Abs and muscle growth

[HerbM]

Unless you are naturally skinny (and you indicated that is not the case) you are going to have to diet your ass off (and your gut).

No amount of ab work will remove the fat layer on top of the abs -- only reducing your body fat will do that.

All exercises (some more than others) will help you metabolize more, but when you do the math it is mainly by restricting your diet that you will lose the FAT.

--
Herb

[Scrap]

Try these, not easy:

[Chris Nagel]

I agree with Adam. Anyway, what works for me is to start with the harder exercises first. Exercises that involve the abs more take priority, they should never be done when fatigued.

To get strong enough to do hanging leg raises, or roll-outs, you start with a variation that's easy enough to do, yet difficult enough to challenge you. For instance with hanging leg raises, you may start doing them with your knees bent more, or with something to help support your back. With roll-outs, you can also work up to the standing variation by cutting the distance, perhaps working on a specific segment of the movement, using something to make it easier such as a ramp, or elastic bands. I don't know what they called, but I found that the arms-extended-forward sort of plank to help too, in the feet can be elevated to make them harder. After my abs have had good workout, I might do a circuit of easier exercises (crunches, etc.) as a finisher.

Lower reps can help if taking on a new exercise is difficult. I've used staggered sets, in which the leg raises are dispersed throughout the workout, allowing for more recovery. Focusing on the muscles and your technique is important, don't cheat by swinging your body. Any other exercises that engage your abs is a plus.

Besides that, I think that it's important to include exercises for your lower back and spinal erectors. Not that this will particularly affect how your abs look, but our muscles work in pairs, and our abdominals and spinal erectors work together to stabilize the body.

[AdamGB]

Definetly, so many pepople end up with tight abs and weak, inactive lower back muscles... really bad for the hips... same with chest and back work outs... most guys focus loads on getting their chest bigger, but not getting their back working properly... makes you look like quasimodo and puts your shoulders in an awful position.

Oh and ab roll outs kick my arse! I have long legs and relativly tight hamstrings... definetly something I need to improve upon.

[hitmanhatton]

as Adam said compounds is the way to go

deadlift and squats would be my personal choice over the obvious exercises like sit ups or whatever

however ... alot comes down to your goals... is it just looking good that you are concerned about or your athletic performance the two dont always go together, the likes of mosley mayweather and cotto who you mentioned train every day, they have expert nutritonists and for all we know some 'chemical' help

[Boxer4life]

as Adam said compounds is the way to go

deadlift and squats would be my personal choice over the obvious exercises like sit ups or whatever

however ... alot comes down to your goals... is it just looking good that you are concerned about or your athletic performance the two dont always go together, the likes of mosley mayweather and cotto who you mentioned train every day, they have expert nutritonists and for all we know some 'chemical' help

yeah thats the thing that i wonder about sometimes, cuz i am looking for performance more, but i also wanna look the part,the thing is they train everyday and look at them, so are the "experts" right.