Amlan Shekhar Baruah
The abdominal muscles are not only among the most attractive muscles, but they are also among the most important muscles of the human body, for both men and women. Having strong abs is vital for building a strong, athletic, agile, aesthetic, and well-rounded physique. In this article, we discuss the top 5 ways to build abs.
1. Martial arts
Have you noticed that most martial artists and professional fighters have well-developed abs, even if they do not do much in the way of direct ab workouts? This is due to several reasons. Executing a proper strike, whether it is a punch, kick, elbow strike, knee strike, or some other strike requires proper stability of the body and sufficient rotational power of the body, which are two of the primary functions of the abdominal muscles. Therefore, practicing these strikes will certainly build up your abs. Grappling arts, such as wrestling and judo, require strong abs to resist your opponent’s moves, prevent your body from moving, and thus prevent your opponent from throwing you onto the ground. Martial arts also demand significant energy and stamina, and different martial arts have various aerobic and high-intensity anaerobic components in their training, which will help you in burning fat and thus make your abs visible.
2. Gymnastics
Gymnasts are among the strongest pound-for-pound athletes and have immensely ripped physiques with chiseled abs. This is because gymnastics is one of the toughest and most physically demanding sports. Its moves demand tremendous ab strength along with strength in almost all other muscles of the body, and they also demand a low percentage of body fat because it is easier to execute the moves if you have a higher strength-to-bodyweight ratio. Even the basic gymnastic moves such as tripod headstand, 3/4 handstand, cartwheel, candlestick, tuck jumps, tuck sit, and log roll require a good amount of ab strength. So, if you try gymnastics, you will be able to train your abs right from the beginning. Of course, it is hard, but nothing is impossible if you have enough passion and determination.
3. Swimming
Swimmers have well-toned, lean physiques with strong abs. Having a strong core and abs is a fundamental requirement for swimming. Swimming requires you to move your body against the water for certain periods of time. Water provides resistance to your motion when you try to swim. So it is necessary to have strong muscles for swimming, and the abdominal muscles are highly utilized here. Even floating on water requires you to have strong abs, or else you will drown! Also, irrespective of whichever swimming stroke you do, the abs are utilized in all of the strokes, whether it is breaststroke, butterfly stroke, freestyle stroke, or any other stroke. Swimming is also a great activity for burning fat, thus giving you more visible abs.
4. Yoga
Yoga is one of the oldest forms of exercise, yet it is still practiced all over the world! Yogis and yoginis have immensely fit, flexible, strong, and good-looking bodies. Yoga is basically about being in control of your mind and body. And for that, you must respect your body by controlling your diet, avoiding unhealthy food, and exercising it to make it fitter, stronger, and healthier. Doing this will help your body get rid of unnecessary fat and other harmful things and make it much healthier, thus giving you a well-rounded body with well-built abs. Other than this, there are a large number of yoga asanas (yoga poses), both easy and difficult, that help strengthen the abs, such as Phalakasana, Navasana, Vasisthasana, Sarvangasana, Shirshasana, Mayur asana, Bakasana, and Vrischikasana. Also, holding an asana for several seconds or minutes will consume energy and thus burn fat. The harder the asana and the longer the time held, the more fat will be burned, and thus the more visible your abs will be.
5. Direct ab workouts
If you want to focus your energy directly on your abdominal muscles without wasting energy on other muscles, you need to do exercises that focus primarily on the abs. An advantage of direct ab workouts over other workouts is that they consume very little time. Spending just 5-10 minutes a day on ab exercises is pretty effective for building and strengthening your abs. Also, a high-intensity, low-duration ab workout is better than a low-intensity, high-duration ab workout. There are literally hundreds of direct ab exercises, and it is up to you to choose. It is better to do different exercises after certain periods than to repeat the same exercises for a long period, because an exercise will become less effective for your abs once they get used to it and find it easy to do. So, start with basic exercises like crunches, planks, and hanging knee raises. Once you find them easy, progress to intermediate-level exercises like bicycle crunches, V-ups, Russian twists, and hanging leg raises. Then move on to advanced exercises like hanging windshield wipers, L-sit, V-sit, and dragon flag.
Of course, there are many more ways to build abs, and the best way might vary for different individuals. Nevertheless, if you practice any of the ways with proper dedication, it will certainly help you achieve an amazing-looking body with well-developed abs, which will in turn make you stronger, faster, more athletic, fitter, healthier, and, of course, more attractive.
