Build muscles without weights?

amastre

If you're doing all the above exercises, your ab muscles are already "toned up". If you want to see definition, then you need to revaluate your current diet.

Would protein make a difference? I don't tend to eat a lot of protein. In fact, I stay under on most days - just because I don't particularly like meat.

Higher protein diets tend to aid in fat loss. Also, at the bare minimum you should be getting about .5 grams of protein for each pound you weigh, just to meet your body's minimum needs (the Recommended Daily Allowance for protein is 0.8 grams per kilogram of bodyweight) Intakes up to 1 gram per lb of bodyweight are totally fine, and you could even go higher. Meat isn't your only source of protein, btw; greek yogurt, quinoa, eggs, and legumes are all decent to good sources of protein.

Mr_Knight

I'm looking specifically to tone my ab muscles as they never seem to be very visible

To make abs visible, you need to lose fat.

That means dieting.

cmeiron

What no one has mentioned yet is the fact that you cannot BUILD muscle unless you are a) eating above your maintenance intake level and b) progressively overloading your muscles with weight (which usually means weights or some kind of resistance aid must eventually be added).

If you simply want to reveal the abs you have now, they continue reducing body fat by eating at a deficit. RETAIN the muscles you have now by making them work.

If you're not happy with their current size, then you need to consider a bulk - eating above maintenance and progressive overload.