Ab workout dilemmas

DrDMcKenzie

Hey!
I'm trying to upgrade my abs to a six pack, and I'd like to ask your opinion on some of the conflicting advises I've read online. I'd appreciate it if someone with more experience and/or professional point of view would help me out.

+Should I exercise daily or not?
+Should I eat more calories or not?
+How much protein grams per body weight kg should my intake be while building muscle?
+Concentrated or compound exercises?
+Should exercises be longer and more varied or shorter and more intensive?
+How long and with what would you warm up for an ab workout session?
+What is a good way (both in nutrition and exercise) to maintain already developed muscle mass long term?

Thank you in advance!

accelerashawn

abs are built in the kitchen...you can have really strong and defined abs but if they are covered by fat, you wont see them.

Are your questions directed towards building abdominal muscles or muscles in general?

Either way, every muscle you lift with should have at least a day of rest in between lifting sessions. If you split it up correctly you can work out every day without too much overlap. I do a push/pull/legs split and I lift every day with no issues. I'm getting stronger and fitter week by week.

If you want to gain muscle you will need to provide enough nutrients to your muscles so that after your heavy lifting sessions, they have fuel to grow. Aim for maintenance calories + roughly 500cal and give that a whirl for a few weeks and adjust every 2-3 to get to the muscle gain you desire....if you start putting on a bunch of fat, you'll know you're eating too much.

Sorry about not feeling like math but you should shoot for around 1g of protein per lean pound of body weight...more wont hurt though.

Compound exercises stimulate the most muscles and therefore require the most growth. You don't have to forgo the concentration lifts though. Just stick to the main compound lifts as the backbone of your workouts and add the concentrations as you want.

You need intense, heavy, exhausting workouts for muscle growth. You should be able to beat yourself up plenty in 45-60 minutes.

abs are worked during a lot of your compound lifts. Functional movements and stabilization exercises are best for abs. Ball slams, planks, squats, deadlifts, standing overhead press, single arm db bench press, single arm flys, etc are best to activate your abs. Warming up should be the same as any other muscle, do some easy light weight reps to get some blood flowing into the muscle prior to the heavy stuff.

Balance your macros and get good fats, complex carbs, and multiple sources of good quality protein. Make sure your protein intake stays high and continue to exhaust your muscles every few days and you'll maintain your muscle long term.

DrDMcKenzie

@accelerashawn: Thank you so much for your answers! You've been extremely helpful!

loubidy

abs are built in the kitchen...you can have really strong and defined abs but if they are covered by fat, you wont see them.

Are your questions directed towards building abdominal muscles or muscles in general?

Either way, every muscle you lift with should have at least a day of rest in between lifting sessions. If you split it up correctly you can work out every day without too much overlap. I do a push/pull/legs split and I lift every day with no issues. I'm getting stronger and fitter week by week.

If you want to gain muscle you will need to provide enough nutrients to your muscles so that after your heavy lifting sessions, they have fuel to grow. Aim for maintenance calories + roughly 500cal and give that a whirl for a few weeks and adjust every 2-3 to get to the muscle gain you desire....if you start putting on a bunch of fat, you'll know you're eating too much.

Sorry about not feeling like math but you should shoot for around 1g of protein per lean pound of body weight...more wont hurt though.

Compound exercises stimulate the most muscles and therefore require the most growth. You don't have to forgo the concentration lifts though. Just stick to the main compound lifts as the backbone of your workouts and add the concentrations as you want.

You need intense, heavy, exhausting workouts for muscle growth. You should be able to beat yourself up plenty in 45-60 minutes.

abs are worked during a lot of your compound lifts. Functional movements and stabilization exercises are best for abs. Ball slams, planks, squats, deadlifts, standing overhead press, single arm db bench press, single arm flys, etc are best to activate your abs. Warming up should be the same as any other muscle, do some easy light weight reps to get some blood flowing into the muscle prior to the heavy stuff.

Balance your macros and get good fats, complex carbs, and multiple sources of good quality protein. Make sure your protein intake stays high and continue to exhaust your muscles every few days and you'll maintain your muscle long term.

+1

But I'd also like to add that not everyone is built to have a six pack as such and some people, no matter what they do, will never have one because you can't show something that isn't there. Not everyone has the muscle definition there.

splashtree2

Hey!
I'm trying to upgrade my abs to a six pack, and I'd like to ask your opinion on some of the conflicting advises I've read online. I'd appreciate it if someone with more experience and/or professional point of view would help me out.

+Should I exercise daily or not?
+Should I eat more calories or not?
+How much protein grams per body weight kg should my intake be while building muscle?
+Concentrated or compound exercises?
+Should exercises be longer and more varied or shorter and more intensive?
+How long and with what would you warm up for an ab workout session?
+What is a good way (both in nutrition and exercise) to maintain already developed muscle mass long term?

Thank you in advance!

1)compound exercises
2) daily 4/week
3)1.5-2 gr of protein per kg of lean muscle
4) 1 hour of abs...at least.

usmcmp

1)compound exercises
2) daily 4/week
3)1.5-2 gr of protein per kg of lean muscle
4) 1 hour of abs...at least.

I have abs and I agree with the first 3, but not the last one. I don't isolate abs ever. Compounds do all the work for me. Not saying that you CAN'T do abs, but you work them like you would any other muscle. A couple of sets twice a week is enough. Also, making sure body fat is low enough to see them (which comes from a calorie deficit).

Knuxchan

I'm trying to build my abs, and I'm not sure about the diet part. I've been researching online and many places say you have to eat 5-6 times a day, and your calorie vs. protein count has to be a certain amount. It's all so confusing. How do I know how many calories and protein I need per day? I want to update my MyFitnessPal profile with this information so I can have something to go by.

I workout 5 days a week for about 2-3 hours. All of my workout sessions are pretty intense (martial arts), and I also do several sets of ab workouts in the mix (push-ups, pull-ups, leg-lifts, crunches, planks, and others). I feel like my workouts are okay, and now I want to concentrate on my diet. But I don't know how much calories/protein/fat/etc. I should be taking in to help build and tone my abs.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!