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This may throw you off, but please read.
Diet is important. I will say it time and time again and you will have heard it countless times before. But it doesn’t just stop there!
A well-developed mid-section isn’t down JUST to the diet itself and maintaining a low level of body fat. Sure, you may see some definition and if that’s what you are after – awesome.
However, most people I speak to want definition and some muscle in there. Something that almost pops and is aesthetically pleasing. In order to do that you need to add some muscle because abs are muscles at the end of the day – many people forget this.
The front of the abdominal section is comprised of six muscles. For anyone curious, you have the rectus abdomonis, transversus abdominis and obliques (running down the side). Chances are you already hit these if you do the occasional bit of core work. But that being said, most people will always leave core work towards the end of the workout and dedicate 5 minutes or so to them. Not only that, there will be no intensity or variation in exercises.
This post isn’t about me giving you a definite ab workout that will work. Rather, it is to highlight the important of adding some additional weight to your exercises and really hitting them from all angles 2-3 times per week. Because the muscles are a little smaller, they can recover a little faster than the larger muscles in the body. But bear in mind they DO need to recover and you must treat them any other muscle.
List of exercises that work can be Leg raises (lying or hanging), crunches on a ball, planks, captains chair leg raises, rope crunches, bicycle crunches… the list goes on!
Just don’t think the diet will do it all, you still need to hit the abs hard.
