The best ab exercises are: deadlifts, overhead presses, cleans, rope pulls, overhead figure 8’s, and pull-ups with a dumbbell between your feet. Not the exercises you were expecting? Isolation abdominal exercises don’t induce enough stress compared to high-load compound exercises. It all goes back to load. Focus 75% of your time on performing the aforementioned exercises. The other 25% of the time should be spent performing hanging pikes, decline sit-ups, inch worms, side bends, and cable crunches.
This is all news to me (which as a beginner i find most things fall under that category). I was under the impression that cable crunches are high load exercises.
What are people’s opinion on this tip?
Also, what are ‘overhead figure 8’s’ and ‘rope pulls.’
I have done crunches, sit ups, and even tried the crazy, lame-ass ab machines, but nothing has affected my stomach like the basics. My favorite is push-ups with a combined dumbell row. It kills me! Dead lifts, squats, cleans, and standing overhead presses… that’s what’s done it for me.
[quote]bigdude wrote:
That One Guy wrote:
tried the pullups with the dumbell between my ankles. Abs were sore the next day…
more so than with a weighted dip belt?[/quote]
Yes, it would be like holding a leg raise while doing pull-ups. Taxing on the abdominals, and a great thing to do if you ever do back and abdominals on the same day.
Deadlifts and squats always leave me sore in the abdominal area the next day. Same with sprinting. Do like 8-10 40-yard sprints and you’ll feel it the next day. I warm up by running a mile and a half then I stretch my hamstrings and then I go into running sprints; I jog up to the starting point and gradually increase my speed and then hit full speed at the line. I think this helps prevent injuries, so I’m not starting from a sprinter’s stance.
[quote]ncscarface wrote:
Not sure about rope pulls, but I would guess for figure 8s you lay on your back, and hold your feet straight up and make figure 8s[/quote]
Not quite. CW mentioned this in an article of his or in one of his threads. You hold a heavy weight over your head, then walk in a figure 8 pattern. You can use two dumbells or a barbell. Great exercise on a GPP day.