Having trouble "leaning" out to get visible abs, what am I doing wrong?

englishstudentabc1

I'm a male who is just above the weight where I'd be considered almost "underweight" (okay looks like I could lose up to 5lbs before going into underweight according to BMI). I have the "genetics" for visible 6 pack abs, because I used to have them early in college/high school, though I was really underweight by about 10 lbs at that time and had never done any weight lifting (just running/calestenics). To be clear I'm not "fat"--I have do have an outline of a visible "4 pack." I also have always had a very fast metabolism.

Fast forward to now, I have been trying to approach this by caloric deficit combined with exercise every day. I log my food and estimate I eat about 200-300 calories off what I'd need to maintain weight. I cook all my food so I have 100% control of ingredients (no hidden sugars/oils, etc.). I go for a ratio of 3:1 for veggies/grains to meat for each meal. For what it's worth, I know it's done something, not just by scale weight, but also a lot of my undergarments don't fit around my waist anymore (they are too big now!). I haven't been limiting my carb intake (at most 300 grams of some grain/rice a day) because I figure if I work out every day it will mitigate the extra carbs.

For exercise, I alternate between these kinds of days. I try to do some kind of squat, press, and row every day.

1. Heavy lift / fully body lifts: squat (back and front), bench press, barbell row, incline situp with medicine ball. Usually I do a set of 4 for each exercise, progressively increasing weight, then move to the next. Squats have been going up in weight, bench press is at plateau right now.

2. Cardio / less difficult lifts: run/jog ~1.5 miles, then stretches (due to back problems), followed by dumbbell and various other exercise (bulgarian deadlift, goblet squat, lunges with weights), dumbbell press (on various inclines, usually never flat), one arm bent over row, curls, hammer curls, planks, etc.

I know what I'm doing has had some effect: waist size has decreased, arms look bigger, pectorals have obvious muscle, but I feel like what I'm doing may be the wrong things for what I'm looking for.

I don't drink, smoke, use recreational drugs, or have any other health problems that would affect my fitness.

Let me know what you think I'm doing wrong or need to be doing more of.

sardelsa

It is normal for body composition to change over time, no sense in comparing yourself to 10 years ago especially if you were in high school.. very young and still growing then.

If you are almost underweight without abs, more weight loss may not give you the kind of abs you want. They will look more boney and poor developed, and I would not recommend you continue to lose and become underweight to do that. As an example I've been almost underweight with very little ab definition and 12lbs heavier with more abs because of more muscle base.

I would think about a slight surplus to put on muscle. If you are really uncomfortable with that idea you can maintain and recomp although I think your progress would be better with a bulk. It sounds like you have to build a foundation before you keep chiseling away at this point and that can take plenty of time and patience.

HulkV2

Weightloss will reveal abs but I would also train them directly. You want to have enough muscle to shine when you get you BF that low.

MikePTY

Ya'll, in the very first sentence of his post, he says that he is almost at an underweight BMI. Encouraging more weight loss is not a good thing to do.

I tend to agree with @sardelsa That a bulk, rather than a cut or recomp, would probably be better suited for you given your stats. I think you would probably feel better all around with an increased build size. Then, after you bulk, if you are at a weight that is safer outside the underweight BMI, you can look to see if you still need to do a cut to lose more fat that would help you reveal your abdominal muscles more.

AphroditesBrat

Do less cutting, more bulking focusing on the midsection, building them to be more visible on the surface.
Do more than 1 type of ab workout moves (look the up) and look up what part of abs they actually work. Different moves work on different parts of the abs, if you focus on the same moves over and over, you might actually be missing some work on the other abs. Bicycle crunches workout all the abs and sides all in the same move.