ab help...

[Rawdancer]

Okay I know abs made in the kitchen etc

 

but any advice/exercises to help with vertical definition..I got horizontal ab lines..but want to get some more definition

 

have lost 50lb recently..so really am just working on getting shredded. Train twice a day..clean diet etc etc

 

Any advice from you experts would be fantastic

 

Thanks in advance

[xjonfastx]

Which ab workouts have you been doing?

[aryan]

Which ab workouts have you been doing?

 

But more importantly, how did you lose 50 lbs!?

[chrisjs]

I like leg raises and kneeling cable crunches are the least annoying, but things like squats and military presses will do great things for abs.

[Rawdancer]

lost the weight low carb and HCG, now maintaining 8-1-1 raw vegan

 

Thanks guys, been doing crunches, weighted ones.. apart from that not much, they just appeared in the last 10lb loss!! Thanks will try suggestions

[xCx]

Heavy OHPs, squats, KTEs, weighted situps and L-sits will definitely give your abs a bit of work

[Guest]

I doubt any particular exercises can give you what you describe as "vertical definition". Muscle symmetry and disposition are mostly genetic, so there's not much you can do about it. But you can certainly make your abs show through lowering bodyfat, which, I assume, you've already accomplished Good work!

 

My favorite ("favorite" = "the least annoying" in this context) ab exercise has to be Ab Pulldowns. It's a really good way of hitting your abs with some heavy-ass weight! Then there's Hanging Leg Raises, Reverse Crunches and The Plank.

[Lean and Green]

I doubt any particular exercises can give you what you describe as "vertical definition". Muscle symmetry and disposition are mostly genetic, so there's not much you can do about it. But you can certainly make your abs show through lowering bodyfat, which, I assume, you've already accomplished Good work!

 

My favorite ("favorite" = "the least annoying" in this context) ab exercise has to be Ab Pulldowns. It's a really good way of hitting your abs with some heavy-ass weight! Then there's Hanging Leg Raises, Reverse Crunches and The Plank.

 

FTW!

 

Anyhow, to build build build the abs so that they pop out, become more visible. If you want a more muscular looking core/midsection, you need to grow those muscles as opposed to conditioning them. Just make sure you're happy with that. Some people don't like to have alot of muscle in their core as it can take away from the rest of your frame/proportions. I have a very strong core, it takes away from other parts of my frame (chest/lats/etc) but that just means i need to play catch up and grow more! >

 

heavy weight ex??? I like decline crunches very much partner assisted so they can throw me a weighted d-ball at all different angles and points where i'm performing the exercise. I like to stop midway in motion and play catch, at the bottom, catch it high/low, hold the ball for the full rep. You get the idea. I have a sweet vid perhaps i can get around to posting it for you.

 

I like woodchops performed with an olympic barbell propped against the corner of a wall for obliques and I add weight to the top of it as necessary to increase the resistance.

[Rawdancer]

guess I want them to pop out more..can see 4..think its gonna take shredding a bit more weight to get the lower abs showing

 

Thanks so much for the advice

 

lean and green your a legend!!

 

Thanks guys

[inteja]

Here's an American Council on Exercise study on the effectiveness of various abdominal exercises.

 

Personally I like:

• Bicycle Crunches
  
• Captain's Chair Leg Raise
  
• The Plank (Hover)

[Guest]

Catalogue of Core/Abdominal/Oblique Exercises

http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f13/catalogue-core-abdominal-oblique-exercises-387889/

 

This is all you need.

[DCNINJA]

Amen brother, I get asked all the time what I do for abs. Truth is I do deadlifts, squats, cleans, presses, and almost no direct ab work. The key is to keep them tight during everything. Lock your abs and hit it hard. The rest is diet. Deep belly breathing also helps develop good abs.

[VeganDrew]

DC, can you explain deep belly breathing?

[Lean and Green]

DC, can you explain deep belly breathing?

 

I'd say he's referring to keeping your transvers abdominus contracted by breathing through your diaphragm and tensing the muscle as opposed to expending and contracting your lungs and expelling you rectus absominus while performing core specific exercises as well as every single thing you do whilst being active or sedentary. Just a hunch

 

I'd compare it to a wind up toy doll with the string attached to the innermost core muscles and picture that string being pulled directly behind you. That 'tense' feeling you'd have on your transverse would be equated to a hpyothetical feeling like that.

 

Does this explanation make sense? I may be going off on one of my patented 'side story' tangents over here, (ask thedanisays, lol). I have only explained this hands on not over the internet.

[Marcina]

Amen brother, I get asked all the time what I do for abs. Truth is I do deadlifts, squats, cleans, presses, and almost no direct ab work. The key is to keep them tight during everything. Lock your abs and hit it hard. The rest is diet. Deep belly breathing also helps develop good abs.

 

That's my routine too.

 

I sometimes do some ab crunches on leg day just because it's part of my K.I.S.S routine.

[Rawdancer]

Thanks guys for all the help

 

they coming along nicely!! lots of squats as well as direct ab stuff

 

Cheers!

[ericscottf]

I am a huge fan of the decline situp bench. Not the long shallow one, but the short steep one.

I like to hug a 25 or 35lb plate while doing them, but don't be that person who takes a weight and holds it out in front of them -- that not only hurts your joints, but makes it easier, as it pulls you forwards!

 

It is more important to do the complete opposite of what you see other people doing on it -- go ALL the way down and only most of the way up. the last, say, 30 degrees from vertical are nearly useless, stay out of them unless you're relaxing.

Don't grab your legs or the underside of the seat -- that's cheating!

If you get dizzy on this thing, focus on one point on the ceiling and watch it while doing the situps. Helps me tremendously.

 

I also to put a medicine ball between my ankles and hang off of that tiltable captains chair when it is horizontal. i move the ball from almost completely overhead to 10 or so degrees off of horizontal. (most effective if your lower back stays pressed against the chair -- give that a try)

 

I've also "invented" an oblique exercise, where you sit in a decline bench with one leg in the machine and the other crossed over your knee. This turns you sideways and isolates your obliques. It is very similar to sitting in a roman hyper-extension chair, but with less falling out of it for those of us who are uncoordinated.

 

people at the gym frequently ask me how i got my abs (which is weird, 'cos i'm always wearing a shirt), and i tell them the same thing -- it is 90% diet, 9% cardio and 1% lifting heavy things on a decline bench.

[blabbate]

I'd say he's referring to keeping your transvers abdominus contracted by breathing through your diaphragm and tensing the muscle as opposed to expending and contracting your lungs and expelling you rectus absominus while performing core specific exercises as well as every single thing you do whilst being active or sedentary. Just a hunch

 

I'd compare it to a wind up toy doll with the string attached to the innermost core muscles and picture that string being pulled directly behind you. That 'tense' feeling you'd have on your transverse would be equated to a hpyothetical feeling like that.

 

Does this explanation make sense? I may be going off on one of my patented 'side story' tangents over here, (ask thedanisays, lol). I have only explained this hands on not over the internet.

Ok, help. I've heard about this and read about this so many times, but I still don't think I'm doing it right. Do you tense the muscles on the inhale or the exhale? Are you pulling them in towards your back or pushing them out?

[ericscottf]

Just try to keep your navel as close to your spine as often as possible. Very tricky at first, gets easier once you get used to it. You'll find situps "feel" different when you do it.

[blabbate]

Just try to keep your navel as close to your spine as often as possible. Very tricky at first, gets easier once you get used to it. You'll find situps "feel" different when you do it.

So contract my abs back, pulling them into me. Feels odd, as if I'm making my ribcage more pronounced. Hmm.

[ericscottf]

yup, best i can tell, that's the way it works.