Abs Exercises, Abs Myths, Abs Tips!
 

I am writing a feature article in February on everyone's favorite topic...abs.

What I would like to know from you:

1) What are your favorite exercises for building abs thickness?
2) Do you have any favorite abs workouts, yours or a workout by another athlete?
3) What do you feel are the biggest myths about abs, having great abs, developing abs, whatever...???
4) Do you have any abs-related training or dieting tips, tricks, etc.?

...anything else on abs that you would like to get off your chest, or...err...stomach?

1) for ab thickness i really like that cable rope crunches and weighted decline sit-ups

2) one of my favorite workouts is to alt. between weighted exercises and bodyweight:
example:
Cable Crunches: 3-4 sets of 8-12
Roman Chair Leg Raises: 3-4 sets to failure making sure its controlled motion
Decline Weighted Crunches: 3-4 sets of 8-12
Briefcase crunches: 3-4 sets to failure making sure its controlled motion

3) one of the main myths i believe is people thinking that doing crunches and abs everyday is going to give you a six pack. It really all comes down to diet and lowering your bf% in order to have your abs show. There are also many sides to how to train abs. Some don't train abs directly because they believe doing the compound lifts and keeping your core tight will train your abs enough and the other side thinks different. I feel you have to see what works for you.

4) sorry btb, i have no tricks

Thanks D. Good stuff.

Everything that lets u use a heavy weight and a free rom (no ab machines please!)


I like doing Cable crunches to near failure (10-15 reps) and directly afterwards some bw exercise to failure for 3-5 sets, short rested.
3 sets of very high incline situps, almost vertical with a slow negative and explosive contraction, 10-15 reps.

*That doing 300 bw crunches a day will get you a six pack. I havent tried it but its no different from other muscles - it reacts to progressive overload much better than to repeated motion in terms of growth.


I work my abs mostly to get a good posture and to get abpressure up and stabilize my lower back while squatting and deadlifting, thats the purpose and its a core stabilizing muscle. Squatting, deadlifting, OHP, powercleans etc etc will target your abs in a way or another. Lots of compound movement will and i have experienced ab soreness without doing any direct ab work several times.

With this said, i belive that incorporating direct abwork into your heavy routine is a good thing, but it should not be focused upon. If your dieting and lifting heavy, and losing bf while, adding 10-15 mins of weighted abwork a couple of times a week, that will be enough imo.

What would you consider the best non-direct, non-isolation exercises for abs to be? Squats?

Carl.

Does doing abs every day really help build muscle?

NO definitel not. you wouldnt train every other muscle everyday and expecrt to see results so why do the abs ??? Train them with the same methodology as any other muscle. no more than twice pr week with resistence will definitely be sufficient to see results. remember you are using the core on a lot of the big compound lifts too, so training them directly everyday as well is just gonna lead to overkill.

Carl.

^ Like Carl said...the "abs everyday" mentality is misguided. The thought is...more work equals defined abs. This is not the case. As with all muscle groups, abs training should be quality first, not quantity.

I'm in the camp of heavy compounds will hit your abs to a high degree.
Squats, deadlifts and varients of.

There are no tricks to ab work.

A fork is your greatest tool to having abs that you can see

Hanging leg raises are one of my staples for direct ab work. Even those involve hips to a high degree.

I think ab work falls inline with arm work in most peoples minds. They want to focus on the show muscle, without realizing the go muscles are what they should be working.