What Body Fat Percentage for Abs?

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What Body Fat Percentage for Abs?

Working to develop your abs is only half the battle in making sure you look ripped. The other side of the story is the amount of cardio you do and the diet you follow. Strengthening and developing your abdominal muscles while skipping cardio and / or following an unhealthy diet will of course make you stronger, but it won't lead you to getting an impressive, cut figure.

What you need to aim to do in your training and with your diet is lower your body fat percentage. This is not as simple as just losing weight. Reducing the total number of pounds you weigh can be achieved by lowering your body fat OR your musculature　（or both together）. In your training you need to be working to reduce your body fat while maintaining or increasing your musculature.

So, what target body fat percentage do you need for your abs to show? The first thing is to make sure that you have been training your abs. If there is no muscle there, no amount of cardio or strict dieting is going to reveal something that doesn’t exist in the first place.

The second thing to understand is the your target body fat percentage will vary if you are a man or a woman. Men on average have a lower body fat percentage then women who carry more fat in their breasts and buttocks. The average for men is 18-24%; for women it is 25-31%. Any more than this and you are fast tracking towards obesity. Part of this percentage includes what is known as essential fat. This is the minimum required amount for you body (and mind) to stay healthy and function normally. For men that figure is 2-5%; for women 10-13%. Lowering your body fat percentage for prolonged periods of time can be very dangerous to your health (Bruce Lee was down to 1% at the time of his death, thought to be a contributing factor to weakening his body). Top athletes and fitness models only hit very low body fat percentage figures for short periods of time (such as when they compete) while usually walking around several kilograms (of fat) heavier. Even then, they are competing within the range of minimal essential fat.

So, what body fat percentage do you need for cut abs? For men you want to be looking at getting down to around 10%. Women should aim for around 17%. These figures are intended as guidelines only. Some people will be naturally lean in their stomach areas while others will find they easily put on weight in that area.

As far as actually measuring your body fat does, this is notoriously difficult and different test methods may well produce different results. Given this make sure that you are frequently checking your progress in the mirror to see if you are developing. Also, considering that muscle weighs more than fat, it should be understood that it is possible to gain weight overall (through developing muscle) while at the same time lowering your fat level and becoming leaner.

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How Often Should I Exercise Abs?

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How Often Should I Exercise Abs?

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How Often Should I Exercise Abs?

This is a good, and common, question. The short answer is: it depends what kind of results you are looking for. If you want above average results you will need to make an above average effort and that will require an above average recovery period.

The tendency is to think that the more the better. Not just with abs, with any kind of exercise. So let me start with a more obvious example. All of us walk everyday. Some may walk more than others (waiters and waitresses) and some jobs may require us to be on our feet (shop assistants) but to a greater or lesser extent we are all up and walking around for some portion of the day. Our recovery includes eating three average meals a day and getting 8 hours of sleep. This recovery is enough to meet our daily needs and to allow us to walk about the next day without feeling overly tired.

Let’s say though that your target is to become an Olympic champion in speed walking. Obviously just following your daily routine of walking here and there is not going to be enough. To become number one you are going to have to divert time and energy into improving your speed and walking at an above average pace for an above average amount of time. You will also need to do supplementary exercises, such as stretching and strengthening your muscles. Owing to the greater demand put on your body your recovery periods will also change and become longer. Now when you are talking about world class athletes a key factor in their ability to perform at such a high level is not just a genetic ability to do so combined with a high work rate. Such people also have a tremendous ability to recover quicker than normal from heavy workout sessions. If you are so gifted then good luck to you. You might want to consider a career as a professional athlete as you have the ability to workout more frequently and with greater intensity than the rest of us. If on the other hand you do not have that ability to recover then you need to take a more moderate approach to your walking. Using the top athletes as examples can be counter-productive. It is not simply a case of following their training programs but also having the ability to be able to recover as quickly.

As with the walking example, the same is true for exercising your abs. In order to become stronger we use a general principal called Progressive Muscle Overload. This means simply that you exercise your muscles, tearing them down then allowing them to recover and rebuild stronger than they were before at which point you put even greater demands on them thereby repeating the process.

So the process is: harder training breaks the muscles down more completely; they then heal and recover stronger and larger than they were before.

So the key point in answering how often should I exercise abs is to determine what kind of results you are looking to get. If you just want to firm up your abs then a program of 50 crunches a day may be all you need. In this case a long recovery period may not be necessary (unless you are trying to go from never having done crunches for the last 10 years to suddenly going for 50…not recommended) and you can just get your three meals a day and 8 hours of sleep. But you are unlikely to develop a 6-pack like this.

If you are going for a washboard effect then you are going to have to expend more energy on more demanding ab exercises. This will cause greater muscle break down and will therefore require you to spend more time in recovery.

So, in short, the more gains you want to make the more intense your workout needs to be and the more time you have spend in recovery.

The truth however is that if you want really impressive gains then you do need to working on your abs on a daily basis. More specifically though you need to target different abdominal muscles on different days thereby allowing your other muscles to recover in between. So, on one day you may target your upper abs, the next day your lower abs and on the third day your oblique muscles. Then repeat the cycle giving a total of 6 days followed by a day of rest (for your abs at least). This gives you at least two days for one muscle group to relax and recover.

Another point to consider is the role cardio should play. Unfortunately the stomach area for most people is a prime location for body fat. It is quite feasible to have super strong abs but not be able to see them as they are covered up with a layer of fat (think sumo wrestlers…immensely strong but you would never know it to look at them). Cardio cannot target specific body areas but a consistent program will reduce overall body fat, leaving you with a cut look.

So to sum up. The answer to the question how often should I exercise abs? will depend on the kind of results you are looking for. If you are looking for moderate results then you can train your abs on a daily basis if you want as long as you are getting enough food and sleep. If you are looking for above average results then you need to train harder and rest longer. For optimal gains though you need to target different abs on different days allowing for your other muscles to heal in between.

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