How To Get Abs
Being able to visually see your abdominal muscles is a goal for many people.
As a matter of fact, it can be the driving force that gets a lot of people into fitness.
From magazine cover models, to actors, to fitness models, the appearance of visible abs has become a symbol of peak physical fitness.
So how exactly does one “get” abs?
Is it crunches? Planks? Maybe those little electrode/stim pads that ‘shock’ your abs into existence?
Well lucky for you, you’re in the right place.
I’m about to run through a step-by-step process of exactly what you need to do to get visible abs.
And not to ‘toot my own horn’ but I do have first-hand experience on this subject.
Both through my own journey years ago (shown below), and that of numerous clients in my online coaching program.
So grab a cup of coffee, a Red Bull, a protein shake, or whatever you’re into.
And let’s get into it.
Somebody who has visible abs has achieved two things…
a relatively low body fat percentage
And
2. a decent amount of muscle in the abdominal area
Now unfortunately, there is not one set body fat percentage that is universally the “visible abs” body far percentage.
Everyone is different and some people may be able to see their abs at 15% while others might not see them until 12%.
This is why, time spent trying to determine the exact body fat percentage needed to obtain visible abs, is time wasted.
But let’s make two things clear.
If your goal is to get visible abs, and you DO NOT currently have visible abs.
You need to…
decrease your overall body fat percentage (because spot reduction of body fat is NOT a thing)
And
2. work on building your overall abdominal musculature
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s tackle how to do each of those things.
One at a time of course.
So how does one decrease overall body fat percentage?
Well if you’ve seen any of my social media content, you know that the ONLY way to lose fat is by eating in a calorie deficit.
This means, eating less calories than you burn.
So if your maintenance calories are 2000, your calorie deficit would be anything BELOW 2000 calories (I typically recommend a deficit somewhere between 300-500 cals below maintenance).
Eating in a calorie deficit consistently (80%) for weeks and months at a time is the ONLY way to decrease your overall body fat percentage.
Now, you can create this deficit through a combination of eating less AND moving more.
So if you decrease your overall caloric intake (calories in) while increasing your physical activity (calories out) it can be a LOT easier to maintain this deficit long-term.
Decreasing your caloric intake is achieved by eating less overall.
Some awesome strategies for this include consuming less calorically-dense foods, consuming more satiating foods that keep you fuller for longer, along with multiple other strategies.
And increasing your physical activity is achieved through moving more overall, some awesome strategies for this include adding a daily step goal, adding 30 minutes of any steady state cardio per day, also along with multiple other strategies.
So that’s the ‘decreasing overall body fat percentage’ aspect.
If you’re still confused at all, I have a completely FREE Fat Loss Program available on my website if you want step-by-step instructions on how to calculate your calorie deficit, protein goal, step goal, and 3 complete strength workouts!
Moving on to the second aspect, building muscle and growing the overall abdominal musculature or ‘ab muscles’.
This aspect is also very important to achieve the goal of visibility abs, and I’ll explain why.
The less muscle you have in your ab area, the LOWER your body fat will have to be in order to see those abs.
So someone who has bigger and stronger ab muscles will be able to see their abs at a higher body fat percentage than someone who has smaller and weaker ab muscles.
And I’m here to tell you, you want all the help you can get in this case.
So it is extremely important that, while focusing on eating in a calorie deficit and doing everything necessary to decrease your overall body fat percentage…
You are still training your abs (similar to how you would train any muscle that you want to grow) consistently, focusing on getting stronger with a few specific ab/core movements.
Typically, for myself and my online coaching (hyperlink) clients, I don't recommend anything more than 2-3 times per week for 2-3 sets each.
Contrary to popular belief, your abs really don't need a ton of volume (volume = reps x sets).
Now if you’re wondering “which ab exercises though?”
Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered.
Here are 3 of my personal favorite ab/core exercises that I believe are some of the most effective.
KNEELING CABLE CRUNCH
STABILITY BALL CABLE ROTATIONS
HANGING BENT KNEE RAISE
So a sample week using these 3 movements would be…
Monday: Kneeling Cable Crunch
Wednesday: Cable Ball Rotations or Cable Side Bends
Friday: Hanging Knee Raise
Do 2-3 sets of each, and focus on taking each set to or close to failure.
So there you have it, an all-encompassing, step-by-step process of exactly what you need to do to get visible abs.
If you do those two things…
decrease your overall body fat percentage through a calorie deficit
And
2. build and strengthen your actual ab muscles through training them 2-3x per week effectively at or close to failure
You will be very happy with the results at the end of multiple months of consistency.
I guarantee it.
Thanks so much for reading! I hope this helps you and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out.
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