Are you looking to get ripped abs at home? You will be pleased to know that it is certainly possible to get ripped abs from the comfort of your own home and in this article we will look at how you can do it. People often find it hard to make time for the gym with work commitments and social commitments often getting in the way. Gym memberships can also prove costly these days so an alternative is to workout at home.
Get Ripped Abs At Home
Working out at home can be difficult due to the lack of equipment your likely to have. However, if your looking to get ripped abs at home then equipment should not be too much of a problem. A number of different bodyweight exercises can be used to effectively target your abdominal muscles to help them grow bigger and stronger. Before you start targetting your abs with endless situps every day let me tell you that hundreds of situps each day is not the correct way to get ripped abs. To get ripped abs at home you will need to focus on the following:
Your diet. When it comes to getting ripped abs your diet will be the most important factor. Ripped abs are made in the kitchen and not in the gym. If you can not see your abs then you have a layer of fat covering them. Everybody has abs but the majority of people can not see them because they are hidden by a layer of fat. To see your abs you will need to lose belly fat as well as lower ab fat so that your abs are completely visible.
Your first step to getting ripped abs will be to lose weight. Calculate your bodys maintenance level of calories here. Consume around 500 calories below your maintenance number and weight yourself once a week to ensure you are losing weight. Do not drop calories too much otherwise your body will stop losing fat and start burning off muscle tissue, taking away any shape and definition your physique might already have.
Exercise. Once you lose a fair amount of fat you will notice your body will work harder to preserve what it has and be reluctant to burn any more fat. This is natural and instead of dropping your calories to low and dangerous levels to lose stomach fat you should instead incorporate regular exercise and cardio into your daily routine. Cardio will burn extra calories and raise your bodys metabolism to help it burn more fat.
Articles such as cardio for beginners, cardio exercises to lose belly fat and cardio workouts at home will all be of use to you when beginning cardio. Playing a particular sport is also a great way to get additional exercise into your routine without having to make it feel boring. Listen to your ipod throughout your cardio workouts if you find them boring to help push yourself and help you focus.
Weight Training. Weight training should be performed when looking to get ripped abs at home in order to keep hold of muscle tissue while you burn off stomach fat. Since you will be eating in a calorie deficit (under your maintenance level) your body can be inclined to burn off muscle tissue as well as fat. We wanrt to lose fat not muscle. Get yourself on a weight training routine that builds muscle to help you do this and try and consume a high protein diet. How much protein do you need? At least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight.
An effective weight training routine and a high protein diet will help preserve your muscle mass while you burn the fat off. If you do not have any weight training equipment at home then alternatively you can perform some sort of routine made up of bodweight exercises. Press ups, pull ups, crunches, dips and squats can all be performed at home using your own bodyweight. Take a look at building muscle without weights for more detailed information on this.
Ab Exercises. Last but not least are the ab exercises. These will help your ab muscles grow stronger and bigger whilst giving them more shape and definition. Depending on your body type and genetics, its possible to perform no ab exercises whatsoever and still look like you have ripped abs. As long as your body fat is low and you remove the layer of fat covering your ab muscles certain people will create the illusion of ripped abs. Ab exercises will make them look more impressive. Heres the best ones:
Ab Crunch. To perform an ab crunch, lie down on the floor and bend your knees. Place hands either across your chest or lightly behind your head. With your lower back pressed firmly against the floor contract your abdominal muscles and lift yourself up off the floor. Shoulder blades should be raised 2-3 inches off the floor in a slow and controlled motion. Pause for a second and then lower your body slowly back down towards the floor. Keep your tension on the abs as you lower yourself.
Do not go all the way back down to the floor as you still want your ab muscles slightly contracted when you push for that next rep. You may find it useful to place some sort of weight above your feet whilst performing the crunch as this will restrict any movement of the feet. The ab crunch can be performed on a decline bench or an exercise ball for added difficulty once your ab muscles become stronger. You may also start adding weight to your crunches (weighted crunches). Hold the weight on your chest while performing the exercise for added resistance.
Tuck Crunch. The tuck crunch is very similar to an ordinary crunch. The only difference is that the legs are raised and knees are bent to form a right angle. The tuck crunch places greater stress on the upper ab muscles. To perform the tuck crunch lie down on the floor and bend your knees to form a right angle. Keep the legs parallel to the floor with your hands placed across your chest or behind your head. Contract ab muscles and lift your shoulder blades off the floor. Shoulders only need to be raised a few inches off the floor and then returned to the starting position.
Lying Leg Raises. This exercises places more stress on the lower abs. Lay down with your back flat against the floor or a weight bench. Place hands either down by your sides or underneath your glutes (bum) and raise your legs up in the air near a vertical position with knees slightly bent. With your legs exended up in the air lower them down to just above floor/bench level with your feet and toes pointing forwards. You can either keep your legs as straight as possible or you can keep them bent throughout the whole movement. Completely bent knees will make the movement easier. Straighter legs will make it harder. Now raise them back up focusing on pulling your legs up using your ab/lower ab muscles.
Barbell Ab Rollouts. Another one for your lower abs. If you have a barbell at home you can perform this one. If not dont worry. Check out the best lower ab exercises article for a different one. Start with the barbell at your feet. Bend over to grip it with legs straight (or slightly bent if you cant stretch that far) and arms straight. Roll the barbell forward until you are stretched out as far as possible while maintaining a flat lower back. The further you roll the bar out the more stress that is placed on your abs and lower ab muscles to stabilize the body. If your midsection is not strong enough there is a chance you will lose balance and end up laying on the floor.
If you find this happening then roll the bar forward but dont fully extend yourself. Only roll the bar out to a point that is comfortable and doesnt strain you. Work your way up to using full range of motion and keep form strict. Once you’ve rolled the bar out as far as you can go you need to pull it back to the starting position. Keep tension on your abs and pull everything back.
Thats pretty much everything you need to know to get ripped abs at home. Train hard and eat smart and you’ll see some great results in no time. Remember that to get ripped abs it takes time and hard work. Imagine how long it took you to build that layer of fat across your stomach. Dont expect ripped abs in a week or two. Be patient, be consistant and you will get there. Good luck!
