Winter’s here, and that means summer is almost around the corner. Very soon, it will be time to hit the beach to show off that six-pack you’ve been slogging so hard for over the last few months. Except there’s one little problem. Your midsection isn’t entirely ready yet because of just one area that refuses to carve itself, no matter how hard you train at the gym.
Your lower abdomen.
For some reason, it seems as though getting the part of your abdomen just below your belly button to lean out is next to impossible. The truth is, it’s not. It’s just really, really difficult, for reasons more than one. Here they are.
1. Your Body Is Designed To Store Fat There
Low body fat is the most important component of a clear-cut six pack. If you have too much fat around your abdomen, your abs will always remain hidden behind a thick layer of fatty tissue.
Losing weight around your lower abs is especially difficult because your body is naturally designed to create a storehouse of fat around this area. Plus if you’re genetically inclined to putting on weight around your midsection, it can make the battle all the more tough to win, regardless of how much cardio or how many leg crunches you do.
Solution: Training can only take you to a certain point. But if you really want to get well-defined lower abs, you need to clean up your diet a lot more. Get in touch with your nutritionist to get you started on a smart meal plan that will help lower your body fat percentage to reveal your ab muscles.
2. You No Longer Have A Calorie Deficit
When people start on their fat loss system, they make sure to maintain a calorie deficit – that is consuming fewer calories than they burn per day. But as time progresses and the body fat melts, most people continue to stick to that number instead of re-adjusting their calorie deficit. This means that they’re still consuming the same number of calories that they did when they were a few pounds heavier and as they lose the pounds, they lose the calorie deficit as well. This is going to bring your weight loss programme to a halt very soon. In this case, it’s going to make it tough for you to lose weight around your midsection.
Solution: Always make sure you keep adjusting your diet and your workout as you make progress down the road to weight loss. This will help you lose that last bit of fat that’s clinging to your body. Maintaining a food journal for the first few days will help you keep track of the calories you’re consuming. Consume 500 calories less each day and that should be enough to boost the fat-melting process around your lower abdomen.
3. You Have Loose Skin Down There
When you lose a lot of weight within a short time frame, you tend to end up with a certain amount of loose skin, which used to stay stretched across your larger-sized abdomen earlier. This loose bit of skin could be covering your lower abdominal area. Because of this, your lower ab muscles refuse to show themselves even though you’re ripped and have a fairly low body fat percentage.
Solution: Since you don’t have fat around your lower abs anymore, focus on building extra muscle, especially around your abs, back, and chest to give your saggy skin something to stretch over again.
4. You’re Doing The Wrong Exercises
Most people start off with basic core exercises and focus on carving out their upper abdomen muscles. Unfortunately, not every core exercise can give your lower abs the same amount of attention; some isolate just the top ab muscles while some focus on just your obliques. For this reason, the lower ab muscles never really get a chance to fully develop and as a result, they won’t stand out enough.
Solution: Start incorporating some weighted lower ab exercises into your workout regime and do these at least twice a week. This should be enough to increase the size of your lower abdomen muscles. You could also try exercises like mountain climbers, reverse crunches, and leg lifts to further engage and strengthen your lower core. Also, remember to continue eating the right foods to give your muscles enough nutrients to develop and grow.
5. Your Genes Don’t Allow It
Your genes play a huge role in shaping your muscles. While most people can manipulate the shape of their muscles with the right kind of training, some of them may just not have a traditionally shaped 6 pack abdominal wall, even if they have just 4 percent body fat around their lower abdomen. In such cases, unfortunately, no amount of training will give you a 6 pack. In fact, this is the same with people who have an 8-pack. Contrary to popular belief, this has nothing to do with them being more ripped and muscular than people with a 6 pack. It’s just that genetically, their abdominal wall is shaped in such a way that it appears like an 8 pack.
Solution: Sadly, if your genes don’t will it, no amount of training can give you a 6-pack. Having said that, only 2 to 3 percent people usually end up with an abdominal wall that isn’t shaped for a set of 6 pack abs. Therefore, don’t lose heart. Continue pushing yourself harder until you end up shedding the very last inch of that extra flab; it might be just what you need to reveal those lower ab muscles!
