Bigger Abs Workout and Diet Guide  

A large and growing percentage of the world’s population is overweight and getting fatter. As such, a lot of abs training advice is designed to help shrink your waistline and give you a slimmer midsection.

That’s fine if you are overly fat – you NEED to shed those unwanted pounds for your health and longevity.

But what if you are a more slender person who wants to develop thicker, more muscular abs? Should you train the same way as someone who’s overweight?

Absolutely not!

Building deeply etched abs you can almost see from space requires a very different workout and diet approach, and training like a fat dude will be detrimental to your progress.

Use this article to guide you through the process of building thick, chunky abs.

How NOT to Build Bigger Abs

Before we get into what you need to do to build 3D abs, let’s take a moment to discuss the things you must avoid. After all, it’s all too easy to undermine your progress by making a few otherwise avoidable mistakes.

So, make sure you:

Don’t train your abs too often

Muscles recover and grow between workouts. Training your abs too often means they won’t have the time needed to adapt to your training. So, limit your abs workouts to 2-3 per week on non-consecutive days, e.g., Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Not sure where to start? Don’t worry – There’s a workout for you to follow later in this article.

Don’t do high reps all the time

While there is a time and a place for high-rep abs training, it’s a mistake to do it all the time. If you do high-rep sets of every exercise in your abs workout, you end up hammering the same muscle fibers over and over again.

Instead, train your abs with low, medium, and high reps to hit more fibers and get better results from your training time.

Don’t neglect the rest of your body

Even the best abs training program won’t be effective if you don’t train the rest of your body. So, make sure you work your abs alongside your legs, back, chest, shoulders, and arms. Nature loves balance and won’t let you build awesome abs while the rest of your body is weak and skinny.

Don’t be inconsistent

Building thicker abs will take time. So, you must be consistent and stick with your training for many months. A few half-hearted workouts won’t get the job done. If you can’t train consistently, you might as well not bother trying to develop your abs. But commit to the process, and your abs should begin to grow in a couple of months.

Don’t do the same abs workout over and over

Your muscles are fast adapters, and your abs workout will soon lose its potency if you do it over and over again. Avoid this by constantly striving to train a little harder week by week.

You can:

• Do more reps
• Do more sets
• Take shorter rests between sets
• Use more weight
• Do your reps more slowly
• Train more often
• Choose more demanding exercises

Don’t feel you need to make big changes to your program every time you work out. Instead, small, regular variations are better and add up over the weeks and months.

Don’t just do abs isolation exercises

While moves like crunches and leg raises are ideal for targeting your abs with laser-like precision, you need more than isolation exercises to build big, thick abs. Compound exercises such as squats, deadlifts, overhead presses, and farmer’s walks will do as much for your abs as sit-ups.  

Don’t think that you’ll be able to out-train a bad diet

It’s often said that abs are made in the kitchen, and while that’s not 100% true, it does serve to illustrate the importance of diet for building bigger abs. We’ll talk more about what to eat later, but things to avoid include:

1. Alcohol
2. Refined sugar
3. Refined carbs
4. Processed fats

Before eating something, ask yourself: “Will this help or hurt my progress?” If the answer is hurt, you should probably eat something else.

The 10 Best Exercises for Bigger Abs

Are you ready to start packing some mass on your abs? These are the exercises to use. Remember to make your abs workouts progressive, either by doing more reps or lifting heavier weights weeks week by week.

1. Cable crunch

Cable crunches allow you to isolate and overload your abs with an external load. This is the perfect combination of events for building bigger abs. Make sure you don’t use your arms and hip flexors more than necessary during this exercise. Instead, ensure that the movement comes almost entirely from your abs.

Steps:

1. Attach a rope handle to a high cable machine. Hold the handle and kneel down on a folded mat of foam pad.
2. Pull your hands down to either side of your head.
3. Exhale and flex forward, ensuring that your legs remain vertical and your hips do not move. All the movement should come from your spine.
4. Pause at the bottom of each rep and contract your abs as hard as possible.
5. Return to the upright position and repeat.

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Tips:

• Use a heavy weight and try to stay in the 12-20 rep range for this exercise.
• You can also do cable crunches with a resistance band fixed to an overhead anchor.
• Use a single handle and hold it with one hand to work your obliques more.

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2. Hanging knees raises

Lifting your legs is a whole lot harder than lifting your shoulders. That’s why hanging knee raises are more challenging than crunches. However, you can make them easier by swinging your legs, which is NOT recommended. Instead, do each rep from a dead stop to ensure your abs are doing the work, not momentum.

How to do it:

1. Hang from an overhead bar with your hands about shoulder-width apart and arms extended. Ideally, your body should be straight and your feet off the floor.
2. Pull your shoulders down and back, and brace your abs.
3. Bend your legs and pull your knees up toward your chest. Make sure you round your lower back as your knees come up, just like you are doing a reverse crunch.
4. Pause with your knees up and then lower your legs smoothly and under control.
5. Repeat for the prescribed number of reps.

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Tips:

• Chalk your hands or use lifting straps, so your grip doesn’t fail before your abs.
• Place a bench behind your legs to stop you from swinging.
• Wear ankle weights to make this exercise harder.
• Raise your knees to your elbows for a more intense workout.

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3. Hanging leg raise  

If you’ve mastered hanging knee raises, hanging leg raises should be your next abs training progression. The lever is longer, so your abs must work harder to perform the movement. However, as with the bent leg variation, you should NOT use momentum to lift your legs. That will not help you build thicker abs and is basically a form of cheating.

Steps:

1. Hang from an overhead bar with your hands about shoulder-width apart and arms extended. Ideally, your body should be straight and your feet off the floor.
2. Pull your shoulders down and back, and brace your abs.
3. Contract your quads to keep your knees straight.
4. Lift your legs forward and up until they are at least parallel to the floor.
5. Pause for a couple of seconds to flex your abs.
6. Lower your legs smoothly and under control, and repeat for the prescribed number of reps.

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Tips:

• You can also do this exercise using a captain’s chair, resting on your elbows instead of hanging from your hands.
• Place a bench behind your legs to stop you from swinging.
• Wear ankle weights to make this exercise harder.
• Raise your toes to the bar for a more intense workout.

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4. RKC plank

While planks ARE an effective abs exercise, if you can hold one for more than 60 seconds, it’s probably not challenging enough to produce much abs muscle growth. RKC planks are much more challenging and should reduce your planking time to 15-20 seconds per set.

Steps:

1. Kneel down and place your forearms and elbows on the floor in front of you.
2. Clasp your hands together.
3. Walk your feet out and back into the plank position.
4. Tense your abs, legs, arms, chest, and shoulders as hard as possible. Yes, all that shaking is normal!
5. Imagine pulling your feet towards your elbows and your elbows toward your feet using your abs.
6. Don’t forget to breathe.
7. Hold for 10-30 seconds.

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Tips:

• Don’t try to see how long you can plank for. Instead, try to see how quickly you can fatigue your abs.
• You can also do this exercise in a push-up position, i.e., a high RKC plank.
• Flex your spine and create a curve in your back to do hollow body planks, like this:

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5. Weighted plank

While RKC planks are an excellent exercise for building bigger abs, some people lack the necessary neuromuscular coordination needed to make this exercise work. If you struggle to feel RKC planks working or want to try something new, you’ll probably like weighted planks.

Steps:

1. Adopt the plank position. Brace your abs and tense your arms, legs, and torso muscles.
2. Ask your training partner to rest a weight plate across your upper glutes/lower back.
3. Hold that position, but never your breath, for as long as possible.
4. On completion, have your training partner remove the weight.

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Tips:

• Do this exercise on your elbows (low plank) or hands (high plank) as preferred.
• Increase the weight rather than the duration as you get stronger. Limit yourself to 30-40 seconds per set.
• You can do this exercise solo by wearing a weighted best or using a weighted chin/dip belt and placing your elbows/hands and feet on exercise benches.

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6. Single-arm farmer’s walk

The farmer’s walk is not an obvious exercise to choose when you’re training for bigger abs, but it’s actually a great option. When you carry a heavy (and it needs to be heavy) weight in one hand, you must use your abs to keep your torso upright. Think of this exercise as a super-charged side plank that will also strengthen your grip.

Steps:

1. Hold a heavy dumbbell or kettlebell down by your side. Your arm should be straight. Pull your shoulders down and back, and brace your core.
2. Make sure your torso is straight and your hips and shoulders are level.
3. Walk as far as possible around your training area.
4. Stop and put the weight down just before your grip fails.
5. Swap sides and repeat.

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Tips:

• Short on space? Do single-arm farmer’s walk step-ups instead.
• Use chalk or lifting straps to reinforce your grip so you can perform this exercise for longer.
• Try holding the weight above your head for a more intense abs challenge. This is called a one-arm waiter’s walk:

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7. Suitcase deadlift

Suitcase deadlifts are another abs exercise that also trains many other major muscles. Like the single-arm farmer’s walk, it also lets you load your abs with very heavy weights, which is critical for increasing muscle size and strength. This is a good option when you don’t have space to walk with weights.

Steps:

1. Place a heavy dumbbell or kettlebell on the floor and stand next to it. The handle should be parallel to your feet. Stand with your feet around shoulder-width apart.
2. Squat down and hold the handle with an overhand grip, palm facing your leg.
3. Drop your hips, lift your chest, brace your core, and pull your shoulder down and back.
4. Keeping your arm straight, drive your feet into the floor and stand up. Use your core to ensure your torso remains upright. Your hips and shoulders should be level.
5. Lower the weight back to the floor and repeat.
6. On completion, swap hands and do the same number of reps on the opposite side.

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Tips:

• Raise the weight on blocks or bumper plates if you cannot reach the handle without rounding your lower back.
• You can also do this exercise with a barbell, which makes it much more challenging.
• Use chalk or lifting straps to reinforce your grip to do more reps before your hands fail.

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8. Cable woodchop

The cable woodchop is so-called because it makes you look like you are swinging an axe to cut down a tree. Despite being a rotational exercise, the cable woodchop is great for building bigger abs and strengthening your obliques. Finally, because this is a weighted exercise, you can go heavy and expose your abs to plenty of muscle-building weight.

Steps:

1. Attach a D-shaped handle to a high pulley machine. Stand sideways onto the weight stack and grab the handle with both hands.
2. Keeping your arms straight, step away from the machine to tension the cable.
3. Adopt an athletic, shoulder-width stance and brace your core.
4. Turning your arms and shoulders together, rotate your upper body through 180 degrees, bringing your hands down to around hip height.
5. Return to the starting position and repeat.
6. Do the same number of reps on both sides.

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Tips:

• Lift the weight explosively and then lower it slowly to maximize core engagement.
• For variety, try low-to-high wood chops. Just set the handle down at knee height.
• You can also do this exercise using a resistance band.

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9. Weighted sit-up

Many coaches and exercisers have turned their back on sit-ups, believing they’re bad for your back. That’s probably true if you anchor your feet, do them super-fast, or pull on your head. However, done correctly, they’re a great exercise, and one of Ex-Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler’s favorite abs exercises.

Steps:

1. Lie on your back with your legs bent and feet flat. Hold a weight plate over your chest, arms straight and vertical. Brace your abs.
2. Sit up and simultaneously push the weight up toward the ceiling. Your torso and arms should be vertical at the top of each rep.
3. Slowly lie back down to keep the tension on your abs, and then repeat.

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Tips:

• Hold a dumbbell or kettlebell in one hand to make this exercise more oblique-centric.
• Drive your heels into the floor to disengage your hip flexors and force your abs to work even harder.
• Shrug your shoulders forward as you initiate each rep to increase serratus anterior recruitment.

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10. Abs wheel rollouts

Abs wheel rollouts are an excellent abs-building exercise. They involve a large range of motion and stress your muscles in a lengthened position, which is a great way to trigger hypertrophy. Abs wheels are cheap and widely available, and you can get one for under ten bucks, so they’re a great investment.

Steps:

1. Kneel down and hold your abs wheel with an overhand grip. Place it on the floor in front of your knees. Brace your core, and pull your shoulders down and back. Your arms should be straight, elbows tucked into your sides.
2. Push the wheel out in front of you and lower your chest down toward the floor. Keep your abs engaged throughout, and do not allow your lower back to arch.
3. Pull the wheel back in toward your knees and repeat.

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Tips:

• You can also do rollouts with a barbell.
• Do this exercise in a hollow body position to further increase abs engagement.
• Progress to standing abs wheel rollouts as you get stronger:

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Bigger Abs Workout

While you could do a few of the exercises above and hope your abs get bigger, you’ll get better results if you follow a more structured approach to training. So, here are two bigger abs workouts just for you!

Do them in rotation, aiming to train your abs 2-3 times per week. Remember to make your workouts progressive and strive to do more reps or use more weight week-by-week to keep your abs growing.

Please note that these workouts are meant to be performed alongside the rest of your body. You should not train your abs on their own but in conjunction with your favorite full-body or split routine.

Abs Workout #1

#	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Recovery
1	Cable crunch	4	12-15	60 seconds
2	Hanging leg raise	3	AMRAP	90 seconds
3	Abs wheel rollout	3	AMRAP	90 seconds
4	Suitcase deadlift	2	6-10 per side	60 seconds

Abs Workout #2

#	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Recovery
1	Weighted sit-up	4	12-15	60 seconds
2	Hanging knee raise	3	AMRAP	90 seconds
3	Weighted plank	3	AMRAP	90 seconds
4	Single-arm farmer’s walk	2	6-10 per side	60 seconds

Bigger Abs Nutrition Tips

While it’s beyond the scope of this article to give you a big abs diet to follow, we can give you some nutrition hints and tips to make your workouts more effective. Check out this body recomposition article for more information on what to eat to build muscle and lose fat.

1. Eat enough protein

Getting enough protein is critical when you’re trying to build muscle and lose fat. Protein is satiating, boosts your metabolism, and provides your body with the nutrients it needs for muscle recovery and growth.

Consume 1.5 to 2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, which is roughly 0.7 to 1.0 grams per pound. Alternatively, use our protein calculator to determine your protein needs.

2. Eat clean 90% of the time

Clean eating means mainly consuming natural, unprocessed foods. Examples include whole grains, vegetables, fruit, and lean protein sources. These foods provide the most nutrients with the least calories and will keep you feeling fuller for longer. They’re also better for you.

That doesn’t mean you have to give up junk food, and the occasional treat will not hurt your progress. However, 90% of your meals should be made from clean foods.

3. Adjust your caloric intake to reflect your body composition goals

If you are overweight, you need to burn fat to reveal your abs. This requires a calorie deficit, meaning you need to reduce your food intake to force your body to burn fat.

In contrast, if you are skinny, you need to eat a little more and create a calorie surplus, so your body has the energy it needs for training and growth.

So, be realistic about your current body composition and adjust your food intake to reflect your needs and goals.

4. Drink more water

A lot of people are chronically dehydrated and consume far too little water to be healthy. Drinking more water will help flush toxins out of your body, make your skin clearer, increase fat burning, and give you more energy.

Use this calculator to determine your ideal water intake, and then make sure you consume that amount each and every day.

5. Supplement wisely

While you don’t have to use supplements to build bigger abs, there are a few products that may enhance your progress. Some help you train harder or longer, while others boost your recovery between workouts.

Good options include:

• BCAAs and EAAs – for recovery and muscle growth
• Creatine – for energy and muscle building
• Fat burners – for energy and to increase fat burning
• Pre-workouts – for fast-acting energy and better workouts
• Protein powder – for recovery and muscle growth
• ZMA – for better sleep and hormone optimization

Remember, though, that even the best supplements won’t work if you aren’t training hard, eating right, and getting enough sleep of sleep.

Bigger Abs FAQs

Do you have a question about building bigger abs? No worries because we’ve got the answers!

1. Can I train my abs every day?

Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should! Daily abs training leaves no time for muscle recovery and growth, which is why we recommend that you limit yourself to 2-3 abs workouts per week.

Bodybuilders know a lot about building bigger muscles and generally train each muscle anywhere from one to three times a week. Building bigger abs is no different.

So, forget daily abs workouts and, instead, train them 2-3 times per week.

2. Won’t high-rep abs training burn fat faster?

Contrary to common opinion, high-rep abs training does not preferentially burn fat from your stomach. That’s a myth! Your body stores and burns fat globally, and not locally, so you’ll need to reduce your total body fat percentage to reveal your bigger abs.

So, eat less, and burn more calories through exercise and general physical activity. Use your abs training to build midsection mass and strength.

3. How many sets per week do I need to do for bigger abs?

It’s generally accepted that you need to accumulate 10-20 sets per muscle group per week for them to grow, and that includes your abs.

While you can do all your sets in one workout, that’s not recommended. Instead, you should spread those sets across 2-3 sessions. This provides an ideal balance between training and recovery.

4. Are crunches a good exercise for building bigger abs?

They can be, but they won’t be forever! Bodyweight crunches may be enough to challenge your abs when you’re a beginner. Still, they will eventually become too easy to be beneficial, and you’ll have to do hundreds of reps to sufficiently stimulate your muscles.

As such, it’s generally best to build your workouts around exercises you can make harder as you get stronger, such as cable crunches and weighted sit-ups.

5. How do I get a six-pack?

Getting a six-pack requires a two-pronged approach. On the one hand, you need to make your abs bigger and thicker, and then you need to lose body fat, so your abs are more visible.

Read more about sculpting the perfect six-pack here.

6. Exercise X gives me back pain – what should I do?

Firstly, make sure you are performing the exercise correctly. Poor technique can put stress on your spine, leading to lower back pain. Next, make sure you aren’t using too much weight. Straining too much can also cause pain.

Finally, understand that not all exercises are suitable for all people. Because of biomechanical issues and previous injuries, some exercises simply may not suit you very well.

If an exercise hurts, despite doing it correctly, drop it from your program and do something else instead. No exercise is compulsory, and there are always alternatives.

7. Aren’t squats and deadlifts enough to build big abs?

While your abs ARE involved in squats and deadlifts, your lower back is more active. If you are serious about building bigger abs, you need to hit them with some direct exercises. Relying on squats and deadlifts to develop your abs is like doing pulldowns for your biceps – it’s better than nothing, but not really enough.

You can read more about squats and abs training here.

Bigger Abs – Closing Thoughts

If you want your abs to be visible, you need to lose body fat and make them bigger and more prominent. The best way to build bigger abs is to overload them with heavy weights rather than do endless sets of high reps.

Use the information in this article to bulk up your abs and build core strength. Then, dial in your diet and get leaner, so your abs are no longer hidden under a layer of fat.

Of course, if you are very overweight, fat loss should be your priority. But, if you are a skinny guy, you need to follow a bulking plan.  

Building bigger abs will take time, but with patience, consistency, and determination, you CAN sculpt a midsection to be proud of!