Almost everyone who trains regularly wants to have a rock-hard six-pack. But the reality is that hardly anyone does. Why? The problem is rarely that they don’t train hard enough. More often it’s that they don’t train smart enough.
The biggest misconception most people have when training abs is that more is better. But the time you spend working on your abs has very little impact on how long it takes you to get a six-pack. Just like every other muscle group, quality reps of the key moves are far more significant to your success than the quantity. This leads to the second most common misconception, which is that cranking out very high-rep sets is the only way to bring out your abs. The problem with both of these ideas is that the longer your set or workout lasts, the harder it is for you to maintain the levels of consistency, intensity, and focus that is essential to maximizing muscle mass development.
When I’m training clients, there are six key principles I rely on to help them build a six-pack effectively and safely. Keep on reading to discover what they are – and then you too can get on the fast track to having the hard abs you’ve always wanted.
The abdominal muscles (rectus abdominis) flex and extend the spine. It’s really important to think about this and let it truly sink in before you even consider crunching. Because when most people “train their abs”, they’re likely to be recruiting other muscles – typically the hip flexors – and hardly paying their abs any attention. You can tell from a distance because they will be swinging up and down with every rep, using momentum to power the movement and never the muscles.
Your abs are a muscle group just like your quads or chest or back, and you need to ensure you train them just like you work these other muscles. I always tell clients that maximal stimulation of the working muscle is essential for development. Always consider this when setting up to train your abs because, again, they’re like any other muscle: you must lengthen the muscle first, then create tension on it, then contract the muscle to its shortest position.
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