See Abs by December: Advice, suggestions, input?

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I lift and do cardio for about 1-2 hours 5 times a week and hike or do something active and longer on the weekend. I am really trying to dial in my nutrition to get leaner and maybe just maybe see some abs by the end of the year (crosses fingers). I keep my diet high in protein because I lift heavy and I want to preserve as much muscle as I can while eating at a deficit. For those of you that have seen abs, any advice on macros? water intake? sodium? When to incorporate more ab exercises? (I don't do a lot of ab-specific exercises). Any advice would be helpful. TIA!

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  • cityruss
    cityruss Posts: 2,493 Member
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    Drop bodyfat until you see them.

    Manipulating water and the like is more for stepping on stage in peak aesthetic condition, rather that rocking around with a few abs showing.
  • aub6689
    aub6689 Posts: 351 Member
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    Okay so just fat loss until I see them? Even if I want to see the full 6 pack, not just the rectus abdominis outline?
  • Erik8484
    Erik8484 Posts: 458 Member
    edited April 2016
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    Burning overall body fat is 100% the key to seeing your abs. High protein for lifting, a caloric deficit and time are all most people need.

    This won't help with the fat loss, but if you want to target your ab strength and volume then an idea is to superset your lifts with hanging leg raises, ab-wheel rollouts, russian twists, mountain climbers etc. You obviously already get plenty of ab work from your compound lifts, but I enjoy more targeted exercises from time to time, and supersetting is a good way to fit that in.

    EDIT: on 2nd thought, you'll struggle to increase ab volume while in a deficit.