ALL ABOUT ABS By Bill Dobbins Once you know what you’re doing, abdominal training is a cinch A 6-PACK OF AB TIPS 1) Concentrate on true ab exercises, in which the ribcage and pelvis squeeze together, rather than on hip flexor movements. 2) Try working abs at the end of your workout rather than at the beginning. 3) You can work your abs more frequently than other muscles without overtraining, but training abs every other workout is probably sufficient. 4) How many reps you do in a set for abs depends on how hard you “crunch” at the top of each movement. Unless your abs are already extremely tired, you should probably get at least 15 reps; if you can do more than 25 or 30 you’re probably not getting enough intensity in each repetition. So squeeze the crunch harder at the top. 5) How many sets you do for abs depends on how well conditioned you are and what kind of workout you have just completed. The idea is to do as many sets as you can of truly intense repetitions. Try to do at least two sets of a crunching movement (for upper abs) and two more of a reverse crunching movement (for lower abs). As you get more advanced you will find you can do a few more sets. But remember, as you get stronger you become capable of generating additional intensity, so advanced bodybuilders are often able to contract their abs with such power that they only need a few sets to really blast their abdominal muscles. 6) You can do a variety of different abdominal exercises, but make sure you do some crunch-type movements for the upper abs and reverse crunch-type movements for the lower abs. You can do both in one workout or alternate between workouts, just make certain you work the entire abdominal area over time. Former Mr. Universe and successful personal trainer Charles Glass believes in keeping it simple when it comes to teaching his clients the basis of weight training. “In most cases,” says Glass, “the basics are what your client needs. It’s fine to introduce variations into the programme from time to time, just for variety’s sake, but the basic exercises using basic equipment are generally what produce the best results.” Take abdominal training, for example. Myriad theories have been developed to explain why it is one of the simplest muscle groups to train (countless books have been written on the subject). However, the function of the abdominals is simply to help stabilise the torso and to draw the ribcage and pelvis together in a “crunching” movement. Therefore, any true abdominal exercise has to be, given the nature of the muscles involved, some kind of crunch. Anything else is not a primary abdominal exercise. This was not well understood back in the 1970s. Bodybuilders did crunches, of course, but they did a lot of other exercises that in retrospect seem little more than a waste of time and energy. “People tend to make two mistakes regarding abdominal training,” instructs Glass. “Instead of pulling the ribcage and pelvis together, they think the function of the abs is to lift the entire torso, as in a traditional sit-up. Or they believe the abdominals are connected somehow to the legs, so they try to train abs by lifting their legs into the air in a conventional leg-lift.” Both of these exercises, Glass says, primarily work a set of muscles called the iliopsoas or hip flexors, which attach at the lower back, cross over the pelvis and insert at the thigh. When you do sit-ups or leg-lifts, instead of your abs flexing through a full range of motion, they function instead as stabilisers, keeping your torso stead during the movement. Your abdominals can get very tired doing this, but you don’t get the kind of washboard abdominal development that most people hope for from this kind of training. “It’s easy to demonstrate how this works,” Glass explains. “Stand up and hold onto something for balance. Put your hand on your lower abs and lift one leg. You’ll feel that the abdominals are not doing anything – that’s because they’re not involved. You’re lifting with your hip flexors, not your abs.” This type of hip flexor exercise is not completely useless though. It’s a great movement for sprinters, who need to be able to thrust their knees up with power and stamina. However, too much of this kind of effort for the average gym rat can lead to injury of the lower back, which is where the iliopsoas muscles arise. “Actually,” Glass points out, “while hip flexor exercises tend to strain the lower back, real abdominal exercises are one of the main therapies for lower back problems. When you do true crunches you strengthen the abdominals in opposition to the lower back muscles and help relieve them of excess stress and strain.” True crunches involve a movement of the ribcage and pelvis toward one another; pseudo-ab exercises do not. We’ve already seen that leg lifts and sit-ups are not true ab exercises. All of their variations involve either lifting the legs through a range of motion or hooking the feet under a strap or bar and lifting the torso. Every exercise of this nature involves the hip flexors as primary activators rather than the abs. “I’ve seen a lot of experienced bodybuilders who get results, or feel they get results, doing Roman chairs and other iliopsoas exercises,” says Glass. “I believe this is possible for two reasons. For one, even if you’re not doing the best kind of ab exercise, if you’re conscious of drawing the ribcage and pelvis together you can get at least partial benefit from these movements. It’s not the ideal way to train abs, but bodybuilders who train for 10 years or more working their abs this way can still get results. “Another reason is that there are a lot of exercises in the gym that involve the abs that are not primarily ab exercises. Almost any heavy, power movement for the upper body – bench press, shoulder press, squats, barbell rows – require a lot of effort from the abs during the lift. If you don’t think so, try training upper body heavy when you have a pulled muscle in the abdominal region. You’ll find out in a hurry how much you depend on these muscles for almost everything you do in the gym.” “Therefore,” Glass concludes, “when you see somebody with good abs it might be mostly because of these other exercises, rather than the specific ab routine he or she is doing, especially if they have abs that are very responsive to training. Some people have such good potential for abs, anything will bring them up.” But top amateur and pro bodybuilders, Glass points out, are usually so strong and in such good condition that they don’t have to worry much about straining their lower backs doing hip flexor movements. This is not true of many of his clients – and a great many readers of MUSCLE & FITNESS. So his advice is simple: “stick to the basic ab exercises. Forget about iliopsoas movements. They don’t work very well and they can hurt your back. It seems to me that’s plenty of reason to stay away from them.” ABS Rx There are a lot of different exercises you can do for abdominal training. Below are those that are considered the most basic, fundamental and useful. REVERSE CRUNCHES (LOWER ABS): Lie on your back on a flat bench and hold on to the sides of the bench for support. Start with your pelvis on the bench and your legs either pointing straight to the ceiling or bent at 90-degree angles (your thighs should be perpendicular to the floor in either position). From this position, crunch your pelvis toward your ribcage (your pelvis will come off the bench). Hold for a moment at the top and deliberately squeeze your abs for full contraction. Slowly lower your pelvis back to the bench, keeping your legs in the same position. Again, do this movement deliberately and under control rather than doing a lot of quick reps. MACHINE CRUNCHES (UPPER OR LOWER ABS): There are a great many bodybuilders who feel that machines are unnecessary when it comes to ab training. But there are others who swear by some of the ab training equipment currently available. Charles Glass, for example, often has his clients use a Nautilus crunch machine. In all cases, however, concentrate on feeling the ribcage and the pelvis squeeze together as the abdominals contract. If you can’t achieve this feeling, the piece of equipment you are using may not be suited to your individual needs. CABLE CRUNCHES (UPPER ABS): Attach a rope to an overhead pulley. Kneel down and grasp the rope with both hands. Holding the rope at around your forehead, bend and curl downwards, bringing your head to your knees and feeling the abdominals crunch together. Hold the peak contraction at the bottom, then release and come back up to the starting position. Make sure the effort involved is done with the abs; don’t let your arms pull the weight down. HANGING REVERSE CRUNCHES (LOWER ABS): This is another version of reverse crunches, only you do it hanging by your arms from a bar or resting on your forearms on a hanging leg raise bench (also called a vertical bench). Get into the hanging position and bring your knees up as far as possible. From this starting position, raise your knees toward your head, rolling yourself upward into a ball. At the top of the movement, hold and crunch your ab muscles together for full contraction, then lower your knees to the starting position with the knees pulled up. Again, don’t lower your legs beyond this starting point. VARIATION: A lot of people, and most bodybuilders (because of the mass of their legs), can hardly do any hanging reverse crunches. An easier variation is to lie head-upward on a slant board. This gives you more resistance than reverse crunches on a flat bench, but you can dial in the amount of resistance you want by the angle at which you set the slant board. CRUNCHES (UPPER ABS): Lie on your back on the floor with your legs across a bench in front of you or flat on the floor. You can put your hands behind your neck or keep them in front of you, whichever you prefer. Curl your shoulders and trunk upward toward you knees. Don’t try to lift your entire back up off the floor; just roll forward and crunch your ribcage toward your pelvis. At the top of the movement, deliberately give an extra squeeze of the abs to achieve total contraction, then release and lower your shoulders back to the starting position. This is not a movement you do quickly. Do each rep deliberately and under control. VARIATION: You can vary the angle of stress on your abdominals by raising your foot position. Instead of putting your legs across a bench or on the floor, try placing the soles of your feet against a wall at whatever height feels most comfortable. M&F

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