abs experts only

[david1947]

How many times a week should i train abs while trying to bulk up? What exercise do you sugessts for lower abs?

[local hero]

couple of sets of crunches and leg raises a few times per week.... dont loose any sleep thinking about it, abbs   are condtioning and genetics

[Overload]

I'm no expert, but I have very defined abs.

I train them with weighted rope crunches or machine crunches once a week and on another day i do leg raises and bodyweight decline situps in sets of 40-50 reps. I do most of this for Muay Thai training, but it helps keep the abs rock hard as well.

I honestly think my abs were built by years and years of heavy deadlifts and squats, but the exercises i do today simply keep them in shape since i don't lift heavy anymore. My abs haven't changed much in the last 5 years, but i do remember them becoming more pronounced after a few years of heavy power lifting.

Just my .02.

[wes]

Abs are made in the kitchen............cardi o will help to reveal them.

I train abs two X a week,for about 5-8 minutes total time.

[jpm101]

Agree with Wes. Abs are like other muscle groups and best treated that way. Abs are a very powerful unit.

Ab wheels are a good investment because the upper and lower Ab wall is called into play each rep. Might also mention that Planks (different versions) affect the total Ab wall strongly. Ab wheels mock Planks. Good Luck.

[chaos]

That ab wheel is vicious! I thought it was a joke until I used it.

[Montague]

That ab wheel is vicious! I thought it was a joke until I used it.

I can remember the first few times JPM recommended the ab wheel years ago; the trolls jumped all over it, attacking him here.

I'm glad we've managed to clean up the more serious boards like this and Nutrition. Demodding Pumpster and Bluto were two of the biggest and best moves to restoring quality and credibility here. It's also nice to have good, regular contributing posters like you, Wes, and JPM.

[wes]

Pumpster read a lot of muscle magazines and parroted his info from them bigtime.

Bragged about how great he was,always altered JPM`s posts because they were spot on, and made him look stupid..........what a sad man! 


I skimmed over his drivel and read JPM`s stuff instead......always great advice and good info whether it can pertain to your individual workouts at the time or not.

Lots of great guys here now that the idiot Pumpsters gone!! 

[wes]

That ab wheel is vicious! I thought it was a joke until I used it.

For me,the ab wheel kicks my ass the first couple of times I use it.......I get really freakin` sore,then I no longer seem to feel it in my abs anymore.

Been a long time since I`ve tried them out.................thin k I`ll use the one at our gym and see how they feel these days.

[Overload]

Abs are made in the kitchen............cardi o will help to reveal them.

Couldn't agree more. Everyone has abs, it's just only the lean people that see them.

I dated this chick years ago who was in decent shape and did crunches like a maniac. She would do abs 3 days a week for 30 minutes and she never saw any improvements. Some trainer told her the only way to get abs is to train them 3 days a week. So i put her on a balanced diet and had her do cardio in place of ab training and within 8 weeks she could see abs and was very happy with the progress. She told me she saw more changes in those 8 weeks than she did in 2 years of training.

Yeah, that ab wheel is brutal. I used one of those a few years ago and it made me sore as hell from my armpits to my waist.

[wes]

I agree Overload........I knew this guy who was a Viet Namese priest who used to come to our gym 6-7 days a week and did only ab work for at least an hour on those 6-7 days............no ab development at all..let me rephrase that,he probably had great ab development,but you`d never be able to tell because he had a blanket of fat covering them.

Diet,ab work,cardio = good abs! 

[oldtimer1]

That ab wheel is vicious! I thought it was a joke until I used it.

QFT. First time I used it my abs were incredibly sore. I was doing it from the knees. I have seen guys advance to the point they are on their toes the whole time to extention.

On an another note if you haven't done push ups in ages I bet the first time you do a couple of sets your abs will be sore from stabilizing your torso.

[wes]

QFT. First time I used it my abs were incredibly sore. I was doing it from the knees. I have seen guys advance to the point they are on their toes the whole time to extention.

On an another note if you haven't done push ups in ages I bet the first time you do a couple of sets your abs will be sore from stabilizing your torso.

That happens to me if I go really heavy on pressdowns.

[WOOO]

couple of sets of crunches and leg raises a few times per week.... dont loose any sleep thinking about it, abbs   are condtioning and genetics

bump

[oldtimer1]

That happens to me if I go really heavy on pressdowns.

I have noticed the same thing.

[buffbong]

 I agree that seeing your ab development is a matter of losing bodyfat. Correct nutrition and cardio are give you the ability to see them. But most people are not blessed with heavily muscled abs. Train them the same way you would approach other muscle groups. Hard and intense. You'll get more out of focusing on few sets with good form than marathan workouts.

Here is an example of my ab workout. (Once a week is fine. Twice max.)
Hanging leg raises 2x25
Weighted decline crunches 2x25
Bar twists        2x25       

[Mothballs]

If your doing heavy standing presses, squats, and deads then you dont need too much ab work.

Just do some bb rollouts ( or something similar ) and some type of stability exercise like a plank once a week and  you'll be fine. Oh yea you can add some hanging leg raises those are good and you can do some progressions in those to make them harder.