Tips for Abs

What abs exercises can I do to build well defined Abs?

Most people believe the abdominal muscles are best worked by doing a variety of stomach curls or sit ups, but understanding the abdominals physiological design and purpose will help point to exercises that will better tone and strengthen your abs.

The abdominals' purpose is to work in concert with the many muscles in the back to allow us, as humans, to walk upright. For comparison, the next time you pet a cat or dog you will notice their abdominal wall is distinctly non-muscular with almost no muscle definition. This is a direct result of them not walking upright. Contrastingly, they have significant muscle mass in their shoulders and hunches, which is exactly what you need to walk on all fours.

Knowing this fact it should be obvious that the best exercises for abs are those that involve upright movement. Good abdominal building exercises include running, aerobics, basketball, or soccer. One of the best exercises is sprinting. To run at max speed requires very strong abs. My all time personal favorite is hiking. The navigation of steep grades requires very well developed abs. It is also important to note that these exercises benefit back muscles equally as well as they do the abdominals.

In fact the recent popularity of “Core Training” capitalizes on building abs and back muscle in concert. Core exercises help to build better abs, which in turn lessens the load that the back muscles must handle. There is a dramatic decrease in back problems when abs are strengthened, which is very significant as back problems are the leading chronic injury complaint.

Of course the popular abdominal exercises do benefit the abs, but simply performing them is not the answer to getting great abs. By incorporating a variety of activities into your weekly regime your abs will quickly grow stronger and more toned.

However the strongest abs in the world will never be seen if a person has too much fat over them. Contrary to popular belief, all the ab workouts in the world will not target the fat around the stomach. The only solution to excessive fat buildup is to create a calorie deficit. This can be done by increasing the amount of exercise, modifying the diet, or a combination of both.

For anyone looking to make a lifestyle change, I highly recommend incorporating both exercise and diet for long term lasting benefits.

Written by Troy Saunders