Everytime I work abs I also do some obliques and lower back as well. I can see that my upper and lower abs are becoming more developed and more defined. This isn’t just a result of training the core, I’m also using the Anabolic Diet. Are there any specific exercises that work the middle abs? Thanks guys.
Obviously, a lot depends on your diet and bodyfat levels.
For specific exercises, check some of the previous issues of T-Nation. CT wrote an article or two on ab training, and a few other authors have as well.
Search my friend.
Wow, haven’t heard that one before.
Post diet and “core” exercises performed.
I think my best advice to you would be to just try different movements and see how they feel. I think ab exercises tend to have different effects on some people, so maybe just try to switch up some exercises and see how they feel.
The main ones I usually use are decline situps, side bends, bridges and cable pulldowns. I generally try to go as heavy as possible, usually between 6 and 10 reps (30-45 seconds for the bridges). Every now and then I back off and do some higher-rep work on the swiss ball.
I think you’re understanding of the “core” may be incorrect. Read Robertson’s articles about core training. A favorite of mine is 1-arm DB overhead squats.
[quote]Doug Adams wrote:
Wow, haven’t heard that one before.
Post diet and “core” exercises performed.[/quote]
As I said, I’m on the anabolic diet. It’s my 5th week.
These are some exercisices I do for my abs, obviously not all of them on one day:
Crunches on ball and alternating
Cruch on decline bench and alt.
Rope Crunches and alt.
Floor crunches
Reverse Crunch
Leg Lifts On bench and floor
other stability ball work…
[quote]jtrinsey wrote:
I think my best advice to you would be to just try different movements and see how they feel. I think ab exercises tend to have different effects on some people, so maybe just try to switch up some exercises and see how they feel.
The main ones I usually use are decline situps, side bends, bridges and cable pulldowns. I generally try to go as heavy as possible, usually between 6 and 10 reps (30-45 seconds for the bridges). Every now and then I back off and do some higher-rep work on the swiss ball.
[/quote]
Thanks for the advice, I do many of those exercises…I’m going to use more weight and see how that changes things. Thanks again.
[quote]bruinsdmb wrote:
A favorite of mine is 1-arm DB overhead squats.[/quote]
Yeah. Also, just holding a heavy dumbbell overhead for a certain period of time will really work your core. It also helps in shoulder stability, in my case, at least.
Cardinal,
I attended a Stuart McGill seminar back in November and I found his approach to core activation to be novel and enlightening. The easiest way to begin is standing in front of a mirror. Externally rotate your arms so that your palms are facing the mirror, then flare your lats, squeeze your butt, rip the floor apart with your feet and flex your “six pack” area, all while (this is key) breathing normally. This may take some practice but you’ll find that once you have mastered this level of “coactivation” the poundages on most of your lifts should go up- bench, squats, deads, curls, etc. So in summary, its obviously not an ab isolation movement, but a habitual recruiting of the abs that should ensure that you get enough volume to begin “bringing them up”. Hope that’s useful… good luck!
[quote]cardinal25 wrote:
Doug Adams wrote:
Wow, haven’t heard that one before.
Post diet and “core” exercises performed.
As I said, I’m on the anabolic diet. It’s my 5th week.
These are some exercisices I do for my abs, obviously not all of them on one day:
Crunches on ball and alternating
Cruch on decline bench and alt.
Rope Crunches and alt.
Floor crunches
Reverse Crunch
Leg Lifts On bench and floor
other stability ball work…
[/quote]
You need to stop doing so many crunches. Tony Gentilcore wrote a good piece on this in his ABCs article.
You need LOAD intensity like any other muscle group. ADD more loads a bit lower rep then hundreds of crunches even going into the 3-5 rep range.
That and lose BF%
Phill