Develop your abs: 4 things to remember!

To build up your abdominal muscles and make your belly firm, it is not enough to do so-called "ab exercises". You also need to apply certain intensification techniques and watch your nutrition. Also, if you can't go to the gym every day, you need to get some essential equipment (floor mats, dumbbells, etc.) at home. In this article, you will already find all the tips and recommendations to get firm abs quickly.

Fighting fat

When you want to build up your abdominal muscles and develop your abdominal muscles, some friends will advise you to do various ab exercises. If you do them, you will not necessarily achieve your goal. This is because these exercises do not help to reduce fatty tissue, which is essential for a firmer stomach. Therefore, we recommend that you focus on eliminating the fat under the skin of the stomach. To this end, combine abdominal exercises with a low-calorie diet. For more information, click on fitness-musculation-nutrition.com.

One of the keys to a successful weight loss programme is managing your diet. Here you must ban fast food, sugary drinks, alcohol and cheese. These foods provide your body with a lot of bad fats and carbohydrates. On the other hand, you can maintain a high protein intake with low-fat meats (chicken or turkey). As an alternative, you can also eliminate fat by choosing a fat burner. The latter is an effective supplement that you can find in capsule or gel form. It will help you to limit the assimilation of fat and accelerate its combustion.

By applying these solutions, the fatty tissue in your body will melt away faster, which will help your tummy to become firmer and your abs to develop.

Choosing the right abdominal exercises

To achieve firm abs and a well-sculpted body, random exercises or constant lifting of dumbbells is not the best solution. Instead, you should focus on specific abdominal exercises.

Basic abdominal exercise

The first exercise consists of performing a series of "crunch" type abdominal exercises (between 20 and 30 depending on your physical capacity). Gradually, you can increase the number of crunches according to how you feel. To succeed in this exercise, do not pull on your neck when you stand up. You risk injuring your neck. The best tip is to place your hands on your chest or on the side of your head.

Variations of the crunch

Apart from the crunch, you can also do other variations to increase the level of difficulty. This is the case with the crunch with twist. Here, after lowering the bench more than 30°, you have to place your feet under the sleeves and then contract your abs (chest and legs should form a 90° angle). You can also try the gym ball crunch. You sit on the ball, move your feet forward so that your lower back is supported by the ball, bend your knees and spread them apart, then place your feet flat.

To give your abdominal muscles a greater workout, perform the hanging leg raise. In this case, you have to hang by your arms from a fixed bar, without touching the ground with your legs. The exercise consists of bringing the legs back to a square position and holding the position for a few seconds. This strengthens the lower abs.

Some other abdominal exercises

In addition to the crunch and its variations, you can also perform other exercises to develop your abdominal muscles. In short, here are some examples that should help you achieve your goals:

• The floor crunch: to perform this crunch, keep your pelvis flat against the floor and lift your shoulders back and forth;
• Combination crunch, or "V-Up": raise your legs and torso simultaneously, and keep your arms straight throughout the exercise;
• The high pulley crunch: this mainly involves the upper and lower abdominal muscles. To succeed, you must roll your chest so that you look behind you between your knees;
• Suspended leg raise: this allows you to work the lower abdominal muscles. You should lower your legs as little as possible during the negative phase, and raise them as much as possible during the contraction;
• Floor rotations for the obliques: these are done in the crunch position. Then, during the contraction, direct your elbow towards the opposite knee;
• The plank on the ground: it allows you to keep your stomach flat and to increase the resistance of the deep muscles;
• Scissors: strengthens the lower and upper abs, while challenging the obliques.

Keeping a close eye on your diet

To develop abs, nutrition remains an essential element that should not be neglected. If you want to have a stronger abdominal muscles, you should start by reducing your calorie intake. Also, you need to hydrate more regularly. Here are some other tips to follow:

• For breakfast, take a large glass of lemon juice to stimulate digestion;
• Have a bowl of high-fibre oatmeal to keep your energy up;
• Choose fresh fruit over fruit juice that contains no fibre;
• Focus on whole grains or rice, vegetables and lean proteins;
• Include in your menu artichokes with a little vinaigrette, mineral-rich kale and oils (walnuts, hazelnuts, sesame, etc.);
• When seasoning meals, avoid excessive salt, and add garlic and spices;
• For dessert, take pineapple to stimulate transit and facilitate the digestion of proteins (you can supplement with 1 to 2 capsules of vegetable charcoal).

Some other useful tips

Before you start abdominal exercises, you should expect to put in a lot of effort. Most of the time you have to push yourself to your limits. This is how you will achieve your goals. Finally, here are some other tips that will help you along the way:

• Eat green vegetables: they contain vitamins, minerals, nutrients and fibre;
• Avoid refined sugars: they promote fat storage and kill hopes of shapely abs;
• Drink enough water: this will hydrate the skin, drain toxins, reduce inflammation and facilitate recovery;
• Eat less: reduce your food intake to the bare minimum to create a calorie deficit;
• Don't neglect cardio: in addition to abdominal exercises, you should also perform endurance activities and cardio sport (jogging, cycling, swimming, jumping rope, etc.).