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any unusual exercises help with your abs?
- Thread starter iOrlando
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yeah..i wouldnt say I am spot treating my abs. I work out and do the whole cardio thing..I am just looking for the right kind of exercises to do when doing my ab routine.
Drinking a lot of water is good in and of itself. However, body builders actually dehydrate themselves to increase muscle definition, so the answer would be no.
Leg lifts and knee raises on a captain's chair are also good ones. You can also put on ankle weights to increase the intensity. Full crunches on a Roman chair are also good.
What are your goals with working your abs?
If you are working them for athleticism or MMA or other activities that require muscular endurance, you'd train them differently than if you were looking for maximum growth to maximize the look of the six pack.
Higher reps and many sets are good for muscular endurance. Doing weighted exercises with lower reps is good for maximizing growth. (And of course, as mentioned before - diet is the most important part - no amount of ab exercises will give you a 6 pack if you have a thick layer of fat covering them.
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Also keep in mind that the look of your abs is dictated a lot by genetics. Both the shape of them, whether they look like "6" or "8", and how deep the valleys are. Having said that, the tendinous membranes that form the valleys to create the "6 pack" look are for the most part fixed, so building up the abdominal muscle in general will (over time) result in deeper valleys and enhance the 6 pack look.
Back to your question - I find the abdominals tend to respond best to heavy weights just like most muscle groups. So finding "exotic" or "unusual" ab exercises isn't really required (unless you are just trying to avoid boredom), but I'd suggest focusing on exercises where you can progress in weights over time.
Like crunches holding a dumbbell or weight plate over your head. Target near failure at around 12-15 reps. Do several sets. For added stretch, do these on a crunch ball. And for more fun, ab rollouts on a wheel like the following is great for the entire core.
Ab Wheel Excercises - and homemade ab wheel ideas...
If you are working them for athleticism or MMA or other activities that require muscular endurance, you'd train them differently than if you were looking for maximum growth to maximize the look of the six pack.
Higher reps and many sets are good for muscular endurance. Doing weighted exercises with lower reps is good for maximizing growth. (And of course, as mentioned before - diet is the most important part - no amount of ab exercises will give you a 6 pack if you have a thick layer of fat covering them.
)Also keep in mind that the look of your abs is dictated a lot by genetics. Both the shape of them, whether they look like "6" or "8", and how deep the valleys are. Having said that, the tendinous membranes that form the valleys to create the "6 pack" look are for the most part fixed, so building up the abdominal muscle in general will (over time) result in deeper valleys and enhance the 6 pack look.
Back to your question - I find the abdominals tend to respond best to heavy weights just like most muscle groups. So finding "exotic" or "unusual" ab exercises isn't really required (unless you are just trying to avoid boredom), but I'd suggest focusing on exercises where you can progress in weights over time.
Like crunches holding a dumbbell or weight plate over your head. Target near failure at around 12-15 reps. Do several sets. For added stretch, do these on a crunch ball. And for more fun, ab rollouts on a wheel like the following is great for the entire core.
Ab Wheel Excercises - and homemade ab wheel ideas...
This is what me and my dad do, not repeatedly though. Just once every so often, to test out the stomach muscles. And yes, he is a 2nd dan black belt
I think the water would just make you feel full for a while and as a result you wouldn't be that hungry. So I think this has more to do with weight loss than anything else.
Once someone has gotten good at doing an exercise slow and controlled, with good form, through the whole motion, it's a good idea to add in some explosive/fast sets.
These are indeed all good.
And where the f*** have you been Marky? I miss you.
I've still been lurking
Mods must have merged threads, because my email link to the ab thread stopped working, and I couldn't respond. Clued in to simply try searching for it, which got me here.
Lots of good info - you know your stuff.
For the past few months I've been aiming for a mix of strength and endurance, instead of just strength, for my whole body. In the past, for abs, I found they popped more from heavier weight, but I built more useful capability from higher rep/shorter rest circuits.
Your fast twitch muscles are generally larger, and can grow more, than your slow twitch muscles, so going heavy is the way to grow big. But you have to be careful about training your body to essentially have slow reflexes, so explosive light and fast has a place, as well as the real world utility of endurance.
Varies from person to person...BUT the biggest things is works all the abs progressively. try and work them one ofter the other. You'll want to work the obliques 1 at a time..the upper abs, the lower abs. You'll want to work 1 section right after the other with no rest or as little as possible. Basically when the muscles burn..alot...you're doing it right. Search for progressive ab workout it definitely works. This is me and I'm actually out of shape at this point.
Also other things work...anything involving jumping is fantastic...plyometrics work wonders for the whole body. Start of my every track workout, is an ab workout (and other warmups), plyometrics, 800m run. FYI plyometrics aren't exactly easy..they're explosive actions basically...creating a lot of force...if you're just starting to get in shape...I would not start with these. You could do just this and it will help whip your abs and entire body into shape. If you're curious shoot me a PM and i can give you more info.
Also other things work...anything involving jumping is fantastic...plyometrics work wonders for the whole body. Start of my every track workout, is an ab workout (and other warmups), plyometrics, 800m run. FYI plyometrics aren't exactly easy..they're explosive actions basically...creating a lot of force...if you're just starting to get in shape...I would not start with these. You could do just this and it will help whip your abs and entire body into shape. If you're curious shoot me a PM and i can give you more info.
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