Whoever came up with that “I don’t need to train abs because I squat/deadlift” bullshit was one lazy motherfucker.
eh?
Building bigger abs for me came with heavy ab training(Weight behind head, incline sit ups/twists, weighted leg lifts for the V Squats).
Doing crunches and sit ups for a duration of time never did shit for me except for spot-reduction of fat, but very little fat was lost by those means.
In my experience, you can be a skinny little prick and see your “abs” with what little definition you have, but big Roman-sculpted abs always came from heavy ab training with pyramid and reverse pyramid sets, and then cutting up your fat %.
Hope i helped.
2 years ago I got anorexicly skinny and had some abs but I looked hella scrawny. My bf on the caliper calculator was around 3 or 4%.
I started doing squats and deads along with heavy weighted situps. I started eating to grow. Now when I am under 12% I can see my abs and they are like bricks.
I can situp 100 lbs on my chest for 2 sets of 15. Adding weight is how you get the improvement. When you do the situp, you need to crunch the weight with your abs first and then finish the lift by using the hip flexors. I almost always feel sore on my abs. I do them after squats on deadlifts every friday.
Weighted exercises work. That’s why every ab machine in the gym has weights. I can get on those machines and max them out for reps. Weighted situps are king!
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion though.
I used to believe that just doing my squats and deadlifts would get my abs strong.
Boy was I stupid for believing that shit.
[quote]eggowned wrote:
I used to believe that just doing my squats and deadlifts would get my abs strong.
Boy was I stupid for believing that shit.[/quote]
For real. I used to think that rows, chins, presses, and dips would take care of my arms.
Ya, at least I’m still young and can make up for my first stupid years of training. boo-ya!
yupppp
When it comes to ab recruitment, there is a huge difference between a regular squat or dl and variations like zercher squats and suitcase deads.
A core stability day could look like this:
warmup exercises: one unilateral db snatch, followed by a turkish getup (in this case: down and up again); for a few reps,
both sides for a set, then bilateral for another set.
Do this twice for six sets altogether
main course, arrange sets and reps as you like:
front plank immediately followed by front squad
side plank immediately followed by suitcase deadlift
hanging leg raises or similar exercise from the pull up bar (rather lose fashion to break up potential spine stiffness from the deads and squats)
rotational exercise, because it’s constantly overlooked
heavy isolated core stability exercise, something where you don’t move the torso and work purely isometric. Don’t know the labels here, the cable tower is your friend.
dessert:
traditional ab exercise, rep away.
Better: work with an unstable element which suits you best (ie: you don’t find totally unmanly) medcine ball, wobbly board, slosh pipe …
[quote]eggowned wrote:
I used to believe that just doing my squats and deadlifts would get my abs strong.
Boy was I stupid for believing that shit.[/quote]
Thats about all of the ab work I do.
I have found that my abdominal muscles are growing faster than my legs (proportionally speaking). Yes, I have decreased my fat %, but not really by that much. Not concerned with visible ab development really, but squats and deadlifts definately seem to be enough for decent abdominal development.
The above pic is roughly 2 months old.
Current
Edit: I know I am a scrawny bastard. I am/have been working HARD on it. This is just to contrast against the statement being made about squats and deadlifts not being effective for abdominal development.
I know how much more stronger my center is due to the fact I can now take some pretty vicious blows in the ring without falling to my knees and gasping for air.
Aww shit.
You were being sarcastic.
Fuck my life.
[quote]elano wrote:
2 years ago I got anorexicly skinny and had some abs but I looked hella scrawny. My bf on the caliper calculator was around 3 or 4%.
I started doing squats and deads along with heavy weighted situps. I started eating to grow. Now when I am under 12% I can see my abs and they are like bricks.
I can situp 100 lbs on my chest for 2 sets of 15. Adding weight is how you get the improvement. When you do the situp, you need to crunch the weight with your abs first and then finish the lift by using the hip flexors. I almost always feel sore on my abs. I do them after squats on deadlifts every friday.
Weighted exercises work. That’s why every ab machine in the gym has weights. I can get on those machines and max them out for reps. Weighted situps are king!
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion though.[/quote]
Don’t know if you were aiming this post at me, but I never said resistance exercise weren’t important for building/strengthening abs. In fact every exercise I mentioned with the exception of planks uses resistance (kneeling cable crunch, chair twists, woodchoppers, etc.). Again, I wouldn’t say flexion with resistance isn’t a good way to train abs, it is. It just shouldn’t be the only way and from my experience sit-ups aren’t the most effective weighted flexion exercise. But, hey, if they are working wonders for you, stick with it.
[quote]Dissonance wrote:
Current
Edit: I know I am a scrawny bastard. I am/have been working HARD on it. This is just to contrast against the statement being made about squats and deadlifts not being effective for abdominal development.
I know how much more stronger my center is due to the fact I can now take some pretty vicious blows in the ring without falling to my knees and gasping for air.[/quote]
good work on the before and after pics, and oh thanks for jacking my thread !!! lol
What about the Ab Wheel? I know several guys that claim that is all you need, but I haven’t tried it.