Everyone wants a flat and defined stomach. For many of us, we slave away in the gym only to find that we never get the results we’re looking for when it comes to our abdominal muscles. If you’re sick of working up a sweat in the gym while failing to achieve your ab goals, then here are the ab mistakes you’re probably making and some advice on what you ought to do instead.
Understand What Defined Abs Actually Are
Many people erroneously associate a “washboard stomach” with a person who does thousands upon thousands of crunches and sit-ups every week. While it’s true that people with great stomachs do a lot of exercises to target that muscle group, it’s not so true that people with defined abs are necessarily people who work out their core incessantly. Instead, people with defined abs are people who have a low enough body fat percentage where the muscles can be visible. You can have the world’s strongest core, but you’re not going to actually be able to see those muscles if there’s a layer of fat obscuring them.
Remember The Importance Of The Kitchen
The most important phrase to remember when it comes to getting the stomach of your dreams is “abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym.” Harkening back to the last point about the importance of having a low body fat percentage to get the stomach you want, you need to be operating at a caloric deficit if you want visible abdominal muscles. For many people, they’d do well to do fewer ab exercises and spend that time preparing nutritious meals that are low in calories and fat.
Mix Up Your Workouts
Not only are endless crunches mindlessly boring and tedious, but at a certain point they stop being effective. The concept of “muscle confusion” refers to building muscle by exposing it to new movements, thereby “confusing” the muscle into changing and growing. Try mixing up your ab workouts by ditching the old school crunches and doing some balancing work on an exercise board.
The people who have great abs achieve their results by eating at a caloric deficit, trying new workouts and understanding that thousands of crunches on a daily basis won’t give them anything but a sore neck. If you keep these tips in mind and avoid these classic mistakes, you can get the flat stomach of your dreams.
