Personal Trainers Forum

[Jasmin]

3 Secrets To Visible Abs They Won't Tell You About!

Having trained thousands of individuals from all walks of life
I would say that one of the most common goals among exercisers
is to develop a "visible" 6-pack. Perhaps you fall into this
category as well. I know I did at one point. Let's see how you
can accomplish this goal and discover 3 secrets that you need to
know in order to do so.

SECRET #1

It's first important to realize that we're not dealing with a
6-pack but instead an 8-pack. Those 2 lower abdominal muscles
that most people forget to consider help make up the 8-pack or
rectus abdominis muscle.

The second thing to realize is that rectus abdominis muscle is
innervated by only 1 nerve. This means that from a neuromuscular
perspective there is no difference between the upper and lower
abs.

Think back to all those people who have told you to do leg
lifts to train you lower abs and crunches to train your upper
abs. Although there intentions were honest, there is simply no
differentiating this 8-pack muscle. Therefore, when you do
sit-ups, or crunches, or leg lifts you're training the exact
same muscle - the 8-pack OR rectus abdominis - and the full
length of this muscle.

However, like with any other muscle in the body, using a
variety of exercises (crunches, leg lifts, plank, etc...) is
helpful in order to stimulate individual muscle fibers within
the full range of motion of the muscle and to maximize it's
performance and strength.

SECRET #2

When it comes to visibly seeing your 8-pack there is little use
for abdominal exercises! That's right. You can do 1,000 sit-ups
a day if you like but your efforts will be in vain. The reason
for this is simple.

In order for you to visibly see your abdominal muscles your
body fat percentage needs to be around 10% or lower. And the
best way to burn fat is by using full-body movements that
utilize a large amount of muscle in order to burn as many
calories as possible. The more muscle involved in a movement,
the more calories that are burned.

Therefore, abdominal crunches are close to useless because
they're focused on such a small group of muscles that there is
little metabolic effect. Performing a ton of ab work will get
your abs strong but they won't be visible if they're hiding
behind a layer of fat.

Full-body movements such as squat presses, lunge walks with arm
raises, step-ups with biceps, and burpies are great movements
that expend huge amount of calories.

Aside from full-body movements, the incorporation of
high-intensity interval training is needed to rev up your
metabolism and maximize your calorie burning potential.

However, when it comes to shedding body fat, the most important
component is certainly your diet. It is beyond the scope of this
article to go into full-out detail but simply by eating a higher
percentage of living foods that alkalize your body your success
will be that much closer.

SECRET #3

Let's say that you're working hard to strengthen your abs but
you still have a bit of gut that is showing. That's fine.
Realize that it will take some time and hard work to get a
chiseled waistline. But what if, in the meantime, you could
reduce your waist size simply by using a couple of easy-to-do
core strengthening exercises? That would be alright, wouldn't
it?

Ok, so here's what you want to do. You want to spend time
developing and strengthening your trunk stabilizers - namely
your transversus abdominis (TVA) and your internal (IO) and
external obliques (EO). In conjunction, these critical muscles
help tighten your tummy while supporting your spine.

You can get a feel for their activation by putting on a tight
pair of pants (drawing in your belly button) and slightly
tensing your abs (as if you were about to get punched). This
2-step activation is known as "abdominal bracing".

The easiest way to train the TVA, IO, and EO is simply to
abdominal brace whenever you can. In fact, this is how I started
out way back in the day. It sounds pretty ridiculous put back in
junior high school I simply began "abdominal bracing" (not
knowing what it was at the time) in order to get those washboard
abs. The funniest part is that I was doing it to impress a girl.
Pretty silly I know but it worked.

After much conscious effort, these muscles learned how to
tighten and strengthen my core naturally. So, instead of
thinking about of activating these muscles, they simply acquired
a natural tonicity to provide me with a tight, slim, and strong
core. The same can happen for you.