a minute or two (which might be the longest of your life, admittedly).
The tension exerted is too low and it’s not going to help you develop the coveted rectus abdominis muscle (aka the tablets) or your obliques, even by making the exercise more difficult (by improving your core leverage or weighting you down, for example. example).
Note that this does not mean that static abdominal exercises are useless (they have many advantages such as strengthening deep muscles), simply that for aesthetic research, we will favor their dynamic comrades.
THE dynamic exercises have eccentric and concentric phases that offer a greater growth stimulus (which simply does not exist on the static), therefore better muscle development.
3/ Train intelligently
“Okay, but then, how do I do it?”
As with any other muscle group, you will need:
Make an intelligent choice of exercises, Train by following the principle of progressive overload (we gradually increase the loads, series, repetitions, etc.), Give your abs the stimuli necessary for their development.
Focus on the rectus abdominis
In terms of smart choices, you can’t do better than to focus on the portion of muscle you want to develop: the rectus abdominis muscle!
The famous 6 pack (or 8 for the big winners of the genetic lottery) is often the least developed part of the abs.
This doesn’t mean you should ignore the obliques or the transverse muscles, but if you’re looking for visible results, you have to club the rectus abdominis.
For that, two types of movements main:
Crunch (in its classic version, but above all, its best variants) which will put more tension on the upper portion of the abs*, Lifting of legs, which will put more tension on the lower portion of the abs. (hanging leg raises, pulse ups, lying leg raises, v siptup
*There is not really an “upper abs” or “lower abs”, the rectus abdominis being a single block.
Vary the repetitions
We don’t forget the work with the “little weights”!
Do sets with longer bodyweight exercises AND sets with weights on shorter sets.
Most of the time, these are forgotten and that’s a shame!
By combining the two, you will be sure to stimulate both types of fibers your abdominal muscles (slow twitch fibers and fast twitch fibers).
Studies seem to show that the abs have a 58/42% distribution in favor of slow-twitch fibers.
Fast twitch fibers respond better to higher intensity, loads and shorter reps.
If you do both types of exercises in the same workout, you can either:
Start with exercises with resistance (elastic band, free weights, etc.) then perform bodyweight exercises, Chain exercises with weights and exercises without weights in great setsi.e. the succession of 2 exercises without a break between (for example, 10 repetitions of decline situps with weights followed directly by 20 repetitions of jacknives).
We recently posted an example of circuit training that perfectly illustrates this point: Massacre your abs in 10 minutes with this intense home workout
Insulate somewhere other than your ceiling
Biomechanics and Science agree, squats do not activate the rectus abdominis!
I know, we are in the middle of an energy crisis, but if I am talking regarding insulation today, it is not to gain a few degrees.
We have read here and there over the years that the great polyarticular exercises work the abs like ja-ja.
Squat, front squat, deadlift were supposed to work your 6 pack and save you the tedious isolation work.
This is not entirely false, but not completely true.
None of these exercises replicate the primary role of great rights (the most superficial muscles of the abdomen), namely flexion of the spine.
The obliques are not used either, since there are no trunk rotation movements.
Only the transverses are involved, but these are not visible abs.
Clearly, if you are new to bodybuilding, you can get away with just these compound movements, but past this stage of “newbie” adaptations, you will have to try “real abs exercises”.
Even on the “clean and jerk”, a movement combining squat, deadlift and overhead press and often considered an excellent exercise to build visible abs, the level of abdominal activation is very low (3).
Updated by Quentin on: 08/24/2023
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