Strong abs vs the sculpted six pack. If you’ve ever strived for the toned flat tummy or even the sculpted six pack you may have found yourself coming up short of your goal. You probably found it isn’t as simple as do cruches and wake up with a six pack!
A toned flat tummy looks great, but strong abs will make you actually FEEL great.
Strong abs... more important than a flat tummy
You may also have noticed that getting that flat tummy has become more difficult as you approached 50. After menopause, women often gain fat around the belly.
We can work on reducing overall body fat, but we cannot spot reduce. In other words, exercising a particular body part (ie. ab exerises) will not reduce fat on that body part (ie. abs).
However, while our bodies are deciding what body fat to burn first, we can still be creating strong abs.
And, strong abs:
- provide support for our spine
- help us to have a better posture
- reduce risk of chronic low back pain or injury
We use our abs in nearly everything we do. Our abs help us walk, stand, bend, sit, reach, twist. You name it. Our abs also work in conjunction with our back. Keeping them both strong is critical. If one is stronger than the other, we are at greater risk of an injury as one tries to compensate for the other.
Abs... 4 different muscles
When you think of abs, what muscles do you think of? Our abdominals are actually made up of several different muscles – rectus abdominus, transverse abdominis, internal obliques, and external obliques. To effectively get strong abs, we need to include exercises for all of them. The best way to do that is to do a variety of ab exerises.
How often can you exercise your abdominals?
How often you work your abs really depends on how hard you are working your abs.
If you’re starting to exercise your abs for the first time, you may not want to jump right into an intense ab workout. In that case, you can work your abs several days per week. If your abs are sore the next day, I would suggest giving them a rest.
If you’re doing an intense ab workout, you want at least one day of rest in between workouts.
Strong abs... how do you get them?
You want strong abs, right? To get them you have to work them.
Like anything new, I suggest you start slow and gradually build up to a 10 – 15 minute ab workout.
Since our abs are used in (I think I can say all, but let’s not get crazy) nearly all of our movements, you are actually working your abs to some extent in all of your workouts. Always remember to hold your abs in tight to stabilize your core during exercises like squats, deadlifts, chest press, shoulder press etc.
Strong abs... beginner exercises
I wanted to give you some beginner exerises you can get started with today. Start with one or two of these exercises and do 15 reps. Check out the video below for a demo of these 10 exercises.
- Basic crunch
- Prayer crunch
- Alternating toe reach
- Reverse crunch
- Flutter kicks
- Bicycle crunch
- Romanian twist
- Windshield wipers
- Plank
- Side plank
I’ve also created a 30-day ab workout calender. Stay consistent and never wonder “what ab exercise should I do today?” again.
Want more than just strong abs...
If you’re thinking, Kim, this is all great but I want to see my abs.
Well, at the end of the day you can do all of these exercises and you will have strong abs, BUT… they may be covered by a layer of fat.
And, the only way to really see those strong abs you’ve created is by dialing in your nutrition and reducing body fat.
Genetics also play a role and can be the final determination on which ab muscles you see or don’t see, but without following a healthy diet, those abs of yours are definitely going to continue to hide.
It depends on your goals...
We all have different goals and there is no right or wrong choice. Some of us have a goal of strong abs so we can maintain an active lifestyle for years. Others may have a goal of seeing that six pack.
Either way, you’ll want to work your ab muscles on a consistent basis.
Regardless of whether you want the six pack or not, following a nutritious diet is always highly recommended.
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