Summer 6 pack?

To some extent, sure. This classic one liner came out to move people away from the constant ab circuits that leave you mentally fatigued… often without abs.

Nutrition tailored for fat loss will help “reveal” those abs, but building them will help as well. Your amazing nutritional discipline won’t reveal abdominal muscles that are underdeveloped. So how do you grow your abs? Should we be training them as much as possible with circuits or loading them up?

I have one golden rule for building your abs: Train them like any other muscle group.

They aren’t a special muscle group that requires little flutter kicks to grow. They need to be worked under a load with adequate; frequency, intensity and form.

You might be thinking to yourself “well what the f*ck does that mean, Maddy?”

First thing is first. Your form needs to be effective. When I see most people performing ab exercises, they’re just training their hip flexors really hard (which are those muscles at the front of your hips).

To contract your abs, you should be thinking about bending at your belly button, not your hips. So forget everything you know about spinal positioning while lifting and get that bad boy looking like a banana. Here’s what I mean:

Once you’ve got your movement pattern looking tip top, think about the frequency and intensity. If you wanted to grow your glutes, would you do 5 x 10 minute circuits per week without weight? No.

Choose 1 - 2 exercises that set you up with good positioning and loading, and do them 1 - 3 times per week for 3 - 4 sets, with 6 - 10 reps. I know I’ve given you a huge range but I don’t know you mate? The frequency and rep range will depend on how well you recover and how much you’re looking to build the muscle. But even with a huge range like that, you can see how different it is to little ab circuits.

My go-to ab exercise is called a garhammer raise on an incline bench (google it, I can’t do everything for you). I feel that this exercise sets me up in the perfect position, and also is easily loadable with a dumbbell. This exercise might be too hard at first, and if that’s the case just start with crunches on the floor - really focusing on the crunch at your belly button.

This will help to actually develop and build your abdominal muscles. If your body fat percentage is on the higher end, then of course you will need to take care of your nutrition too.

If a garhammer raise is too advanced, you can start with simple leg raises while laying down. This is a great exercise that gives you the opportunity to practice bending at your belly button and lifting your hips up. Once you've graduated from this, move onto a hanging leg raise.

I want to finish by saying: abdominal training isn’t just about having abs. Developing this muscle group helps to support your back, will help improve your bigger lifts in the gym and is a great way to improve your bracing! Don’t think about abs just from an aesthetics standpoint, they’re good for your wellbeing.

Your coach & friend,

Maddy