BEGINNER AB WORKOUTS FOR BODYBUILDING

Many people don’t realize that their cores need to be worked, not just their backs. This is because our back and abdominal muscles have a lot of weight to hold. The trunk of our body helps us stay balanced, among other contributing factors. So, having a weak core can contribute to bad balance and overall control of our muscles and other workouts. 

The first step is knowing about the abdominals and the regions of the ab muscles you want to work with. So, let’s take a look at the abdominal muscles and the different exercises to complete so that we can get the best ab workouts for bodybuilding or any other fitness-related goals.

The 5 Main Muscles Of The Abdomen

There are five muscle groups currently associated with the abdominals. Those five areas include the external and internal obliques, the pyramidalis, the rectus abdominis, and the transverse abdominis. 

Pyramidalis

The pyramidalis is a vertical muscle that is pretty small and shaped like a triangle. It’s what helps to maintain needed pressure in your abdomen and is located in your lower pelvic area. A pull-up bar is one of the best ways to exercise this specific muscle. 

While you may be wondering how a pull-up bar can possibly work this lower abdominal muscle, it’s actually quite simple. Hanging leg raises are an ab workout for bodybuilding and novice fitness enthusiasts. 

Hanging Leg Raises – How to:

To perform hanging leg raises, you’ll need access to a pull-up bar. You’ll then hang from the pull-up bar with your palms facing forward. Once in this position, you’ll bend your knees while raising them toward the ceiling. Remember, you’ll want to ensure you’re engaging your abdominal muscles. There are also two variations of this exercise that you can do. You can either bring your knees to waist height. Or you can raise them even higher towards your chest. Remember that this isn’t a swinging contest; rather than using momentum from swinging, you’ll really want to pay attention to form and lifting with the correct muscle groups.

Rectus Abdominis

This group of muscles comes in a pair and sweeps down the middle of your abdomen. They reach from your ribs down to the front of your pelvis. This is the group of muscles tasked with ensuring your internal organs stay where they’re supposed to. In addition to that all important task, they’re also responsible for keeping your body stable in moving around. 

This region of your abdomen commonly becomes a “six pack” when correctly worked. So, how does one complete an ab workout for bodybuilding that works in this specific area? The truth is that there is not one specific exercise; therefore, to work this area of the abdominals, you’ll want to do a combination of exercises. This may include planks, reverse crunches, regular crunches, and jack-knife crunches. 

Jack Knife Crunches – How to: 

Most, if not all, of the other exercise variations are self-explanatory. However, many individuals may not know what they are or how to do them correctly when it comes to jack-knife crunches. So, let’s start with the basics. You’ll want to lay on your back, extending your arms above your head and your legs straight. Then, lifting your arms and legs into a slight V-shape, you raise your arms and legs simultaneously, bending at the knee in a crunch motion. Returning to the initial V-shape, you’ll have completed a single jack-knife crunch.

Internal & External Obliques

The external and internal obliques are two pairs of muscles located on either side of the rectus abdominis. The external obliques are found around the middle body and stretch toward the sides of your body. Their main function is to allow twisting from side to side. The internal obliques are on top of the external obliques and can be found just inside your hip bones. They also aid in twisting from side to side.

Completing side planks on each side of the body should do the trick when looking for an exercise that can cover both internal and external obliques. 

Side Planks – How to:

Remember that regular planks and side planks are different in that you’re not face down when doing side planks. Instead, you are literally on your side. You can do them while raised up on your elbow or fully extending your arm. Here’s how to do this ab workout for bodybuilding or if you’re just looking for a good oblique exercise in general. 

You’ll start by laying on your side, stacking your hips on top of one another. You’ll then lift yourself onto your elbow or the palm of your hand, straightening your shoulders so you’re not crunched in on yourself. You’ll raise your hips and legs off the ground, engaging your core muscles and holding that form for 30 seconds or more before releasing. If you’re looking for even more exercise, you can lower and raise your hips for a given amount of repetitions to engage your abdominals further.

Transversus Abdominis

Last but not least is the transversus abdominis. These muscles are the deepest in your abdominals. Their main job is to stabilize your trunk and help maintain the correct abdominal pressure. In most cases, this is the group of forgotten abdominal muscles, which can be detrimental to the development of your abdominals. 

So, to avoid this problem, a significant variation of ab workouts for bodybuilding and building up this muscle is the dead bug exercise or alternating dead bug.

Alternating Dead Bug – How to: 

Doing the alternating dead bug ab workout is actually much like your standard crunch with a few notable differences. You’ll want to start laying face up with your arms straight towards the ceiling. Your legs will also need to be raised in a tabletop position. This basically means that your legs are bent at the knees to create a 90-degree angle. Then, you’ll extend your left leg straight and forward in conjunction with extending your right arm straight back, ensuring both are parallel to the floor. Do not lower or touch the floor with either extremity. Instead, you’ll just want to hover and return it to the starting position. You’ll do the same with the right leg and left arm, and that will complete a cycle.

Peptides And Defined Abdominals

Now, suppose you’re doing all these different exercises and targeting all areas of the abdominals and still aren’t getting the results you’re looking for. In that case, you may want to consider using peptides. More specifically, tesamorelin from Canada Steroid Depot. Why this specific peptide? Because tesamorelin was made for this reason. It can help you obtain the abs of your dreams.