Are abs as elusive as you have been led to believe?

The muscles of the abdominal region are likely the most coveted of all outside of big, defined arms. Having defined abs is like driving a really bright shiny race car, people notice. The problem is, however, that most people think it is impossible to achieve this fitness goal.

Once again, I’m going to harp on diet. In order to get well defined abs, diet is essential. How could anyone expect to have rock hard abs if they eat McDonalds twice a day every day? To put it simply, they shouldn’t, because eating unhealthy or unnecessarily fattening foods contribute to the layer of fat that covers the abdominal region of the body, hiding whatever definition there might be from sight. If you still have this layer, cardiovascular exercise and diet are going to be your best friends.

More than just losing the fat layer, it is important to work your abs in ways that promote definition and size. Crunches and sit-ups are a good start, but they lack the ability to both work the full abdominal area and to develop size. In order to remedy this, supplement your standard abdominal routine with hanging abs, using a pull-up bar. Harrison White, personal trainer from Ormond Beach, has said that his favorite abdominal exercise to perform is hanging knees to chest. This exercise, along with things like toes to the bar, help develop the lower abs as well as the obliques that frame the abdominal muscles.

For size, there is no better way to develop it than to engage your abs in every compound lift you perform. For example, when you squat, sit back into the lift and use your abs to keep your body upright and to keep yourself from falling backwards. This kind of engagement of the abdominal muscles makes them work against more than just your body weight, allowing them to gain size just like any other muscle of the body.

Personally, my favorite abdominal workout is the weighted rope crunch, which gives the isolation of the crunch with the added weight of a compound movement. The best thing to do for the abdominal region is the same as any other muscle group: experimentation. There are hundreds of ways to work any muscle group, find the one that works for you.

Well defined abs take hard work and dedication. Even after all the work I have put in, there is always room for improvement.