Building Abdominal Muscles

Everyone wants great abdominal muscles, but very few people actually achieve them. This is too bad because it really isn't all that difficult.

Where most people go wrong in building their ab muscles is that they don't work at it on a regular basis. In order to build flat abs, and especially to build six pack abs, you need to work on building your abdominal muscles on a regular and continual basis.

Keep in mind that working the abdominal muscles is no different than working any other muscle group of the body. If you want to build muscle in your abdominal area, then you must exercise your ab muscles.

There is a common misconception that women are unable to build strong abdominal muscles. However, this is untrue - woman can build great ab muscles just like men can if they work at it.

Muscles increase in size by responding to an increased demand on them. So, if you perform a bunch of ab exercises then your abdominal muscles will respond to the increased demand by becoming stronger.

While you are actually performing the ab exercises your abdominal muscles become slightly damaged. It is during the resting phase that your muscles grow. For this reason you should only exercise your abdominal muscles every other day. Some ab videos will state that you should work your abs every single day. I disagree with this because building your ab muscles is no different than building other muscle. It is during the resting phase that abdominal muscles will grow. If you overwork them then you will not see great results.

In fact, there is one really great ab video that states you should work your abs every day. This video is the original Eight Minute Abs video. It is a really good video for building abs if you make just a few modifications. One of these is that you should only do the ab exercises every other day. Also, if you are really serious about building your abs you need to rewind the video a few times and make it 16 minute abs or 24 minute abs. However, in the beginning, eight minutes is probably long enough. This is a really good ab video for showing the proper technique for performing common abdominal exercises.

The Ab Muscles

These are the abdominal muscles:

rectus abdominus - the large ab muscle that covers the body's midsection
external obliques - located on both sides of the rectus abdominus and on top of the internal obliques
internal obliques - located directly beneath the external obliques
serratus anterior - located above the external obliques, but below the pectoralis major (chest muscle)

What Are the Best Abdominal Exercises to Work These Muscles?

Simple crunches are the best. Crunches mainly work out the rectus abdominus and the serratus anterior. Perform about 30-60 crunches every other day and your abs will shape up in no time. Don't bother performing situps. You are likely to strain your lower back and there really isn't any added benefit to doing situps anyway if you are already doing crunches.

Another good ab exercise for strenthening the lower abs is to perform leg lifts while lying on the floor. It is best to keep your hands with your palms facing the floor and both hands under your buttocks to protect your lower back. Crossing you ankles while performing this exercise also helps to protect the lower back and seems to make this exercise easier.

You can also perform side crunches to work out the external and internal obliques. To do these, while laying on the floor or exercise mat, cross one leg over the over with your ankle resting on your knee as shown in the photo. Then raise up and try to touch your elbow to your knee (but it isn't necessary for them to actually touch). Then repeat the crunches on the other side.

Some Less Common Abdominal Exercises

Watch the You Tube video below to see how to perform some of the less common ab exercises that don't involve laying on your back or doing crunches. These exercises include the cross body mountain climber, use of the ab wheel, and a stability ball.

Six Pack Abs and Your Diet

You can perform lots of crunches and other abdominal exercises, but your abdominal muscles will remain hidden if you have a lot of fat on your abdomen. Unfortunately, for a lot of people, this is where fat accumulates on their body.

In order for you, and other people, to see those great abdominal muscles that you have spent time working out, you must get rid of the excess layer of fat on your abdomen. This is probably the hardest part of getting six pack abs.

While working out your abdominal muscles does burn a few calories, you'll probably need additional aerobic exercise to help you burn off that layer of abdominal fat. Depending on your weight you may also have to decrease the number of calories you ingest, however, don't eat less than 1200-1500 calories a day.