Ab/core workouts

I'm fit literally everywhere except my core - it's still fucking jiggly. This is preventing me from bulking up some more because I don't want to add even more to my belly.

Does anyone have some ab/core workout suggestions? I mostly do crunches to work my core but soon I'm going start squatting (and dead lifting perhaps?).

 

If you want your core to show, then the only way is too cut that body fat. But, you can build muscle around it, which makes it larger, and obviously more prominent.

Squats and deadlifts will be excellent for the core, since you need to recruit it to stabilise your whole body. Aside from that, direct exercise is also good. I'd honestly recommend getting a fitness ball, and doing ab crunches on it. You have to get it into the right position, so that your core is always tense to help stabilise you on it, but also when you crunch, you'll be able to feel the burn. It really makes your abs defined after, and is good for those deeper stabiliser muscles. Otherwise, if you really want to just add mass, do decline crunches with weights. So long as your lower back isn't screwed, you can go really heavy, and just like any other muscle group, your abs will be subject to hypertrophy.

Honestly though, if you really are 'fit everywhere except your core', then it's either, you're not actually fit everywhere, OR your body has a large tendency to store your body fat in the abdominal region. No amount working out your core will help that, at best it may make your abs slightly more visible (since they will be bigger), and thus, it may make your abs feel firmer by virtue of it being less concentrated in fat (since there's more muscle), but the quantity of fat on your abs will remain the same, and that can only be removed through burning fat.

 

Go to the Itunes App Store and download the free app ' Ab Trainer X'

 

Alright; I admit until the last month or so I haven't been working on my legs/core very much and my upper legs (I forget the name of the muscle) could be in better shape as well. But for as long as I can remember, back since when I was probably like 9 years old, I've always had this jelly roll under my belly button. I used to be fat/chubby as fuck so it could also be stretched skin? I'll take this advice for the gym today thank you, you guys,.

 

it's all about your bodyfat % how lower how much more definition you see.

 

I believe at about 12% body fat your abs start showing up nicely. So cut down to about that and you should be fine. As Malakadang said, there is nothing you can do to have them show up besides lose the fat over them.

 

Okay so basically do core exercises and cut down on fat intake? How about carbs?

 

Not quite.
Doing core exercises serves two purposes:

1. It will increase the size/strength of your abdominals, thus making them more prominent.

2. It will burn calories, and your workout in general should create an after burn effect.

As for your diet, it's not simply reducing fat intake. Fat is energy. Carbs is energy. Protein is energy. You need to reduce your energy intake, but not necessarily your fat intake; fats don't immediately get stored in your adipose tissue, otherwise we'd all be obese fucks.

It really depends on your diet, and there are varying degrees of complexity you can take. You can choose to monitor everything you eat, count your macros, micros etc. I doubt you'd probably want to do that though. The next best thing is to do a bit of research, and get a feel for what your actually eating. All you need to do is simply reduce your caloric intake, and the best way to do this is to either reduce fat intake, or carb intake, but this is dependent on your diet. If you eat few fats, then you would want to reduce your carb intake, and perhaps actually increase your fat intake slightly! If you eat a lot of fats on the other hand, you'd probably want to reduce your fat intake; fat gives more energy than carbs by the way.

Do a little bit of research as to the function of carbs, fats, and proteins, the bodybuilding.org stickies are a good place to start, they have good enough information to get you sorted.

 

Use this to calculate your macronutrient needs:
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121703981

Fat is important to all diets, even diets aiming to lose fat.

 

Okay thanks I appreciate all this help! How about white flour foods? I heard these are bad for a good core (besides after exercising, as they spike your insulin level?) so I'm trying to eat only whole wheat foods.

 

It's probably best to stick away from high glycemic foods, which white flour foods are. There's a lot of literature and debate about it, but high glycemic foods get converted to sugar really easy, which elevates your blood sugar levels and causes more insulin to be secreted. While this does have the effect of increasing your glycogen stores in the liver, which is good as you break down glycogen for energy when you workout, there's a lot of literature as to the other effects of high insulin levels, such as inhibiting lipolysis (fat breakdown).

Stick with Low-GI foods. Your body requires more energy to digest them anyway, so it actually increases your caloric expenditure which is a good thing if you want to lose fat.

 

Your body has a large tendency to store your body fat in the abdominal region. No amount working out your core will help that, at best it may make your abs slightly more visible (since they will be bigger), and thus, it may make your abs feel firmer by virtue of it being less concentrated in fat...