One of the reasons why your abs aren’t as cut out as you’d like is eating too much. After all, you’re unlikely to see your abs until you use a good diet to get cut the fat out. There’s no excuse, so it’s better to start cutting calories from your daily consumption.
Another reason is that when you work out at 24-Hour Fitness, you tend to leave your ab work towards the end. That’s when you’re most exhausted, meaning you’re unlikely to train with focus and energy. In most cases, you might end up skipping the entire routine due to its intensity.
But the main solution isn’t doing more core exercises or making it the primary focus of your workouts. It’s better if you integrate more core activation into your existing exercises. That way, you’ll build your abs while building your entire body, as long as you’re willing to put in some extra effort.
Making All Exercises Ab Exercises
You have a lot of options instead of doing crunches and sit-ups to strengthen your core. A good way to do this is to start with unilateral training. This means you should work on a single limb at a time.
If your usual routine involves doing dumbbell bench presses or squats, both your arms or legs are likely to move in unison. In that case, try to press a single dumbbell while you squat with one foot. Make sure that this foot has support from a bench behind your body.
With these exercises, you can focus on working your chest and legs. All the while, your abs will be hard at work to keep your body balanced and prevent twisting in various directions. This feat is challenging since it builds your core while doing other exercises, but it’s rewarding.
After all, you won’t need to squeeze in the ab exercises by the end of your gym sessions. There’s no need for you to set aside extra time every week. As long as your core is highly active, it becomes toned since it’s responsible for keeping your form every time you lift.
Start with 3-4 sets of simple, standard exercises for your favored muscle group. That way, you can isolate it and work it further while you’re fresh and brimming with energy. After that, use unilateral moves for your remaining exercises since its stability requirement makes it more demanding for your core.
Exercise Routines with Ab Workouts
Here are some for you to train your chest using the dumbbell bench press. Usually, you’ll need four sets with 8-10 reps for this to work. Regardless, these are great if you want to start using unilateral movements to train your core.
Mixed-Style Incline Dumbbell Press
Try setting an adjustable bench to an angle of 30 degrees. Prepare to do an incline dumbbell press while holding the weights over your chest using a lockout position. You can start doing two reps using your right arm and then holding the weight at lockout while you do two reps using your left arm.
After that, start doing two reps using both arms at once. For the more experienced, they know it as a “cluster”. Without letting go of the weights, try repeating around 3-4 clusters for a set. As part of your gym routine, make sure to do four sets of these.
Take note, do your best to keep your core locked down on the bench. Do the same for your butt while you avoid twisting to any side.
Half-Bench Single-Arm Press
Start by lying on a flat bench. Make sure you’re position to its left side since this ensures your torso’s left half won’t get any support from the bench. Once in this position, make sure to brace your core to keep your body steady.
Bracing your core also ensures that your body won’t roll off the bench. Now, hold a dumbbell in your left hand and start doing 8-10 press reps. After this, shift your body to the opposite side, which means your torso’s left side has support while the right side isn’t.
After assuming this position, make sure to repeat the presses using your right arm. Once you’re finished with both arms, that counts as a single set. To make the most out of this routine, make sure to do four sets at least.
Conclusion
Training your abs alone can become an exhausting task, especially if you do it by the end of your gym session. But if you opt to integrate your ab exercises with other routines, your body develops more holistically. That’s why you should learn how to use unilateral moves and use the above mentioned exercises as a starting point for your core strengthening journey.
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