i do eight sets of crunches with heavy dumbells, for 10-12 reps. the last three sets of oblique focused crunches. the problem i have is that my abdominal strength goes up five pound every session, aside from it getting increasingly difficult to get the dumbell on my chest, i am soon about to run out of weight. the dumbells go up to 100 and i am on 85.
so you guys are alot stronger than me and i wonder what you do
Hanging leg raises.
There’s a good bit of discussion on this, and it kind of depends on your purpose. The two main goals I see (which are by no means exclusive) in ab training are to hypertrophy the rectus abdominis and to strengthen the external obliques, TVA and lower back musculature.
So we’ve got a ‘abs’ thing and a ‘core’ thing.
I’ll admit I don’t know how to train abs, in large measure because you want a etched abdominals without wide (if muscular) hips to accentuate your v-taper. I always just figured it’d be better to drop all the fat and let the abs fend for themselves.
Training the core is somewhat different though, because the focus is on using it to protect your spine and internal organs from flexion and hernia, respectively. So the reps (in general) are lower, and the tension is high.
Hanley posted this in the t-cell a while back… I’ll try and find the thread, but effective core training for him (and I agree with him, hence I’ll parrot it) comes down to
I’ll throw in that suitcase deadlifts (one-handed deadlifts with the barbell on one side, not in front) are better than decline sit-ups because they work your grip too, which is also a limiting factor for me.
Hope that somewhat approximated an answer for you.
I dont do any direct oblique work. I let deadlifts take care of that. I have small abs so I am just working on getting them bigger. I rotate every workout with (1)200 sittups with as many sets as possible and (2) weighted decline sittups 1x10 4x8.
I tend to disagree with you gents. I try to neglect nothing; true, other exercises will hit the abs/obliques but it is purely secondary. They need love too.
If you lie supine and do all sorts of crazy leg lifts, rotations, flutter kicks, etc … you will develop a good sense of core stability, esp in the abs and obliques. I love these personally.
dont bodybuilders do crunches with weight? i want to know how they find weight heavy enough.
i dont like leg raises because i think it targets what i dont care about and avoids what i do care about.
i do have concern for core stabilty and all that, i am getting into athletics again but i do not do bodyweight exercises. i like exercises where progression is simply adding more weight. which is why i have never used those ab wheels.
i do like the idea of decline crunches, that could buy me a few more months. but my gym’s bench is very declined and i will definately pop a vertebrae
Crunches with weight are better as abs are primarily fast twitch.
Try holding the weight plate or dumbbell behind your head, it will increase leverage so you use less weight.
Abs are fast twitch? I was under the impression that they were primarily slow twitch hence the high reps but then again what do I know
i too hold dumbells on my chest while i do decline situps. actually, its the only thing i use the dumbells for. im at 70. 85 is pretty heavy too. great question, i never thought about running out of dumbells but now that you mention it… ive heard of people holding a barbell straight up while performing these but i like holding weights on my lower chest/upper abs because thats where i get the best leverage. maybe try holding the weight on the upper chest or above the head?
a hundred people checked this thread. they dont train their abs? this is a fundemental question here
do you think the only way to add resistance to an exercise is to add weight?
how about working with tempo? or incorporating some isometric stuff?
i’ll give you just one of MANY possible variations you can work with here:
if you have access to one, use one of those crunch surfaces that is on a decline. if not, do this on the floor. you are going to do 3 sets of crunches (you can even do this unweighted and feel it, but if you want to add some weight, that’s fine. 85 lbs will be too much though, i’d imagine). each crunch should be a2 second or so assent and a strict 30 second descent. make sure to keep your back straight when you are lowering… otherwise you are cheating by letting your back succumb to gravity.
for added pleasure, pause for 8 seconds on every rep when you are just a few inches above the ground (again, making sure that your back is straight and tight).
let me know how it goes!
dan
i add weight to progress, it is one of the few proven principles in weightlifting.
i dont want to be difficult but i am not into HIT
8 sets of 10-12 reps? I can only hope every other body part gets that kinda volume/attention.
no, 9x6 for everything else, it is like 5x5, except with an extra rep, and four sets of another exercise. i think the volume is proper since my abs have never been sore. i also do 6x20 on the second day after.
so i am the only person that is running out of dumbells? or am i the only person that does crunches? i could do declines but that will only buy time. maybe i could fit two dumbells on each shoulder. did any other bodybuilder do that? i am really curious
[quote]eremesu wrote:
no, 9x6 for everything else, it is like 5x5, except with an extra rep, and four sets of another exercise. i think the volume is proper since my abs have never been sore. i also do 6x20 on the second day after.
so i am the only person that is running out of dumbells? or am i the only person that does crunches? i could do declines but that will only buy time. maybe i could fit two dumbells on each shoulder. did any other bodybuilder do that? i am really curious[/quote]
I think someone may have already mentioned it, but try decline situps while holding a plate behind your head. It should be harder than weighted crunches, so you probably won’t need as much weight.
I just do some rollouts with an ab wheel on my off days.
also, have you tried using a swiss ball? if you can ignore your ego for a few sets of using a swiss ball, it’ll really put you in your place.
(i don’t know if your comment about “i add weight to progress” was directed at me, but i’m going to assume it was. yep, adding weight sure is a tried and true method, but it is a mistake to think of it as the ONLY way to add resistance. anyways, if you are really as close minded as that comment of your suggests, you might not have the guts to try out some stuff on a swiss ball, but i really hope you do give it a shot! it’ll definitely add resistance to your ab work).
sorry for the stuff in parenthesis…
dan
i do hope to try decline crunches. i can position my dumbells in odd positions but it seems…not hard, but ineffecient. i dont really do things like that. i am not against it, but trying to keep that up for fifteen minutes…
this seems like a conspiracy. abs are the third most popular muscle(i assume), and this sounds like i am surprising you with this dillema.
i simply want to know how bodybuilders solve the problem of getting more weight on them. i could be wrong, but i dont think that pro bodybuilders are doing flutter kicks, swiss ball anything, suitcase deadlifts and all that. and they do twenty sets per muscle, and they work abs everyday so i dont think they do complicated grip exercises trying to hold big dumbells on their head though i will try it. i am not trying to compare myself to pro bodybuilders but when i come up with a good question i can never get an answer here
their upper bodies are much heavier than ours too, so that’s a bunch of added weight right there
squats, deadlifts, full olympic lifts, overhead pressing
[quote]eremesu wrote:
i do hope to try decline crunches. i can position my dumbells in odd positions but it seems…not hard, but ineffecient. i dont really do things like that. i am not against it, but trying to keep that up for fifteen minutes…
this seems like a conspiracy. abs are the third most popular muscle(i assume), and this sounds like i am surprising you with this dillema.
i simply want to know how bodybuilders solve the problem of getting more weight on them. i could be wrong, but i dont think that pro bodybuilders are doing flutter kicks, swiss ball anything, suitcase deadlifts and all that. and they do twenty sets per muscle, and they work abs everyday so i dont think they do complicated grip exercises trying to hold big dumbells on their head though i will try it. i am not trying to compare myself to pro bodybuilders but when i come up with a good question i can never get an answer here[/quote]
You have no idea how funny this post was.
It’s not a conspiracy. It’s not like no one trains abs. It’s that you don’t seem to want to accept the answers you’re given.
You want more weight? Grab a barbell and load that up, put it on your chest and do decline situps. Thats the answer for how you get more weight on this one particular exercise.
However, there was a broader spectrum of query implied in your initial statement, which was ‘I’ll soon plateau on abs, what can I do to continue progressing’, at which point you were recommended several things, all of which work, many of which may work for you, such as
Now, you’re welcome to ignore any information you don’t want. And apparently, the implied spectrum was in fact completely accidental and unwanted and you really only want to know how you can add weight to one particular exercise. That’s cool. Good luck.