The Science-Based Way To Get Abs Over 40

Science-Based Path To Visible Abs Over 40

Research shows that getting abs can be harder as you get older, but it's probably not for the reasons you think. Turns out you might just need to change your approach after 40. So in this video, I'll show you the science-based exercise and nutrition strategies you need to get you the abs you want.

The Big Myth: You Can’t Crunch Away Belly Fat

To start, let's get through the abs myth that just won't die. You can't crunch away belly fat. Many people still think that abs exercises will make their belly shrink.

One of the most common sites at the gym is the guy with the big belly crunching away on the mat every time he comes in to work out. And I know there was a small recent study with 16 overweight men that showed a tiny amount of additional fat loss with abs exercises followed by cardio compared to just cardio. But that's not very convincing compared to the body of evidence telling us that spot reduction doesn't work.

So while you can't spot reduce, you can spot build muscles just like you can build your biceps by doing biceps curls and abs are a muscle.

The sections of the rectus abdominis, your six-pack muscle, are small and separated by the linear alba in the middle. And then the horizontal bands of connective tissues called tendonous intersections break that muscle into smaller sections again. So, as with other smaller muscle groups, you can't get a lot of muscle growth. So, the overall effect isn't huge.

How To Train Your Abs Effectively

But here's how to train your abs effectively.

Train them twice a week like any other muscle group. You can go up to three times if you're really wanting to work on them since smaller muscle groups recover pretty quickly, but you don't need more than that. You want to use some sort of progressive resistance. Most of the time you can use body weight and then just pick a harder exercise or make the exercise more challenging by lengthening the lever arm like extending your arms overhead for a crunch or extending your legs out instead of just raising your knees for a hanging raise, a leg raise instead of just a knee raise.

Smart Rep Ranges And Technique

More than 20 reps is boring and fatiguing, and you probably won't be able to use strict technique. Doing a hundred sit-ups a day really doesn't make sense. If you can do a 100 of something, it's not very challenging for you. Your technique is probably going to suck and you're more likely to injure your neck or back than to actually stimulate your abs muscles.

Exercise Categories For Complete Ab Training

Well, the main function of the rectus abdominis is flexing your spine. So you want some exercises where you're bringing your chest to your hips and other exercises where you're bringing your hips to your chest. So cable crunches, decline crunches, or stability ball crunches. And then the second group would be hanging leg raises, lying leg raises, or reverse crunches. Basically, leg lowering exercises. And I'll be doing a video about how you can do those safely and effectively. So make sure you subscribe and you won't miss it.

Abs Are Revealed By Fat Loss

In any case, don't expect abs exercises to reveal your abs. Everyone actually has abs, but it's like wearing a thick hoodie. You might have developed your muscles underneath, but until you take that hoodie off, no one's going to know. If you can't see your abs, it's because your body fat percentage is too high. You need to get that layer of fat off to reveal them.

Nutrition For Abs: Create A Consistent Calorie Deficit

So, let's look at the food choices you have to make to lose fat and reveal your abs. You need a consistent calorie deficit. This is where most people go wrong.

Client Example

My client Geoffrey was convinced he was eating pretty well most of the time. He was having lean protein and veggies all week long and he couldn't figure out why he wasn't seeing his abs. On the weekends, he said he sometimes had family events and he ate a bit more, but he didn't think it was that often.

Once I got him tracking what he was eating on the weekends, we soon realized that it was completely typical for him to have family events on the weekends. And he always ate way too much to get into a caloric deficit. Once I gave him strategies to reduce his calories on the weekend, like having smaller portions or only eating the one or two foods at each event that he really loved, he was able to lose that extra fat around his belly.

To actually stay in a true calorie deficit, you have to keep your calorie intake pretty reasonable all the time. One blowout won't ruin everything. If you correct yourself with the next meal or the next day, but do that often enough and you won't make any progress.

Protein Targets To Control Appetite

To keep your appetite under control, eat 0.7 to one gram of protein per pound of body weight per day, or 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilo of body weight.

I created a protein plan that gives you the best lean protein sources, and it also includes a sample daily meal plan. You can get The Lean & Strong Protein Plan FREE HERE.

Focus on satisfying meals with lean protein, plenty of veggies, complex carbs, and some healthy fats from things like nuts, olive oil, and avocado. That kind of high protein, balanced eating fuels fat loss while preserving your muscle, including your abs.

Strength Training Builds The Abs Foundation

Now, apart from a few people with unusually amazing genetics who just need to get a little leaner and their abs just appear, you'll find that most people with really great defined abs use strength training to build their abs foundation. Once you get to 40, strength training needs to be part of your plan because without it, you'll lose your muscle as you get older, year by year. That's also responsible for the potential reduction of metabolism with age. lose your muscle and your metabolism slows down, making it harder to lose fat. As you get older, you have to fight to keep what muscle you have and build more if you can.

Compound Lifts That Also Challenge Your Core

To build that base for visible abs, strength train two to four times per week and track your progress so you know that you're getting stronger or performing better in some way. Now, in addition to flexing your spine, your rectus abdominis also helps stabilize the pelvis and lower back and also increases intraabdominal pressure during heavy lifting. I often feel my abs activating when I'm doing something like a military press or even the last couple of reps on an incline bench press. Your abs get some stimulation during those exercises. So, make sure to include some compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, rows, and overhead presses. They not only build more muscle, but they give your abs a little bit of stabilization training as well.

Move More All Day For Extra Fat Loss

But building muscle is only part of the equation. How much you move outside the gym can have a big impact on losing fat around your midsection. So add more daily movement. I did a video about walking a few years ago and people are still leaving comments to this day about how they didn't do anything but increase their walking and they lost weight. And it can definitely happen if you've been sedentary for a long time and you take up walking. And most of us should be doing more around 7 to 8,000 steps for maximal health benefits and probably more if you're trying to get rid of fat around your abs. Smart bodybuilders and fitness competitors use walking as they get closer to competition to maximize fat loss without interfering with their weight training.

And it's not just walking. All movement you do throughout the day counts. Standing up more often, pacing around when you're taking a phone call, taking the stairs whenever you can, folding laundry after dinner, not my favourite part. But these small movement habits increase your daily calorie burn and keep your fat loss moving in the right direction. And yes, you should include some cardio. It's not necessary for abs, even though it does give you some calorie burn, but it is important for our heart health, and we need to be thinking about that once we get to our 40s. Put that together with consistent training and nutrition and you're well on your way.

The Underrated Key: Patience And Consistency

But there's one final piece that determines whether you'll actually get to reveal your abs. Patience. Be patient and stay consistent. As you go through the fat loss process, you'll probably see your weight fluctuate a bit. You'll feel bloated some days and wonder if it's really too late to get abs after 40. It's not. Getting abs isn't about perfection. It's about being able to build an active, healthy lifestyle that fits your schedule. You need to stick to the process to stay consistent.

Track Outcome And Process Goals

Track your weight and waist measurement to keep you accountable.

Those are your outcome goals, what you're trying to achieve. But you also need to make sure that you're keeping note of your process goals.

Those are the things that get you to your outcome goals. Pretty much all the things we talked about, your workouts, including weights and cardio. your movement, probably including tracking your steps in some way, and of course, your nutrition, which could be tracking your calories and macros for a certain period of time to get a clear picture of what's really happening. Or it could simply be paying attention to how well you're sticking to the nutrition plan you've set for yourself. Either way, this kind of awareness is what helps you push through the last stretch. Because most people give up too soon and never get to see their abs.

How Lean You Likely Need To Be

Remember, belly fat is often the last fat to go, so you probably have to get leaner than you think to see them. Somewhere around 15% is where most people will see the difference. To get specific steps for achieving 15% body fat over 40, WATCH THE VIDEO HERE.

Ivana Chapman