Summer time beach weather is coming soon, and with it, many will be wanting to look their best in swimwear. While a lot of people desire well defined abdominal muscles, the “Six Pack”, most appear to be sporting a keg under their shirts instead.

I frequently get asked what are the best exercises for developing abdominal muscles. My response will typically be to ask them whether they want strong abs, or well defined abs. Of course, most who inquire want to have well defined abdominal muscles. I perform some type of ab work with every workout I do, but I do have my two favorite which I will get to last. These two are the most effective way to achieve good visible abdominal muscles and trump all others, but first:

Beginning Abs Workout

I would tell you to do all the exercises in the illustration above, with the understanding that the rep counts are going to increase until you can do 50 reps of each.

Are you going to be committed?

Are you willing to work through the pain?

If you are not committed and willing to suffer a little bit when first beginning, then I might be inclined to tell you to get back to doing nothing. But, as I said, these are not my favorite exercises, nor are they the only way forward to achieving that “Six Pack”.

Ab exercises for the more advanced.

Assuming you have become more capable with your ab work, the exercises pictured above are great for those abdominal muscles too. But still, these exercises in and of themselves are not enough for you to be able to display a nice midriff during the summer beach wear weather.

Let’s get real about this, male or female, if you want to have well defined abs, you can do all the ab work in the world, and it will mean jack squat nothing if you are not willing to do more strength and conditioning work, especially for your core.  And, you must get your nutrition under control. If you are not committed to strengthening your entire body and eating a nutritionally sound diet, then you might as well continue eating powdered sugar donuts while washing them down with your favorite soda pop. Developing visible abs takes work on many fronts that requires full commitment. If you are paunchy now, and unwilling to do what is necessary, then get over ever having a good swimsuit body and resign yourself to remaining out of shape.

My favorite work for my abs!

I do a little something for my abs every single day of the week, that you can do too.

That is if you will commit to it.

With my weight training workouts, I love to do:

sit ups,

hanging leg raises with a twist for obliques,

screw drivers,

dead lifts,

squats

I do each of those exercises regular with a good mix of exercises from the illustrations, but my favorite and most important exercises are “Push Aways” and “Fork Put Downs”.

The most effective thing you and I can do for visible, well defined abs is the “Fork Put Down” followed immediately by the “Push Away” of our plates when full from nutritionally sound foods. If you want your abdominal muscles to be well defined, you have to get your body fat percentage low enough for them to become visible. If you fail to do so, all you will achieve through that extra ab work will be that your belly will only become larger since larger ab muscles will only serve to push out that layer of fat which has them hidden away.

Quit eating or at least cut back on your consumption of refined carbohydrates and added sugars.

 This can and will help you lose extra fat and to expose your abs.  When you consume refined carbs, it cause spikes and crashes in blood sugar levels, which can lead to increased hunger and food intake. Swap out refined carbs from foods like pastries, pastas and processed foods and instead enjoy whole grains such as brown rice, barley, bulgur and couscous to help support satiety and burn belly fat. Eating plenty of whole grains, helps to reduce waist circumference and lower body weight.

Stop eating processed foods.

Heavily processed foods like chips, cookies, crackers and convenience foods are typically high in calories, carbs, fat and sodium. These terrible foods of convenience are typically low in key nutrients such as fiber, protein, vitamins and minerals. By dropping these unhealthy foods from your diet and swapping them for whole foods you will increase weight loss, reduce belly fat and help yourself achieve a set of six-pack abs. It takes more energy to digest whole foods rich in protein and fiber, which can burn more calories and keep your metabolism up. The  healthy nutrients in whole foods, like protein and fiber, also keep you feeling satiated longer which curbs cravings and aids in weight loss. Simply put, fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes are all nutritious alternatives to prepackaged convenience items like frozen meals, baked goods and salty snacks.

Add more high-fiber foods into your diet.

This is one of the simplest methods for increasing weight loss and achieving six-pack abs. Soluble fiber moves through the gastrointestinal tract undigested and can help slow the emptying of the stomach which makes you feel satiated longer. One study found that increasing fiber intake by 14 grams per day was linked to a 10% decrease in caloric intake and 4.2 pounds of weight loss. Another study showed that for each 10-gram increase of soluble fiber taken daily, participants lost 3.7% of belly fat over five years without making any other modifications in terms of diet or exercise. You can alter your diet to help burn body fat simply by adding fruits, whole grains, nuts, and seeds for sources of healthy, high fiber foods.

Having visible abs takes commitment.

As you can see, there is much more to getting six-pack abs than simply doing a few crunches or planks each day. If you want your abs to be visible as a “Six Pack” instead of as a “Keg”, it requires a commitment to following a healthy diet and maintaining an active lifestyle to help achieve your goals.Your overall goal should be one of achieving and maintaining good health over vanity of how you appear in swimwear. No matter your age, by making a few simple switches in your nutrition and daily routine,  you can get  a set of six-pack abs and improve your health at the same time.