3 Ab Facts That You Need To Know

Okay, so you are an ab person. You want to finally see your six pack and flaunt it on the beach. You exercise, you dieta, and follow the generall ab advice but here are a few facts about your rectus abdominis you need to know.

Assymetrical abs are normal and born with

Abs Need Work

Some people argue that abs don’t need direct work because they are used in every major exercise. But while this is true you won’t get a solid six pack without adding size to your ab muscles and you can’t always do that without the direct work.

To get your rectus abdominis growing do some weighted cable crunches. But once they’ve grown stop. Doing crunches can actually weaken your back. You can maintain them by doing static work and general lifts. Don’t worry, they won’t go anywhere.

While you’re working on your abs, keep in mind that you cannot spot reduce and get rid of belly fat without a diet.

Abs Aren’t Divided

Rectus abdominis is a one uniform muscle that stretches across your stomach. It is not made of upper and lower abs or even parts. It is one muscle that may be partially revealed or hidden due to uneven fat distribution (lower stomach area is most prone to store more fat than other parts). So if you see the top two or four cuhbes popping out, the rest of the muscle is simply covered by more fat.

Training the entire muscle can be challenging so choose exercises where you will feel both the upper and the lower parts of it working. Also getting more of overall muscle mass can help you reveal abs and get better definition in general. Of course, that is given that your body fat percentage is low enough and you cannot really go lower without causing health problems.

Abs Can Be Assymetrical

Once you’ve got to the point of visible abs you may find that your six pack is assymetrical. This is completely normal and doesn’t mean you’ve been doing something wrong. Sometimes our general body assymetry gets a litlle overboard.

Getting abs is about both muscle mass size and body fat percentage. It may happen so that without doing any direct ab work you will have popping abs that will show through even some layer of fat. But you may also end up without any or paper thin abs if you don’t do some prep work before dieting to a six pack. So instead of just betting on it, spend around six months (it’s even less for girls) growing your abdominal muscles just like the rest of your body.