7 principles of Abs sculpting

First of all, everyone in this world has abs. Ask any student of college anatomy that has opened up a human body and analyzed what is inside. They will tell you that every human subject had abs. So if we all have abs, then how come we can't see them? The reason for that is that there is a wall of fat that is preventing them from being visible.

You'll have to know the principles of Ab sculpting from Hugo Rivera and you can start implementing them in your routines. Remember all of these principles and that no great abdominal wall can be created without a caloric deficient diet that consists of several small meals (5-8 times) a day.

Principle #1:

In order to get six pack abs, you need to decrease your Body Fat Percentage.

There is no "if's" or "but's" about this. Too much body fat and you won't be able to see you abs. In order for men to start seeing some of their abs they need to be at 10% or below. Women, on the other hands, start to see lines at 13% since women typically store body fat in other areas such as the hips and glutes.

A good nutrition program in conjunction with cardio exercises and a good weight training routine that exercises your whole body and includes abdominal work are the key to long term fat loss.

Principle #2:

To have the six pack abs, one needs to exercise them correctly and understand abdominal anatomy in addition to following principle #1.

This principle is pretty much self-explanatory and it leads us to the next topic, which is that of abdominal anatomy.

There are four main muscle groups in abdominal anatomy that make up the full abdominal wall:

Principle #5:

As one gets more advanced, repetition tempo (the speed at which one performs the exercises) can also be altered in order to elicit a response.

One very neglected variable of training that never gets altered is that one of repetition speed. As one becomes more advanced, a set can always be made more challenging by altering the speed at which the positive portion of the movement is performed, the length of the contraction and the speed of the negative portion.

Doing this will in turn stimulate more muscle fibers in the area which results in faster results!

Principle #3:

Sets and Reps are dependent upon how advanced the person is.

Initially, ab training should just consist of a couple to three movements at the most performed for 2-3 sets of as many good repetitions as the person can do with his/her bodyweight. As time goes by and one progresses, more sets can be added and repetition parameters can also be manipulated by adding weights to some exercises in order to target the fast twitch muscle fibers in the abs and thus create a six pack abs with deeper groves in between.

Principle #4:

Unless you are training one day upper abs and the next day lower abs (a very advanced technique), training abs every day will typically lead to overtraining them.

While many advanced bodybuilders and figure girls can train their abs every day for a short period of time in order to shock the body part, this typically will lead to overtraining if continued for too long.

Therefore, unless you are doing upper abdominals one day and lower the next, you are better off training your abdominals for no more than 20 minutes at a time, 3 times per week on alternating days, as in Mon / Wed / Fri.

Principle #6:

Do not train the obliques with low repetitions.

Unless you want big sides and a wide waist, then oblique training with low reps should not be an option. High reps in the order of 25-50 are best. As a matter of fact, some people are so genetically gifted that their sides grow from little oblique work. In this case, oblique work should be completely taken out.

Principle #7:

For a smaller waist, try training the TVA muscle as well.

The TVA, or traverse abdominus, is an abdominal muscle whose function is not to cause movement of the spine, but instead to keep the waist nicely tucked in.

To train it, all you have to do is suck your stomach in. Yes, you need to suck in; believe it or not, that is the purpose of that muscle. So by exhaling all of the air out of your lungs and bringing the navel as close as possible to your spine you will be training the TVA and thus creating the appearance of a smaller waist.

Because of the nature of this muscle, it can be trained every day at any time. Three sets of 30-second contractions should get you started.