This episode explores the fundamentals of building and revealing strong abdominal muscles, focusing on the crucial role of diet. While muscle can be built, abs won’t be visible without reducing overall body fat. The episode also shares effective exercises like single-arm dumbbell curls and weighted knee-ups to engage the core and enhance stability, offering practical advice on incorporating these into your routine.

The discussion also covers the challenges of maintaining muscle mass on a vegan diet, emphasizing the need for complete proteins and potential supplementation. Achieving visible abs requires a blend of targeted exercises and strategic nutrition, paving the way for future insights on fat loss and advanced training techniques.

Highlights of the Podcast

01:31 – Functional Training for Abs
03:09 – Direct Abdominal Exercises
05:02 – Oblique Training
06:46 – Diet and Abs Visibility
08:32 – Challenges with Vegan Diets
12:24 – Final Thoughts and Upcoming Topics

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:03] So we’re gonna talk a little bit about abs. The the thing about ads, when we’re talking about building muscle and showing off muscle and things like that. The the expression that, you know, 80% or 75% or 90% of your ads are built in the kitchen is onerous and it’s half accurate. It’s not that they’re necessarily built, but you’re not going to sell unless you really, really, really stripped down the, the fat content to get to, you can build it up as big as you want to. If you’re under, if you’re over ten, 12% by the flag and I’m gonna say. So if you wanted to see your abs diet is onerous, then you guys need to focus on. We talk about that all the time. So, but one of the things you can do if you’re starting to get leaner or if you’re leaner, you can kind of see how much you want the, you know, look bigger. The thing you have to understand is that their their support, muscle, musculature, their it is your core. You know, your core is actually your pelvis, but the things that are attached to your pelvis move your pelvis or your core, so your rectus, your blades, your transverse, you know, that that does a lot of stabilization and, function. So what we’ve got to figure out is how do we activate those muscles all the time? One of the things you can do is you can bring those in every single time.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:31] You’re functional in training. So again, if you get rid of the bars and you do individual hands, so you’re doing like dumbbell curls, with one arm is down and the other what you’re doing standing alternating curls. You bring that right hand up the musculature of your core so your back, your lower back and your abs have to functionally support you so you don’t move. Which is why focusing on the form of not swaying and not swinging the weights is really, really important because now you’re working your core single function as well as the messenger, your, your biceps and triceps and things like that. One of those entire single arm press sounds for my triceps. I feel that in my abs as much, if not more, then I feel it in my arms. So if you’ll start to shift your workout around so that the stability piece is a big part of your twitch workout actually does, it’ll help tremendously. One of the reasons we use single single like slots is to build that balance, coordination, functionality, things like that. And not only that piece of your abs. So a lot of times as we start changing, how are they functions that will help reset the abs and throw those back, or build those back up to where they’re supposed to be. The other thing is that you can you can directly affect them as well. So some of the things that I’ve done in the past that I love was, so I, I have a handle on my weight stack that has just two handles that kind of comes up into it into a single attachment point. And I’ll grab all of that and then I’ll come down and do stack weighted, crunches.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:09] Now, those are going to be really, really good. If you can get full extension. It’ll be good for the entire core, but should be really, really good for the upper for, abdominal, rectus adults. Not a whole lot for the rectus. A little bit for the transverse and a lot for the, for the rectus. I’m sorry. Not not a lot of works. So you’re going to get really good development of the top for, for the lower for, my favorite things is weighted, knee ups. And so I’ll hang from straps and bring my knees up to my chest. The higher you bring your knees, the more involvement you’re going to get in the abdomen. So if you’re wanting to lower floor, which is where I try to train mine, we’re doing what’s called toe touches, where you just literally bring your toes up and down, up and down. And so you lock your hips, your knees, your ankles into one position and say, bring your knees up and out so your knees don’t come about, higher than 10 or 11. But the purpose is to rock the pelvis. And so you’re getting the pelvis rock forward. So you’re trying to get the, the hip bones of the limbs to come up to meet your lower ribcage. As you rock those out, that’s gonna give you that big trot that comes around the arms of the audience, down to the two of. You’ll see that they come down. It’ll give you that the lower floor, function. It can also help the pelvis to pitch forward a little bit. And that’s really beneficial for a lot of people who have hypermobility. So if your butt pitches like this and she that comes down and comes up like this and you’re trying to rock that pelvis back down, you can increase the tone, of the lower for abdominals that way. It’s not really some that we see a tremendous amount hyper flexion lower, lower. But or I should say it’s something that we shouldn’t see very often.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:02] But with people sitting more and more, sometimes it’s one of things we say. So those lower for abdominals, kicking those up helps take the pressure off the lower back. That’s probably the easiest piece. To get those going. Now, I do a lot of oblique work. And so because I like I like all the stuff that comes up in here. And so I’ll do weighted, oblique work. So I’ll get on, on it, come down on the side, on my weight stack and come all the way up. You get full range motion to get this whole side to flare out. Now, again, you’re not going to see any of this until you guys rip off all of that. And even when you do, if you don’t build these things specifically, you’re not going to see there’s a lot of guys who are, you know, 3 or 4% body fat look fantastic. And they don’t they haven’t built, the side stuff. So you don’t see the stuff on the side nearly as much. You know, great rectus you that six pack impacting everybody’s looking for. They’ve got that little bit of stuff in the transverse functions. You can’t see that anyway. a little bit of oblique work here but not stuff on their arm down. So that’s specifically has to be built. And so like I said, if you’re going to specifically look to build that, it’s here and down. So as far as assistance and so the question what do we eat that’s not meat. If you want to lose that element, that’s that’s where it is. Carbohydrates increase insulin function in some function through. Meat increases or protein increases with regard to function, and function burns fat. So, that’s kind of where it is. So it’s a it’s a hormonally driven system. So we can you can see that all the work. So you can take some good time if you, if you understand how to run it.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:46] It’s I don’t say it’s dangerous, but it is definitely something that you’ve got to. You have to know what you’re doing. But that’s how we’re. That’s how you strip all that stuff off. And the problem is, is that it’s not that you just make the fat on your belly go away, because that’s not how your body kicks out. You got the shoulders and the arms and the lower legs and the groin and the butt in the back, and it’s got to all come off before you start to see the stuff in the abs. So, you know, if you’ve got six, seven, 10 pounds of fat hanging on your whole body, which is not a lot, if you’re a 10 pound guy, if 10 pounds fat. You know, that’s for the 5%. So that’s it’s not a whole lot. If you’ve got ten house values in and you’re to their house, you should be able to see your house. But a lot of people have to, like, work that stuff off. It’s real hard to do TV and function. You can, but you’re going to have a sense it’s to me what else has to be very difficult? A lot of people, if we’re if we’re vegan for a specific reason, philosophical reason, or religious reason, that’s obviously all different. There’s a lot of push to be vegan and to go plant based, and none of that is rooted in science. That’s, you know, we’re big meat machines. The idea that we shouldn’t be consuming meat is 100% physiologically inaccurate. A lot of the stuff, we get into with, for instance, plant based proteins is a lot of them are missing essentially, amino acids. So the vast majority of the time people are eating plant based, they’re missing nutrients are very desperately needs.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:32] So, you know, getting, complete proteins and it’s difficult. So you don’t have to supplement them. If you want to supplement them with collagen, you can. But it’s also very difficult to get, to get enough into, to strip, to strip everything off. As much as you can you’re going to have issues with. You know, if you keep the glycemic function really, really low, you can get it done with vigor. It’s just it’s just more difficult to get the fat to burn without, you know, stuff. So, ancients, I, I’d like to see the science. The problem we get into is that women. We’re looking to lose weight. Vegan satisfy, because your body will eat the muscle tissue pretty readily. If you were. If you’re bringing in, if you’re going to cut it really, really specifically, you can get it done. But it’s going to be even more difficult, for a lot of people. Just eating plants. From a health perspective is rough because you got to work really, really hard to get the cut. You tend to maybe, there’s a lot of chemicals your body needs specifically to burn fat. You’ve got to have, you know, you need a neighborhood. You’ve got to have cooking time. You’ve got to have chromium. There’s a there’s a bunch of stuff that you’re gonna need, but it’s easier to get from from meat. I know right now people are looking at and being like, well, look how thin the Asians are. We’re also shorter because they’re protein function. But if you want to do it that way, it’s more difficult. But you can you can get it done. You should take. It’s a lot more dedication. You can get some from beans and you can get some from lentils. Just be like I said, if you really, really were specific on the specific amino acids you’re trying to bring up since.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:36] I’m sorry. That’s really the case. I can walk you through it. But you’re going to be really, really diligent with your hormones to make sure everything is. It’s just it’s it’s more difficult to get all of the nutrients in. You need to have some limitation. So, I guess I’ll go walk. I’ll walk you through how you can do it as a beginner. It’s just it’s a the choices are a little bit more limited. If you want to be fully healthy, because a lot of the soy stuff, a lot of, a lot of soy based stuff is it’s going to be very dangerous. And be careful with because the estrogen functionality, if you’re going to eat. If you’re willing to supplement with it really heavily and you’re willing to supplement with college and then you’re fine. Like, it’s not that hard to do. But veganism requires you not to consume collagen, which is why it’s hard. I’ll take a look at it. That’s fine. If you’re willing to swap it again, if you’re to someone with college and you’re no longer vegan. Because collagen is animal proteins. Now, if you’re like, oh, no other vegan, but I’ll do like. Oh, and eggs and cheese. Totally fine. Easy to do if you like. Well, now I’ll do something else. Come up with collagen again. You can do it. You no longer vegan? That’s that’s the hard part. That’s why veganism is hard. Vegetarian is not as difficult and lacto. It’s super easy. But veganism is difficult to, to get development of musculature and lots of fat. Fossil. But. Oh, yeah, if you’re willing to go to college and you’re good to go jogging. Sorry. Listen to the people. But. Yeah. Syncing to the TV and all. Yeah. That’s fine. You don’t have to eat meat as long as you’re taking college. But again, colleges drive from animals. Are you want to be? But. Yeah.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:12:24] Send it to me. We’ll chat. But. Yeah. So the biggest thing with abs, like I said, is diet proposed that the fat off, and then and we go over that a lot. I’ll go over that probably tomorrow will be more about cutting fat. But that’s kind of the big thing is if you’re going to work, working real hard and there is some there’s a discussion as you work through the your, your messenger puffs up to make you look fatter. Which is a thing, but if you’re cutting the fat off at the same time, do you want to see him? You’re going have to go a little bit to go, right? So. So he said, though he knows that college means not being. Well, yeah. So and so some of those hardcore vegans will tell me that, like, well, we’ll just use toxins like I can’t. You sergeant comes from an animal. So just depends on how strict you’re being with it. But yeah, if you’re willing to supplement college, it’s super easy because you can get all your amino acids from that. So you’ll be totally healthy. You’ll be easy to go. But like I said, the the lack of amino acid functions like this is hard. So. But all right, I’ll talk to you guys, tomorrow, and we’ll go over some, some cutting stuff and we’ll go over some, some more of that kind. And like I said, this is totally fine for some college, and it’s really pretty easy. Because the fat content’s low, the carbon products are 100% low. As long as you get your your amino acids into certain. We’re going to just a super smoothie on to go. So all right. Because any other questions answer questions that Tom or Thomas like. And or dropping the comments. I’ll talk to you guys next time. Thanks for your time.

As always if you have any questions, please send them to [email protected]

Check out Chalmers Pillarsofwellness.com for Wellness updates! And ask me any questions you have at [email protected]. I answer all of them and look forward to hearing from you.

The Chalmers Wellness Stubstack just launched. Comment, Like, and Interact with other people on their wellness journey. Communities can make a difference.     DrChalmers.substack.com

Dr. Matt Chalmers

Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only. Before taking any action based on this information you should first consult with your physician or health care provider. This information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health providers with any questions regarding a medical condition, your health, or wellness