Training abs: 7 tips with explanations and schedule for results

Geschatte leestijd: 17 minuten The coveted washboard abs. The theory behind obtaining washboard abs and a tight stomach is very simple. However, the practice is so difficult for many that I think it’s worth paying attention to. There are thousands of people who train for years and achieve the desired results, except in one area: the abdomen. If you want an overview of all exercises for your schedule, check the following link for all abdominal exercises. What makes this such a difficult part of your training goals? Why is it seemingly impossible for some while others don’t have to do anything for it? Why are all those “revolutionary” products on the infomercials of this world useless? Why do many people know the cause of a missing six-pack but try to get it through the wrong solution?

Anatomy of the Abdominal Muscles

When we anatomically look at the abdominal muscles, we should focus on four “types” of abdominal muscles. In the human body, in addition to the rectus abdominis muscles, also known as the rectus abdominis, we also have the oblique abdominal muscles, also called the obliques, and the transverse abdominal muscle, the transversus abdominis. The rectus abdominis are known as the straight abdominal muscles. The obliques run along the side of your abdomen. The abdominal muscles have several functions in the human body. They stabilize the pelvis and allow you to lift your legs. Additionally, they have the function of rotating your spine. When performing this movement, they are aided by the muscles in your back. So when training your abdominal muscles, you take on a number of these functions, so to speak.

The Washboard Abs and Body Fat Percentage

Look at boys aged 5 to 10. How many have washboard abs and how many have a lot of muscle mass? You will see that a reasonable number show washboard abs, while there isn’t one with a lot of muscle mass (perhaps lean, but not big). However, in many cases, this washboard abs disappears later. Since you can assume that boys of that age don’t spend the whole day in the gym, wearing an abtronic or sauna belt, or doing crunches all day, you can derive several things from this:

1. Whether you have (visible) washboard abs is largely genetically determined
2. You sometimes have (visible) washboard abs from a young age, but you need to build muscle mass
3. Something happens causing you to no longer see the abdominal muscles

The explanation for all these things is body fat in general and abdominal fat in particular.

“You do have washboard abs, you just can’t see them”

Everyone has washboard abs, just like everyone has the other muscles. It’s not like you have a flat plate of an abdominal muscle that you need to develop into the beloved “rolls”. No, the rolls are already there, they are just in most cases hidden behind a thick layer of butter. The only thing that happens to that young boy who has always had washboard abs and suddenly “loses” them after puberty is an increasing body fat percentage and the unfortunate local fat storage in the form of abdominal fat. So, it just comes down to losing weight again. Everything in this regard revolves around energy expenditure. How much energy do you consume and how much do you expend? So the energy balance is decisive. To put it very simply: All the energy you use (calories are a measure of energy), but don’t expend, can be stored as a reserve. In men, the reserve tank is (usually) largely located in the abdominal cavity. This excess energy can be stored as fat in the abdominal cavity and is often only tapped into when the main source, glycogen, is depleted. After puberty, you often see that energy intake remains the same or increases while expenditure decreases. We eat more and exercise less, and metabolism, the rate at which energy is expended, decreases. Where we used to get enough, we suddenly accumulate a surplus daily, of which the body says “store for worse times”. However, those times never come (at least, not in terms of the amount of available food) and the reserve tank, in the abdominal cavity on the organs and subcutaneously on the abdominal muscles, becomes fuller and fuller. Especially the fat in the abdominal cavity on the organs poses health risks, but both cause your washboard abs to be hidden behind a layer of fat. Those young boys I spoke of often haven’t had time at that age to build up such an energy/calorie surplus. Although obesity in youth is of course an increasingly common problem, and these people will have an even harder time later on. I can still remember when I was an 8-year-old boy in the locker room before gym class, thinking I was very cool by pointing to my stomach and saying “hit me, I don’t feel anything”. I used to do sit-ups fairly often (crunches became more fashionable later) which made them stronger. However, I was mostly just very skinny, so you could see them well.

“Growing Washboard Abs with Abdominal Exercises”

The real mystery of washboard abs is the eternal myth that you can get them through abdominal exercises. If it wasn’t necessary for washboard abs at a young age, why would it be now? The only thing you (visually) change by doing abdominal exercises is strengthening and depending on your type of training, enlarging your abdominal muscles. As long as there is still a layer of fat in front of them, nothing happens visibly, or the abdomen even protrudes more because the larger abdominal muscles push the fat forward. This was also demonstrated by researchers from Southern Illinois University in the U.S. They divided 24 healthy, inactive people (14 men and 10 women) between 18 and 40 years old into a group that would do abdominal exercises (AG, “abdominal exercise group”) and a control group (CG). They measured anthropometry (human dimensions), body composition, and tested the endurance of the abdominal muscles before and after the study. The AG test group did 7 different abdominal exercises, 2 sets of 10 repetitions, 5 days a week for 6 weeks. The control group did nothing. Both groups were on an isocaloric diet (calorie intake obtained from a proportional distribution of carbohydrates, protein, and fats). After six weeks, they found no significant differences in body weight, body fat percentage, amount of fat in the abdominal region, abdominal skinfolds, side skinfolds, and waist circumference. However, the endurance of the abdominal muscles had improved. So for six weeks, 5 times a week, 7 abdominal exercises a day, and you see no difference in your abdomen, but in your next workouts, you can do even more repetitions that still won’t give you washboard abs. What the researchers demonstrated in this study is something many have found out in practice. I once saw an old photo from an American newspaper of a man who had done thousands of sit-ups for a record attempt. However, he didn’t have washboard abs! I have also seen fitness instructors regularly provide abdominal training sessions for half an hour 5 days a week that I can’t endure for more than 10 minutes in terms of endurance. Those instructors also don’t all have a flat stomach. You do burn energy by doing abdominal exercises, but there are much better ways to do this, such as: cardio. Training abs is visually only advisable when you are lean enough and your abdominal muscles are already visible, allowing you to define them even more sharply. Another important reason for training abs is to strengthen your so-called “core”, your abdomen and lower back. This is to prevent general health complaints, but especially to prevent injuries if you train other muscle groups heavily.

Washboard Abs Visible through Spot Fat Reduction

Why do so many people who still have a layer of fat on and in the abdomen do so many abdominal exercises? Well, not for the two reasons mentioned above of refining an already visible washboard or strengthening the core. Sometimes because they still think the rolls will suddenly show through the butter. However, they also often do this because of the persistent myth of spot fat reduction, the idea that they can specifically burn abdominal fat. Strength exercises for the abdominal muscles are certainly useful for burning more fat. Due to increased muscle mass, your resting metabolism is increased. In other words, your body burns more energy, can store less energy, and when there is a deficit, must tap into fat reserves. However, this applies to strength training in general. Therefore, it is better to train all muscle groups for this purpose. You then stimulate many more different muscles to grow, causing total muscle mass to increase much faster than with abdominal exercises alone, and thus your metabolism is increased more quickly. Moreover, you produce hormones such as growth hormone that promote increased lipolysis, the breakdown of fat to provide energy. There is one study that is often referred to which suggests that spot fat reduction is possible (partly perpetuating the myth). Danish researchers had test subjects perform light-weight leg extensions for 30 minutes. They observed that the trained leg had a greater blood flow and the fat cells released more fat. However, they rightly note themselves that they do not know if these cells quickly refill afterwards. Moreover, although the difference was significant, it was very small. Finally, they also noted that regular cardio and overall strength training lead to much faster fat loss. When we look at the aforementioned study from the University of Southern Illinois on the effect of abdominal exercises, we may also wonder if their results would apply to the abdomen. So, it’s much smarter to do cardio exercises in combination with general strength training. You can focus on your abdomen by twisting your waist for half an hour, but your body doesn’t make this distinction and simply sees it as energy expenditure.

“And what about a sauna belt then?”

It does nothing other than locally remove moisture from the skin. Beautiful for advertising because it shows immediate results. However, the moisture returns even faster than you can say YOYO. Moreover, it’s not nice if you wear such a thing and then get a skin condition that makes your whole stomach red (Erythema ab igne: Redness from heat). All the products I’ve seen recommended on TV for washboard abs are focused on:

• Strength development (all crunch machines, but also the abtronic) of the abdominal muscles, which has been proven not to give you washboard abs.
• Spot fat reduction, which doesn’t work in practice either.
• Removing moisture from the skin, which only provides very short-term results.

So save your money for a gym subscription or an exercise bike.

Is there anything then that you can do to burn local fat?

There are many safe substances that can help you lose weight faster, such as omega fatty acids and green tea extract, and a whole list of possible fat burners that have proven their effectiveness or still need to be proven: First of all, these do nothing if your diet is not right and you still have a calorie surplus every day. This even applies to the now-banned stackers with ephedrine that dangerously increase your heart rate. Moreover, they don’t work locally. I only know of two products that claim to burn abdominal fat locally. However, I cannot recommend one and the second is difficult to obtain and in the Netherlands only available by prescription.

Anabolic Androgenic Steroids: Clenbuterol

As a natural bodybuilder, I would be the last to recommend using steroids. However, I will still tell you this for the people who look at the most ripped bodies in bodybuilding magazines and think “I want that too”. Ever wondered how professional bodybuilders manage to get/stay so lean with the huge amounts they have to eat to provide enough nutrients for muscle growth? Well, besides the large muscle mass that burns many calories, countless hours of cardio, and carefully chosen distribution of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, steroids play a big role in this. Specifically the anabolic-androgenic steroid Clenbuterol. Clenbuterol has been used by bodybuilders for decades as part of competition preparation. Researchers from the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Little Rock, USA, studied the effects of Clenbuterol on rats to see if it could help as a means for the elderly or others with increased muscle breakdown. The results were clear:

Clenbuterol treatment increased the weight of skeletal muscles 22% to 39% in 3-month-old rats, 19% to 35% in 12-month-old rats, and 22% to 25% in 23-month-old animals. Likewise, clenbuterol increased carcass protein content 19% in 3-month-old rats, 16% in 12-month-old rats, and 24% in 23-month-old animals. Conversely, the drug reduced carcass fat content 36% in 3-month-old rats, 32% in 12-month-old rats, and 38% in 23-month-old rats.

You could certainly call that a huge decrease in fat. Again, this is not what I would recommend. Firstly, because just like photoshopped skinny models on the cover of fashion magazines, bodybuilders give a distorted view of what is possible without making sacrifices you should not be willing to make. Moreover, normal mortals who do not stand on a podium where the best physique triumphs do not need these kinds of substances. Bodybuilders achieve extremely low body fat percentages that are unhealthy and can only be sustained for short periods. This is also the reason why many major bodybuilding competitions are close together or far apart. For someone who wants to look good all year round for their daily appearance, the slower but sustainable methods of diet, cardio, and strength training are much wiser.

Aminophylline Gel Cream

Another, much less known substance is < strong>aminophylline gel cream. So-called pephormones like adrenaline can cause fat cells to release their contents into the bloodstream as fuel for organs. However, fat cells in some areas like the abdomen are less sensitive to these hormones. This is because the substance adenosine can block a receptor in the cell for these hormones. A receptor is a molecule with a specific spatial structure/shape, allowing only substances that fit exactly to attach to it. Aminophylline is a derivative of caffeine that can be absorbed into the cell in cream or gel form through the skin. In short, it can prevent adenosine from binding to this receptor, allowing the pephormones to do their job again and release fat from the fat cell. Researchers from Louisiana State University studied the effect of aminophylline cream on waist circumference. Fifty men and women between 21 and 65 years old with a BMI greater than 27 (= kg/height squared) and a hip-waist ratio greater than or equal to the average were divided into a test group and a control group. The test group applied 0.5% aminophylline cream to the waist twice a day, while the control group did not. Remarkably, both groups were only allowed to eat 1200 kcal per day and had to participate in a running program, causing them to lose weight anyway. Nevertheless, the differences were clear. In the test group, the waist circumference decreased by an average of 11 cm (+/- 1.0 cm), while in the control group, it was “only” 5.0 cm (+/- 0.6 cm). They saw no negative side effects and concluded:

Aminophylline cream offers a safe and effective method for cosmetic local fat reduction from the waist.

Researchers at the UCLA School of Medicine in Torrance, California, reached a similar conclusion. They concluded that spot fat reduction in the thighs without weight loss or exercise is possible through aminophylline. Now, I might have got you excited about a “new” wonder drug, but don’t rush to the drugstore just yet. Firstly, because they probably don’t sell it there. I could only find it online at one pharmacy where they had to think for a moment what it was. A bottle of 50ml costs a whopping €49.37 and probably won’t last longer than a month. For that amount, you can spend many hours on a treadmill. More importantly, it’s only available by prescription. I can imagine that a doctor who hears that you want to get rid of your beer belly will say, “Just get off the couch chubby and eat a little less” (but in slightly different words). So, to see your abs, you’ll have to “simply” lose weight by creating a calorie deficit. How long and how much depends, among other things, on the damage already caused by the previous calorie surplus. As a guideline for body fat percentage, you should aim to be below 10% to see a washboard abs, but this also depends on genetic differences such as the distribution of fat throughout your body.

“Every washboard is a sixpack”

Okay, you’ve done everything you need to do. You’ve lowered your body fat percentage well below 10% and been doing abdominal exercises twice a week for weeks to make the rolls stand out nicely. You stand in front of the mirror and count 1,2,3….4 rolls? Don’t be disappointed right away, there’s nothing wrong with that. The Dutch expression “a washboard” is better than the English “sixpack”. Firstly, the number of visible “rolls” is genetically determined. The world’s most famous bodybuilder ever and seven-time Mr. Olympia, Arnold Schwarzenegger, also didn’t have a sixpack, but a “fourpack”. Do you think he would have won so many bodybuilding competitions if this was an area for improvement? On the other hand, some people have an eight-pack, although this is quite exceptional. Some have beautifully straight lines between the rolls while it looks crooked for others. If you look at the anatomy of the abdominal muscles, you’ll see that anatomically, a seven-pack is more common than a six-pack. The abdominal muscles are divided by white lines consisting of collagen connective tissue. The line that divides left and right is the linea alba (literally: “white line”). The lines that provide the vertical divisions are called intersectiones tendineae musculi recti abdominis (literally: “Fibrous intersections of the rectus abdominis muscles”). Whether you have a 4-, 5-, 6-, 7-, or 8-pack depends on how and how deep these lines run. Especially with the lower abdominal muscles (below the navel), you’ll see that the linea alba that divides left and right is often much less deep and/or narrower for the lower abdominal muscles, making it seem absent, or it may actually be absent. In various anatomical images, you’ll see the linea alba depicted from the sternum to the level of the navel, while in other images, it continues to the pubic bone. Also, the visibility of the top two abdominal muscles depends on the depth and width of the upper horizontal intersectiones tendinae that must distinguish them from the middle four “rolls” and the depth of the linea alba to distinguish between the left and right upper abdominal muscles. In addition to the distinguishing lines, the distribution, quantity, and size of muscle fibers are also genetically determined. You can’t train muscles in places where there are no muscle fibers. From various images of trained individuals, you can see that some differences cannot be overcome by better or more training or less food.

Training the Upper and Lower Abdominal Muscles Separately

Although the depth, width, and location of the distinguishing lines between the abdominal muscles are genetically determined, you can influence the size and extent to which the abdominal muscles protrude forward through strength training. However, you often see people focusing mainly, for example, on lower abdominal muscles in the expectation that they will then suddenly distinguish themselves from each other and/or from the upper abdominal muscles, while genetically, this is often not possible. Moreover, opinions differ on the possibility of specifically targeting the upper or lower abdominal muscles. There have been studies that used EMG measurements (Electromyography) to measure the load or stimulus on various parts/fibers of a muscle (De Faria et al., Sarti et al.). These measurements showed that exercises targeting the lower abdominal muscles (such as leg raises) actually stress the lower abdominal muscles more than the upper ones. Canadian researchers measured the same, but corrected their data by expressing it as a percentage of maximum contraction rather than absolute. 50% of one muscle can yield a higher score in an EMG measurement than 80% of another muscle. By expressing this in percentages of maximum voluntary contraction (=when you tighten your stomach as much as possible), you correct this data and actually see which muscle is proportionally the most stressed. According to this method, initially clear results according to previous studies turned out to be much smaller. In the table above, you can see the results. The researchers do observe a difference, but it is so small that it makes little sense to do specific exercises for the upper or lower abdominal muscles. However, that does not mean that you should not do these different exercises (for example, curls vs. leg raises). It is always advisable to address a muscle(group) with various exercises to continue providing sufficient stimulation to the muscle.

Different Body Types

Despite the fact that I’m almost 38 and never do cardio except for a short warm-up, I’m still that annoying guy who doesn’t have to do anything for a washboard. The only reason I train my abs is to prevent injuries. The reason I don’t have to do anything for this while others get a belly just by looking at a sandwich is the difference in body type. There are three body types:

• Ectomorph. These people have very little fat storage and have to make a lot of effort to gain weight. It is possible, but it requires a much larger calorie surplus. Think of marathon runners.
• Mesomorph. Little predisposition to fat storage, but a lot of potential for muscle mass. Most pro bodybuilders come from this category.
• Endomorph. Predisposed to fat. Also predisposed to muscle mass, but mainly in the legs, abdomen, and lower back. Think of strongman competitions. A lot of power, but visually less attractive.

Most people float somewhere between two of these body types. In addition to fat storage, there are also differences in the type of muscle fibers. Ectos have proportionally more red muscle fibers, suitable for prolonged energy. They will never become sprint champions. Mesos, on the other hand, have more white muscle fibers, which are more suitable for explosive power and have more potential for size growth. It is important to know which type you are. What works in terms of calories and exercise for someone else may yield less results for you, and vice versa. On the “Losing Weight” and “Cutting” pages, you will find more information about losing weight including calculators to calculate your calorie intake and expenditure. You can use the calculations for the amount of calories you burn only as a starting point and may need to adjust them to your situation.

“The More Crunches, the Better for the Washboard”

It is often said that you can train your abs relatively often, up to 5 times a week. That is correct as far as the exercises are performed as often seen: without additional resistance and with a lot of repetitions. People who do more than 500 crunches a day for 5 days a week are not exceptional. However, this is of little use unless you are training for a crunch marathon. By doing crunches (or any exercise) so often, your body gets used to the movement more quickly, so you have to do more repetitions to feel something. As long as you do more than 15-20 repetitions of an exercise, you are training more for muscle condition than for muscle size or strength. If you want to grow your abs so that you can see them even tighter (provided you are dry enough), you have to train them like you train other muscles for muscle mass. Namely, with enough resistance to do a maximum of 15 repetitions, although in the case of the abdomen (like the legs), it can go towards 20 repetitions. More repetitions (up to 30, for example) can be done as a warm-up. Therefore, use machines that allow you to do crunches against resistance or add resistance by holding discs during exercises. For examples of abdominal exercises including instructional videos, you can visit the “Exercises – Abdominals” page.

Exercises for the Oblique Abdominal Muscles

In the gym, you see various exercises being done for the oblique or side abdominal muscles (obliquus externus/internus abdominus). Often they do this with the idea of getting rid of those “love handles”. However, the fact that this fat accumulation is located on the side of the abdomen does not mean that you can correct this by training the muscles underneath. I won’t go into too much detail about the differences between the underlying (internus) and superficial (externus) oblique abdominal muscles and all the different functions and attachment points. The most important thing to know is that the same applies here as for the rectus abdominal muscles:

1. You don’t flatten them with strength exercises,
2. You cannot spot reduce the fat around your waist.

I often see people doing the exercise where they make rotational movements with the torso while standing, first turning left and then right, with or without a stick clamped under the elbow or behind the neck. With this exercise, you only promote the flexibility of your waist, nothing more. For developing the muscles, you lack resistance. For burning fat, you should do the exercise for at least fifteen minutes, and there are much better alternatives for this (“regular” cardio). Visually, you’d better not train the oblique abdominal muscles until you are very dry. Due to the lack of distinguishing lines like the linea alba in the rectus abdominal muscles, there is little change in appearance except that the entire muscle plate seems to come further outward, making your waist wider. The only reason to train them is for injury prevention. Given that bodybuilding involves few twisting movements of the torso, it will not be quickly necessary for bodybuilding to prevent injuries. This is mainly recommended for sports where this is the case (tennis, soccer, etc.). Only when you are very dry (think of fat percentages below 7%) can training have visual benefits because then you can distinguish the lines in the direction of the muscle fibers. Most people, however, will never be so dry. Moreover, I prefer a narrower waist to a slightly wider one in which you can see the lines better.

Conclusion

For obtaining a washboard, the first step is lowering your body fat percentage. Just lose weight (or “cutting” if you are trying to maintain muscle mass) by dieting and/or exercising more. How much you need to lose and what you need to do for this depends on your starting position and body type. Abdominal exercises are visually only meaningful when your body fat percentage is low enough and you already have a visible washboard. Other reasons to train your abdominal muscles are injury prevention and strengthening your core for other sports. If you train your abs to see them even sharper, you shouldn’t do hundreds of repetitions, but just slightly more than for other muscle groups. So, provide extra resistance to reach a maximum of 15-20 repetitions. Whether you have a 4-, 5-, 6-, 7-, or 8-pack is genetically determined. So, there’s no point in doing specific exercises for the lower or upper abs to make them visible. Moreover, research has shown that the targeted results of specific exercises for the lower or upper abs are limited. Finally, be careful when training the oblique abdominal muscles if you’re not doing this for specific sports. This doesn’t make the picture prettier and may only make your waist wider.

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