Serious Ab People!

I agree with all the answers already given - Eat right, stick to a calorie deficit to lose BF, compound lifts as well as direct ab work to strengthen the are. However, don't overtrain your abs. There is no need to.

I would also add two other things. (1) Be patient! Measure your progress weekly as opposed to day to day - that will drive you nuts.
(2) get an accurate BF% reading so you know where you are and where you need to get to. Take readings weekly so you know if your BF% is decreasing and you're on the right track.

YES!! Be patient!

Mine took me three years of pretty serious effort, it's a lifestyle change, but it can be fun. I would however suggest that you consider not too drastic a caloric deficit. A mild deficit may work better for you than a severe one. I'm not the best one to speak on that, but there are plenty of posts on the forums that deal with WAY better than I ever could.

I'm really tired of "Abs are made in the kitchen" - while it helps to make them pop better - its not where they are made. Some people have great genetics that allow less ab work, clean eating and a full 12-pack stomach. But others have to work for it and actually do ab isolating exercises.

Low body fat does help - but I'm around 19% and if I have two clean days - my abs really show! Some can't get abs until they have less BF. Its all about body dynamics. Some never get them!!

Be patient is very good advice!! Ab work, core work and clean eating are sure fire ways to get on the right track!!

Some good truth here ^^^

Truly, it's both - diet AND exercise are important if you want abs that "pop". Of course you can see abs if you just starve enough, but they won't look as good as those that've been built up. Like any other muscle they can be developed better with resistance training and made more visible with the loss of the fat on top (thru caloric deficit). Nevertheless, some folks are blessed with better looking abs than others genetically & may require less direct ab work than others to get that look they want. BB-ers do direct ab work for a reason.

Certainly though, there are some folks who will not be as interested in building the size of their abs. Not to sound sexist but I'm guessing more women would be less interested in abs that "pop", so some of this is a matter of preference.

Following!

Anyone close to me knows that I don't train abs directly and I don't eat clean. I have no issues getting a shredded mid section when I cut.

bumping because I wont remember all of these different exercises on the first page. haha

I have a similar goal Bumping

Bump for later

i recommend replacing all the floor exercises you do for your abs with squats, deadlifts, barbell rows. and if you are already doing this, i suggest also doing trunk rotation exercises and standing crunch exercises using the cable column machine. also, perform hanging straight leg lifts and concentrate on keeping the eccentric movement at 5 seconds. also, walk for a hour in the morning at a moderate pace to heat up the core.

last but not least, it all comes down to diet. track your macros!

*sneaks in for the answers*

Really? You seem to already know what you're doing.

Good advice already given. I think that the real key is getting the bf low enough. Some get their sooner than others. This is often caused by fat storage patterns. Some people just store more fat in the core area than others. It will happen but it may take a bit, slow and steady wins the race! Good luck