Strong and toned abs are something everyone wants to achieve. With the right routine and information, you can have abdominal muscles that everyone envies. Just make sure to focus on these muscles and take care of your overall health for the best results.
1. Add Some Weight
When you are working on your upper abs, crunches are very helpful, but modifying them with some weight can help to enhance your results. To do this, add some overhead pull-down crunches to your routine and add weight to this. How much weight depends on your overall strength, so you need to experiment to determine how much weight is best for you.
2. Work on Your Posture
When you slouch, your stomach starts to pooch. When you use proper posture, it sucks your stomach in so that it looks leaner. Pull your chest up and your shoulders back when you are standing to practice better posture.
3. Take Care of Your Whole Body
It is best to work your total body instead of just isolating your abs. Make sure that you are working all of the muscles in and around your core. This helps to accentuate the abs and ensure better overall core strength.
4. Be Mindful of Your Carbohydrates
If you eat carbohydrates that digest too quickly, this spikes your insulin levels which enhances the storage of fat. Stick to complex carbohydrates, such as vegetables and whole grains. This helps you to look leaner and reduces bloating.
5. Utilize Isometrics
To do this, hold your position when you are working your abdominal muscles. Maintain this hold for six to 10 seconds to get the most benefit. Then, relax for the same amount of time.
6. Practice Proper Breathing
When you get to the top position of each exercise, make sure to fully exhale. This helps to contract your ab muscles better so that you get the most benefit from each exercise.
7. Work Your Muscles Until Failure
Any abdominal exercise that only uses your body weight should be performed until you cannot do any more. Do not do a set number of reps since you are not getting the full benefit due to body weight exercises not having added weight.
8. Ideal Reps for Weighted Exercises
When you are doing weighted exercises, the ideal number of reps is eight to 10. Just make sure that you are using enough weight to exhaust your muscles with this amount of reps.
9. Do Not Work Your Abs First
If you are working your abs and other muscle groups in the same day, do your abs last since fatiguing your abs can make it harder to get the most out of your other exercises.
10. Vary Your Speed
When you are doing different abdominal workouts, do them at different speeds. This allows you to better build size and strength via the utilization of more fast-twitch muscles.
It is best to work slowly toward better abs. This is because it makes it easier to turn what you do into habits so that you can sustain your results over the long term.
