How to get visible abs

Visible abdominal muscles, or ‘Abs’ as they are lovingly known, are like the holy grail of body composition goals. For many individuals, this is their goal, hell their dream and a milestone that gives them that feeling of finally reaching the upper echelons of fitness and physique. The reason for the six-pack being so revered? It takes some serious hard work and dedication both inside the gym and in the kitchen, but nothing worth having ever came easy.

Read on to find out my tips for building an enviable six-pack.

Visible abs workouts

Abdominal muscles need to be treated just like any other main muscle group and should be factored into your sessions regularly enough to give them enough volume and progressive overload in order for them to blossom.

The abdominal muscles consist of the rectus abdominis (also known as the abdominal muscle), transverse abdominis and both the internal and external obliques. There is a vast range of exercises you can perform in order to strengthen and grow these muscles; crunches, planks, leg lowers, to name but a few. I recommend ab workouts are kept simple and effective — I incorporate exercises that exercise all of the abdominal muscles and ensure that sufficient volume and progressive overload are baked into the plan. As a baseline for this, I use the 2017 Schoenfeld, Ogborn and Krieger’s systematic review and meta-analysis. This meta-analysis looked at 15 applicable studies and found that as subjects approached 10 or more sets per muscle group per week, muscle growth increased linearly. This suggests that, on average, at least 10 sets per muscle group per week should be the target for maximum progress.

What does this research tell us? That spending hours crunching away is not the route to a six-pack, an effective ab workout should be part of a training programme that incorporates 10 sets of abdominal exercises per week, less than you thought? For my clients that train 3 times per week, that will equate to around 3 sets of abs per session – nothing too crazy.

Wondering how to get visible abs at home? The beauty of ab exercises are that they can be performed anywhere!

Aerobic exercise for visible abs

The key to seeing those lovely strong abs you’re building during your resistance training sessions is having your body fat at a level whereby a layer of body fat doesn’t hide them. Cardio is a great way to not only increase your heart rate and improve your cardiovascular health — it’s also an effective calorie burner. Calorie burn = fat loss = greater chance you’ll see those abs popping out.

Aerobic exercise doesn’t have to be strenuous or very high-intensity activity in order for it to be effective in fat reduction. A review by The International Journal of Obesity found that regular brisk walking or light jogging is sufficient to elicit visceral fat reduction – so get those trainers on! I recommend that my clients walk 7,000 - 10,000 steps per day, which in itself would based on this research, be sufficient to aid fat loss.

Diet to grow visible abs

Unfortunately, unless you are blessed with amazing genes, exercise alone won’t be sufficient to unveil your abs of steel. You will likely need to work on your diet, too, and this is multifaceted.

1. Consume sufficient protein. You should aim for around 1.4g - 2g of protein per kg of body weight to repair, recover, and grow those abs. There are also fat loss benefits of a protein-rich diet – In 2015, a meta-analysis by The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that there are bountiful benefits of a higher-protein weight-loss diet on body weight and fat mass. This is due to the thermic effect of protein, i.e. it burns more calories to break down than it’s fat and carb counterparts, and it is significantly more satiating.

2. Consume nutrient-dense, fibrous whole foods. Again, these foods use more energy in the digestion process than processed, refined, sugary foods and keep you fuller for longer. 

3. Track your food intake and eat within a small caloric deficit. You absolutely can build muscle whilst simultaneously losing fat, aka Body Recomposition.

4. Drink plenty of water, around 2 litres per day. Water is literally life. If that statement isn’t enough to get you reaching for the water bottle, then maybe this will help — a Randomized Controlled Trial by the Obesity Journal found that, when water consumption is combined with a hypocaloric diet, weight loss is greater than a hypocaloric diet alone. 

This all sounds pretty straightforward, right? You can build a six-pack in 3 easy steps:

1. Resistance training - ab workouts encompassing all main abdominal muscles

2. Aerobic exercise - any type that you enjoy

3. Consume a diet rich in protein, whole foods and water whilst in a caloric deficit

But I have missed out on a fundamental step….

4. Consistency & dedication

As I said, unless you are genetically blessed or are already in pretty good shape with a low body fat percentage, this will take some serious dedication for most of us. If it’s something you really want to achieve, then go for it and realise that aspiration, but I always find that those goals that target being stronger, fitter, and healthier generally yield better results. Focus on your strength and health, and you’ll reap the benefits in your physique too.