Key to abs and obliques (Men'sHealth Cover Model workout)

[Live_Simply]

Owen McKibbin-- unfortunately not a vegan-- has some useful tips on how to look the best possible. One useful tip on abs/obliques I think might be of interest to those here and so I'm posting it below.

 

Awesome Abs without (Too Many) Situps and Crunches

 

I see way too many guys wasting their time doing hundreds of crunches every day because they think that's the route to a flat, hard stomach. It's not. They'd be better off using most of that time to work the rest of their body musculature and to do their cardio. Reducing your body-fat percentage is the secret to washboard abs. Diet, cardio, and metabolism-boosting strength exercises —not situps —get the job done. You can get your bitchin' six-pack without ever doing a situp.

 

If you want to know the truth, too many crunches or situps can be counterproductive. That goes for the twist or sideways versions that work the oblique muscles of your sides. You might end up building up your stomach area and getting a thick-in-the-middle look you don't want.

 

Trust me, I had to learn this the hard way. Check out the November 2000 Men's Health cover. I was doing far too much oblique work— doing so many side crunches and twists that I had actually built my obliques to the point that I looked like I had love handles. That's when I came around to the idea that you should work your abs and obliques the way you sear a good piece of tuna on a grill. Boom-boom, a minute or two on each side, and that's it. I cut back on the ab work, and it tapered my waistline and made my shoulders appear wider.

 

Owen McKibbin, The Men'sHealth Cover Model Workout (Men'sHealth, 2003), p. 25

 

http://www.maxtalent.com/files/imagecache/MainTalent/OWENMcKIBBIN2B.jpg

Owen McKibbin, age 39

[Zack]

He speaks truth. I haven't trained abs much since I started working out and my abs are decent.

[LoganKost]

For people who have naturally low body fat percentage wouldn't doing sit-ups and other core work define one's abs even more though?

[Zack]

For people who have naturally low body fat percentage wouldn't doing sit-ups and other core work define one's abs even more though?

 

yes.

[xveganjoshx]

For people who have naturally low body fat percentage wouldn't doing sit-ups and other core work define one's abs even more though?

 

Not much.

Core work will help you build a stronger core but not necessarily better abs. A stronger core will let you squat more and deadlift more which will build better abs though. That and diet. That's it.

[Live_Simply]

Keep in mind, I think McKibbin's advice is geared more toward those who tend toward muscularity (mesomorph), which he (McKibbin) does (as do I). When he was playing competitive beach vollyball he said he was 220 lbs. at 6'2", with single-digit body fat. He said for his Men'sHealth cover shots he was rarely over 200 lbs.-- mostly 190 lbs. But he said people thought he was at 220 lbs.

[SwoleNSexified]

Best abdominal exercises are as follows: Barbell Squat, Barbell Front Squat, Barbell Lunge, Deadlift, Power Clean, Snatch, Overhead Squat.

 

Situps, Crunches, and leg raises aren't even top 10 (or if they are top 10 they're at the bottom of the list)

[beforewisdom]

Best abdominal exercises are as follows: Barbell Squat, Barbell Front Squat, Barbell Lunge, Deadlift, Power Clean, Snatch, Overhead Squat.

 

None of which use the abdominal muscles directly.

[HighVelocity]

Best abdominal exercises are as follows: Barbell Squat, Barbell Front Squat, Barbell Lunge, Deadlift, Power Clean, Snatch, Overhead Squat.

 

Situps, Crunches, and leg raises aren't even top 10 (or if they are top 10 they're at the bottom of the list)

 

I totally agree...the body naturally functions in unison, not just individual muslces. Strengthen the entire body and the core is forced to stregthen as well.

 

I cannot think of any "real life" examples of when you would simply flex your trunk to perform any movement...be it reaching, lifting, hitting, pulling, pushing, stepping, sitting, standing...no, your body recruits a whole array of muscles in perfoming even the simplist of tasks.

[Richard]

I don't quite follow how squats and lunges are meant to help ab development, I understand trying to do compound exercises, but at least the muscles have to be recruited as a major part of the exercise for it to be worthwhile, don't they? Feel free to kick me in the ball(s) of course, my abs disappeared a while ago so I'm not captain money where my balls are.

[HighVelocity]

When I squat or lunge, I automatically engage my core to stabilize my spine...hence strengthening the ab muscles. Owen McKibben was discussing how direct ab work can lead to a thickening of the waist rather than the thin waist that most people are after. Six pack abs come from a low body fat percentage and a clean diet, not crunches. I rarley do any dirct ab work and even though my body percent is momentarily a tad higher than I desire, I have a definate 2 pack and when doing compound exersices, I can see my 4 pack and obliques bursting to get out. Just gotta tighten up that diet a bit before summer! At least that is what I have found.

[Richard]

I definitely agree that diet is the biggest thing, followed by cardio - lowering bodyfat is the way to show off the abs, increasing the size of the abs themselves is only necessary when they are completely flat even when you have low bodyfat. But in that event, I can't see why crunches and other ab-based exercises wouldn't be the best option. A few years ago, I did used to have visible abs, and at that time I hadn't actually done a squat or a lunge exercise at all, and I did crunches each day (not a huge amount about 100)

[HighVelocity]

Yes, I believe ab work done with weights and lower reps I would be best for building up the ab muscles. Unfortunately most people spending hours doing crunches till the cows come home are not yet at a low enough BF% to know if they have flat abs or not.

 

And as with everthing, symmetry is also important. You can build too much muscle in one area, in effect, overpowering other muscles. Sounds like Owen had over developed obliques.

[Richard]

Nobody should be doing crunches for hours Yeah, get the body fat out of the way and then you can see what needs to be done, if anything, for the ab definition

[HighVelocity]

Gotta knife??

[Richard]

I use sandpaper, it also helps with self-tanning

[HighVelocity]

Ahhhhhh...the old sand paper trick....do you find the quick and hard or the slow and long more effective??? Wait a minute, maybe I don't wanna know!!

[SwoleNSexified]

I don't quite follow how squats and lunges are meant to help ab development, I understand trying to do compound exercises, but at least the muscles have to be recruited as a major part of the exercise for it to be worthwhile, don't they? Feel free to kick me in the ball(s) of course, my abs disappeared a while ago so I'm not captain money where my balls are.

 

Keep some things in mind here. The evolutionary purpose of the legs is to propell us forward by applying energy from our feet directly into the ground, all the while stabilizing the load of our weight. So the exericises of choice? Squats, lunges, straight leg deadlifts all with free weights.

 

The evolutionary purpose of the triceps is to thrust or apply pressure directly outward, thus close grip bench and dips are top tier triceps exercises.

 

The evolutionary purpose of the abdominals is to stabilize for the entire body. When squatting, the rectus abdominis is an important stabilizer (in addition to over 200 other muscles in the body, many of which are in the abdominal region) and it comes into play throughout the entire range of motion. Same with the deadlift and other heavy compounds. Standing military presses have this effect as well.

 

This is not to say that adding a lil direct ab work will hurt you - I do some myself, but if I had the choice to nix either squats or leg raises and all I cared about were abs, I'd still stick with the squats.

[HighVelocity]

Excellent post Swole! I love how you broke it down!!!