‘... I don't care, I just want abs.’

I hate to break this to you but there is no such things as ‘just abs’. My question to anyone who say this is: Do you wants ‘abs for show’ or ‘true abs’?

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ABS FOR SHOW

(1) GREAT LIGHTING.

It is true that with good lighting and some body-twisting / flexing pose, you can ‘look like’ you have abs. I do the same in my photos too lol. I’m not in a position to advise you what kind of lighting is the best, but I can tell you there’s no way you can achieve 24-7 ‘abs’ at your disposal by only working on ‘abs exercises’ while eating shit and being fat all body round.

(2) SUITABLE ABS EXERCISES.

There’s a common misconception that if you do exercises targeting a certain muscle, that muscle will grow and show through your skin. WTF? Then anyone can have a six-pack or kim-kardashian ass. It is only true based on ONE condition: if you have body fat low enough for that muscle to show. What’s more, do you know what kind of exercises are you doing? Are you working on muscle endurance, mass, or strength? These all leads up to different sizes of muscles.

(3) BALANCED NUTRITION.

I always think that abs are a testament of how discipline a person is and is a reward to those who deserves it. It comes with consistent exercising and eating in the right way. It works hand in hand. You cannot have abs simply by eating right, and you also cannot have abs just by randomly exercising. Check out my friend @salonbyjess page for how to tailor-make your own #healthyshit meals, or see how much attention @stayfitandtravel pays to her nutrition every single day!

THE ‘TRUE ABS’

There is another misconception that you can work on a certain muscle ONLY by doing exercises that target that muscle. It is NOT true. A lot of people I know who has super visible abs don’t do abs exercise AT ALL. Or at least, they don’t ONLY do abs exercise. How did they get abs then? They work different compound exercises that require lots of core activation.

They do various exercises that require stabilization of body, (in Crossfit context) such as snatches, overhead squats, even regular squats, deadlifts, etc. Or more commonly, pilates or running that requires the person to control their core despite movements in other parts of the body.

Training your core stability means working on your abdominals (so-called abs), obliques, lower back and glutes. People with a strong core has lower risks of injury than people who only has strong ‘abs’. Abs is one-dimensional that is only responsible for ‘folding’ your trunk but a strong core enables you to support daily activities that require moving with agility, balance and speed.

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As always, there is no ‘one size fits all’.

Results differ by individuals who has different body types, metabolism, muscle sizes, etc. Such holistic way of reading your own body is important that we understand our own body before blindly chasing that ‘abs for show’.

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SOURCE:

Me. I studied to become a certified personal trainer. :/ 🤷

Thank you my coach @wfung10 for reviewing this article!! ♥️