looking for a hardcore ab routine

[Jheadley21]

my abs are very late in the game here compared to the rest of my body and i cant seem to shed that last bit of fat in the lower ab area. can anyone give me a decent advanced routine to really make these bastards hurt. i want to feel the pain!!

 

[Joshua86]

Do combinations of different ab exercises. For example, without stopping, do:

50 x Crunches
10 x Hanging Knee Raises
50 x Side Bends (to each side)
50 x Crunches
Finish by holding stomach vacuum for however long you can.

Or you can do more or few exercises, do however many you want in a row, or just one exercise at a time. Do weighted ab exercises too. When doing crunches, make it a point to achieve a quality contraction. Give the muscles an extra squeeze at the peak of the contraction. Take it slow and keep it quality.

I think the best way to develop abs is to experiment with weighted and non-weighted ab exercises, in different arrangements, frequencies, intensities, ect.. Get instinctive and you will figure out what works best for you. Make sure to watch for overtraining, as it's easy to do. A good indicator of overtraining would be something such as your muscles fatigue way before you think they should, not being able to achieve high intensity, or not achieving a pump.

Do your stomach vacuums! I do vacuums after every ab exercise. I even do them when I'm just sitting around home, or wherever! I don't think it does much for developing the muscle, but it improves your ability to keep the muscles tensed. Hell, some people think it does improve definition. I don't think you'd have to worry about stomach vacuums leading to abdominal overtraining either.

I honestly think people pay too much attention to ab training. Even people who don't put forth a lot of effort might still have decent abs if their body fat is low enough to show them. But I'm not saying you shouldn't be performing quality training for the abs. Quality abdominal training results in quality abs, and low body fat reveals them.

Pretty simple, I think!

Or just type in ab workout on google, or any bodybuilding article database search and you're bound to find hundreds of ab workouts. There's probably more workouts out there for abs than any other muscle group. I wonder why? :laugh:

 

[TURUGBY]

this is what I do, do it all in a row no stopping, that is one set. do three sets 3-4 times a week.

Swiss ball crunch-40
Weighted toe touch (25lbs feet in air, touch plate to toes)-40
bicycle crunches-40 each side
6"- 20 seconds
6" flutter kicks- 20 reps
6" scissor kicks- 20 reps
Russian twists (25lbs on chest)- 40 reps each side

this works very well, if you cannot use a 25lb plate use a 10lb plate

 

[Jheadley21]

thanks fr the info. i checked it all out a long time ago and never gave props so im sorry for that. been getting good workouts in but need to shed a little more bodyfat to really show some rip.

 

[celc5]

My opinion is that if you want your abs to grow, you have to do heavy high intensity moves.

My personal favorites are doing obliques on a slant board. Increase resistance by setting the board higher... OR by adding ankle weights.

After doing oblique straight leg raises, superset with basic slant board straight leg raise.

You should be failing somewhere around 8 or 9 reps each set and so fried that you fall off the board afterwards.

If you're already lean and your abs aren't popping, IMO more repetitions won't help your situation.

 

[seanlambo]

DUDE! do pull ups bro, I do pull ups on paralell bars with my legs raised straight out in front of me these will murder your abs, also to weighted pull ups/ chins and any time you let your legs hang forward it kills your abs these have done more for my abs then anything and are my main exercise for them

 

[Jheadley21]

thanks again for all the help guys

 

[cmc]

Just pick a few exercises...most will work well. A little trial and error on your part should bring the exercises that you like most and benefit from to the forefront.

The main key is your nutritional intake! It's been said many times...abs are born in the kitchen. Outside of that, your genetics will also play part.

 

[JudoJosh]

P90X Ab-Ripper DVD.. killer ab workout

 

[swan1209]

Throw in some plank moves too, these help build the internal muscles which will help make the visible abs pop more. Also I don't think anyone mentioned deadlifts and squats. Because these lifts are typically done with heavy loads, they force your entire torso to contract and stabilize. From personal experience I have built up my abs doing a low rep deadlift cycle better than an 300 rep ab routine. Just my opinion tho

 

[Jag]

ab-king pro!!!!!! C'mon man, one woman lost 10 inches and 10 pounds in 10 days. Don't you people watch late night T.V.?




Seriously though, crunches and incline leg raises is all you need. The best abs i've ever seen are on a friend of mine who has done martial arts since he was in single digits and that's all he does.

 

[lennoxchi]

My opinion is that if you want your abs to grow, you have to do heavy high intensity moves.

My personal favorites are doing obliques on a slant board. Increase resistance by setting the board higher... OR by adding ankle weights.

After doing oblique straight leg raises, superset with basic slant board straight leg raise.

You should be failing somewhere around 8 or 9 reps each set and so fried that you fall off the board afterwards.

If you're already lean and your abs aren't popping, IMO more repetitions won't help your situation.

very much agreed here. when doing abs high reps are going to do one thing, make you sweat. here's the thing man fat loss does not occur by doing abs cardio and diet will aid in fat loss. by exercising abs you want to focus on going slow and controlling the motion and at the peak of the exercise...SQUEEZE the hell out of the abs, just like you do when you do a bicep curl. if you want to get that 6 pack focus on what you're doing in the kitchen and on the treadmill or whatever. doing ab work in regards to exercises will help your abs grow and thats what doing exercises are for. do you do bicep work in hopes of getting them more defined? or course not, then why do 50 crunches in hopes of getting abs more defined? you eat a lot you will get bigger, you eat a little and you will get smaller, for the most part. fat loss occurs overall, focus on fat loss and you will start to see you abs and everything else look or defined. HIIT is great for fat loss while retaining muscle. it has taking me a long time to determine how much cardio, and daily cal consumption is right for me to maintain muscle and keep bf down, years or reading and experimenting

 

[celc5]

Right Chi :cheers:

Most people like 5, 10, 15 reps per their preference to make a muscle grow. Why people treat things like abs or calves differently is beyond my understanding :think:

Also, I squat and deadlift like a madman. Neither has ever made even a hair of difference for me whatsoever in terms of ab development. I don't get that one either :dunno:

 

[swan1209]

You cannot physically deadlift or squat without activating your core muscles so if you haven't seen even a hair of difference from doing heavy sets of these exercises something is wrong. Like lennoxchi says, ad development is only part of the equation. In order to really see the abs you have to have a low body fat percentage. For example, look at the average strongman you see on espn. For most the abs are not visible, but you can bet your last dollar that after years of heavy power lifts that if they were to get down to a low body fat percentage they would have some very built mid sections

 

[celc5]

My opinion is still that core stability and ab development are 2 different things. I totally agree that core stability is required for squats and deads. I even typically do them without a belt, unless I'm going heavy for something less than like 8 reps.

Then again, maybe my abs are stronger than I think based on your criteria? :dunno:

 

[deadlift18]

Look up the p90 X ab ripper. Only 15 min and it rips your Abs to pieces

 

[JuveCalcio]

If your already lean and skinny but your abs aren't showing up I would say do some ab machines. They have them at my gym. Some things like ab crunches, oblique twists and leg raises. I think those are the 3 main exercises if your looking to build size in your abs. Stack up the weight on em.

 

[newhaircut49]

DUDE! do pull ups bro, I do pull ups on paralell bars with my legs raised straight out in front of me these will murder your abs, also to weighted pull ups/ chins and any time you let your legs hang forward it kills your abs these have done more for my abs then anything and are my main exercise for them

+1 I love doing pullups with extended legs for abs.
oh yay first post