Amount of Working out to achieve abs

raven56706

70% is diet for abs. So lets get that out of the way.

But the remaining 30 is exercise. What did you do for exercise and amount of working out to achieve the holy grail of abs?

rainbowbow

I don't know about your "percentage"... but... anyway.

You already have abs. everyone does. What do you need to do to have washboard visible abs? You need to lose the fat covering them.

You can have super-duper big abs, but if they are covered in fat it really doesn't matter. Unfortunately, you cannot spot reduce or choose where you lose fat, so my only recommendation would be to lose enough body fat so that they are visible.

As far as strengthening your core? There are various movements (and holds) you can do to strengthen your abdominals. in my opinion though, you don't necessarily have to target them specifically as they should be engaged in practically every other movement you are performing in your all-over strength routine. And they should be engaged daily in keeping proper posture as well. So.... yeah.

To re-count what i've said.... i wouldn't do anything *special* except lower my body fat percentage and continue on with a full body strength routine.

DaddieCat

rainbowbow wrote: »

I don't know about your "percentage"... but... anyway.

You already have abs. everyone does. What do you need to do to have washboard visible abs? You need to lose the fat covering them.

You can have super-duper big abs, but if they are covered in fat it really doesn't matter. Unfortunately, you cannot spot reduce or choose where you lose fat, so my only recommendation would be to lose enough body fat so that they are visible.

As far as strengthening your core? There are various movements (and holds) you can do to strengthen your abdominals. in my opinion though, you don't necessarily have to target them specifically as they should be engaged in practically every other movement you are performing in your all-over strength routine. And they should be engaged daily in keeping proper posture as well. So.... yeah.

To re-count what i've said.... i wouldn't do anything *special* except lower my body fat percentage and continue on with a full body strength routine.

I was going to say all of this, but someone said it much better than I would have. Thanks for being awesome.

raven56706

without a doubt, just looking to see what everyone did to achieve it. I mean working out obviously helps but the frequency of working out is what im asking more for. did you go to the gym 6 days and spent 2 hours or 4 days or 7 .

DaddieCat

raven56706 wrote: »

without a doubt, just looking to see what everyone did to achieve it. I mean working out obviously helps but the frequency of working out is what im asking more for. did you go to the gym 6 days and spent 2 hours or 4 days or 7 .

The point is... it won't matter how much you work out, how often you work out, what workout you do... if your diet is not in check and you haven't lost the excess fat that is covering up the abs that you and every person already has.

raven56706

BecomingBane wrote: »

raven56706 wrote: »

without a doubt, just looking to see what everyone did to achieve it. I mean working out obviously helps but the frequency of working out is what im asking more for. did you go to the gym 6 days and spent 2 hours or 4 days or 7 .

The point is... it won't matter how much you work out, how often you work out, what workout you do... if your diet is not in check and you haven't lost the excess fat that is covering up the abs that you and every person already has.

so working out doesnt help?

cwolfman13

raven56706 wrote: »

without a doubt, just looking to see what everyone did to achieve it. I mean working out obviously helps but the frequency of working out is what im asking more for. did you go to the gym 6 days and spent 2 hours or 4 days or 7 .

Full body program 3x weekly that focuses primarily on compound movements and Olympic lifts...I do very little direct ab work. I'm at around 12% BF right now so I don't have a visible washboard sixer, but they're there and mine are large enough to show on top at 12%.

DaddieCat

Working out will make your abs stronger, losing fat will make them more defined. Working out can increase your calorie deficit, but will not help show your abs if you have not lost the fat covering them... and there is no way to spot reduce. Fat will come off where it wants to come off due to genetics.

DaddieCat

cwolfman13 wrote: »

raven56706 wrote: »

without a doubt, just looking to see what everyone did to achieve it. I mean working out obviously helps but the frequency of working out is what im asking more for. did you go to the gym 6 days and spent 2 hours or 4 days or 7 .

Full body program 3x weekly that focuses primarily on compound movements and Olympic lifts...I do very little direct ab work. I'm at around 12% BF right now so I don't have a visible washboard sixer, but they're there and mine are large enough to show on top at 12%.

This is a similar routine to mine, but I'm a 4 day a week guy... and I'm at 16%... just shy of visible for my frame.

raven56706

of course.... fat needs to come off for it to show. But what i was asking was the frequency that helped people achieve it. Spot reduce obviously doesnt help because there is no such thing. Just wondering how much time people put in the gym to help their diet get to the holy grail of abs

rainbowbow

raven56706 wrote: »

of course.... fat needs to come off for it to show. But what i was asking was the frequency that helped people achieve it. Spot reduce obviously doesnt help because there is no such thing. Just wondering how much time people put in the gym to help their diet get to the holy grail of abs

well... if you're just curious about the frequency of workouts... i'd say it's going to be different for everyone depending on their goals/split/etc.

I personally workout 3-4 days a week (every other day) and follower a hypertrophy training routine along with some light cardio. nothing excessive.

Essentially, if you don't have a training routine i suggest you pick one (some good places to start are 5x5, starting strength, etc.) and then just make sure you're eating a calorie deficit. No one program is going to give you your coveted abs, as stated it really just comes down to your body fat %.

20yearsyounger

I did something but not really as much as I thought I would have to do. Low body fat was key. If I had to say bare minimum without any other activities other than walking it would probably be like 5 mins of ab work, 3x a week. However, truthfully it gets integrated when I do activities that rely on my core (rowing, hands-free elliptical, kick-boxing, etc).

wilsoncl6

Well, I think your question is what do we do to increase the size of your abs so they pop out when you cut off the fat. You can do one of two things, a lot of volume on abs or less volume but go heavy. It depends on how reactive your abs are and what you're trying to achieve. Your abdominals are just like any muscle in the body, the more you work them, and the harder you work them the more developed they'll be. If you want jacked abs, go heavy, smaller defined abs, do a lot of volume but they're not going to show until you get pretty lean.

Sumiblue

I did Stronglifts 5x5 3x/wk at first, now PHUL 4x/wk, which has some planks & Russian twists with a 25 lb plate. And lost a lot of fat.

usmcmp

4 days of lifting, no ab work, maybe 30 minutes of cardio per week. I have visible abs mostly due to heavy compound lifts and awesome abdominal volume genetics.

fiddletime

When I was 21 I had a six pack. I ran about 5 miles 4 days a week. I was pretty broke so didn't eat much. I have no idea what I weighted, but I just had a little skin covering some amazing definition of ab muscles.

I'd say I'm probably 12# heavier now, and 40 years older. If I wanted the headache I'd try for those abs again. I do workout DVDs 4 days a week for 35-45 min. I can feel the muscles....through a little layer of fat