Your guide to abs

In this blog i'm looking to answer one of the most sought after questions in a gym environment.
"How do i get abs"

As part of this i'll break into theory, training and diet.

First off, i'll inform you all, I DO NOT TRAIN ABS. I did for a long time and when getting close to a shoot or event i'll maybe do it for a couple of weeks. However if you hit compound exercises right and diet pretty clean, you really don't need to train abs in my experience and somewhat expert opinion.

However, if you are looking to train abs and really feel that its necessary. I'll try and give you a reasonable guide on what sort of works best.

How often?
Well, just like any muscle group, when trained for hypertrophy (growth), they need around 72 hours to repair and grow. So twice a week maximum.

Diet?
Keep it clean, i typically attempt to recreate the physical aspect of my body in terms of my diet. I never get above 10% body fat, and no meal i ever take in contains more than 10% fat. See the correlation?

So in terms of my diet, i'd split it up via macros (macronutrients for those unaware brahs);

• Carbs - 50%
• Protein - 40%
• Fats - 10%

And if you diet in any way other than the IIFYM (if it fits in your macros) approach, you're not really on a diet. Of course you can restrict/change calorie intake. But your base macros linked with calorie surplus are key. 

Then we'll go onto the sorts of foods you should ideally be eating;

When clean eating you need to stick primarily to complex carbs (brown rice, sweet potato, brown pasta, wholegrain wheat), protein (chicken breasts, egg whites, steak) and a low fat % in all sources.

I'll do another blog on diet alone at some point and shall outlay my basic lean bulking, cutting and current diets or the likes otherwise this'd just be longgggg. 

Exercises that work best?
Well like any muscle group. There are different sections that comprise your abs.
For me these are;
Serratus anterior, Internal obliques, External obliques, Transverse abdominus and rectus abdominus.

Ideally for a perfect "ab" workout you'd look to hit all of these.
But since its such a small aspect of training in reality there's no need.
I personally would look to have one isometric exercise to work the deep core muscles, and either one or two contracting exercises to focus on the overlaying fibres.

So for me these are the best exercises;
Serratus - db pullover
Internal obliques - side plank
External obliques - windscreen wipers, side crunch, oblique situps, russian twists
Transverse abdominus - plank, straight leg pullups
Rectus abdominus - leg throws, crunches, cable crunch, hanging leg raises

Depending upon how advanced you are, different exercises will work best. However my favourite is windscreen wipers because of the control element and the fact it just looks really cool.

I'll do another blog on sample ab workouts. To make it simpler so you can all just screenshot and try them out, let me know how you get on and if you need any more in depth advice.

Jordan Mason

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