Abdominals are probably one of the most trained body parts in the gym. Achieving abs is the focal point to the average person; if you have visible abdominals, then most people will think you’re jacked! While this is laughable to the intermediate and above fitness fanatics, you do have to admit that abs are important to achieve an «aesthetic» look. Whether you have a 6 pack or an 8 pack, solely depends on your abs genetics.
The problem is, what some people do not understand is that achieving visible abs has nothing to do with your training at all.
That’s right – you could never train your legs in your life and still have visible abs. After all, everyone has them, but they are hidden under the fat. If you do not think that you have any fat but you still do not have abs, then you are mistaken in the fact that you still do have fat to lose. Most people vastly underestimate how much fat they are holding onto. With that said, even though you can achieve abs without even training them, it probably would still be a good idea to hit them just like any other muscle. You do actually hit your abdominals pretty well by doing compound exercises such as squats and deadlifts, but it wouldn’t hurt by throwing in a couple of extra exercises in there per week. I would keep this as short and simple as possible.
Weighted Decline Crunches – 3 sets of 8-10 reps
Hanging Leg Raises – 3 sets of 8-10 reps
Crunches With Leg Extensions – 1 set of 30 – 50 reps
Sit Ups – 1 set of 30 – 50 reps
That does not seem like that much, but your abdominals just like any other muscle. In most people, I find that they require very little stimulation to begin to develop some solid abdominal mass. Heck, a lot of people see extremely good ab development simply by doing those compound exercises I mentioned above. I would consider myself to have great ab development, and I haven’t trained them directly for over two years! One mistake that you will see a lot of people make is thinking they need to do several sets to see their abdominals; as I mentioned before, the amount of fat that you are carrying will determine how visible your abs are.
Once you hit around 10% body fat, then you should begin to see your abs pretty well. It doesn’t matter how hard or often that you hit your abs; you simply will not see any improvement in them until you achieve fat loss. Training will get you rock solid abs but a proper cutting diet will reveal them.