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look something like this up next time boss. abs reveal at different bf's for everybody because people hold fat longer in different places, everything is genetics. exercising them is going to enhance or "texturize" the look, but it's not going to really make it quicker to visibly see them.

plus, compound movements is gonna work abs adequately for most.

final two cents: abs are overrated. be healthy and get "in-shape" and a big stomach will go away

Abs are a by product and should not be the goal. The goal has to be better overall health, strength, nutrition and mobility. Improving each of those categories will result in an improved overall appearance. As mentioned above, compound movements will generate better results for your core than doing crunches nonstop.  

Also - focusing on body fat percentage is a mistake because most commercial BF% products are absolute garbage and the % can be skewed by something as simple as hydration level. Improve in each of the four categories mentioned above and the results will follow.  

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If it's purely abs - maintain a calorie deficit for long enough and you'll see abs. Everyone has them and for most people they will look different - a large part of that is genetics. My recommendation would be to start building your core with ab exercises but largely things like planks mixed with other dynamic movements. Add in some of the big lifts - like squats or dead lifts - as they help build overall muscle. Those will all help strengthen your core and overall body. Solid state cardio mixed with HIIT will also help - but again, doing this in a calorie deficit absolutely sucks - did I mention that already? Don't think I did so I'll say it a second time - it absolutely sucks. 

If your target goal is like the people you see on magazines and on tv, you'll have to also add in the 'Liver King' primal stack that consists of enough testosterone and steroids to blow your kidneys up. Also realize that they rarely walk around in life at that physique and if they do, it's their job to keep them. 

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I wish I had a good reason for not having good abs.  I don’t like caloric deficits.  That sounds like I know something about the topic but I do not.  I had never even heard the term caloric deficit until I started using WSO.  

monkey795

At what body fat percentage did you get abs? Also did doing ab exercises cause your abs to look materially different and / or reveal themselves at a slightly higher body fat percentage?

Ab exercises strengthen your abs and core which is important, but showing defined abs is largely related to your body fat percentage. Burn a ton of calories and you'll get abs. I'm not a proponent of aiming for a calorie deficit. I think the best way is to target burning 3500 - 5000 calories per day, which takes time. If you burn 5000 calories in a day, eating 4000 calories will still feel like you're eating a lot of food. In 2019, I averaged 3500 - 5500 calories burned per day, which took me 3 - 5 hours of working out per day. I was swimming, running, cycling, doing Muay Thai and BJJ as well as gym exercises. I had a lot more time back then to workout. I'm also a big proponent of the stair stepper machine. 

Also, to note I did two 70.3 half Ironman triathlons in 2019 and also a full 140.6 Ironman that year, so I needed a lot of volume in cardio training. 

While I agree with the general sentiment that abs are typically made in the kitchen than the gym, I do personally think it's important to do some training of them to help them grow. I used to only do compound lifts, which do certainly work the core to some extent, without any direct ab work but saw way better results when I treated my abs like my arms did some targeted exercises toward them. Not saying they'll ever be the main focus of my workout (my routine is PPL at least 5x a week unless work is absolutely nuts FWIW), but I don't think there's any harm in doing a few sets of weighted cable crunches and hanging leg raises at the end of my workout to help them grow a little more.

I think doing hundreds of crunches is a waste of time, but any type of ab work that involves resistance beyond just your body weight is definitely beneficial IMO.

Olympic lifts, clean diet, hard conditioning

“Compound lifts are enough to train abs”

All depends on how strong you want your abs to be and how defined once you actually cut weight and body fat low enough to have visible abs. Focusing on core movements such as hanging leg raises, ab rollouts on a wheel, and contracting my abs as hard as possible while doing cardio made me feel much stronger. You should be able to be punched in the gut while contracting your core, and while it’ll sting, you shouldn’t feel like you’re gonna throw up.

I don’t see how people can adequately train their core through compound movements alone. I run a 6 day PPL and train abs Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for around 15 minutes each day. It’s not much, but I believe it’s necessary to do targeted training of the abs.

Then you can get into more specifics like excluding obliques if you want that V taper, but that’s so advanced that I doubt 99% of this site’s users we’ll ever be in that dilemma.

Abs are made in the kitchen, but working them directly during training is where the seasoning comes from.

Maybe there’s some science to backup the idea that compound movements are enough for abs, but I’ve never thought that to be the case. My abs have always visibly looked better when I trained them in a focused, isolated manner. I’m a big proponent of training abs like any other muscle. Perhaps with more rep volume like calves. But I believe in adding weight and hitting your abs in some way a couple times a week. Just my two cents

10-12%.

Would recommend:

-get down to 15% before you even start building muscle

-build muscle for 6-8 months

-do 6 weeks of calories deficit so that abs show and you look amazing

How aesthetic they look will mostly come down to genetics. If you have asymmetrical, wide or a low amount of abs (less than 6), it won't look good.

Make sure you don't work obliques unless you're an athlete that needs core strength, because it'll contribute to having a blocky waist (and thus less of a line compared to your chest, lats and shoulders). Aesthetics physique-wise is all about proportions. Raw size and vascularity comes second.

This will help you:

30 minutes before your workout-15 incline, 3 speed treadmill walk with 30 pound weighted vest (don't hold bars).

All good advice above on working out. 

Would add, what do you picture when you say "abs". As above, its all about genetics. Someone can naturally get an 8-pack while others can only get 2-4 abs to show. 

Also, don't look at someone who is chemically enhanced as a model for someone want to copy (unless you're trying to take something yourself). 

End of the day, decide what you need abs for. Abs wont' get you a better job/promotion (unless you're a model), most women as they can older care about abs but have a lot more in front of them (most 24 year old chicks would prob go on a flabby guys yacht than sit in a 600 sq ft apartment with a dude with abs). If you have time its great, I workout a lot so I get it, but I'm also not breaking my back to drop 2% of body fat. 

Your level of musculature determines what body fat % you need to be to have abs -- I'm about 15% according to my scale and have slight ab separation without flexing, but I'm on the higher end of normal BMI. If I was on the lower end, 15% would just make me look skinnyfat and I'd need to cut to probably 12%.

Do moderate cardio regularly to cut fat (and also keep your heart healthy in a high-stress industry), do compound weightlifting 3+ times a week to build muscle, and do 10 min of core exercises after your main lifts. If you aren't starting from skeleton or obesity you'll see abs within 9-12 months. 

You can usually see the upper abdominals around 13% BF, then the full abs around 10% BF. This is assuming you have average fat distribution in your abs, as different people hold different fat levels in different places. Ab workouts won't give you visible abs if they are not visible, but once they are visible it makes a difference, especially if your workout hits the serratus anterior muscle.

Train your balls off

high protein, low carb diet and abs will happen naturally if you workout 

Coming from someone who is a certified personal trainer and lifelong fitness junkie. Roughly 12% you’ll start to see general shape, at 10% they should start to look real good. Keep in mind it’s different for everyone. Also, and are made in the kitchen unless you are a teenager it’s tough to have abs with a shitty diet - not just calories but quality too

Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym.

OP this is a VERY dangerous line of thinking. Don't you know about the oppressive history of exercise? Educate yourself before spouting this kind of hateful rhetoric on this forum!!!

Traps are the new abs. 
 

Anyway, abs are visible for wildly different body fat percentages based on where you carry your fat in your body, and where your fat collects between your muscle and skin. Some people have “pinchable” fat on their stomach, but their abs show through.

people often forget to increase the load when doing ab exercises. Make sure to up the load (not only the number of reps). The best ab exercises bring the pelvic girdle towards the sternum/rib cage. Things like planks and twists are not as effective as a weighted decline sit-up. 

Good advice above especially re: compound lifts. Diet part should be common sense but high protein, 300-500cal deficit daily on mostly clean foods is what you need to aim for.

Need to be really honest in tracking calories: Small tastes, little snacks, and especially cooking oils add up - you must consider them. Don’t eat nuts and nut butters. The serving sizes are dumb small and everybody overeats them. A handful of almonds is like 600 calories. They don’t even have much protein for the calorie content.

Couple other points:

1) I do like adding some direct ab training - necessary? No. But it helps - you should want a strong core for other reasons anyway. Planks (look up variations, add weight, good form). Pallof presses (look em up). Leg raises & rollouts like others mentioned.

2) Incline walking on the treadmill - 15min a day at 3.5+ mph, 15% incline will give you some extra breathing room on your calorie deficit and isn’t taxing on your body.

3) Some merit IMO in eating exactly the same things every day (or close to it, maybe a couple rotational options). If it works, no sense adding decision variability to the equation and it makes tracking calories a breeze.

If you want anti-lock brakes systems, just look at cars post 1988. BMI doesn't matter for that one.

Eat clean - small portions throughout the day, tons of water 1-1.5 gallon(s), lift 4-5x a week, 2 days dedicated to cardio along with core. It’s pretty bleak, or you could take sarms. But Chest & Back are by far the most important attributes imo

I recently did a body fat test at a La fitness and their personal trainer/scale claim around 12-13% for a male in his 20’s you’ll have a 4 pack at least (maybe a six with decent ab genetics but that obviously varies per person)

So I’d say 12-13% maybe? I’m 14% and have a 4 pack coming along so it doesn’t seem too far fetched

Your focus should on being in a calorie deficit, that is by far the most important thing. Everything else is secondary or even quite irrelevant.

Working out helps but people often extremely overestimate how much calories are burned with exercise, even if you go all out with your sessions.

I prefer high protein, moderate carbs and low fat diet when cutting,, because of the calorie denseness of fat and I do strength training daily so I like the carbs as fuel for my workouts.

Ab training is not necessary , I only do vacuum pumps and hanging leg raises for abs couple of times a week. You train your abs also with a lot of compound moves like squat, deadlifts etc.