Ab Training

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

I have a few questions inre to ab taining that has been discussed, written. 1st, in order to take advantage of the davis law, (contract a muscles antagonist in order to relax it, ie contract the tricep to relax the bicep, or more appropriate to the question, contract the glutes and force the feet into the floor to relax the hip flexors, isolating the abs…
I have an ab bench and cannot seem to keep the tension from my feet into the floor to perform a janda sit up. Am I just pathetically weak or is there a trick that I can employ to drive my feet into the floor?


I also have a suggestion inre to some of the trunk exercises that Paul Chek presented in the paper mag. I really like the single arm cable push, but couldn’t execute with the precision that I would have liked. What I did was sit on a bench, adjusted the height of the pulley to be even with my shoulder, both in height and horzontal positioning. I focused on driving my feet into the ground while extending first my left arm out and across my body to be in line with my right knee like throwing an elongated punch. I hope y’all can picture this, but if you can’t, pick up #3, page 109, figure 8. I was pretty weak, I must admit. I was stronger in the version in the mag, but my form sucked. alternated sides 2 sets.
then did ax chop, 2 sets alternating sides. (ax chop is pulling a pulley from across and above the body, rotating across the body to the other side and down, just like the name implies)
3rd reversed this instead of the Full contact Twists, as presented by Chris Shugart in “evolution of ab training” here in t-mag. (acceptable alternative?)
4th, ab bench crunch, attempting the janda type crunch, but was ridiculously weak.Didn’t even bother with the wal-mart ab wheel, I was roasted.


Is my order screwed? I can’t do the ab bench 1st, its at my house, I dont have a cable crossover station nor do I want to fatigue my trunk before squatting.
What about splitting my ab work to 2 different days, doing my rotational work on day 1, janda ab bench crunches and wal mart wheel on day 2, two on, 2 off?

2

I would suggest trying the following: split your ab training up into a lower abdominal day and an upper abdominal day. In other words, do lower and lateral exercises on your upper body days. Examples would be “thin tummy”, leg lifts on a swiss ball, oblique crunches, side raises, etc. On lower body days, train upper abs and rotational exercises. Examples would be swiss ball crunches (weighted or normal), Ian King’s “slow up/slow down” exercise, variations of the russian twist, Paul Chek’s woodchop and reverse woodchop, and/or Shugart’s full-contact twists. Remember, as with any muscle variety is the key. Put them first in your workouts at times, middle and last at others. Loading as well as reps and sets should be changed frequently as well. This should give you a general outline to work from. Good luck!