9 months of serious training but still no abs?

[FuZioN112]

Hi everyone, I'm new to BB! But have read up a lot on it and its such a good website for helping me achieve my goals!

I only have one problem with body building at the moment and that is trying to get my abs to show!

I Eat very healthy having 3-5 meals a day depending on what I can afford (WOW EATING HEALTHY IS EXPENSIVE)

Meal 1 - Oats/Wheatbread+peanutbutter
Meal 2 - Lean meat, rice/pasta + veg
Meal 3 - Lean meat, rice/pasta + veg
inc. snacks and shakes

I Train 5 days a week and have done for the past 9 months with the odd off day, I am very very pleased with my progress on everything upper body wise but my abdominal and lower back!

I Have a bad back which gives me a lot of problems with lower back exercises which is at its minimal but have no problem with abdominal exercises? So my lower back still has fat on it and also my belly still hangs which drives me mental

I Have been told to literally wipe out all carbs from my diet which I did try to begin with but started to feel so down at gym with no energy, so had no time to see if it worked?

Should I change my diet or add extra abdominal exercises?

P.S I Hardly do any cardio! only 5 minutes warm up and 3 mins cool down mainly to gain weight but don't want the belly

[Sycros]

Abs are made in the kitchen not by doing a million Ab exercises. Need to drop body fat percentage to show them off. Adjust diet, put yourself in a caloric deficit, and make sure to follow your macros.

[eladophir]

Hey,
Welcome to BB.com -
The meal plan you posted is worth nothing without macros. you could be eating 4oz of chicken or 8oz of chicken. without knowing cals/prot/carbs/fats there is no value.

If you're new to the site - i think it would be worth for you to read the stickies, they provide all the information you need to get the results you need.

As for abs specifically - usually depends on two things: BF% and genetics, some people have 15% and show abs, some have 8% and do not. obviously muscle mass is mandatory (the more "size" you have in your ab muscles the sooner they will show). Training abs is needed to develop the muscles but the absolute factor is BF%.

Hope this helps,
Good luck.

[Winfamy]

Abs are made in the kitchen not by doing a million Ab exercises. Need to drop body fat percentage to show them off. Adjust diet, put yourself in a caloric deficit, and make sure to follow your macros.

I see what you're getting at, but the way you worded it is flawed. No matter how much your work your abs you won't see any results if you have a high body fat, but just having a low body fat doesn't get you abs either.

Keep training your abs and reduce your body fat and you'll see results.

EDIT: the fact that your meal plan is a grocery list leads me to believe you don't count macros so...

[DrNickd]

I'm not an expert as I am in the same boat as you, but everything I've read says to lower BF% until abs are visible..for some people its down to 10% to see a six pack...and that means reducing calories

[kanis999]

Simple ab formula:

1. Lean bulk while doing weighted ab exercises. No more than 12 sets per week necessary.
2. Drop to 10% bodyfat or below.

For most people, you need BOTH 1 and 2 in order to see nice abs. Some people only need to do #2 (those who claim abs are made in the kitchen), but for most untrained people, #1 is pretty crucial too. But then again, a successful #1 all depends on proper diet as well, so abs are still made in the kitchen.

My first cut got me to a pretty low bf% but I had skipped step #1, and thus had bad looking abs.

OP, no offense, but you seem to be going about things the wrong way. I can tell by the way you listed the contents of your meals but not the calorie and protein counts of the meals. I would have a lot more faith in your diet plan if you said something like this:

Daily caloric intake: 1900 calories
Daily protein intake: 200g

^ This information is way more valuable than the contents of your meals. Stop worrying about eating healthy, and eat the correct amounts. Don't worry about cardio either unless you want to make your heart and lungs healthier.

[ama828]

Do weighted ab exercises, lower your body fat percentage.

[DSUP]

^^^ What the last two guys said.

[FuZioN112]

Thank you so much guys, okay so I've done a lil bit of reading as there is a lot! but so far this is what I have got.

This is what I should be doing...
BMR 1854kcal
Protein Intake 247g
Fat Intake 82g
Carb intake 346g

The forums suggest I increase BMR for size or decrease for fat loss, But my problem is I want to increase in size but get my abs showing! What would you suggest?

Sorry for the noobness! Everybody starts somewhere

[mjdieth]

Thank you so much guys, okay so I've done a lil bit of reading as there is a lot! but so far this is what I have got.

This is what I should be doing...
BMR 1854kcal
Protein Intake 247g
Fat Intake 82g
Carb intake 346g

The forums suggest I increase BMR for size or decrease for fat loss, But my problem is I want to increase in size but get my abs showing! What would you suggest?

Sorry for the noobness! Everybody starts somewhere

j

First off, your calc is not correct. The macros you have listed come out to 3110 cals. At 165 lbs you do NOT need 247g of P. You are not going to lose body fat while building muscle without recomping and that is very very slow. It would be faster to bulk a bit and put on some muscle and then go on a cut.

[FuZioN112]

I just used the BB calculators

[exwhyzee]

you can look up my thread in keto if you want, but like the above posters said you have to drop the BF%. I began seeing mine around 9-11%. You said you hardly do cardio but your going to have to begin... Once I got to probably around 10-15.. I really began needing to add extra cardio in so that my BF% would drop... well extra cardio and reduce calories as my progress got slower and slower.

you know your body best but I would recommend starting on some cardio.. maybe 3x a week 30min.. and see if that starts shedding some belly fat.

Good luck!!!

[MrDude1]

I just used the BB calculators

try this calculator:
http://www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc/

on the 3rd tab, start out by picking "weight loss" from the preset, and play with it from there.

[M7ProBoxer]

You need atleast 8-10% body fat to see them. I would start with endurance-training and diet first before you are heading to abs. As for diet I mean less calories. it should be below 500 calories. Your meals should include very less fat. You also need to drink 3,5L water every day. it boosts your metabolism. if you do these tough steps, you should kill 10% in 1-2 months. Otherwise I don't like when people acknowledge me with their replies and become very rude. just mentioning

[juggernaut74ia]

You need atleast 8-10% body fat to see them. I would start with endurance-training and diet first before you are heading to abs. As for diet I mean less calories. it should be below 500 calories. Your meals should include very less fat. You also need to drink 3,5L water every day. it boosts your metabolism. if you do these tough steps, you should kill 10% in 1-2 months. Otherwise I don't like when people acknowledge me with their replies and become very rude. just mentioning

Not only is almost everything in this post wrong, I'm not sure the OP will benefit from it since this is a 4 year old thread.

And if that's rude...tough.

[MilkyQuaver]

Abs are made in the kitchen not by doing a million Ab exercises. Need to drop body fat percentage to show them off. Adjust diet, put yourself in a caloric deficit, and make sure to follow your macros.

Well thats worded bably really and wrong.

Abs are not made in the kitchen though are they, so all you have to do is diet down to low body fat to get abs... well no if you havent got abs to expose then no matter how low bf you get you wont have them.

Abs are made in the gym and exposed in the kitchen... i think that is what you are trying to say.


EDIT - FFS didnt see the date

Ill just leave and think about what ive just done.