Abs Made Simple
Abs. There isn’t a single body part that both men and women seek to improve more than the six pack muscle known officially as the rectus abdominis. If you have ever thrown out your back picking something/someone (squirming child anyone?) up off the floor or felt uncomfortable at the pool or beach, keep reading! This article is for you.We will cover how to train your abs to build a bulletproof core that is resistant to injury, improves athletic ability, looks aesthetically pleasing, and show you how to reveal it as well.
Why are the abs important and how do you “get abs?”
Let’s break this down. The abs or “core” are an important group of muscles to maintain both strength and endurance because they are the transmission for your body. If you want to perform any activity of daily living well, you will need a strong core. Your core connects your upper limbs and lower limbs together and allows for you to transmit force from the legs into the arms and vica versa (for a visual think about a golfer swinging a golf club or a runner pumping their arms running up a steep incline).
So, not only are the abs a crucial component of performance in sport and everyday life, and for avoiding back pain but, there is a certain aesthetic benefit to having a well defined midsection as well.
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR ABS
Now that we have gone over the role of your abs or core as the transmission of your body, let’s dive into how we should train them. One of the biggest mistakes men and women make in their abdominal training is they don’t train their abs to resist movement (stabilize the spine) BEFORE training their abs to create movement. The primary role of the abs is to resist movement of the spine first which allows the efficient transfer of force between the upper and lower limbs. Instead, most people looking to work their abs go straight to flexion based exercises like crunches and sit-ups which do work the abs but, is kind of like going straight to algebra before learning to add and subtract. Functional and aesthetic abs training is built on a foundation of planks and side planks before progressing on to more dynamic exercises. You’ll know you’re ready for more dynamic exercises when you can hold a front plank and a side plank on each side for 90 seconds. If you cannot stabilize your spine for 90 seconds you may be headed for injury performing other abs exercises.
In summary, stability comes before movement. Once we have the ability to stabilize the spine with strong abs then we progress to rotational and flexion based exercises (think twisting and crunching) to make them even stronger. Some exercises in this category would be chops & lifts with med balls, bands and cable machines, hanging leg raises and knee raises, sit-ups, and landmine twists.
We also need to discuss how many sessions per week and how many sets and reps we need to perform to develop abs of steel. The answer is that it depends...on where you’re starting from.
If you’ve never trained your abs before starting with 1-2 sessions per week of 1-3 exercises is a great place to start with the emphasis being on spinal stability in the form of planks over sit-ups.
If you’ve been working out on and off and have a decent base of strength meaning you can meet the 90 second plank rule we discussed above, then 2-3 sessions per week with 2-3 exercises per session and a mix of stability and dynamic movements is a good starting point.
If you’re an abs pro and you're looking for new ways to challenge your abs, 2-3 sessions per week with an emphasis on more advanced stability exercises and weighted abs movements is what you’re looking at.
As far as sets and reps go, we need to look at the type of exercise we are performing. For stability exercises, we should look to accumulate between 1-5 minutes of total time spent in a plank or static hold. The total time should be broken up into as many sets as necessary to keep the quality of your holds high. In regards to dynamic moves, we are looking at 25-30 total reps per exercise broken into 2-5 sets of each exercise.
The best time to perform your abs training, if you are making it a priority, is right at the beginning of your workout where it can serve as an extended warm-up for your workout (for those star pupils that actually take a couple of minutes to warm-up before diving into their workout). Keep in mind that these are general guidelines not hard and fast rules. Once we have your training nailed down we need to have a big kid conversation about how you can start to actually see your abs and reveal all that your hard work has produced.
Here are three sample abs routines that you can add into your workout.
Beginner:
RKC plank 3x:15-30 seconds
Side Plank 3x:30 seconds
Intermediate:
Hollow Body Hold 5x:15-:30 seconds
Landmine Twist 5x10
Advanced:
L-sit 5x:10-:15 seconds
Windshield Wiper 5x5
HOW TO REVEAL YOUR ABS
Having strong abs and having a well defined midsection are two separate things (unfortunately). One is determined by your training, the other is determined by your lifestyle and eating habits. If your goal is to have a ripped and toned midsection, then you need to take charge of your food, sleep, and stress.
Did you know that you already have a six pack? It’s true! Most people's six pack is covered by a layer of body-fat and subcutaneous water (water that is underneath the skin). In order to reveal what you’ve got going on underneath, we need to shed some of the extra bodyfat and water that your body is clinging to by getting into an energy deficit by adjusting your eating.
Volumes have been written about eating for fat-loss but, the cliffnotes version is that in order for you to lose bodyfat you must consume fewer calories than you expend. There are a million ways to do this and the trick is finding a method of eating that is sustainable and works best for you within the context of your life.
Some general rules around eating to go by:
1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight
Eat a serving or two of vegetables at every meal
Eat enough carbs to support your workouts
Eat healthy fat to support vitamin absorption and hormone health
Avoid/limit calorie containing beverages including alcohol
Avoid/limit highly processed foods that are hyperpalatable and digest rapidly
Sleep is the next big thing to tackle if you’re interested in getting as lean as possible and revealing that ripped midsection. You can turbo charge the fat-loss process by sleeping more.
There are studies constantly coming out detailing just how important sleep is for general health but also for fitness and weight-loss. If you struggle with a constant sweet tooth, chances are you are sleep deprived and your brain is craving a quick boost of energy to keep chugging along through the workday. If you are looking for a way to keep motivated and find the willpower to say no to poor food choices, try sleeping more. Studies have shown that willpower is a finite resource each day and as you become more and more tired you have less motivation and willpower to make good choices including those involving food and fitness. How much sleep should you be getting? At least seven and a half hours each night and probably more depending on how you’re feeling and performing throughout the day. If you think that you’re doing everything right with you eating and exercise routines but still not seeing progress, take a look at your sleep rituals.
The final piece of the puzzle when it comes to revealing your abs is stress management. When you’re stressed it's very similar to being sleep deprived and can even impact the quality of sleep. When we get stressed it's a lot easier to say yes to sweets, comfort food, and alcohol as a coping mechanism. When you become stressed out and you are actively trying to get leaner it becomes important to find ways of dealing with stress that do not involve food or booze. Some of my favorite ways to manage stress that do not involve food are long walks with the doggos (when it’s nice outside), massage, prayer and meditation, and surprise surprise working out.
Getting abs is fairly simple:
Start taking care of your nutrition
Sleep more
Find ways to manage stress
Workout and include an intelligently designed abs routine in your workout 2-3 times per week.
Unfortunately, simple doesn’t mean easy when it comes to revealing your abs. The simple truth is that it takes time and discipline to get a toned (ripped/shredded/cut/insert whatever description) abs and most of a normal person’s life is set up in such a way that it sabotages any attempts at getting leaner. Before embarking on a quest for ripped abs you may what to consider the following questions.
First why does THIS particular fitness goal matter to you?
Would you be happy with a strong core that keeps you doing things you love without pain or fear of throwing your back out even though you may not have cover model abs?
Saying yes to more sleep, better food, and working out means saying no to other potentially good things such as date nights that include a dessert or alcohol, any social situation that involves food (there’s a lot), and late night television, binge watching tv (not 100% convinced this is “good”). How much of that are you willing to give up or postpone to get abs?
No judgement if you determine that you value something over having a ripped midsection! You can shrink down a couple jeans sizes and get strong and healthy without visible abs.The trick is to find that nice balance between enjoying your life and leanness that works best for you which is different for everyone.
Visible abs or not, you should be training your abs regularly to keep you healthy and pain-free so you can get out there and experience all that this life has to offer you.