Ab work

[Mr. Pelham]

what are you guys doing for ab work? I don't think what I'm doing is really helping at this point so I wanted to see what else was out there.

this is what Im' doing

hanging straight leg raises 4 sets 15
bench cruches 4 x 15
weighted rope crunches 4 x 15
seated side twists 2 x 30 each side


thoughts?

[RSP]

I do leg lifts on a ball and get MUCH better burns than I do on hanging leg raises. I put the ball under my middle back. Hips are off the ball...my head is resting on the seat of a machine at about the height of the ball and I balance myself by holding onto the sides of the machine I sit on. I know it's hard to describe but it's essentially leg lifts on a ball with your head resting on a bench or seat. Straighten legs out and raise. It's killer.

[Jrod5150]

Sit ups on a decline, holding a 25lb plate over your head.

4 sets of 20..... Good luck!

Buahahahahaha!:weightlifter:

[Pan]

I do leg lifts on a ball and get MUCH better burns than I do on hanging leg raises. I put the ball under my middle back. Hips are off the ball...my head is resting on the seat of a machine at about the height of the ball and I balance myself by holding onto the sides of the machine I sit on. I know it's hard to describe but it's essentially leg lifts on a ball with your head resting on a bench or seat. Straighten legs out and raise. It's killer.

I do the exact same thing. Swiss ball leg raises. Peak tension is when your legs (along with the rest of your body) are parallel to the ground, as opposed to hanging leg raises where peak tension occurs when the body is in a L shape.

Decline Russian Twists are great for the obliques, and the standing version is great too

[cranny]

For now I'm strictly using free squats and deads for my ab work. I'll hit abs directly while cutting but mainly I rely on the big lifts throughout the year.
As the saying goes, abs are built in the kitchen. When I do target them I like hanging legs raises, reverse crunches, weighted sit ups, and kneeling rope crunch.

[CJB]

Weighted situps, standing pulldowns with a band, and the truffle shuffle.

[J. Adams]

Nothing really. I think heavy compound exercises work my abs well enough.

I used to over-train abs like crazy when I was 18-23. (We're talking 6x/week. Massive over-training FTW lol)

I think its because of that that I don't really need to train them. Even at 12% BF I still have a pretty shredded abdominal section. I just use YOH on my abs before doing squats and I'm good to go.

[G-REX]

As J said. Powerlifters do a large amount of ab work. With the heavy loads being placed upon the spine, the abdominal wall, obliques, and everything involved with the core have to be strong. While just putting the load on your back and working up will go a long way, it's not enough all by itself. In powerlifting (any strength sport for that matter) you're only going to go as far as your core will take you. The core is the chain that connects the lower body to the upper body. If your middle is weak, it doesn't matter how strong your lower half is because you can't transfer the power generated with the hips and legs to the bar (which is either on your back or in your hands).

Besides power transfer, the abdomen also acts as the stabilizer for the low back muscles. Most likely if your abs are weak, it's your low back that's going to pay the price. The low back and abs balance each other out. It's similar to say biceps and triceps, they balance each other out. You wouldn't train the bi's and neglect the tri's would you?

Decline sit ups with weight on your stomach (I use 100 lbs for 3-5 sets x 10-12 reps)

GHR Roman Chain Sit Ups(again either holding weight over your head or on your chest, again I've used as much as 135 for 3-4 sets x 10 reps)

Spread Eagle Sit-Ups(again either with weight or bands)

GHR Band ABS(weighted resistance)

Ab Wheel

Allen Core Wheel

Russian Twists

Side Bends(weighted of course)

Planks

Bench Leg Raises(with chains is awesome)

There's alot more options out there. These are just a few.

[booey]

I like mountain climbers, planks, vacuums, crunches, machine crunches, and decline sit-ups. I'll pick two or three and do them as a giant set after my lifting workout. But admittedly, I don't train abs unless I'm trying to lean out, which means focus is more on diet.

[tiramisu]

deadlifts, squats, and overhead pressing. ftw

[PeteM]

I think that Jal and G-Rex made some excellent points. Quite often, the weak link in squats and DL are the abs. All the force that is generated by the legs needs to be transfered to the load and therefore it must pass though the the abs. If you have 600lb legs and only 400lb core, your only squating 400lbs.

Obviously a huge benifit to training abs, from a lifting perspective. And when you look at how the abs function, not only during lifting but during everyday life, they primarily are performing isometic contractions, and as G-Rex pointed out, working to stablize. This is why I can never understand why the bulk of ab training focuses around crunches of all types. I think that there certainly is a place for crunches, as a componenet of you ab training program. But quite often, the more effective isometic type of contraction is omited from programs.

Again G-Rex gave some excellent examples;



Ab Wheel

Allen Core Wheel

Planks



Add in some vacumme holds and you will have a great ab program.

[Bakunin]

G-Rex said ``you're only going to go as far as your core will take you`` Spot on brother! Evetime I have missed a squat or deadlift in comp, its because I have lost proper posture.

I do abwork 4-5 x a week, when I can do over 15 reps, I will make the exercise harder, or move on. I do a lot of gymnastic BW stuff lately, and the functionality is out of this world, I can feel improvement in most lifts.

Also I feel static abwork is a must for great ab strength!