Building ab muscle while cutting

[barook]

I've been cutting for 2.5 months, plan on going for another 2-3 months. I weight train properly, but i never trained my abs directly before, so although I'm so deep in my cut, would it help build ab muscle to work them out now?

I wanna know if I'd have a chance at seeing abs from 2 months of training them (2x a week, weighted) while still cutting, assuming i reach 12%(or lower) bf by that time. or if I'll be able to build ab muscle at all while cutting, assuming i've never worked them out directly before.

[obesebeast]

it's going to be hard to build any muscle on any caloric deficit, muscles require a lot of energy and rest to build..if you've been weight training properly for a while now, you'd be suprised how strong your core actually is, assuming you've been using proper form and keeping your core tight throughout your complex workouts....things like jogging/swimming are also exceptional tools for building abs...in the end, there's only so much mass you can physically add to your abs anyways...just cut down lower and lower and they'll appear bigger and bigger

perhaps work on posture and stomach vacuums to make them more willing to stick out

[RattlesnakeDTOM]

This question always puzzles me. People train everything directly but their abs...I don't get it. It's a large muscle group and is fun to work on IMO, but onto the question:

Will it make them visible sooner? Possibly, but probably not. Will you get a benefit from doing extra training for them? Of course. You will burn more calories, and that's a good thing.

If you are doing things like cleans and overhead squats, etc. you are probably getting a decent ab workout anyway, so no need to go overboard with the crunches and hanging knee raises, but I think it would be good to train that muscle group directly on occasion.