Guy McDude
New member
I'm 25 and I've been exercising my abs since I was about 15. I think I've had a 4 pack for about 9 years, it was fairly easy to get, but I've been unable to progress to the famed 6 pack no matter how hard I tried. Over the last 6 months, I've been doing 200 crunches or 140 leg raises (in 2 series of 70) every 2nd or 3rd day. Of course, I didn't only do those two exercises, this is just for a point of reference. Yet, I've had minimal results, despite a diet of meat, eggs, peanut butter, vegetables, etc. I've been able to feel my lower abs for years even when relaxed, but they just won't show, and I'm not fat at all (my BMI is 21.7).
I started getting exhausted recently, so I reduced the intensity to 100 leg raises (other exercises proportionally). I decided I had progressed as much as my body could support and I switched from aiming at gains to just maintenance.
A week ago I danced with a very skinny girl friend. One move required that I grab her waist. I expected a skinny girl like her that doesn't exercise would be delicately soft (had only touched a cute chubby girl that way before, and never touched a man), but her abs were twice as hard as mine! She was standing up dancing, but her abs were completely relaxed. She didn't have a 6 pack or even a 4 pack, but her abs were very tense and hard, almost like wood. It felt like grabbing a set of two fully inflated bicycle tires. My own feel more like semi inflated ones when standing up relaxed in the same position, at that moment when you realise you need to pump some more air in your bike again.
Are all people supposed to have abs this hard, both skinny and under fat? Do women naturally have harder abs than men? I've always thought it was the opposite and I've always thought my abs were very strong, now my ego is shattered and I think they are very weak. I simply don't have the energy to increase exercise intensity any further. I've never been this insecure before.
I started getting exhausted recently, so I reduced the intensity to 100 leg raises (other exercises proportionally). I decided I had progressed as much as my body could support and I switched from aiming at gains to just maintenance.
A week ago I danced with a very skinny girl friend. One move required that I grab her waist. I expected a skinny girl like her that doesn't exercise would be delicately soft (had only touched a cute chubby girl that way before, and never touched a man), but her abs were twice as hard as mine! She was standing up dancing, but her abs were completely relaxed. She didn't have a 6 pack or even a 4 pack, but her abs were very tense and hard, almost like wood. It felt like grabbing a set of two fully inflated bicycle tires. My own feel more like semi inflated ones when standing up relaxed in the same position, at that moment when you realise you need to pump some more air in your bike again.
Are all people supposed to have abs this hard, both skinny and under fat? Do women naturally have harder abs than men? I've always thought it was the opposite and I've always thought my abs were very strong, now my ego is shattered and I think they are very weak. I simply don't have the energy to increase exercise intensity any further. I've never been this insecure before.