Maintain 6 pack
Moderators: Boss Man, cassiegose
Maintain 6 pack
I have always had a 6 pack aslong as I can remember. I used to train a lot for sport doing cardio each week but never been in a gym and worked on weights or done any exercises specific for abs so I guess the cardio kept fat off and and showing. Recently I have stopped playing sport and training. With that I still wanted to keep in ye same shape. After a week I still had the same shape but to prevent any changes I started running twice a week this is not as much training as I used to do but enough that I thought it would keep me in the same shape. Also with running as i felt I was still doing less exercise than before I started doing specific ab workouts most days in hope to keep 6 pack but also increase definition. But since doing these I have not seen any improvement of anything I would say ive lost definition in 6 pack. diet has not changed and I am doing exercises from YouTube for abs. I am not sure if it's because I'm the last week or so abs have still not repaired from previous exercises so are not showing full definition or because of drop in training 6 pack is going? Any ideas?
Re: Maintain 6 pack
You could be doing too much ab work and overtraining them.
Also stopping the sport is one thing but so are calories. If you have replaced the sport with 2 days of running and a bit of increased thermogenic / metabolic activity, from the abs stuff every day, you may find your total increased caloric burning potential per week has dropped, meaning you won't be burning as many of the calories you intake on a weekly basis as before, most likely causing some fat storage.
So this is not to say you should cut calories, as the lost macro and micronutrients might negatively impact in things like muscle and bone for one thing, so I think you should stop doing as much abs stuff and focus on the rest of your body more.
You really only need to do Abs stuff 2-3 days a week anyway, because if you use exercises like Squats, Deadlifts, Woodchoppers, Cleans etc, you'll stilmulate the Abdominii and Oblique muscles in the core anyway, so you won't need to go overboard on the Abs stuff, as overtraining them might actually cause them to weaken, by not permitting full recovery and proper growth potential.
Also not addressing other areas of the core like the lower portion of Erector Spinae muscles, the Quadratus Lumborum and lower Latissimus area, could cause in imbalance of the core, by having the front stronger than the back and it might cause mild pain and discomfort especially when you do things like get out of bed, or possibly get out of a chair or band over.
I can tell you from first hand experience that this can happen.
So I'd consider working more of your body and not going nutso on abs stuff.
Also stopping the sport is one thing but so are calories. If you have replaced the sport with 2 days of running and a bit of increased thermogenic / metabolic activity, from the abs stuff every day, you may find your total increased caloric burning potential per week has dropped, meaning you won't be burning as many of the calories you intake on a weekly basis as before, most likely causing some fat storage.
So this is not to say you should cut calories, as the lost macro and micronutrients might negatively impact in things like muscle and bone for one thing, so I think you should stop doing as much abs stuff and focus on the rest of your body more.
You really only need to do Abs stuff 2-3 days a week anyway, because if you use exercises like Squats, Deadlifts, Woodchoppers, Cleans etc, you'll stilmulate the Abdominii and Oblique muscles in the core anyway, so you won't need to go overboard on the Abs stuff, as overtraining them might actually cause them to weaken, by not permitting full recovery and proper growth potential.
Also not addressing other areas of the core like the lower portion of Erector Spinae muscles, the Quadratus Lumborum and lower Latissimus area, could cause in imbalance of the core, by having the front stronger than the back and it might cause mild pain and discomfort especially when you do things like get out of bed, or possibly get out of a chair or band over.
I can tell you from first hand experience that this can happen.
So I'd consider working more of your body and not going nutso on abs stuff.