The Secret to a “Ripped” Core (NOT JUST DIET!) – ATHLEAN-X™

The complete workout and nutrition system

It goes without saying that getting a ripped core relies heavily on having a good diet plan and low body fat levels. That said, there is one powerful muscle combo that, when trained, can give you a much more ripped looking midsection even if you aren’t necessarily at single digit body fat levels yet. In this video, I show you how important the obliques and serratus are for creating a tapered or more visually defined core.

Men store the majority of their body fat in their lower abs and bellies. When they start to lose fat they usually do so from the top down. They will see thinning out in their faces and necks first and then it proceeds to show slimming in their chests and upper abs. In fact, many men will have very visible top two abs but see nothing below their belly button. This is common, and something that you should take advantage of in your training to look more ripped.

The external obliques and serratus anterior muscles actually work together by virtue of their close proximity in the body. Your core muscles that you commonly focus on (like your six pack abs) are actually framed from the sides and angled above by these two muscles. Not only this, but these muscles are composed of many smaller bands that give the appearance of more muscle definition.

Based on the fact that you can generally start to see some definition in these muscles first, you will want to be sure that you train them in order to take advantage of their tapering effect. Here I show you a single core exercise you can do with a ball or a bench if you don’t have a ball. The move requires that you learn how to push your arms away from your body without letting your elbows bend at all.

Start the exercise by assuming a plank position over top of the ball with your arms outstretched and holding onto the sides of the ball. Be sure to keep your elbows straight and then push yourself as far away from the ball as you can. From here, activate the obliques by driving one knee across your body towards the opposite elbow. Slowly return it to the starting position and alternate to lift the other knee across to the other elbow. Keep alternating reps until you can’t maintain the serratus activation or the core muscles fatigue.

If you want a complete workout program that trains your core muscles that way they are meant to be trained and also includes a day by day meal plan for helping you get cut up enough to show off insane muscle definition, be sure to head to and get the ATHLEAN-X Training System.

For more videos on how to train your obliques and how to get six pack abs, be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at

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