Not to come in here and sound like the “functional training” guy, but what are looking to get out of your abs??? There is a big difference in training, depending on what you want. (example: prevent injury, sports performance, prevent hypertrophy, increase hypertrophy, etc, etc), If you are just talking bodybuilding, there are hundreds of ways, as you mentioned, but the more purpose you need from your abs, the more specific your training need to be.
Agree with Benjuito on this one.
Core strength can be gained from the ‘big lifts’ such as deads, squats etc â?? this negates the need for isolation exercises involving the pecs.
That being said, core exercises such as ab-wheel rollout, fitball crunches are a staple.
Assuming Squats and Deadlifts are a given, I started with a basic course of hanging leg knee raises, planks and side bridges - I know these are not advanced so currently I’m still working on the basics of a strict clean diet, more squats and more deadlifts/week.
[quote]Benjuito wrote:
Not to come in here and sound like the “functional training” guy, but what are looking to get out of your abs??? There is a big difference in training, depending on what you want. (example: prevent injury, sports performance, prevent hypertrophy, increase hypertrophy, etc, etc), If you are just talking bodybuilding, there are hundreds of ways, as you mentioned, but the more purpose you need from your abs, the more specific your training need to be.
[/quote]
Yeah good point, and my bad, it’s been a while since I posted here…
I want to develop my mid to where it has a nice deep seperation between the rectus abdominus of course, and all the rest of the surrounding musculature, serratus/oblique, etc…Sounds cliche’ but whatever…
Right now, vanity wins out…in another month, functional stability and strength will be the goals.
Hope that helps. I have decent ab structure/appearance currently, and that’s with minimal ab specific work, so just trying to hit the whole area in a general, basic, effective manner. With the diet rolling along here, things should manifest quite well I think.
Thanks to all!
[quote]XanderBuilt wrote:
Assuming Squats and Deadlifts are a given, I started with a basic course of hanging leg knee raises, planks and side bridges - I know these are not advanced so currently I’m still working on the basics of a strict clean diet, more squats and more deadlifts/week.[/quote]
Thanks for your input.
So it looks like we have a couple difft calls for planks, and we’re seeing the hanging leg/knee raises, Squats/deads are a staple for a long time so those are out of the way.
Ab rollouts called up twice too I think right…
It’s looking good so far guys. I appreciate the opinions.
Still tinkering around with shit.
[quote]InTheZone wrote:
[quote]Benjuito wrote:
Not to come in here and sound like the “functional training” guy, but what are looking to get out of your abs??? There is a big difference in training, depending on what you want. (example: prevent injury, sports performance, prevent hypertrophy, increase hypertrophy, etc, etc), If you are just talking bodybuilding, there are hundreds of ways, as you mentioned, but the more purpose you need from your abs, the more specific your training need to be.
[/quote]
Yeah good point, and my bad, it’s been a while since I posted here…
I want to develop my mid to where it has a nice deep seperation between the rectus abdominus of course, and all the rest of the surrounding musculature, serratus/oblique, etc…Sounds cliche’ but whatever…
Right now, vanity wins out…in another month, functional stability and strength will be the goals.
Hope that helps. I have decent ab structure/appearance currently, and that’s with minimal ab specific work, so just trying to hit the whole area in a general, basic, effective manner. With the diet rolling along here, things should manifest quite well I think.
Thanks to all![/quote]
Well if you want to develop the cut look, I assume you are no moron and know that lowering body-fat is the way to go. But in terms of making the cuts DEEP, you need to hypertrophy all the muscles as much as possible by taking them through a full ROM in their primary movement pattern. There are a million ways to do that, and most of the suggestions above give great suggestions. I’ll shut up now.
[quote]Benjuito wrote:
[quote]InTheZone wrote:
[quote]Benjuito wrote:
Not to come in here and sound like the “functional training” guy, but what are looking to get out of your abs??? There is a big difference in training, depending on what you want. (example: prevent injury, sports performance, prevent hypertrophy, increase hypertrophy, etc, etc), If you are just talking bodybuilding, there are hundreds of ways, as you mentioned, but the more purpose you need from your abs, the more specific your training need to be.
[/quote]
Yeah good point, and my bad, it’s been a while since I posted here…
I want to develop my mid to where it has a nice deep seperation between the rectus abdominus of course, and all the rest of the surrounding musculature, serratus/oblique, etc…Sounds cliche’ but whatever…
Right now, vanity wins out…in another month, functional stability and strength will be the goals.
Hope that helps. I have decent ab structure/appearance currently, and that’s with minimal ab specific work, so just trying to hit the whole area in a general, basic, effective manner. With the diet rolling along here, things should manifest quite well I think.
Thanks to all![/quote]
Well if you want to develop the cut look, I assume you are no moron and know that lowering body-fat is the way to go. But in terms of making the cuts DEEP, you need to hypertrophy all the muscles as much as possible by taking them through a full ROM in their primary movement pattern. There are a million ways to do that, and most of the suggestions above give great suggestions. I’ll shut up now.
[/quote]
Thanks for the vote of confidence, ahem…lol.
Seriously though, another great point on the ROM. I’m a full ROM guy for sure, always have been down with that. I’ll cheat on the concentric portion of the dragon flags for a while I’m sure by bending at the knee on the way back up, but will do them the full way soon now that I’ve pretty much nailed the ab circuit/routine I’m going to go with.
Having said that, I’ll post it up tonight or tomorrow.
Thanks again for your time on the subject bud. 
All you guys helped me out, I appreciate it.
SO here are my two ab circuits that I’ll rotate through the week eod or some similar frequency.
A:
Incline Trunk Rotations w/plate(med ball)
3x12
Rope Crunches
3x10
Ab Wheel Rollouts
3x15
B:
Dragon Flags
3x8-12
Planks
2x90 sec
Side Planks
2x60 sec
Thanks guys. Again, I’ll likely get in the swing of doing the flags by doing the eccentric portion strictly, but bending at the knee on the way up to make it easier for the short term while I get back in the swing of it. Otherwise strict clean reps with nice contraction holds and slow, deliberate movement, ought to get things crackin for me.
Cheers!
Besides the obvious squats and deads, also gotta love dragonflies. I like to pick out a few personal favs, and just doing it in a circuit. Sometimes I’ll just a pre-determined rep range and do 10-12 different ab exercises, or I might pick a time 30-60 secs of each before moving to the next.
If I dont feel like doing 10-12 different ones, I’ll pick 3-4 and just do 3-4 sets of them. Although one thing that always gets my abs feeling it are 100m sprints done in interval fashion. But I do like all the above other exercises as well.
Ab rollouts, V-Ups with a 45, Windshield whipers
Dang, I am going to sound like the functional training guy again, BUT i don’t really care, cause it is my job 
Even though i think that, overall, i like core training very different than your layout, yours is great for bodybuilding purpose. But I have to point this one thing out, because I think it will help.
When it comes to planks, both side and front planks, you are not getting any additional benefit from 90 seconds than you would from 60 seconds, more likely even 30 seconds. Guys like Mike Boyle will tell you (wait, I got this directly from one of his courses) that once obvious stability has been reached in an isometric core exercise, as judged by perfect position and ease for 30s in the case of the planks, you should increase the external challenge, not the length of time.
You can add challenge simply by adding another plane of resisted movement, adding weight to your body, narrowing your base of support, adding an unstable surface, or adding provocation. There are hundreds of ways to do it, but I think once you reach a SOLID 30s with perfection, you need to add to the exercise. This will increase muscle mass and performance.
Whoops, did it again, thought I was writing a book there for a second…i’ve got way too much of this stuff just waiting to be spewed.
[quote]Benjuito wrote:
Dang, I am going to sound like the functional training guy again, BUT i don’t really care, cause it is my job
Even though i think that, overall, i like core training very different than your layout, yours is great for bodybuilding purpose. But I have to point this one thing out, because I think it will help.
When it comes to planks, both side and front planks, you are not getting any additional benefit from 90 seconds than you would from 60 seconds, more likely even 30 seconds. Guys like Mike Boyle will tell you (wait, I got this directly from one of his courses) that once obvious stability has been reached in an isometric core exercise, as judged by perfect position and ease for 30s in the case of the planks, you should increase the external challenge, not the length of time.
You can add challenge simply by adding another plane of resisted movement, adding weight to your body, narrowing your base of support, adding an unstable surface, or adding provocation. There are hundreds of ways to do it, but I think once you reach a SOLID 30s with perfection, you need to add to the exercise. This will increase muscle mass and performance.
Whoops, did it again, thought I was writing a book there for a second…i’ve got way too much of this stuff just waiting to be spewed.[/quote]
Very interesting stuff B. I understand what you’re getting at for sure.
I’ll definitely keep that in mind on the planks then.
This is something I hadn’t heard about.
Thanks.
no prob. I love this kind of stuff cause I have seen it in action.