Abs are made in the kitchen . You can train them to get stronger til the cows come home, but you aren’t going to see them if your bf% is high.
Having said that,IMO, abs are like any other muscle. Train them using different angles, sets/reps, weighted,etc…And whatever you do, train them consistently to see if there is a difference for YOU.
[quote]mom-in-MD wrote:
Abs are made in the kitchen . You can train them to get stronger til the cows come home, but you aren’t going to see them if your bf% is high.
Having said that,IMO, abs are like any other muscle. Train them using different angles, sets/reps, weighted,etc…And whatever you do, train them consistently to see if there is a difference for YOU.
[/quote]
word
Try curl squats, I know sounds stupid but best move ive ever done for mine, I actually noticed results
[quote]MattyXL wrote:
[quote]gregron wrote:
the most I ever feel my abs “work” is when i do ab roll outs or if i do single arm DB bench pressing… Thats when I feel my abs most… but I dont do them all that often[/quote]
This, I have been doing single arm DB presses pretty regularly because of shoulder issues and they really seem to hit my abs well, espescially with heavier weight.[/quote]
yeah cause when you go heavy you almost fall off the bench if you dont clinch your abs hard to stabilize yourself lol. I definitely feel my abs a lot during these
[quote]TD54 wrote:
I’d be curious to know if any of you have seen NOTICEABLE improvement by directly working abs. I guess this can be hard to judge though because bodyfat plays such a huge roll in ab definition. Im about to add in a great deal more ab work, hopefully it works.[/quote]
During my last cutting phase I did see noticeable improvement by directly working my abs; however, it was the first time this was ever the case. My core work was part of a 4-part superset. Something like 12 front squats, 12 cable wood chops, 12 reverse lunges, then 12 ab wheel rollouts with zero rest between, resting for a few minutes at the end of the circuit. Seeing noticeable results in your abs requires progression just like any other body part…i.e. more weight, more reps, more sets, less rest. Personally, I’d never recommend ever doing more than 10 min of core work in a day though. In fact, I keep usually keep it below 5.
[quote]gregron wrote:
[quote]MattyXL wrote:
[quote]gregron wrote:
the most I ever feel my abs “work” is when i do ab roll outs or if i do single arm DB bench pressing… Thats when I feel my abs most… but I dont do them all that often[/quote]
This, I have been doing single arm DB presses pretty regularly because of shoulder issues and they really seem to hit my abs well, espescially with heavier weight.[/quote]
yeah cause when you go heavy you almost fall off the bench if you dont clinch your abs hard to stabilize yourself lol. I definitely feel my abs a lot during these[/quote]
EXACTLY
[quote]jskrabac wrote:
[quote]TD54 wrote:
I’d be curious to know if any of you have seen NOTICEABLE improvement by directly working abs. I guess this can be hard to judge though because bodyfat plays such a huge roll in ab definition. Im about to add in a great deal more ab work, hopefully it works.[/quote]
During my last cutting phase I did see noticeable improvement by directly working my abs; however, it was the first time this was ever the case. My core work was part of a 4-part superset. Something like 12 front squats, 12 cable wood chops, 12 reverse lunges, then 12 ab wheel rollouts with zero rest between, resting for a few minutes at the end of the circuit. Seeing noticeable results in your abs requires progression just like any other body part…i.e. more weight, more reps, more sets, less rest. Personally, I’d never recommend ever doing more than 10 min of core work in a day though. In fact, I keep usually keep it below 5.[/quote]
So you lost BF and could see your abs? Or do you think it was the combo of exercises or both?
Better question would be, do you all think that one has to do direct ab work at all to see abs as long as they are at a low enough BF% to see them?
my 8 yr old has a 6 pack and he doesn’t ‘work his abs.’ lol
But I think you shouldn’t count it out. Ab work still makes for strong abs and has carry over into other lifts.
Front raises with barbell/plate, one-arm dumbbell at a time isn’t as good.
barbell curls
chin ups
front squats
Also LifeFitness crunch machine is amazing (See pic). When I do anywhere from 8-20 reps on this machine I get a very deep intense contraction that is as painful, if not more so, than a long hard set of calf raises/leg curls.
[quote]mom-in-MD wrote:
[quote]jskrabac wrote:
[quote]TD54 wrote:
I’d be curious to know if any of you have seen NOTICEABLE improvement by directly working abs. I guess this can be hard to judge though because bodyfat plays such a huge roll in ab definition. Im about to add in a great deal more ab work, hopefully it works.[/quote]
During my last cutting phase I did see noticeable improvement by directly working my abs; however, it was the first time this was ever the case. My core work was part of a 4-part superset. Something like 12 front squats, 12 cable wood chops, 12 reverse lunges, then 12 ab wheel rollouts with zero rest between, resting for a few minutes at the end of the circuit. Seeing noticeable results in your abs requires progression just like any other body part…i.e. more weight, more reps, more sets, less rest. Personally, I’d never recommend ever doing more than 10 min of core work in a day though. In fact, I keep usually keep it below 5.[/quote]
So you lost BF and could see your abs? Or do you think it was the combo of exercises or both?
Better question would be, do you all think that one has to do direct ab work at all to see abs as long as they are at a low enough BF% to see them?
my 8 yr old has a 6 pack and he doesn’t ‘work his abs.’ lol
But I think you shouldn’t count it out. Ab work still makes for strong abs and has carry over into other lifts.
[/quote]
Your son hasnt gone through puberty yet. His fat distribution pattern will change big time. Even the smallest layer of fat will blur out abs that arent sufficiently hypertrophied.
As the rest of your muscles get bigger it makes sense to make your abs somewhat bigger as well. But the main part of having a 6 pack is the depth of the tendon attachments in the rectus abdominus. Shallow muscle bellies will ruin any chance of having a midsection like those seen on fitness models.
[quote]mom-in-MD wrote:
[quote]jskrabac wrote:
[quote]TD54 wrote:
I’d be curious to know if any of you have seen NOTICEABLE improvement by directly working abs. I guess this can be hard to judge though because bodyfat plays such a huge roll in ab definition. Im about to add in a great deal more ab work, hopefully it works.[/quote]
During my last cutting phase I did see noticeable improvement by directly working my abs; however, it was the first time this was ever the case. My core work was part of a 4-part superset. Something like 12 front squats, 12 cable wood chops, 12 reverse lunges, then 12 ab wheel rollouts with zero rest between, resting for a few minutes at the end of the circuit. Seeing noticeable results in your abs requires progression just like any other body part…i.e. more weight, more reps, more sets, less rest. Personally, I’d never recommend ever doing more than 10 min of core work in a day though. In fact, I keep usually keep it below 5.[/quote]
So you lost BF and could see your abs? Or do you think it was the combo of exercises or both?
Better question would be, do you all think that one has to do direct ab work at all to see abs as long as they are at a low enough BF% to see them?
my 8 yr old has a 6 pack and he doesn’t ‘work his abs.’ lol
But I think you shouldn’t count it out. Ab work still makes for strong abs and has carry over into other lifts.
[/quote]
I think a lot of that has to do with how your abs naturally look. Some people have more pronounced abs than others.
I know for me personally, I rarely do any direct ab work. I know that I should but after doing the big heavy stuff the last thing I wanna do at the end of my workout is abs. So I hardly do anything for my abs and you’ve seen pictures of how they look. Nothing insane but there are some abs down there with basically no direct ab work.
I think you just have to have a decent amount of leanness to see the abs… If that is jskrabac in his avatar his ab development is definitely due to low BF cause he’s pretty shredded but his abs arent looking that incredible in that pic IMO… definitely crazy lean though
I think some find it hard to believe but I’m actually somewhere between 12-15% bodyfat on my pic - one of the things that makes me look leaner is my thick abs.
If it weren’t for training, they definitely wouldn’t protrude much at all. I noticed when I stopped the big core movements in the past that they shrank quite a lot.
weighted chins, entire torso stabilized if you will
enough of those plus the heavy basic movements and you’ll achieve the hypertrophy you’ll need
I just stick to rope crunches and leg raises, 3 heavy sets of each. I noticed a huge difference in how heavy the weight feels on front squats compared to when I didn’t do ab work.
For those of you utilizing the ab wheel, how low do you go? Stomach to ground?
Could also do what the bartendaz do and just do a lot of core stabilizing bar exercises. I’m sure the video’s been posted in the forums before
[quote]WestCoast7 wrote:
For those of you utilizing the ab wheel, how low do you go? Stomach to ground?[/quote]
I dont actually touch my stomach to the ground but I go until I’m hovering about an inch from the ground then go back up. Thats how I do it, with a pause at the bottom for a second maybe
[quote]gregron wrote:
[quote]WestCoast7 wrote:
For those of you utilizing the ab wheel, how low do you go? Stomach to ground?[/quote]
I dont actually touch my stomach to the ground but I go until I’m hovering about an inch from the ground then go back up. Thats how I do it, with a pause at the bottom for a second maybe[/quote]
I do the same. I keep my lower back flat during the movement as well.
[quote]kingbeef323 wrote:
Ridiculous abs… No direct ab work, just sprints. I tried sprinting a few weeks ago and my abs were deeply sore all over for a while. Took about 10 days to not feel any soreness.
I just stick to rope crunches and leg raises, 3 heavy sets of each. I noticed a huge difference in how heavy the weight feels on front squats compared to when I didn’t do ab work.[/quote]
Ill second sprinting.
[quote]WestCoast7 wrote:
For those of you utilizing the ab wheel, how low do you go? Stomach to ground?[/quote]
I go as low as I can trying to focus on contracting the muscles as I go. I feel as if slower is more beneficial than faster here.
Best things for me to feel my abs working is kicking a heavybag. Punching doesn’t do it but the rotation required for good solid kicks kills the abs.
Sprints are awesome.
Dragonflags work well too.
There was an article a while back that mentioned actively pushing away from the pullup bar and that really does work.
As for weighted exercise I feel it a lot when I do pullovers and even moreso when I do overhead snatch grip squats.
