If
you're getting ready to bare your mid-section for the summer months or
potentially escaping the cold for a warm vacation, getting washboard
abs is probably something you would love to take with you. Potentially
the top request personal trainer's hear everywhere is with regards to
tightening these muscles. Face it, washboard abs not only look great,
but, they also signify the holy grail of fitness.

One
big misconception that some people have regarding getting a washboard
stomach is that you should be working all these muscles separately.
Because these individuals often envision the so-called '6-pack', they
think that you can divide this muscle up, working on it section by
section.

Without a
clean diet, six pack abs will never be yours. One thing you must
realize is that while exercise is important, it's only going to take
you so far. No matter how many crunches or sit-up variations you
perform, if you've got a solid layer of fat covering your stomach, your
muscles are not going to be seen.

Unfortunately, this simply isn't true.

While the abs definitely do consist of a few different muscles, all
of these muscles are going to contract simultaneously, helping perform
whatever movement is being asked of it. You can definitely target
certain areas slightly more than others, but overall, you cannot solely
isolate any one of the muscles in particular.

So,
having said that, try not to do too many isolated ab exercises during
your workout. While these can be nice in a sense that you'll likely
really 'feel the burn', they aren't going to work as many muscle fibers
as possible - which is your primary goal with any weight lifting
session you perform.

The
better thing to instead, is to do exercises that decrease your balance
because that is what best calls your muscles into action.

Think doing ab crunches on the floor is good? Move those crunches onto an stability exercise ball.

This
applies for other calisthenic exercises as well. Performing a set of
push-ups? Why not move those onto an exercise ball as well? It's the
perfect opportunity to really challenge those muscles and help develop washboard abs.
Simply place an exercise ball under your arms or under your feet and
push-up from there. If you're really ambitious, try both at the same
time (note, use a spotter when doing this as there is a good chance
you'll roll off until you gain the skill necessary to balance).

The
only time when you don't want to decrease your stability too much,
however, is when you're lifting very heavy weights in major compound
lifts (such as squats for instance). This could prove to be very
dangerous because one small movement in the wrong direction due to
being off balance could cause your form to go and that could lead to a
severe injury.

So, keep your destabilization work to exercises that are performed with your body weight or very light weights.

By following these principles though, you can be sure that washboard abs are on their way for you.