Why Training Abs Isn’t Worth It (Yet): Focus on Strength First

Let’s be real—everyone wants abs. But if you’re new to lifting and still carrying a higher body fat percentage, obsessing over ab workouts isn’t going to do much for you. Yeah, you might “feel the burn” after endless sets of crunches, but will you see a six-pack? Not a chance.

Here’s the truth: if you’re just starting out, your time is better spent getting stronger and dropping body fat first rather than hammering your abs in hopes they’ll magically appear. And in some cases, training your abs too soon might actually make your stomach look bigger. Let’s break it down.

Abs Won’t Show If They’re Covered in Fat

This is the part no one wants to hear, but it’s the reality. If your body fat percentage is too high, you can do all the sit-ups in the world, but your abs will stay hidden. The only way to actually see your abs is to lower your body fat through proper training and nutrition. That means focusing on the big picture—getting stronger, building muscle, and eating in a way that supports fat loss.

A solid lifting program like Starting Strength, 5×5, or a well-structured bodybuilding routine will do more for your physique than crunching your life away. Why? Because those programs prioritize compound lifts—squats, deadlifts, overhead presses—all of which heavily engage your core without wasting time on endless ab circuits.

Bigger Abs Can Make Your Stomach Look Bigger

Here’s something most people don’t think about: when you train a muscle, it grows. And if you’re still carrying excess body fat, building up the muscles under that fat can actually push your stomach out even more—making your midsection look bigger, not leaner.

Think about it like this: if you put a thick blanket over a basketball, the basketball is still going to push the blanket outward. That’s what happens when you do a ton of ab work while still holding onto extra fat—it just builds thicker muscles under the fat, making your waist appear even blockier.

That’s why powerlifters and strongmen have insanely strong cores but often have wider waists. Their ab muscles are dense and thick, but without a low enough body fat percentage, there’s no visible six-pack—just a rock-solid trunk built for strength, not aesthetics.

Strength Training Builds a Stronger Core Without the Fluff

Here’s the good news: you don’t need to do endless direct ab work to build a powerful core. If you’re lifting heavy with barbells instead of machines, your abs will get worked naturally.

• Squats force your core to stabilize under heavy loads.
• Deadlifts challenge your entire midsection to stay braced and rigid.
• Overhead presses require full-body tension, including your abs.

If you focus on getting stronger in these movements first, your core will develop alongside the rest of your body without wasting time on sit-ups and leg raises. Then, once you’re leaner and more experienced in the gym, that’s the time to start adding in focused ab work to refine your six-pack.

When Should You Start Training Abs?

If you’ve built a solid foundation of strength and dropped enough body fat to where your abs are starting to peek through, then it makes sense to train them directly. At that point, adding in weighted ab exercises like hanging leg raises, cable crunches, and ab rollouts can help carve out definition.

But if you’re still in the early stages of training and holding onto extra weight? Skip the crunches, get strong first, and let your abs develop naturally through big, heavy lifts. Once you’ve put in the work where it actually matters, then you can start sculpting your core.

Focus on What Actually Matters

If you’re new to lifting, forget about chasing abs for now. You’ll make way better progress by following a real strength program, eating right, and building a foundation of muscle before worrying about direct ab work.

Your core will get stronger just by lifting heavy and doing things right. And once you’re lean enough for abs to show, that’s when it’s worth dialing in the details. Until then? Put down the ab wheel, pick up a barbell, and get strong first.