How To Build Abs?

After doing some research and experiments, I have obtained my abs (although it’s not completed yet) from the belly I used to have. Here are some steps I have been following.

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Step 1: Exercise (Hypertrophy)
- Train your abdominals through various exercises (but this doesn’t mean that by doing 10-15 repetitions of sit-ups and that’s it), we need to focus on the muscle hypertrophy (increase in muscle size - to make it pop). Let’s say the first week, you could do specific abs exercise for 10-15 repetitions and you found it hard. But in the next few weeks, you realized it’s getting easier, so at that time, the progression has to be done, which means you increase the repetitions and even better, add some weights to it to achieve the muscle hypertrophy.

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Step 2: Design Your Set
- Always remember the back exercises when you’re doing the front, and vice versa (same for left and right, as you know). The lower abs is always the last part of the abs that appears after the top 4 packs, it’s also a hard one to get..

Sample set: (Google for the demonstration)

• Upper abs (top 4 packs): Crunches.
• Lower abs (bottom packs): Leg raises.
• Oblique: Russian twists.
• Back (for stronger core): Planks.

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Step 3: Meal Plan
- You need to follow a good diet in order to lose the fat that covers the abdominals. This is why nutrition has become one part of this, so a good meal plan needs to be created based on your body.

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Once we do these things, we will have a good set of abs with deep cuts. I have also just started to put this into practice and convert it into my lifestyle. Good luck to both of us and let us enjoy our fitness journey!

Bulking or Cutting?

This is the most popular question I always get no matter in the gym or online. Each time people asked me, I really didn’t know exactly whether I was on bulking or cutting as my fitness goal is to stay healthy and maintain a positive lifestyle.

I think it’s difficult for me to do bulking or cutting phase because I do both resistance and cardiovascular training; and as for food wise, I feel sick for forcing myself to eat more and I feel depressed if I have to cut my food intakes.

So I realized by either doing bulking or cutting, it wouldn’t enhance my mood, so when I couldn’t get into the right mood, it would decrease my motivation by blocking me to strive in activity. However, everyone is different. Some people are able to do the bulking or cutting phase, or both, and some are not.

Anyway, now for a bit of knowledge about macronutrients (carbs, protein, fats) ratio to support your fitness goals.

For basic active lifestyle:
Carbs - 50%
Protein - 30%
Fats - 20%

For “bulking” and muscle building:
Carbs - 45%
Protein - 40%
Fats - 15%

For “cutting” or fat loss:
Carbs - 35%
Protein - 45%
Fats - 25%

This is of course still depending on your physical activities and calories intake.

Question: Wait a minute. More fats to lose fat?
Answer: Fat doesn’t make you fat. It’s the calories in versus the calories out. So focus on good fats such as salmon (omega-3 fatty acids), avocados and etc.