If you spent the last six months in bars, burger joints and other burping joints, building up fat folds for thermal purposes, then we know what will happen in a month and a half. You will come to the beach, take off your shirt, and everyone will close their eyes in horror. But it's not too late to fix everything! Read our detailed guide on how to pump up your abs: at home, on the street, in the gym. Yes, an important note: if the cubes have already begun a dance around your navel, and you not only wash down yohimbine with clenbuterol, but also have a rough idea of why you are doing this, then scroll on - you are unlikely to discover anything new.
Abs start in the kitchen
The saying about “70% of abs is done in the kitchen”, in general, is not a saying at all, but a truth cast in granite. The abdominal muscles are perhaps the most dependent on fat deposits. Historically, the lower abdomen accumulates the most strategic reserves, which the body aims to use in lean years. And since people, for the most part, left the cave a relatively long time ago, hunger still does not occur. But your body doesn’t realize that there’s a McDonald’s and a couple of shawarma shops across the street from you, so you no longer need to replenish the storage space around your waist. So you can endlessly hold a plank, do crunches and die on a Roman chair, but nothing will help you: no one, even the most pumped up abs, has ever coped with a ten-centimeter pillow on his stomach. You might as well buy a Maserati and put it in your grandfather's shell garage. So I’m sorry, but you’ll read about the abs themselves a little later, but for now let’s talk about nutrition.
Nutrition
And the most important thing is your nutrition. After all, no matter how many approaches you make, if for dinner you have fried potatoes and beer, you won’t see the press like your ears. After all, 90% of success is nutrition, and only 10% is training.
- First and most importantly: give up alcohol, and especially beer. Alcohol increases cholesterol levels, which causes fat to grow, especially in the belly area. Therefore, if you don’t want a beer belly, you should forget about beer.
- Less calories! To lose weight, you need to burn fewer calories than you take in. Carbohydrates only until 15:00, protein the rest of the time. No fast food, soda, sweets or smoked foods.
- When the fat starts to go away, you can switch to protein nutrition. Protein promotes muscle growth and repair. The correct ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates is 50/20/30.
- Divide your diet into 5-6 times. It is better to eat often, but in small portions. This way you will always be full and will never overeat.
- Drink more water - at least two liters a day. It removes harmful toxins from the body, speeds up metabolism and controls appetite.
Somatotype
First of all, you need to find out what body type you are. There are three of them: endomorphic, mesomorphic and ectomorphic. If you are a mesomorph, then a) endomorphs and ectomorphs hate you, b) it’s easy for you to lose weight, gain weight, gain weight and lose it. Right now, thank God (or whoever you believe in) for such a somatotype - you are lucky.
If you are tall, thin, and since school days you have not been offended when people call you a scumbag, then you are an ectomorph. You won't be successful in weightlifting, but it won't be difficult to show off your six-pack to your classmates - you have minimal fat. Most likely, your abs are already visible - they are just underdeveloped and therefore look funny. But if you try... remember Brad Pitt's torso from Fight Club?
Finally, if you are thick, wide and have forgotten when you weighed less than 80 kg, then you are an endomorph. You should be great at manipulating the barbell, but the problem is with your abs. You will be able to collect a sixpack, but it will have nothing in common with the magnificence of, say, Cristiano Ronaldo. However, don’t despair - Gerard Butler is also an endomorph, which didn’t stop him from sparkling with Zack Snyder’s six-pack.
If you still can't decide, measure your wrist. For an ectomorph, the bone will be less than 17 cm, for a mesomorph - within 17-20 cm, for an endomorph - more than 20 cm. But do not forget that the pure type is rare: neighboring figures are usually mixed.
Find out more about our weight loss programs:
Many people are mistaken about their fat intake and believe that this micronutrient is to blame for their round belly. In fact, consuming these particles, particularly the polyunsaturated and monounsaturated ones found in olive oil and nuts, is more effective than a low-fat diet.
It is imperative that your daily diet includes raw vegetables containing large amounts of antioxidants, minerals and fiber. Without these microelements, it will not be possible to build a toned body and get an attractive relief in the abdominal area.
If you do not want to exhaust yourself with constant physical activity, use our comprehensive weight loss program “Transformation”, which eliminates it. For those who have set themselves the goal of getting sculpted abs, the optimal solution would be the FIT - Transformation program. The clinic’s specialists will individually select physical activities for you and create an effective exercise program that you can perform at home on your own. They will also prepare individual nutritional recommendations for you. By following them, you can achieve successful results in a short time and find the figure of your dreams.
Sample menu
Below is an indicative list of dishes with which pumping up the press will not go in vain:
- Oven-cooked meat and vegetable salad are perfect for breakfast. It is better to replace coffee with green tea or a glass of freshly squeezed juice (remember that any freshly squeezed drink is high in calories, and there is also a risk of gastrointestinal upset).
- During your lunch break, you should give preference to a portion of complex carbohydrates in the form of cereals and protein, for example, baked chicken breast.
- Cottage cheese for dinner with a small amount of fruit (with the exception of grapes and bananas) will be extremely useful.
Also, do not forget about the second breakfast and afternoon snack, where there is nothing better than light vegetable and fruit salads, a glass of kefir or yogurt, which also effectively satisfy the feeling of hunger, provide the necessary energy and building material for muscle mass.
Food
Describing all kinds of diets here is a pointless exercise, so we will limit ourselves to introductory information. Firstly, under no circumstances rush to extremes. Sitting on kefir and the smell of cheese for a week is not worth it - it is not only dangerous, but also pointless: the body will think that you are about to die and will begin to frantically eat your muscles. And only then will he switch to fat, but will consume it one teaspoon a day. That is why all sorts of diets in the spirit of “don’t eat after six” work mainly with hundred-kilogram ladies.
So you need to eat, and even more often than usual. But less: eat half (and quarter) portions five to six times a day, this will force your body to constantly work and, as a result, burn more calories. After all, any weight loss one way or another comes down to one thing - burning more calories than you consume. And also pay attention to carbohydrates: they should not be more than 40% of the total amount of substances received in the diet. And if you have decent willpower, then it’s ideal to consume two grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of weight per day. Of course, we are talking about slow carbohydrates - cereals, brown rice, lentils, buckwheat, and so on. Put off the buns, chocolate and beer until winter.
To make life less boring, eat more protein. Eat boiled (not fried!) chicken, low-fat fish, low-fat cottage cheese and kefir. You can compensate for the lack of sugar with fruits, but look for yourself: professional athletes even refuse this when losing weight.
Monitor your progress
Last but not least, what you should do when pumping up your abdominal muscles is to monitor your results. Whatever your goals are, whether it’s how to pump up beautiful sculpted abs at home in 1 month, or simply lose weight and “remove your sides,” or become a sports model, you still need to keep a diary.
Nothing motivates more than personal progress. In order to monitor your progress, you need to keep a diary, take measurements of your waist and photograph your achievements for comparison.
Diary of nutrition and training
Keep a diary and write down everything you eat and what exercise you do. A diary will help you identify any mistakes you're making in your diet and exercise routine, as well as identify areas in your routine that need closer attention.
Waist circumference measurements
Weight measurements will not give you a clear picture or be a reliable representation of your progress. After all, you pump up your muscles, and they will become bigger. And muscles are heavier than fat. Therefore, it is better to measure your waist size. Measure your waist over your hips and don't try to pull your stomach in, be relaxed when taking measurements.
Before and after photos
Working on sculpted abs is quite a long process, and since you see yourself in the mirror every day, you may not visually catch your progress. In order to see it, take photos every two weeks and compare them, you will definitely notice how you have changed during this time. Well, you can also easily answer the question - in how many days can you build beautiful abs in men.
In the living room
Okay, let's leave your refrigerator alone. But the theory is not finished yet! Let's figure out what the abdominal muscle actually is. Contrary to popular belief, it is not “lower abs” and “upper abs”. This is a flat, long abdominal muscle whose job is to twist your body in the pelvic spine. Next to her is a colleague - the oblique abdominal muscle. It is this thing, in combination with the lower part of the rectus muscle, that is responsible for the Adonis belt, which attracts the gaze of all surrounding females (and often males). Putting on a belt is more difficult than gaining cubes, so immediately prepare for adversity and hardship. There are other types of abs in your cunning body, see the picture:
Workouts and abs
The lecture is over, let's move on to what you came for, training. Let's take the worst case scenario: you spent the money for a gym membership on upgrading your computer for QuantumBreak, and in the courtyard of your house, of all the sports equipment, there is only a rickety table on which local grandfathers play dominoes. Don't despair. The abs are almost the only muscle that can really be pumped up at home (pumped up, not made into a godlike form, gentlemen commentators). There are many programs and exercises for the abdominal muscles, and we have prepared a description of five effective exercises.
How does a muscle corset work?
Before you rush to buy a gym membership or lay out a mat at home, you should understand the anatomical structure of the muscles you are interested in. The abdominal region consists of the following muscles:
- Straight. It is she who influences the appearance of cherished forms.
- Oblique. They are located on both sides of the torso and are responsible for the waist.
- Internal braid. Performs the same functions as the previous ones.
- Transverse. It is an internal support, the condition of which determines strength and endurance.
Roller crunches
You take out 500-1000 rubles from your stash. You go to the website of a sports store. You buy a gymnastic roller - a spinning thing with two handles on the sides. You find two free meters in length in your Khrushchev apartment. You place the roller on the floor, resting your hands on it. Roll the roller forward until your torso is close to the floor. You return to your place. After three repetitions, you will feel pain like never before. In five, you’ll think you’re about to give birth. In ten, you’ll collapse on the linoleum, and you’ll walk crouched for a week. This option is for working the rectus muscle, although there is a modification with horizontal repetitions. But if you've just started, it's better not to. Seriously.
"Bike"
According to some research, the most effective abdominal exercise. The point is this. Lie down on a gymnastics mat or pre-vacuumed carpet. Hands behind head. Bend your knees at an angle of 45 degrees. And you begin to alternately pull your elbow to your knee. Mirror - right elbow to the left knee, left, respectively, to the right. Unlike the ordeal of using a roller, you can use a “bicycle” to work out the oblique muscles painlessly. Good luck.
Expert opinion
Evgeniy Avvakumov (coach)
The secret to great abs isn't thousands of pumps. The presence of abs can only be seen with a low percentage of fat in the athlete’s body. Therefore, you need to combine abdominal work with proper nutrition and cardio exercises, which will help to show it.
Alexey Churashin (doctor)
Excessive enthusiasm for pumping up six-pack can lead to menstrual irregularities in women. That is why, before starting serious training in the abdominal area, you need to know about contraindications and not overdo it in the pursuit of beauty.
Hanging Leg Raise
Here you will need some kind of brace for your upper limbs. A horizontal bar made by you in a short-term impulse for self-improvement is perfect. So, hold on to the horizontal bar, bend your knees and slowly raise your knees to your chest, while simultaneously engaging your pelvis. Having reached the peak, you hold it for several seconds. And just as slowly you lower it back. If you are swaying, ask someone to hold you - let them rest on your back. If you feel strong, you don’t have to bend your knees. The transverse muscles are involved in the work in any case, but you can additionally influence them by “throwing” your side in one direction or another. Then it will hurt. Strongly.
Diet features
Fat burning occurs on the basis of a low-carbohydrate diet. Subcutaneous fat cannot be melted and shaken, as they promise in saunas, steam baths, and beauty salons. Getting rid of it is a biochemical process that involves the breakdown of triglycerides into fatty acids. To do this, the body requires a low-calorie diet, which will allow it to spend excess savings to ensure the functioning of muscles and internal organs.
Awakening metabolism leads to weight stabilization in both adults and children. Subsequently, body weight must be maintained by observing the caloric intake of the diet. The body needs proteins and slow carbohydrates, which are the main suppliers of energy. Animal fats (lard, butter, cream, sour cream), egg yolks, cocoa and palm oils are prohibited. Legumes, fiber, greens, cereals, low-fat fish, and fermented milk products will benefit.
For those who have lost weight and are working on beautiful abs, you can focus on the following menu:
- breakfast: protein shake (350 g);
- Snack No. 1 (after 2 hours): peanut butter or a handful of nuts, raw vegetables (can be chopped, but without dressing);
- lunch: grain bread, skinless poultry, apple, yogurt or low-fat milk;
- snack No. 2: seasonal fruits or berries, a handful of nuts (almonds, walnuts or hazelnuts);
- dinner: steamed meatballs (you can add onion and garlic cloves to the minced meat), grain bread, black rice, grated mozzarella cheese (100 g), flax seeds (1 tbsp);
- before bed - a protein shake (350 g).
A protein shake for building muscle mass should be prepared independently from the following products: 200 grams of milk (1%), ¾ cup oatmeal pre-soaked in water, 2 tbsp. l. yogurt, 60 g protein of any flavor, 50 g peanut butter, 6 crushed ice cubes. The ingredients should be mixed in a blender. The resulting amount should be divided into 2 doses (morning and evening).
Press at home in 10 minutes a day! Training program
Side plank
The regular plank is a good exercise, but rather for a general range of muscles. But the side one greatly increases your chances of someday getting a belt. Lie down on your left side, with your left arm extended and resting on the floor. Raise your legs and pelvis, but without spreading your feet. You extend your right hand. You tense all the muscles you can. You freeze for 15-30 seconds. You change sides.
The best exercises for six packs
How many abs does a person have? Typically models have 8 of them, but it is theoretically possible to pump up 10. This is very difficult, and many additional factors will influence this.
Exercises to pump up 10 abs:
- Crunches with legs raised.
- Body lift 90°.
- Straight crunches.
- Scissors.
- Reverse crunches.
- Penknife.
Walking uphill
At the end there is a special exercise that is not directly related to the abdominal muscles, so that you do not forget about cardio. Running and walking will help you get rid of fat, with which, as you remember, any planks are useless. Especially if you are an endomorph. So if you don’t have an ellipsoid or a treadmill lying around at home (check it on your balcony), find any hill in your area and conquer it regularly. You can also do laps at the stadium, but grueling walks on uneven surfaces will work better.
Here's an excellent video on the topic. In 19 minutes, a person who clearly abuses self-tanning will quite sensibly explain to you the principles of building sculpted abs:
As for frequency, determine it based on your personal well-being. The general advice is this: you need to pump every other day, provided that you devote at least one day off to cardio. There is no point in beating your stomach every 24 hours, just like doing a million repetitions: the muscles will become resilient, but not sculpted. Therefore, do the exercises 12-15 times in four approaches.
That's probably all. I would like to believe that this guide was able to help you in some way, and that now you have really taken the path of getting rid of the beer belly.
How long does it take to pump up abs for a girl?
Before you start pumping up your abs, you need to establish your diet and routine. Of course, the time it takes to get cubes is strictly individual. It is impossible to give a definite answer to the question of how to pump up six-pack abs for a girl.
It depends on your body fat percentage and the quantity and quality of your workouts. With regular exercise, following a diet and the absence of an impressive layer of fat, it is quite possible to pump up six-pack abs in a month, or even in a year. To build up the relief, you need regular (2-3 times a week) strength training, and to outline it - cardio exercises (1-2 times).
