How to get "cut" abs?

Decline leg lifts are great for lower abs. Lay on a decline bench, (or a slide, or something), grab hold of the top with your arms, and raise your legs up up UP and over your head, if you're flexible enough. Do 20 of those, 3 sets. You'll feel the burn immediately.

Try doing what http://www.johnstonefitness.com/ did.

I've seen the bulging gut described by taumeson, but I'm pretty sure you have to be abusing steroids/hgh to get this effect, hence the term "'roid gut". that's fair. i've never heard of "roid gut" ... prolly cause i'm not a bodybuilder :) but i've seen a LOT of that major gut. it's a soldier thing, from my experience. soldiers don't have low low body fat. Visible abs from 400 crunches are probably a result of the fat loss more than the muscle growth. well, uh...yeah! but it's helping the abs get denser, which will help you have a solid six pack. and 400 crunches aren't that much when you're not doing them 5 seconds per. that's a great way of building muscle, no doubt, but if you're doing them aerobically... it's not a difficult amount to reach. i've never been a major fan of "bodybuilding" cause often the muscle isn't that dense. we're not talking competition bodybuilding here...guys in competition shape are big AND dense. i mean, they're doing the right thing. but most bodybuilders i've met who aren't in competition form...well they have what i call "beefcake", that is, big water-filled muscle. they're not as "hard" as a soldier or marine straight out of boot-camp...and when you say you want to be CUT...well, i think of what i looked like out of OCS.

I was doing everything wrong. I had my feet under a barbell to keep me down and would do slow situps to build muscle. As noted above, I completely disagree with taumeson. I think you were on the right track. You will see more progress if you a) add weight and b) lose fat so you can see the muscles in question. No progression in weight = no progression in muscle size. I've seen the bulging gut described by taumeson, but I'm pretty sure you have to be abusing steroids/hgh to get this effect, hence the term "'roid gut".

oooh, one more completely different idea. take up some form of energetic latin partner dance, such as samba or tango. you will lose body fat, have fun, and meet a lot of goodlooking women or gay men, depending on your preference.

On top of dieting, do situps with a basketball and a partner on a decline (head below knees) board. Have the partner throw the ball to you over your head, and catch the ball as you sit back. On the way back up, throw the ball back. Then have your partner throw the ball to one side, and catch the ball with one hand as you go back.Again, throw (sidearm lob) the ball back as you sit up. Then do it straight again, then to the other side. This will build up your obliques as well as your abs. Only do a couple rounds the first time; the first time I did this routine, I did it till I couldn't sit up, and my abs hurt for *weeks* from overexertion. The other option is lots and lots of sex. ;)

The bodyfat thing is highly variable. I start to show abs somewhere around 12%, other men don't until below 10%. Nonetheless, you can have big strong abs and they'll be invisible until you have lost enough fat. The size of your abs does make a difference, and here I must differ with those who advocate 15 squillion crunches 27 hours per day. That may promote growth, but there are much quicker ways. Visible abs from 400 crunches are probably a result of the fat loss more than the muscle growth. (This isn't to say that those hi-rep every day approaches won't help, but I think my way will help more). If you want hypertrophy (fancy word for muscle growth) then you must train appropriately. In my mind this would mean *weighted* crunches, no more than 3 sets of 10, no more than three times per week, and increasing the weight by a small amount regularly. Do them reasonably slowly, 2s up, pause, 2s down. The best way to achieve this is to use a machine, if you have access to a gym that has one. If you don't, do ordinary crunches with a weight held to your upper chest. Start with a soup can and work up from there. And, if you don't want to have back problems from your unbalanced physique, start thinking about how to train your back. I prefer stiff-legged deadlifts myself. There is no point in stripping fat if there isn't anything to show underneath, and if you don't have developed abs there won't be much by way of muscle to give those coveted ridges and bumps. Whichever approach you take, be careful with your crunch form. Arms behind the head can lead to neck strain. Many people think it's better to have them gently crossed over your chest with your hands on your shoulders. Don't throw yourself up; using momentum defeats the purpose. And don't go all the way up - once your abs are maximally contracted all you are doing is working your hip flexors. Overdeveloped hip flexors lead to an unnatural forward tilt of the hips, and thence to back pain, and you don't want that. And stay away from those leg raise contraptions; they likewise don't really target your abs, they really work the hip flexors. Your abs feel sore in leg raises because they are used for stabilisation but other muscles are doing the lifting. If you can stand the heat of a flame-filled kitchen, go hang out in misc.fitness.weights for a while. They'll set you straight (having righteously abused you first).

Best advice I ever got was "Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym." Diet is the big key - you can crunch until you heave but if you don't lose fat it's not gonna show. You're going to lose weight first where you gained it last. For men, abdominal fat hangs on to the bitter end (less so for women). It wasn't until I got wheat out to reduce bloating and did 1 hour of cardio 3x a week on an empty stomach, plus a diet of low GI carbs (why does bread taunt me so!) that I really started to strip it down. (Plus, ditto with all the stuff about photo retouching - wish someone would do http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/27571 for men's fitness models)

Don't forget tv adds weight so the people you see may be thinner in person than what you may think. Bet Britney Spears eats like a bird besides the 400 sit-ups she says she does daily maintaining her abbs. Check out Bruce Lee's training after he injured his back that gave him his body you see in his Chinese movies.