CT… I know you have said it does not matter what abs exercises you choose but how you execute them. I found in a previous spill that you mentioned which abs exercises you liked to use. I was wondering if these were still the ones you were using or if you liked different ones now.
Here is the list…high pulley cable crunch on a swiss ball, standing cable crunch, swiss ball crunch with a dumbbell on the chest…garhammer raise, double crunch, swiss ball crunch, hanging leg raise…kneeling cable crunch + swiss ball crunch, serratus crunch with legs elevated + knees pull-in.
The reason I am asking is because I have a hard time “feeling” my abs work during ab work.
What do you feel when you do hanging leg raises? I find that it’s hard to NOT feel your abs on those, especially if you raise and lower your legs slowly.
You could try negatives to feel the abs on those? Do a double knee raise, then straighten your legs out in front and slowly lower.
Once you know what it feels like, you should be able to figure out how to feel them on all those exercises.
The tip that worked the best for me is bracing as if you’re going to get punched in the stomach. We all know that reflex, right? That tension, throughout the concentric and eccentric execution is vital. The exercise you do really doesn’t matter that much, as long as that intensity is there.
I’m thinking I was not doing them slow enough and keeping tension. At some point during the movement I would lose tension and not feel them working anymore. I will have to focus on going slow and squeezing as much as possible. Abs is kind of like working arms for me, I find it very boring and lose focus quickly. I did standing cable crunches tonight and they felt pretty good.