Guide: how to pump up six-pack abs at home quickly and effectively

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Sculpted abs are the dream of many men and women, but how can you make your dream come true? Famous sports bloggers say: “Abs are made in the kitchen.” This means that not only training, but proper nutrition will create six-pack abs, because nutrition should be given more importance than pumping up muscles. We’ll find out further how to properly pump up your abs without leaving home.

• Is it possible to pump up your abs at home without going to the gym?
• What does it take to see abs on your stomach? Are there any differences between women's ab workouts and men's?

Is it possible to pump up your abs at home without going to the gym?

Indeed, to see the cubes, you need to get rid of the fat layer and this is not so easy. You can perform a training complex for years, but still not see sculpted abs, but you can achieve good results in a month. Sweets, flour products and many other simple carbohydrates will cover the abdominal muscles with a layer of fat, and no matter how hard you train your abs, there will be no effect.

When training at home, you need to start by introducing proper and healthy foods into your regimen. Moreover, each product must be taken on time, without leading the body to starvation and without slowing down the metabolism.

Fortunately, you don't need any special machines or equipment to train. Classes can be done using your own weight. All you need is a mat; you can add, if desired, special weighted cuffs to increase the load and pump up your abs.

Since the body can get used to each load, it is necessary to use additional weights or the help of a partner to complicate the exercise. At home, you can use your imagination by taking bottles of water in your hands instead of dumbbells, and this will be very effective. Therefore, it is quite possible to do an abdominal workout at home without spending much time. But remember, the rest of the time is spent monitoring nutrition.

Features of training for the press

In training, the abdominal area is the most difficult.
The abdominal muscles are less developed than other groups, and they grow painfully slowly. Pump up your abs for 30 days, the fat will start to go away and the first results of your efforts will already be visible! You will post photos of yourself with a naked torso on Instagram, read enthusiastic comments from women and receive piquant offers from them. If you swing correctly, immediately after training you will feel your abdominal muscles with any movements. If you sat on a chair or sneezed, the pain will be terrible. But don’t panic - this is a sore throat, the result of your good training.

Moreover, the pain goes away quickly. The abs, and with them the stabilizer muscles, work almost around the clock. They support the body and help support internal organs. Therefore, the abdominal muscles recover much faster than the rest. And as you know, muscles grow during rest. But this does not mean that the breaks between workouts should be long.

Be sure to warm up before training. This will warm up the muscles before strength training. On the Internet you will find a bunch of options for warming up your body. At the end, be sure to stretch. It will make your muscles more flexible and elastic. Train on the mat, otherwise not only your muscles will hurt, but also your knees and tailbone.

How to pump up your abs? Make a training plan for each muscle: a day of training - a day of rest. So you:

• You will restore muscles and build faster.
• You can increase the load without the risk of overexertion.
• You can track what suits you, because everyone has their own body type.

To make the relief as expressive as possible, simple twisting is not enough. Press exercises - a special set of exercises (on an incline bench, crunches, leg raises, planks, etc.) will speed up your transformation. You can pump up your upper and lower abs both in the gym and at home. Find effective abdominal exercises. And remember, the main thing is the system!

What does it take to see abs on your stomach?

In order to quickly pump up perfect abs, you must first of all get rid of excess fat. Abdominal muscles do not require enormous effort to improve the tone and shape of the cubes; they are already anatomically formed so that they can be viewed provided there is a complete absence of subcutaneous fat. Accordingly, the smaller the adipose tissue, the more prominent the cubes on the abdomen.

You can lose fat through exercise, but it should not be limited to abdominal exercises. To speed up the results, you need to perform cardio training, which stimulates overall fat burning, then fat will be lost evenly from the entire body. Training should be regular, but you shouldn’t do it every day.

The abdominal muscles recover quite quickly, so you can load them within a day. Abdominal exercises can be performed after cardio exercise. For example, after a 30-minute run, a complex for the press is performed. Another important condition for drawing cubes is the correct diet. Nutrition should not slow down the results. By fulfilling all the requirements, each week the cubes will be visible more clearly.

Are there any differences between women's ab workouts and men's?

The muscle structure of men and women is the same. Therefore, there is no difference in training for this group. Men have more strength, and more often than not, they want to have hard and voluminous abdominal muscles. This may be where the difference between training of different genders may appear.

A man can take a heavier weight and perform a set of 10–12 repetitions. A girl can also train, but she may not have enough strength for such training, but the essence is the same - abdominal training for men and women can be done the same. For some the results will be faster, for others it will take longer. For both, to burn fat in the abdominal area, you need to perform the exercise a large number of repetitions.

Recommendations for beginners

People who exercise on their own complain that their efforts to pump up their abs are in vain. Despite the regularity of training and painful sensations indicating muscle work, the cubes are not visible. Experts recommend not quitting classes, but changing your routine. The appearance of the abdomen does not depend on the work done. The result is determined by the percentage of fat in the body.

You can quickly get six-pack abs at home if you follow these recommendations:

• Normalization of body weight. If your body contains more than 25% fat, you must initially lose weight. To do this, you should exclude trans fats, harmful and fast carbohydrates (fast food, margarine, sweet carbonated drinks) from your diet. You need to learn to eat small meals (4-6 times a day and at the same time maintain a drinking regime). You can't go hungry.
• When you reach 20% fat, you can begin actively pumping your abdominal muscles. The diet should contain at least 30−35% proteins, the source of which is low-fat cottage cheese and meat, fermented milk products, eggs, fish, shrimp, and legumes. The supply of carbohydrates (50−55% of the daily diet of BZHU - proteins, fats, carbohydrates) will be replenished with porridge, new potatoes, and non-starchy vegetables that are rich in fiber. Permissible fat content is up to 20%. They should be ingested with olive or sunflower oil, meat, and fish.
• Control your salt intake. Its excess causes fluid retention in the body, which is undesirable for the process of pumping muscle mass.
• Strength training should be combined with aerobic exercise. You should spend at least 30 minutes on a treadmill or exercise bike. The intensity of the load should be average. Otherwise, it will be a short cardio workout, not fat burning.

L-carnitine and other similar products will boost your metabolism. Their selection should be discussed with a sports nutrition specialist. When consuming, it is important to follow the instructions and recommendations of specialists.

How to Pump Up Abs in 8 Minutes at Home?! HELL!

Anatomy of abdominal muscles

The group we are interested in, the one that forms the sculpted abs, is called the rectus abdominis muscle. It starts from the sternum, the anterior surface of the costal cartilages and passes downwards, attaching to the pubic bone. It is interrupted by tendon bridges, which form the abs. The muscle allows you to twist your back in the lumbar region.

The fibers of the external oblique muscle begin from the lateral surface of the chest, passing into the wide aponeurosis. Its fibers are located along an oblique line, passing from top to bottom in the direction of the external intercostal muscles. Its function is to rotate the chest in the opposite direction relative to the pelvis, as well as flex the spine during bilateral contraction.

Also, under the listed external muscles, there are deep ones: the transverse abdominal muscle and the internal oblique. They are stabilizers of the spine, fixing the stable and correct position of the lumbar region and pelvis.

Exercises for pumping

Since the rectus abdominis muscle performs a simple twisting function, choosing exercises to pump it up is easier than for other muscle groups. This allows you to exclude up to 80% of exercises from the training program, leaving the simplest and most effective ones for abc pumping. They allow the rectus muscle to very precisely reveal its functionality (pulling the upper body down or twisting down).

Two exercises fall into the most effective category:

• Lying crunches. A basic exercise that contracts a muscle through its maximum range of motion. Its use gives quick results, which is important when you are short of time. There are several options for performing the exercise: lying on the floor, a Roman chair, an inclined bench. The intensity of the swing depends on the position of the abdomen in relation to the legs. The lower it is, the greater the load and amplitude of movement. The easiest form of execution is from a lying position with legs bent on an elevated surface. Beginners can place their hands near their abdomen to help ease the twisting moment. Gradually they need to be moved further away or kept at the back of the head. The intensity of the load during twisting can be increased by placing a roller under the lower back, keeping the head and torso below the pelvis, and placing the legs on a horizontal surface.
• Reverse crunches. They consist of twisting the pelvis in relation to the torso. Variations of the exercise are raising the legs perpendicular to the floor from a lying position, as well as raising the legs 90 degrees while hanging on the horizontal bar. Beginners are advised to lie on the floor with support for their arms nearby (for example, the legs of a bed). This will ensure the fixation of the torso and the most accurate reproduction of twisting movements. The main goal of the exercises is to lift and twist the pelvis (not the legs) in a vertical position. To do this, you should forget about your legs (they can be bent) and concentrate on the main thing.

How to remove excess fat and quickly pump up your abs?

Proper nutrition for cubes

The first thing you need to pay attention to is the contents of your daily diet and, in no case, ignore the importance of eating behavior. You can quickly tighten your stomach only by following a competent diet and choosing the right diet.

Start simple, remove all excess, namely:

• confectionery products (chocolate, candies, cakes, pastries);
• flour products: white bread, noodles, rolls, cookies, crackers;
• sugar and sugar substitutes;
• refined oils and fried foods;
• animal fat (lamb, pork, meat with skin);
• fruits, vegetables and dried fruits with a high glycemic index: grapes, dates, cranberries, pumpkin, watermelon, rutabaga, boiled carrots;
• carbonated drinks - cola, beer;
• products containing starch, potatoes in any form;
• limit the consumption of cereals that do not contain fiber: semolina, white rice, couscous, millet, pearl barley.

Instead, look for foods that are low on the glycemic index, low in calories, and low in fat and carbohydrates.

To draw cubes you need to use more:

• animal protein – lean meat (chicken, beef, turkey, rabbit), eggs;
• seafood: fish, squid, mussels, shrimp, mussels, octopus;
• fermented milk products with low fat content, but not low-fat: cottage cheese, feta cheese, tofu, kefir, yogurt, fermented baked milk, milk;
• vegetables containing fiber: white cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, cucumbers;
• fruits with low sugar content, but in the first half of the day - apples, oranges, grapefruits, pears, plums, apricots;
• cereals: brown rice (unpolished), buckwheat.

Nutrition before and after training

Training should begin no less than an hour and a half after eating. If you train in the afternoon or evening, with an emphasis on strength training, then it is permissible to eat complex carbohydrates along with protein, since the carbohydrates will be absorbed immediately. But don't overeat. If you exercise in the morning or afternoon, then consuming carbohydrates at lunch, after your workout, will be your last carbohydrate intake. The rest of the time you can consume proteins and vegetables. The main way to lose weight is to cut carbohydrates.

Menu example 1

• Breakfast: oatmeal with milk, one fruit;
• Training: drink 1 to 1.5 liters of water;
• Lunch (within 40 minutes after the end of the workout): buckwheat porridge, baked chicken fillet;
• Snack: egg and cottage cheese omelet, kefir;
• Dinner: fresh vegetable salad, lean meat or fish, steamed or in the oven without adding oil.

Menu example 2

• Breakfast: scrambled eggs, vegetables and herbs, whole grain bread or crispbread;
• Snack: one fruit or low-fat yogurt with cottage cheese;
• Lunch: fish or meat with stewed vegetables;
• Workout: 1 – 1.5 liters of water;
• Dinner: (within 40 minutes after training), brown rice with vegetables, eggs or cottage cheese.

You can also include a multivitamin complex and fish oil, more precisely polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids, in your diet. They will help burn belly fat, breaking it down to be used as an energy source during workouts.

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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Drink more water - at least two liters a day. It removes harmful toxins from the body, speeds up metabolism and controls appetite.

The best abdominal exercises at home

When performing the exercise, try to include in the work exactly the area that you want to work. The neuromuscular connection plays an extremely important role when pumping up any muscle group. This will allow the necessary fibers to be included in the work as much as possible and make the movement more efficient.

Crunches

Various crunches are the most effective way to work the abdominal muscles, which contract directly when twisting the body.

Important! Do the exercises correctly! Raising the body should be performed only with a rounded back, lowering to the floor in turn with each part of the spine. And lower crunches (leg raises) on a bench or on the floor are performed only with the lower back tightly pressed to the floor, without bending. Both techniques will eliminate the possibility of injury to the lumbar spine.

However, exercises by themselves are ineffective if you do not perform fat-burning complexes and cardio exercises.

Run

This is an excellent and affordable way to combat excess fat. This type of cardio burns subcutaneous fat as energy necessary for work. By reducing waist size, running can gradually create a beautiful contour. But in addition to fat burning, it is necessary to tone the muscles, then the appearance of the abs will be more distinct and harmonious. The look of such a waist will be more sporty.

Circuit training

Another one of the most effective ways to form beautiful abs is circular fat-burning training. Their essence is to work out all muscle groups in a short time. Exercises should be performed without pause and involve as many muscles and joints as possible in one exercise. You can exercise with your own weight, without special equipment. Three lessons per week is enough. Naturally, the complex also includes abdominal exercises, which helps to quickly achieve results, both overall weight loss and muscle toning. Cardio exercises along with strength training are the most effective method of getting a beautiful belly.

A set of exercises for drying the press

From the anatomical structure it is clear that the rectus muscle is located along the entire length of the front of the body from the chest to the groin; it is a solid muscle that is divided by membranous tendons. When twisting, lifting, folding, the abdominal muscles work completely, and not its individual parts. The concept of the top and bottom of the press exists more as a measure of sensation in a certain area in a particular exercise. Muscle contractions are more noticeable in either the lower or upper part, depending on the exercise. But remember, in any case, the muscle is fully worked.

Upper abs exercises

Curling your torso on the floor

Lying on the floor, feet up, legs slightly bent at the knees. Hands behind your head, chin looking up, not pressing against your collarbones. As you exhale, the upper part of the body is folded, lifting only the shoulder blades, the lower back is pressed tightly to the floor. As we inhale, we return to lying on our shoulder blades. The exercise is performed dynamically, without pauses or breath holdings. Perform 20–30 times, 3–4 approaches.

Rolling up the torso with the lower leg on a bench

The shins are placed on the bench, forming a right angle at the knees. Lying with your back on the floor, press your lower back tightly to the floor. With your palms behind your head, as you exhale, we roll up the thoracic region, feeling a burning sensation in the upper part of the rectus muscle. The chin is not pressed against the collarbones, the gaze is directed to the ceiling. Exhale and lower your shoulder blades to the floor. Perform at a dynamic pace 20–30 times, 3–4 approaches.

Lower abs exercises

Lower crunches

Lying on the floor, palms under the buttocks. The lower back is pressed tightly to the floor. Legs together, raised perpendicular to the floor. As you inhale, lower your feet down without bending your lower back. Exhale – lower the abdomen and raise the legs up. Repeat 20–30 times, 3–4 approaches.

Short pelvic thrusts

Lying on the floor, legs together, raised perpendicular to the floor. Using quick and short movements with the lower part of the rectus muscle, we push the pelvis upward. By tearing off only the sacral section, the lower back remains on the floor. Perform 30–40 times, 3–4 approaches.

Exercises for obliques

Side crunches

Lying on the floor, right foot on the floor, bending the left knee, place the foot on the right knee. The right hand is behind the head, and the left is extended to the side, performing an emphasis. As we exhale, we twist diagonally, straining the oblique muscles, and with the elbow of our right hand we aim for the opposite knee. The lower back does not lift off the floor, only lifting the scapula; the chin does not fall toward the sternum. Perform 20 – 30 times.

Change position to the other side. Perform 20 – 30 times. After this, repeat 2 – 3 more approaches.

Step by step plan

Beginners are interested not only in how to quickly and correctly pump up their abs, but also want to know the time it takes to see positive changes. When it comes to a well-defined six-pack with split ends, it will take years of dedicated training. Beautiful relief and a flat stomach without excess fat tissue can be achieved in 4-6 months. To do this you will need to follow a diet and exercise regularly.

An action plan should be written in advance, indicating the time and duration of training, carefully considering the diet and daily routine. When planning, you should consider the following points:

• proper nutrition and diet;
• proper rest, eight hours of sleep;
• regularity of classes (every other day);
• choose 4 good exercises: 2 static and 2 dynamic, for variety you can change them periodically;
• the first week you should swing in three sets of 15 times, gradually increasing the load;
• observing breathing techniques while performing exercises (will allow you to quickly burn excess fat and build muscle mass, but not pump them over);
• include cardio training and exercises for other muscle groups in the complex to achieve a proportional, beautiful body.

The results of the training will be noticeable after 1-2 weeks. The stomach will become more toned, activity will increase, and you will feel better. If achieving results is delayed, do not quit training. Much depends on genetics and the tendency to be overweight. In this case, you need to invest energy in the fight against excess weight.

Often the reason for poor abdominal definition lies in hypothyroidism (insufficient production of thyroid hormones by the thyroid gland). Symptoms of this disease are drowsiness, shortness of breath, anemia, obesity, menstrual irregularities in women, dry and brittle hair. If you cannot lose weight and build up your abs for a long time (a year or more), you should contact an endocrinologist and get tested for thyroid hormones.

The best set of exercises for sculpted six-pack abs

This workout consists of seven carefully selected ab exercises to train at home, equally good for working both the upper and lower parts of the abdomen.

Like most people, you can train your abdominal muscles long and hard. But if you need to show six-pack abdominal muscles with a large percentage of subcutaneous fat, then you can’t do without a proper diet with a calorie deficit. If your goal is sculpted abs, you can’t do without proper training.

This training complex includes seven selected exercises to work the upper and lower abdominal muscles. Do it three times a week and, combined with proper nutrition, strength training and optimal cardio training, your abs will transform in no time.

3 circuits, minimal rest between exercises and 1-2 minute break between circuits

How to do this set of abdominal exercises

This is a workout for advanced athletes, so how you perform it plays a vital role.

For beginners, it is better to take no more than three exercises out of seven, doing two sets of each with a maximum number of repetitions and a minute pause between sets. Next, increase the duration of your workouts by adding exercises and sets and reducing rest time.

Your ultimate goal is, at the end of 12 weeks, to be able to complete all seven exercises in one long circuit without resting, rest for 1-2 minutes, and repeat twice more.

While you can’t do this yet, you can break the workout into parts as you wish. For example, I like to do the following supersets:

• Repeat three times:
• Exercises 1 and 2, 30 sec. respite
• Exercises 3 and 4, 30 sec. respite
• Exercises 5 and 6, 30 sec. respite
• Exercise 7, 30 sec. respite

Each superset continues until short-term muscle failure occurs, or until repetitions begin to be difficult.

You may have noticed that the routine does not directly engage the obliques. This is explained by the fact that in my experience, purposefully working these muscles only makes the waist wider. In addition, the oblique muscles are perfectly loaded during squats, deadlifts and other basic exercises with your own body weight.

Homeschool program for girls

In pursuit of a flat stomach, girls often exhaust themselves with constant abdominal training, not realizing that this muscle needs time to recover, and fat burning does not depend on exercise at all.

Below is a weekly abdominal training program for girls, which is suitable for all ladies who are actively involved in sports:

Another good option for studying at home without any additional equipment:

© artinspiring — stock.adobe.com
Here exercises 1-5 are performed in the 3x10-15 mode.
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When to train your abs

For most people, doing this routine at least three times a week will be enough. Advanced bodybuilders can do it every day.

Personally, I like to do abs and cardio first thing in the morning when I get out of bed, leaving strength training for the afternoon. This is how I speed up my metabolism as much as twice a day.

If you prefer to train everything in one fell swoop, I would recommend loading the abs as a warm-up before strength training or a cool-down after it if you are planning on heavy exercises like squats or deadlifts. And after that, go to cardio.

Terrain training

In order to achieve a flat stomach and beautiful relief, it is important to pump up your abdominal muscles efficiently and regularly. The exercises should be performed in 4 sets, achieving a slight burning sensation. The range of motion should be full, with maximum acceleration to load the muscle. Rest between sets should be no more than 60 seconds.

Training should be carried out according to one of the following schemes:

1. crunches in a prone position (4 sets of 50 repetitions, reaching failure within 30 seconds), leg raises on the bar (4 sets of 15 repetitions);
2. lifting the pelvis from a supine position and pressing on a Roman chair (each - 4 sets of 15 repetitions).

HOW TO PUMP UP YOUR PRESS IN 2 WEEKS?

Using one of the two described methods, you should pump up your abs three times a week. A steep workout will take no more than 30 minutes, but it is recommended to include warm-up, stretching, and working out other muscles of the body in the exercise program to maintain good physical shape. Using these recommendations, you can improve your body for the beach season and maintain ideal shape all year round.

The plank is a great way to create abdominal relief

The plank exercise also shows high effectiveness. There are two types of planks - straight and side. The principle of execution is the same - the body remains in the most tense static position for a certain period of time.

Straight plank. The body should be brought into a straight line. Moreover, the fulcrum points are the toes and part of the arm from the elbow to the fingertips.

Everything else should form one continuous line - from the top of the head to the heels. The most important thing is to control that the spine in the lumbar region does not bend.

Side plank. Here you also need to form a straight line. You should lean on the outer side of the foot of one leg and your arm bent at the elbow. Try not to lower your hips down.

Both straight and side planks cause intense tension in the abdominal muscles. In addition, all other parts of the body are perfectly worked out - legs, arms, back, chest.

Rolling a fitball while kneeling

“This exercise helps strengthen your core, shoulders and upper back using a stability ball.”

How to do it:

1. Get on your knees and place the fitball in front of you.
2. Keep your spine neutral and tighten your abdominals. Place your palms on the exercise ball and roll it forward until your forearms are on the ball and your body is at a 45-degree angle.
3. Bring your hands together at the peak of the movement. Use your forearms to slowly push up and return to the starting position. The movement should be smooth and controlled.