Abs

Defined abdominal muscles (abs): the thing everyone wants but very few seem to have. Personally, I like to view abs as one of the most unforgiving muscles there are in the body. You can diet, be in a calorie-deficit, lose a lot of body fat, train you core, etc. for extended periods of time to get some definition (it also depends on genetics and other lifestyle choices) in your stomach. However, it only takes one week of missing workouts or easing up on your diet to lose the “gains”.

As I mentioned, genetics and other parts of someone’s body play a big role in how defined someone’s abs are or aren’t. Individuals with faster metabolisms might need less training and time invested in core work to attain the same definition someone with a slower metabolism might have to invest to get the same definition.

This caveat of abdominal muscles has always fascinated me and led me down another path of more research (as usual) and here’s what I found:

• everyone has abs, it’s just a matter of how much body fat you have that is “hiding” the definition of your core muscles
• fat cannot be spot reduced effectively, you have to train your whole body in order to get abs BUT isolation (core exercises) help
• its harder for women to get abs because fat is so essential in the reproductive cycle
• to fastest way to get abs is to diet (limited sugar, processed foods, alcohol, etc.) and implement a lot of strength and HIIT training

I would say that this is a valid interpretation of abs. Personally, I find that it is easier to maintain definition in that core area over the summer as opposed to the winter. The reason for this is that during the winter, we are stuck inside for the majority of the day. If we don’t play sports or exercise regularly, physical and vigorous movement is not really present. This is also the reason why a lot of people gain weight as the weather gets colder and bulking is favored in the fitness world. In the summer, think about what you are eating: fruit, salad, etc. You are also drinking a lot of water because it’s hot. This, combined with being outside and possibly having more movement, makes a lot of people lose weight. For this reason, training abs in order to bring out the “six-pack” is not as difficult as it would be in the winter (which is usually filled with a lot of bread, cheese, and other “heavy” foods). Yes, abs are nice to have and they indicate that you’ve been putting work in the gym. However, there is no reason to kill yourself over Chloe Ting workouts three times a day in order to get a flat stomach.

Having said all that, I’ll share a couple of the ab exercises I currently do. The frequency with which I do them has definitely decreased since the start of the school year but I enjoy the burn once in a while. The general layout of the workout is 5 exercises. I do each for 45 seconds with a 15 second break between each exercise. I repeat the set of exercises 5 times for a 25 minute workout!

1. Knee Raises 

2. Oblique Twists

3. Side Plank (Right)

4. Side Plank (Left)

5. Plank (full minute!)