BodyBuilding Abs: Where's Your 6-Pack

It's no secret-everybody wants rock hard abdominal muscles. As a bodybuilder, you shouldn't focus exclusively on this or any other group of muscles, but rather do training for your entire body. However, there are a few things you need to know about, and a few myths you need to bust, if you want develop your abs in a way to see results.
It is important to remember that your abdominal muscles are really no different than any other group of muscles in your body. Training to define your abs takes hard work and intensity. People who simply want to stay healthy and prevent love handles may find that doing crunches every night works perfectly, but this typical abdominal exercise, while it will help you keep off the weight, does nothing to define your muscles. Instead, you need to move to a workout that increases in intensity and gives you the look you desire.

Instead of just doing crunches ever day, try intensifying your workout by doing crunches on an incline. Do as many as possible, and each day try to do a few more. Even more beneficial than this, however, is to do regular or incline crunches with weights. Weight training will really help define your abdominal muscles, giving you the six-pack that most people only have in their dreams. Using weights, along with a healthy diet, will also help you keep the fat off, so your muscles will become even more defined, even when you are not flexing.

The abs machines you see on TV usually won't give you a good weight workout, because there is not enough resistance to intensify your workout from week to week. These machines are good for beginners or for those with serious weight problems who need to tone down, but in general, bodybuilders shouldn't waste their money. Instead, use one of your pulley machines to lift as you do crunches. Make sure you're raising the stack of weights one or two inches and load it with enough weight so that you are only able to do about ten reps. Each day, intensify your workout by adding around 5% more weight to the stack. If you find that you cannot do this, that's a sign that you need to take more time off between workouts to let your muscles rebuild from your last workout. Overall, this type of training, along with a healthy lifestyle, will help you find your six-pack.