Help Me Get Abs before Vacation! page

[CiKi90]

I go to the gym regularly, do yoga and Pilates 2-3x a week, sprint 1-2x a week, and just got a resistance band a few days ago... Still figuring out how to use it. I have pretty good muscle definition and a low body fat percentage (female, maybe 15% bf)
My stomach is flat now that I've been without grains successfully for a couple weeks now and reducing sugar, but I would like to get a really toned tummy for my vacation at the beginning of next month.

As far as ab exercises go, I do planks during yoga, hanging leg lifts (not sure the technical term for it) at the gym, and am trying to figure stuff out with the resistance band.
I'm asking the ripped Groks and Grokettes out there, what ab workouts can I do to get amazing results? I'm pretty close to my goal, I just need something extra added. Thanks in advance for your help and advice

[Purple Leather Couch]

This is a really insightful article written by one of the Girls Gone Strong, Molly Galbraith.
Weekly Reader Question #1: What to eat to get Abs…? | Molly Galbraith

[CiKi90]

Insightful, thanks. I guess I need to cut out dairy, too, for this month. Boo! (I love yogurt...) and maybe eat a little more calories.

Any help in the exercise department, though?

[Gorbag]

Forget exercises, they will not give you "abs" in a month, it doesen't work that way. Agressive dieting to get rid of some fat and water and to tone your tummy is the way to go since you obviously are in a hurry! A PSMF diet, low carbs, low fat, and high protein, can work for you, but make sure not to overdo cardio because you are already very lean, and you are in high risk of loosing lean body mass if doing too much cardio...

[CiKi90]

Yeah, but even when my body fat was extremely low, I still didn't have the definition. I think those muscles need to get more defined in order to show up. Plus, when I eat too much protein, my stomach gets bloated anyway, so that's a no go.

[Gorbag]

Do you have any solid abs under your body fat then? Because if you don't have much to show...It takes years of HEAVY training to get nice abs, yoga or pilates will only work for a very few persons that are extremely gifted genetically! So if you can't go high on protein you can do whatever diet you like with a high calorie deficit, but the two last weeks you must go very low on carbs to get rid of water in your body...

[CiKi90]

Youre right....I already do these things, though. I was asking about exercises, not diet, but thanks for taking the time out to answer me

[RichMahogany]

Yeah, but even when my body fat was extremely low, I still didn't have the definition. I think those muscles need to get more defined in order to show up. Plus, when I eat too much protein, my stomach gets bloated anyway, so that's a no go.

Muscles don't get defined. They get bigger or they don't. And they get more or less visible as the subcutaneous fat levels covering them fall or rise.

If you want big abs, do squats, deadlifts, bench press, and the press. Perfect form, heavy weights, low reps.

[paleodutch]

Are you shureabout the 15%? For females lower then 18% is to low and your periods can stop. Maybe you should eat more protein when exercising to provide your body the building blocks to bould the muscles with. For exercise look into bodyweight training, basics are covered in marks free ebook or read convict conditioning

[CiKi90]

Are you shureabout the 15%? For females lower then 18% is to low and your periods can stop. Maybe you should eat more protein when exercising to provide your body the building blocks to bould the muscles with. For exercise look into bodyweight training, basics are covered in marks free ebook or read convict conditioning

Yeah, I'm sure about the body fat percentage. It used to be horribly low-- 5% and at a very unhealthy weight. In fact, last time I checked my body fat percentage a month ago, it was only 11%, so I'm only generously estimating that my bf% has gone up since then. I'm working on getting back to a healthy body composition. For a while I was having 2 protein shakes a day but it really upset my stomach (Isopure Zero Carb). These days I take BCAAs and just try to get in enough protein with real foods like meat and yogurt.

Another issue I have with my workout plan is that my boyfriend thinks that I simply can't powerlift. He comes with me to the gym and is sort of like my personal trainer. He's got me doing push and pull day workouts on alternating days. No matter how much I ask him to let me do bench presses, squats, and dead lifts, he says that I'll injure myself because I have issues with perfect form. I've been trying to keep my patience, and have been asking him for almost a full month now to let me try doing heavier lifting. As far as progress goes, I've been doing pretty well, and have gained almost 9lbs of muscle. I've also upped my weights to almost double what they were when I started. What can I do to get around this problem? I enjoy my bf/personal trainer helping me along the way and has kept me motivated, but I simply want to do more!