The Skinny Guy’s Guide to Building Bigger Abs
It’s common for skinny guys to be lean and still not have abs. That’s because there are two parts to having good muscle definition: body-fat percentage and muscle size. Our body fat percentage is fine, but our abs aren’t big enough.
If you try to search for information about how to get abs, you’ll probably come across one of two recommendations:
- Abs are built in the kitchen, not the gym: The idea is to focus less on building bigger abs and more on getting lean enough to reveal your abs. But many of us are already lean enough. You might not need to get any leaner. You might do better by gaining weight.
- Abs are built with ab circuits: The most popular ab workouts are high-rep, low-rest circuits. Those circuits will absolutely stimulate muscle growth, but they’re needlessly painful, and they aren’t as effective as hypertrophy training.
Neither of these recommendations is great for us. We need to build bigger ab muscles. We need a proper bulking routine for our abs.
- Why Do Some Skinny Guys Not Have Abs?
- The Shape of Your Abs is Genetic
- The Skinny on Ab Anatomy
- Some Compound Exercises Do Train Your Abs
- The Best Lower Ab Exercises
- The Best Upper Ab Exercises
- The Best Oblique Exercises
- The Best Core Strengthening Exercises
- The Ab Workouts
- How Lean Do You Need to Be to Have Abs?
- Building Bigger Abs Will Make Your Waist Bigger
- Conclusion
Why Do Some Skinny Guys Not Have Abs?
Some skinny guys don’t have visible abs. If you’ve heard that all it takes to have abs is to cut down to a lower body fat percentage, that can be confusing.
In a way, abs are built in the kitchen. The average person overeats, causing them to gain weight. As they gain more weight, their abs need to grow stronger to support their heavier body, and the huge influx of food provides plenty of nutrients to build bigger muscles. You could say, then, that abs are built in the kitchen. But it’s not dieting down to a low body-fat percentage that builds bigger abs; it’s becoming overweight that builds bigger abs.
However, an overweight person’s abs are hidden underneath a thick layer of fat. To reveal those big abs, then, they simply need to diet down to a lower body fat percentage. When they get down to around 10–15% body fat, their abs begin to show through.
Skinny guys aren’t carrying around a bunch of heavy fat (or muscle). Our abs don’t need to grow all that big to support our lighter bodies. We also don’t have an abundance of nutrients to invest in muscle growth. Even at low body fat percentages, some of us still don’t have abs. It’s not because we aren’t lean enough; it’s because our ab muscles aren’t big enough.
If we want visible abs, we need to build them with hypertrophy training and bulking diets, just like we build the rest of our muscles.
For example, in GK’s before photo, he’s more than lean enough to have abs; they just aren’t big enough to be visible. Although I suppose you could say that his abs were built by eating everything in the kitchen, it’s probably more accurate to say he built them by following a good bulking program.
The Shape of Your Abs is Genetic
As you build bigger abs, you’ll soon notice that they have their own distinct shape. You can make your ab muscles bigger with good training, but you can’t do anything to affect their symmetry or alter the number of tendons you have. Some guys have an 8-pack, others have a 6-pack. Some have a wide pack, others a thin pack.
However, in a controversial new study, research has proven what belly dancers have known for thousands of years: with enough coordination, you can target your upper and lower abs (study).
Fortunately, having great abs is just a proxy for being lean and muscular overall. It’s easy to get caught up trying to build the perfect shoulder-to-waist ratio, forgetting that it doesn’t matter how long our collarbones are; it just matters how big and strong our shoulders are. The same is true with ab aesthetics. What matters is being lean and strong.
The Skinny on Ab Anatomy
If you ask someone who’s into strength training how they got their abs, they’ll probably tell you they built them with compound lifts. There’s some truth to that, especially if your workout routine includes plenty of push-ups, overhead presses, and chin-ups. You can build big abs without ever training them directly.
However, most compound lifts emphasize your transverse abdominis. These are the ab muscles you flex when you brace your core. They cinch your waist like a corset, helping to keep it stable. They’re incredibly important when lifting weights. You can’t even do biceps curls if your core has the consistency of an overcooked noodle. Squats and deadlifts are even harder.
Compound lifts aren’t always as good at training your rectus abdominis, which is what gives you a six-pack. Your six-pack muscles are made up of a series of muscle bellies and tendons. The bits that bulge out are the bellies; the canyons between those bulges are the tendons. This gives your abs their unique washboard shape:
These ab muscles can flex just like any other muscle, allowing you to move your core like an accordion. Your six-pack abs crunch your torso forward, and your obliques twist it to the side. These muscles can also help you resist movement, keeping your ribs and hips in locked down when lifting weights.
Some Compound Exercises Do Train Your Abs
A balanced bulking routine will often do a good job of stimulating your abs. Chin-ups, push-ups, and pullovers all load your abs. Overhead presses can be pretty good, too. Goblet squats and front squats aren’t bad, either. Your abs help you keep your core locked down, keeping your hips and ribs in the proper position.
But indirect training won’t be enough to maximize your rate of ab growth. If you want to build bigger abs faster, it helps to train them directly. That way, you can train them through a deeper range of motion, you can ensure they’re the limiting factor, and you can progressively overload them.
The Best Lower Ab Exercises
The best exercises for your lower abs are the ones that have you lifting your legs, such as hanging leg raises, reverse crunches, and chin-ups. But you’ll fail your chin-ups long before your abs get close to failure, so I recommend including some reverse crunches.
Here’s Marco teaching the reverse crunch:
We’ve got a few other lower ab exercises below, but we’ve put them in the overall core development section. Between reverse crunches and those other core exercises, your lower abs will get all the stimulation they need.
Most guys can’t see their lower abs. The natural assumption is that your lower abs are disproportionately small. That may not be the case. Most men store more body fat on their lower stomachs than on their upper stomachs, so lower abs tend to be murky until you’re very lean—under 10% body fat.
If you fight to get stronger at reverse crunches and/or hanging leg raises, you can be confident you’re giving them all the stimulation they need to grow. From there, make sure you’re eating enough food to support muscle growth. That’s how to make them bigger.
The Best Upper Ab Exercises
The best exercises for your upper abs are the ones that have you crunching your upper body, such as crunches and sit-ups. We recommend starting with sit-ups. They’re a more complete ab exercise than crunches, giving you a bit of hip flexor stimulation as well.
Here’s Marco teaching the sit-up:
We’ve got more upper ab exercises below, but we’re putting them in the postural section because their main function is to help you create a straighter and sturdier torso.
The Best Oblique Exercises
The exercises for your obliques are planks, Pallof presses, and one-arm farmer carries. Planks the best place to start. They teach you how to hold a rigid posture under tension from the side. Here’s a tutorial video:
One-arm farmer carries are great for your upper back, grip, and most of your core muscles, with special emphasis on your obliques. Here’s a tutorial video:
The Pallof press is an even rarer exercise. It’s popular with athletes, but it’s great for building muscle, too. It has you resisting rotation by flexing your obliques. Here’s the tutorial video:
The Best Core Strengthening Exercises
Sit-ups and reverse crunches are great for bulking up your six-pack abs, but it also helps to teach your abs how to maintain proper positioning under load. If you can do that, you’ll stand taller, your stomach will look flatter, and you’ll get much better at lifting weights. You’ll be able to press more weight overhead, squat deeper, and deadlift without as much back strain.
Your posture will also look quite a bit better:
The best place to start is with the humble plank. It’s a great exercise for focusing purely on maintaining a rigid torso under tension. Here’s Marco teaching the exercise:
Once you’ve got the hang of the plank, you can practice moving your arms and legs while maintaining a strong core. The dead bug is perfect for that. Here’s the tutorial video:
Once you’re good at maintaining proper core positioning while moving your arms, you’re ready for exercises like ab-wheel rollouts and pullovers.
Pullovers are more of a back exercise than an ab exercise, but they’re a great way to keep your abs growing while also focusing on other muscles. Here’s a tutorial video:
Note that most people do their pullovers while lying on the bench. That’s perfectly fine. Marco is doing them sideways so that he can engage his core more easily. This is a more classic way of doing pullovers, popular with golden-age bodybuilders like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The Ab Workouts
There are quite a few ab exercises you could do. I recommend splitting them up over several workouts. You can do them at the end of your workouts or during your rest periods. For example, you could do your planks between your sets of squats or deadlifts.
Your abs are unlikely to be a limiting factor on compound lifts, so training them during your rest periods shouldn’t harm your performance. In fact, many people find that doing planks right before big compound lifts helps them maintain better posture while lifting.
Workout 1
This first workout is the most important. It will train your abs while also helping you develop a stronger posture and better lifting technique. I love supersetting the planks between bigger compound exercises.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| Planks | 2–3 sets | Count your breaths |
| Side Planks | 2–3 sets | Count your breaths |
Workout 2
This second workout trains your lower abs, obliques, hip flexors, and most of your other core muscles. Save the farmer carries for the very end of your workout, lest you tire out your grip prematurely.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| Reverse Crunches | 2–3 sets | AMRAP |
| One-Arm Farmer Carries | 2–3 sets | 40 steps |
Workout 3
This third workout is for your upper abs, obliques, and hip flexors. You can superset these exercises between compound lifts, but I prefer to do them together, supersetting them with each other.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| Sit-Ups | 2–3 sets | AMRAP |
| Pallof Press | 2–3 sets | 5 breaths |
How Lean Do You Need to Be to Have Abs?
Not all skinny guys have a low body-fat percentage. Many do, but you could just as easily be at 15–20% body fat. That’s a perfectly healthy and athletic body-fat percentage, but you probably won’t be able to see your abs, especially if they aren’t very big yet.
- 20% body fat will give most people a reasonably flat stomach. That’s enough to make you attractive to most women, and it’s well within the healthy range, but you probably won’t have visible abs.
- 15% body fat might start to show a hint of upper abs. It depends on the person, and it depends on how big your ab muscles are. The more developed your muscles are, the more likely they are to show through.
- 12% body fat will probably give you abs. These are the beach abs that most people covet. They’re a bit soft, and you need decent lighting for them to show, but you’ve peaks and valleys—there’s muscle definition there.
- 9% body fat gives you chiselled abs. Some bodybuilders and athletes get this lean. Some people can even maintain this degree of leanness all year long. Most people would rather not.
For example, here’s a photo of me cutting down from around 20% body fat (here’s how). I don’t have much of a gut at 20% body fat, but I definitely don’t have visible abs:
I lost 20 pounds in 3 months, and then I got a DEXA scan to measure my body composition. It put me at 11% body fat:
I should point out that you probably shouldn’t use a DEXA scan to track your progress. They aren’t accurate enough for that. The margin of error is about 5% body fat in either direction, so in this case, the DEXA scan is telling me I’m probably somewhere between 6–16% body fat. Visually, though, 11% looks about right.
If you’re curious about how lean you are, here’s an article about how to estimate your body fat percentage.
Building Bigger Abs Will Make Your Waist Bigger
When you train your abs, the muscles will grow, making your waist grow thicker and stronger. Think of how biceps curls and triceps extensions make your arms bigger. When it’s your arms growing bigger, that’s great. When it’s your waist, it’s a bit more confusing.
If your waist circumference goes up while bulking, it can be distressing, especially if you already feel like you’re skinny-fat. And you aren’t wrong to worry about a growing waist circumference. That can be a sign that you’re storing fat.
I recommend measuring both your waist and shoulder circumference. Compare the two. If your shoulders are growing much faster than your waist, you’re doing great. Here are the average measurement increases you can expect while bulking. If your shoulders and waist are growing at a similar pace, you might need to improve your workout routine, eat a better diet, live a better lifestyle, or slow your bulk down.
Conclusion
It’s common for naturally skinny guys to have smaller ab muscles. The smaller your ab muscles are, the leaner you’ll need to get for them to show through. And when they do show through, they might look flat. Fortunately, you can bulk up your abs.
- Train your abs just like any other muscle group. The same hypertrophy training principles that apply to your other muscles also apply to your abs. Train them heavy enough and often enough to stimulate muscle growth. Crunches are great for your upper abs. Reverse crunches are great for your lower abs.
- Eat enough good to support muscle growth. Some overweight people can build muscle while losing weight. Skinny people don’t have that luxury. You’ll need to eat a good bulking diet while training your abs.
- Cut down to under 15% body fat to reveal your abs. Once you’ve built bigger abs, you’ll need to trim away enough fat for them to show through. That usually means getting under 15% body fat.
If you want more muscle-building information, we have a free bulking newsletter for skinny guys. If you want a full bulking program, including a 5-month workout routine, diet guide, recipe book, and online coaching, check out our Bony to Beastly Bulking Program. Or, if you want an intermediate bulking routine, check out our Outlift Intermediate Bulking Program.
Shane Duquette is the founder of Outlift, Bony to Beastly, and Bony to Bombshell, each with millions of readers. He's a Certified Conditioning Coach (CCC), has gained 70 pounds, and has over a decade of experience helping more than 15,000 people build muscle. He also has a degree in fine arts, but those are inversely correlated with muscle growth.
Marco Walker-Ng is the founder and strength coach of Outlift, Bony to Beastly, and Bony to Bombshell. He's a certified trainer (PTS) and nutrition coach (PN) with a Bachelor's degree in Health Sciences (BHSc) from the University of Ottawa. He has over 15 years of experience helping people gain muscle and strength, with clients including college, professional, and Olympic athletes.
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Yet another great post! Thank you guys you are very helpful to many of us.
The exercises looks great and easy to learn. How many reps would you suggest?
As a suggestion: could you write a post on pecs?
Keep it up!
Thanks so much, JJ! Really glad you liked it. 6–15 reps will work well 🙂
I think a post on pecs could be pretty cool. I dig it.
The first picture… it is not the same guy, check out the moles, why B2B? Why 🙁 i believed on you
Hey Tim,
It’s all G.K., but he flipped the shot so the pose matched. We had this question come up when we originally posted his transformation to Facebook in late 2014. You can check out that here.
If you’re a member, you can browse his transformation thread in the community as he had shared a handful of shots of himself there. All in the same bathroom, etc.
We tried to predict this question in our new updated eBook where we had shared his transformation again. So we flipped the image back to normal and added another progress shot, and it looks like this:
I hope that helps to clear up everything!
Mm, yeah, I can flip that image back around. I always forget to anticipate that things can seem misleading when you don’t actually know us yet / aren’t seeing the changes happen week by week, month by month.
Great article 🙂
I am in the range: 12% strong guy. I trained my abs in the past a bit more. Not so much lately. The most difficult and time demanding (patience) will be the work on fixing my posture and getting pelvis in a proper position.I believe that in 3 months ar so first results can show.
Btw, Marco in all his video, funny and the t-shirts are great, I always chuckle even when I have a bad day 😉
Your abs are doing pretty well, Daniel! Your posture too. And in three months you’ll definitely get solid results. You’ve already done great 🙂
Dudes. This post is a God-send! Traditional ab exercises (crunches and the like) tend to kill my lower back. As a result, I resigned to just not having abs. These feel great, though, after a few tries. Hopefully I can see some results soon as I work on my diet. Question – can I do these exercises too often? Better question – does doing them everyday actually help more than say every other day? Thanks guys.
So glad you liked it, Jonathan 🙂
Yeah, you can definitely do them too often. Best to hit them solidly every couple of days rather than a little bit every day, just as with any other muscle group. In the b2B program we do three full body workouts per week, each ending with some quick ab isolation lifts.
Holy shit shane!! What happened to your shoulders? insane gains man
Great post as always.
Thanks for the kind words, man! Really glad you dug it 🙂
Hey and thanks for a great article once again!
Just have a question regarding the plank. How many minutes are ideal/normal to this exercise per set? Or in other words, should you do the plank until failure? And how many sets are ideal?
Thanks.
Glad you liked it, Gorm! For the plank we like thinking in terms of breaths. This let’s us focus more on breathing naturally, and we find this carries over into better performance elsewhere. So 5–7 breaths, rather than 20–30 seconds. That gets you right in that ideal muscle-building range. (More than that would become more of an endurance thing, so not really our goal with this.) When that becomes easy, move to a more difficult variation.
I wouldn’t go to failure, especially if you have weights on your back or anything like that. The renowned back researcher wound up hurting his back that way—doing planks with tons of weight on his back, he reached failure, his back caved in, and he ran into some issues. Not that this would happen when doing an unweighted plank, but it’s still best to avoid it.
How many sets? That depends on what lifts come before it, how many times you’re doing it per week. For a general recommendation though, 2–4 sets per workout done 2–3 times per week should be pretty great 🙂
I was trying to Goblet Squad but that really hurted my knee :/ had to stop going to the gym for a while
I hope your knee feels better soon, Rafael! No lift is perfectly safe, but this is one of the ones that’s more safe than many others. (And lifting in general is safer than even most casual sports, like soccer.) Sometimes if you’ve got knees that are especially susceptible to injury (or it had previously been injured) then squatting can cause pain. Oftentimes this can be fixed by focusing more on moving your butt down/back, and less on bending your knees. If you get your weight resting further back—in your hips—it will put less stress on your knees. You may need some knee wraps or something though.
I hope that helps, and feel better soon, man! I know this stuff can be frustrating, but it will all come together if you stick with it.
Like all your other articles Shane, an excellent read. Trying to trim up and get my abs back currently. Love those Farmer Carries tho.
Thanks, Sean! Ahaha I love farmer carries too. Well, love to hate them, I suppose. Best of luck carving out those abs!
Hey guys I liked the article
I would really like to use your program but I’m a little light on cash… so I was wondering if there is maybe a type of payment plan… ’cause that would be awesome.
There is! I’ll shoot you an email with the details 🙂
Dudes, I can’t believe how good this website is. Finally there is one website helps us to get to shape. Extremely helpful, motivates more than any others.
So, as a skinny guy with the beer belly, should I do those exercises every day like a squat challenge apart from my gym schedule?
Also, I can’t complete situps for some reason, I can’t stop using my neck going forward. Is this a sign of I am super weak or is it normal at first? Can you recommend something else other than situps or crunches? Thank you.
Thanks, Adam! Glad you dig it. As a skinny guy with an actual beer belly (high body fat percentage) keep in mind that all ab exercises will do is make your ab muscles bigger, i.e., make your core bigger. So if anything it will grow your beer belly. To get rid of it you’d want to cut, and that’s more about lifting overall, eating in a calorie deficit, eating enough protein. However, you can certainly do these ab exercises while cutting to make sure that you come out of your cut with nice abs. (If you’ve got the skinny-guy beer belly that’s caused just by poor posture or a food baby then feel free to gain a little weight while building up your ab muscles.)
As far as scheduling goes, treat your abs like any other muscle, training them every second day, and work them hard enough that you need that second day. (Squatting every day can work under the right circumstances but that’s a whole other story.)
For your sit-ups, try weighting down your feet. If that still doesn’t work, just skip them for a month and then reevaluate. You can do extra sets of the other ab exercises in the meantime.
Excellent article again guys! One question, how long should one ‘rep’ of farmer carry be? 10/15/30secs, etc? Thanks.
Sorry I mean one ‘set’ instead of one ‘rep’.
Thanks, Alex! We go for around 40 steps. Easy to count out your set that way 🙂
This is a great website! If I’m 17 years old and playing basketball at least 2 times a week can I still get good results because I’m constantly running up and down the floor like I’m doing endurance training. Thanks
Also by the way is there any other way I can get this program without having to pay 197? I would ask my parents but they would say “we’re not buying that” or “you have to pay for that” and I don’t have any money or a job. I’m 6’6 190 trying to close in my basketball scholarship. Thanks
Hey Tyler,
You can definitely get good results. You would just need to account for that extra energy you’re burning off with some more calories coming in, and ensuring you’re getting lots of good rest at night.
We do have a student discount, and we have a payment plan to split up the program into 4 payments. I’ll shoot you an email with more details on both 🙂
Jared
Thanks for the reply Jared. I’ll plan on getting some extra calories in and taking some Zma for good rest at night. And mostly likely I would do the payment plan. Thanks again
Tyler
Sounds good Tyler 🙂 We’d love to have you with us!
Jared
I am confused. I have flat stomach but no abs or six pack, but if I work the abs would I get the abs/six pack at the expense of a bigger stomach?
Exactly. Training your ab muscles will give you bigger ab muscles if you do it right. That means a bigger stomach, yes, but it will still be flat and likely look pretty rad.
Thanks, just two more doubts:
1) When you say flex abs, do u mean suck it in?
2) My stomach is flat but soft/jiggly. Does this mean I have a flat stomach despite having fat, or does the softness/jiggliness hint at loose or weak stomach muscles? If it is the former, i should lose fat, but if the latter then i should work my abs, right? But how do I know which it is – the stomach is flat, so I assume i have little fat. But since it jiggles I assume the opposite also (meaning I have more fat to lose). It is so confusing.
Hope you can clarify, Shane. Thanks again.
Sucking in your abs is indeed flexing some core muscles, but when we talk about flexing abs we’re talking about flexing your rectus abdominis muscles—the abs that make up your 6-pack. It can take a little patience and practice to learn how to flex specific muscles, and your abs are no different. One way to start learning what it feels like to flex your abs is to forcefully breathe out. Try breathing out through a nearly closed fist, for example.
If it’s soft and jiggly that sounds to me like there’s some fat there. If your stomach is flat though then there isn’t much fat there. May be a case where you need to lose just a little fat and then build some muscle.
I hope that helps 🙂
thanks, shane. when i breathe out i can flex but it is hard to maintain position when u breathe in. hopefuly u can post a video on this someday.
That’s a great idea, to post a video. You’ll get better at this stuff with practice too 🙂
Hey guys,
I have the older version of the B2B program. What is different and new in the updated program and can I still have access to it even if I’m no longer a member?
Hey Kai,
A lot is different! The workout program has been tweaked and improved, all the videos have been updated, new illustrations, new stories, new information, new programming in the community, new bonus member content, new challenges, etc.
The fundamentals of lifting and nutrition are still the same, of course, but we’ve organized them in far clearer way that makes it easier to understand which aspects are the most important. Because we have a clearer hierarchy now, that also means we can go more in-depth at the end of the eBook without it being overwhelming for the newer guys. I think you’d really like it 🙂
A membership includes a year of updates, so you should have had access to the most recent version of the program right up until the end of your membership (and then you get to keep it forever). If you want this new update, you can sign back up as a returning member for 9/month at http://www.bonytobeastly.com/members. So if you wanted the new stuff you could get it for that $9 then cancel your subscription, although hopefully you’d decide to stick around! The community is pretty amazing these days 🙂
Hi Shane, sorry for bothering u again. When i flex my abs, i am sort of pushing out the stomach. Do u also do that, or is that wrong? I want to practice but dont know if i am doing it right way.
There are different ways to do it. I think most fitness models flex in a way that feels more like laughing.
Great article guys!! Hey i’m new here and i’m really keen to this program. But i have the same issue as Tyler ^ , so can i know more about the student discount & payment plan (4 payment) as well? really hope to hear from you guys soon!!
Absolutely, Blake. I’ll shoot you an email with the details now 🙂
Hello! I just stumbled upon your website. As another broke college student, could I also get the payment plan info? Currently I’m 6’4” and about 173-178 depending on the week, flat stomach but would really like to build some definition. Thank you!
Absolutely, man! I’ll have Sunny shoot you an email with all the details 🙂
I think you’ll really dig having Marco teach you the lifts from the perspective of a guy who’s also 6’4. Especially as a naturally skinny tall guy, it can really change the dynamics of the lifts.
Hello there 🙂 I just happened upon this site and read through it a tad. I’m 5’5” and currently around 64.5 kilograms as of my latest weight measurement, and am trying to put on more weight after losing around 2-3 kilos over the last few months. Unfortunately I noticed serious drops in muscle size too and well, to be fair I’ve had a bizarre sort of journey…(#longstorycomingup) ahem…
I started working out last year and first went on a schedule to bulk myself up, right up to 68 kilograms after starting at around 60 (somewhat skinny-fat) and well I gained size and strength and also a great deal of stomach fat. Afterwards I fell ill due to a flu at the end of the year and had dropped 3 kilos, dropping my stomach too. I went on a slightly more intense schedule after, and have been doing that for, unfortunately, six months. I lost again recently, getting to around 62-63 kilos, so I saw the abs but also lost a good deal of size. Recently I got back to bulking up once more, and noticed today that a lot of ab definition has been lost, especially on the lower stomach.
My chest, shoulders, back, legs and arms all look better, and I’ve regained a good deal of size and power and really I want to see some ab definition without losing all that size and weight again. Heck, I would like to go back to 68, maybe with less belly fat involved. It’s mostly strength and size I’m looking for.
Is cardio an option? I’ve been skipping cardio for a long, long time…
Hey! Could you please reply to my email?
I sent it on Dec 24!
I am going to join your program and I just want to clear everything up before! 🙂
Thank you!
Hey, Ron. Glad to hear you’ve decided to sign up, man!
We’ve been trying to stay on top of emails even during the holiday season but I was a little worried that one slipped through. But it didn’t! Jared answered your email on the 24th, just a couple hours after you sent it. I’d check your junk mail just to make sure it’s not hiding in there.
To answer your question about the dumbbells, yes, Bowflex is great… as are the ones we recommend in our article. Just depends on your budget and preferences. Whichever dumbbells you choose, they’ll be enough to get the results we promise 🙂
Thanks! And are you sure?
I checked everywhere and I can’t see the reply :/
Could you possibly re-send it?
Sure 🙂
Hey Guys!
Is it possible to have a small waist, where i can see my upper 2-4 abs, but not the lower abs and have some sort of love handles? (Im 170 cm tall and have a 74 cm waist, which is quite small i guess) Maybe it is wide hips or what? What can i do to make this part smaller?
Also, do you guys have any sort of payment plan or discount for students? I really would like to join you guys, but im sure as hell i couldnt pay 200 bucks instantly. :/
Hey Ben,
Different people have different bone structures and fat storage patterns, so it’s very possible to have a small waist and wider hips, or a small waist and love handles. The best way to get a great looking core tends to be the same for most people, though: build up some hearty abs and obliques, and minimize your overall body fat percentage. The bigger core muscles should minimize any appearance of an hourglass shape, and getting rid of extra fat should take care of the love handles.
I’ll shoot you an email with our payment plan and student discount details 🙂
(For any other students reading this, email us@bonytobeastly.com and we can do the same for you.)
Fantastic post. Abs have always been an issue for me, likely due to poor diet choices, believing the conventional view of smashing out 1,000 crunches a day and questionable posture. It’s always made me very self conscious in terms of taking my shirt off at the beach/when with a lady friend.
Breaking down the ab section and how it should/could look based on our genetic make up was very insightful. Thank you for putting this post up, the passion that the 3 of you have for helping skinny guys out is clear for everyone to see.
Thanks for the kind words, Dave! Best of luck, man 🙂
[…] was able to make sure that my abs were fully engaged with every cardio activity. After reading an article called “the skinny on abs”, including an part on how posture shapes the mid-section, I […]
[…] need strengthening and growing, I can accept it. Besides, realistically I would need to get below 12% to have my abs […]
Hey how to I get lean muscle, I am 113-114, 5,8 and having trouble with getting a six pack. I’m also female so it’s harder for me. Please show me your daily ab routine and what you eat to bulk up. I really need to get stronger for my strength and conditioning class. Thank you
Hey Sarah,
You might enjoy our sister site: http://www.bonytobombshell.com
But even as a female, the ab exercises here should help you with your goals 🙂
So I have two ab muscles at the base of my rib cage, right under my pecs. They are really weird; they stick out more than any other of the ab muscles (although I have a tiny bit of muscle definition a little lower) Can you please tell me why this is and how to fix it if I can. I don’t know, it could be genetics because I’ve been doing mostly reverse crunches and all that and the problem is still there. I looked at your chart and I found out that I have about 11% body fat. Thanks for the help!
Heya Connor. First of all, why is this necessarily a problem? It’s totally normal to have those as a lean guy with some muscle on him.
Second, if it is indeed an issue, are you sure it’s not a postural issue? If you’ve got something called “rib flare” then that part of your body would be angled upwards. You could go to the mirror, make sure your ribs are down in their proper position, and see if those abs still stick out in a weird way.
Third, is it possible that building up bigger pecs would bring things back into balance?
Yes you’re right about the larger pecs thing, I’ve been working out in that area and its seeming to help things up a bit, thanks for the advice.
Abs have always been one of my most developed body parts. Before I started training they looked decent. In my first couple years (8 years training atm) I went crazy on the ab volume because I didn’t know any better. Mostly consisting of sit ups and leg raises. Anyways back to now, even when I’m lean my abdominal region feels too ‘big’ like there’s too much size/thickness in that region overall. It’s a little wider than I’d like from the front (obliques) and a little thicker than I’d like (from the side). Almost like I’m headed towards ‘bodybuilder abs’ rather than ‘mens physique abs’. It’s especially prominent if I bend over or sit down, people are surprised b/c they think I’m so lean when standing up. Now I do want a strong healthy mid-section to prevent injury but I want my abdominal region to be as tiny/shrink wrapped as humanly possible. It might be in my head but my abs today seem bigger (and less shrink wrapped) than they did just a couple years ago at the same bodyweight. My ab isolation volume is slightly lower than before but my overall lifting volume (and uni-lateral volume) is higher than before. So I’m not sure if my overall ab volume is up or not.
IN CONCLUSION I’m not sure if I should do moderate ab volume or decrease it (maybe none at all).
-Moderate volume b/c of what this article states about ‘lazy stomach’ and weak abs. I haven’t been deadlifting/squatting heavy in the past couple years due to a so-so lower back so that could factor in here.
-Decrease volume b/c loss of hypertrophy in abs (see Mike Israetel’s ab hypertrophy article. He states ab volume increases the size of the abs and training them directly might be a net drawback for physique competitors). And besides they already get trained indirectly in other movements.
Hey Jack,
Nice job building up your abs! When you bend over or sit down, your abs aren’t going to look shrink-wrapped no matter how perfect they are. Your skin will fold, and as you breathe your stomach will inflate in and out. That’s okay—men aren’t supposed to look like cover models 24/7.
As for your abs being too big, though, yep, you might want to just stop training them altogether. They’ll stay strong with all the isolation work you do, but there’s no need to do any direct ab work.
You can also work on your posture and keep improving your technique with the squats and deadlifts, even if they aren’t that heavy. That should help train your transverse abdominus and keep your core really functional.
some people say work abs several times a week, while others say to treat them like any other muscle group and only work them out once or twice a week. how often should ectomorphs work them? Thanks!!
Your abs are a muscle group. They’re not just like all of your other muscles, but they’re more similar than not in terms of what makes them grow. Just like our other muscle groups, we can train them once, twice or even several times per week and get fairly optimal growth. Most research shows that a training frequency of 2–3 times per week per muscle group leads to more muscle growth (in all muscles), but when comparing that to guys who train their muscles just once per week, the difference is actually pretty small. So I’d say it would depend on what style of training program you’re following.
So I would recommend training your abs 2–3 times per week, just like you’re training your other muscle groups. (You can do this fairly easily by doing three full-body workouts each week.)
Hi, I weigh around 145 lbs with 17% (according to my scale) and 20% (according to your chart) body fat. I am trying to bulk up and not worried about abs for now. But I have a question, can genetics lead to development of love handles? My stomach is fairly flat but I’ve had love handles since I was a kid and I weighed 90 lbs till the age of 16 with well defined abs. Then I started eating more, gained 30 lbs and after turning 18 I start lifting weights. And today I am 145 lbs at the age of 20. My love handles are still the same. So I just wanted to know how can I get rid of those?
Hey Vinit. Yes. Love handles definitely have a genetic component. The trick is to not worry about where you’re storing fat, which we have little control over, but rather what your overall body fat percentage is. So to get rid of your love handles, lose fat in general. I see you’ve commented on our skinny-fat article, so I think you’re already on the right track 🙂
Hey Shane! I read a few of your articles and they’re great. Loved it!
I do have a query though. I am 17 years old, 125 pounds and 5ft 10 inches tall. So I have a little less than a flat stomach. What would my body fat percentage be?(14 to 15% according to some scales) It is because I wanted to develop six pack abs so bad. I have started exercising an hour daily, but should I first bulk up then cut down or is there any other method?
Thanks for your help. 🙂
How much do genetics determine one’s ability to get visible abs? I seem to carry my fat quite low – when out-of-shape I have solid pecs and visible ribs, but a belly and love handles at the same time.
When I finished high school I was 6 foot and 135lb, but no visible abs. I was in the best shape of my life at 22 when I was boxing – I was a little under 150lb, good muscle definition, particularly in my arms and chest, but still could barely see my abs while tensing with good lighting.
I’m wondering if I’d need a lower body fat percentage than most to have abs?
[…] Here’s our article on how to bulk up your abs […]
[…] Lower cross syndrome versus “neutral” and proper posture. Illustration credit Bony to Beastly, The Skinny on Abs […]
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[…] How to Get Abs as a Skinny Guy […]
[…] getting fat, either. I was under 10% body fat (estimated in the mirror). And I didn’t have the problem of having flat skinny abs, either. I had great ab […]
[…] For them, getting lean will yield great ab definition. However, for us naturally skinny guys, our abs are often skinny. We need to bulk them up in order to see them properly. So getting overly lean before bulking up […]
[…] your upper-back posture, we also want to make sure that your abs are big and strong. After all, skinny guys often have skinny abs as well. That’s why even at low body-fat percentages, we often don’t have visible abs. In fact, […]
[…] for building up your biceps, forearms, and upper back. They’re also great for your core, working your abs in a similar way to hanging leg raises (which are another great bodyweight […]
[…] presses, bench presses, rows), and then finish the workouts with some lighter accessory lifts for your abs, arms, shoulders, chest, and upper […]
[…] up your upper back, which will improve your deadlifts and squats. Then your squats and deadlifts develop the core and hip strength that will help with your push presses. And so […]
[…] If you want to see what a good chest program looks like, I recommend checking out our War Chest Program. It’s a workout program designed to help you build up a strong, full chest. But it does so in a way that also includes plenty of pulling and external rotation work, which will help to keep your shoulders healthy. We also go over how to bench press safely and effectively for chest strength and growth. (It’s a full-body workout program, but it’s designed to emphasize growth in your chest, shoulders, and upper back.) […]
[…] Building up bigger shoulder muscles will bring you up a shirt size, but that bigger shirt will be enormous around your still-slim waist. […]
[…] you do that, work on strengthening your posterior chain, bulking up your abs and obliques, and improving your […]
[…] a trim waist, i.e., no love handles or belly. A flat stomach is equally as attractive as having well-defined abs. The exception to this is if you’re dating a woman who’s into fitness, in which case […]
Hey.firsty i appreciate the article it was great but i want to ask that im 17 5’3 and i weigh around 50 to 54 kg .i workout im not consistently but i believe I workout enough throughout the year.i never went to gym all i have done is bodyweight training at home .im skinny i have a bit visible abs but im not satisfied i believe they are not enough.i wanna gain more muscle while maintaining my body fat so how can i do that and is it okay to increase my diet in order to bulk up ?
Hey, is it wise to bulk up your abs only by using upper ab exercises, so that you don’t get that lower belly sticking out. Lower belly fat also tends to be greater in most people, so maybe it can help in giving the illusion of a flat stomach even at higher body fat percentages?
Hey Ashhad, that’s a neat idea, yeah. I see your logic. Plus, your abs will be worked fairly well with compound lifts anyway, so I wouldn’t say that dedicated lower (or upper) ab exercises are required to begin with. So I think sticking with upper ab exercises like crunches is totally fine 🙂
Thanks for the reply, man
My pleasure!
Thanks so much for the info. I’d like to add these ab exercises to my routine 2x a week. How many ab exercises should I do per session? Would 3 sets of 2 exercises be enough? Thank you.
I’d do 2–3 sets for abs and another 2–3 sets for obliques. Done twice per week, and in addition to some other compound lifts, I think that’ll be perfect 🙂
Another cool example here: photo of different ab genetics!
I love this article and thought about it a lot this summer when watching Olympic divers. Their abs can be shaped pretty differently (not to mention differences in body composition and age).
Totally! That’s a great example of how your ab genetics change the appearance of your abs, even when you’re lean and muscular.
Is there a good alternative to sit ups? I tried doing the ones shown in the video with a 35 lb. dumbbell and it feels too easy for my abs. The problem is my arms feel like they’re getting more of a workout so I don’t want to go higher. It’s also really awkward to get into position with such a heavy dumbbell. I have a captain’s chair at home and was wondering if hanging leg lifts are a good alternative. Thank you for the information and help!
Hey Chase, good question. Yep! Hanging leg raises are a great alternative.
Thank you very much for this very detailed post. I’m around 10% after working out for more than a year. I have lost around 18 kgs of weight. I love my veiny arms now. Although external obliques are visible, abs aren’t.
In this case, how can I remove the fat from my abs? I do not want to cut calories anymore because I have already lost enough weight.
And yeah, I do weighted abs exercises regularly.
Congratulations, man! That’s awesome! Losing 18kg is amazing 😀
You’ve already got the two solutions: lose more fat or build bigger abs.
It could be that once you stop eating in a deficit, you’ll be able to gain muscle more easily, and so you’ll do a better job of bulking up your abs. Focus on getting stronger at the ab exercises you’re doing. Gradual, progressive overload.
If that doesn’t work, after a break from cutting, you can always trim off that final little bit of fat.
Also, keep in mind that you don’t NEED visible abs. There’s nothing wrong with having a flat stomach. But I know that abs do look cool.
I hope that helps, and keep killing it!
Is it rare for my skinny, 80-pound, 13-year-old son to have abs like these? Could you respond when you have time? We really want to know, and he is excited because he wants to know if he has an 8 pack or can make his abs more visible (go to the link to see the image): https://ibb.co/WPDwQQp
this link might work better for most people: https://ibb.co/rv5gSBS
Hey, Joseph. You mean how he has an extra division in his abs, giving him an 8-pack instead of a 6-pack?
Different people have different numbers of abs. Check out the section “How to Build Upper and Lower Abs.” Some people have 4-packs, others have 6-packs, and some guys have 8-packs. Most people can make out 4–6 abs when lean, so your son definitely has more than usual.
8-packs definitely look cool, and having visible abs like that at 13 years old is awesome.
He can definitely make his abs bigger and more defined. Exercises like planks, crunches, reverse crunches, and leg raises will make his abs bigger, especially if he eats enough food and protein. Getting deeper into puberty will help, too.
Thanks for telling me, I know he will be excited when I tell him! Is there a specific workout to get the abs on the very top bigger? They don’t seem that noticeable unless the lighting and angle are perfect, the lower six abs seem to be the only ones there.
Crunches are good for training the upper abs. A 3–4 sets every 2–3 days is good. When he can do more than 20–30 crunches per set, you can gradually add weight to progressively overload them.
Thanks, im sorry that i ask so many questions, and I appreciate that you are answering them, but I have a few more to ask, like, my son has very skinny wrists and doesn’t know how to get them stronger without equipment, also his ribcage shows even if he isn’t sucking in, and he wants to know how to fix these problems, if you have advice, please answer. Thanks!
It sounds like he’s thin and could use a good bulk. We have an article on that here. Mind you, he doesn’t need to race to bulk up. A slow and steady approach will probably work best. Plus, it’s normal for young teenagers to be thin. These aren’t necessarily problems that need to be fixed.
If he’s trying to avoid equipment, here’s a bodyweight workout program. It doesn’t take much equipment to build a great home gym, though. You might want to invest in some nice adjustable dumbbells. Here’s an article on that.
The skinny wrists might be his to keep forever. I’m 35 and have gained 70 pounds. My wrists are still tiny. It’s just part of my body type. Maybe his will grow as he gets deeper into puberty.
Thanks for that advice man, ever since he read your comment, he has been trying hard to get his abdominals stronger, and now all eight of them are visible too! He’s been getting tired of working on his abdominals though, and now he wants to know what he can do (without using equipment) to get his biceps, triceps, and all of his other muscles in his arms stronger and bigger, he also wants to do the same with his pecs. He wants to know ways he can do all this quickly, efficiently, and without any equipment. Do you have any advice for him?
Awesome!
Push-ups are really good for the chest, shoulders, and triceps. It really helps to have equipment, though. For bodyweight training, you can do quite a lot with gymnastic rings. To build muscle, even better to get a pair of adjustable dumbbells.
Without any equipment, it probably makes the most sense to lift heavy household objects, but that isn’t nearly as convenient or effective.
We have a bodyweight training article here.