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The stomach vacuum

Arnold is a big fan of them. he credits many of todays bodybuilders distended belly because they dont do vacuums.

All the guys that had small waists did them, Arnold, Zane, not many bodybuilders do them now a days.

Vaccums cant be mastered overnight it usually takes many weeks and months of doing them every day.
 
Yeah, I think the physiques back then like Arnold's and Frank Zane, are a lot better looking than these freaks today. The heavy weight bodybuilders today look like cartoon figures and are just stupid looking IMO. I bet you they can't even wipe their own a$$es.
 
I was about to create a topic on this today... Guess I came in late! ;)

I heard about this yesterday and was looking for feedback... What do people think is the realistic goal to start seeing some progress? I somehow just don't get how this is all that effective, call me a nonbeliever (I will still try it though, not about to ditch the legend that is Arnold!)

I read the article and all I can think is that I would have a hard time holding it static for 40 seconds (I am able to suck it in pretty damn well, but damn it's weird...)

What I did try yesterday, and will continue to roll with, is to do it while doing Cardio; as I was doing my eliptical yesterday I used this as a HIIT method almost... Every 3 - 4 minutes I would suck in to the fullest for as long as I could while still doing the cardio. I did wake up with a pretty sore ab region today, so don't see why I would stop.

Does anyone have more reading on this or more inputs?
 
bla55 said:
I was about to create a topic on this today... Guess I came in late! ;)

I heard about this yesterday and was looking for feedback... What do people think is the realistic goal to start seeing some progress? I somehow just don't get how this is all that effective, call me a nonbeliever (I will still try it though, not about to ditch the legend that is Arnold!)

I read the article and all I can think is that I would have a hard time holding it static for 40 seconds (I am able to suck it in pretty damn well, but damn it's weird...)

What I did try yesterday, and will continue to roll with, is to do it while doing Cardio; as I was doing my eliptical yesterday I used this as a HIIT method almost... Every 3 - 4 minutes I would suck in to the fullest for as long as I could while still doing the cardio. I did wake up with a pretty sore ab region today, so don't see why I would stop.

Does anyone have more reading on this or more inputs?
Click to expand...
do like 5 seconds for 5 sets every day the next week 10 seconds etc etc
 
It also works the prostate muscles that "clamp" before you are about to shoot that pearl necklace around?

Interesting...

Either case, I have started this and will try on a daily basis, especially while doing my cardio.
 
week 1 2-3 sets of 20 seconds
week 2 (which I am on) 2-3 sets 40 seconds(it is hard) feel like Im almost going to pass out
week 3 2-3 sets of seconds seconds

I do them on all fours
then Ill graduate to seated which is harder than all fours, than standing which is even harder
 
John Smeton said:
week 1 2-3 sets of 20 seconds
week 2 (which I am on) 2-3 sets 40 seconds(it is hard) feel like Im almost going to pass out
week 3 2-3 sets of seconds seconds

I do them on all fours
then Ill graduate to seated which is harder than all fours, than standing which is even harder
Click to expand...

I haven't done in all fours but damn, I feel like standing is so much easier than sitting...
 
John Smeton said:
I hold my breathe completely, almost feels like I may pass out, getting used to it though
Click to expand...

I too hold my breath completely for the starting point, but after about 15 secs I can't anymore, and I start breathing while still keeping my stomach in (not as far back in as before, but still pretty damn decent)
 
I did the reccomended 3 sets x 20 seconds yesterday after my first leg workout in about 10 weeks and believe me it was not as easy as I expected. 20 seconds seems like an eternity when you cant take in a normal breath.

I do however, plan on incorporating these into my everyday routine whether I lift that day or not cause I have NEVER had a completely flat stomach and I would kill to have one!

I am pshyced to see if these work as well as they are made out to.

Also, what time of day do you guys do these? And on your non lifting days, do you do vaccums with a full or empty stomach?
 
TheBreeze said:
Also, what time of day do you guys do these? And on your non lifting days, do you do vaccums with a full or empty stomach?
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I used to do these, but stopped for a long time (got lazy with them). I'm now starting again. I never could do them on a full stomach. It made me want to puke.
I found its much easier to draw in your stomach, when its empty.

perform them when you have a few minutes to yourself. It requires some concentration.

Once you become proficient in doing them, you could do them on your drive home, or to work. I found I was too shot to do them after a workout.
To get maximum effect, you want to be able to strongly draw your abdomen in, and squeeze.
 
lonewolf0420 said:
I used to do these, but stopped for a long time (got lazy with them). I'm now starting again. I never could do them on a full stomach. It made me want to puke.
I found its much easier to draw in your stomach, when its empty.

perform them when you have a few minutes to yourself. It requires some concentration.

Once you become proficient in doing them, you could do them on your drive home, or to work. I found I was too shot to do them after a workout.
To get maximum effect, you want to be able to strongly draw your abdomen in, and squeeze.
Click to expand...

agreed I do them on more of an empty stomach before eating. The first month are still the beginning stages. I do mine just about every day.


after this next month Ill graduate to seated ones, right now its on all fours. If anyone has the Arnold modern day encyclopedia he recommends to do them on all fours first, seated next and finally standing , that is where I got that from.
 
TheBreeze said:
I did the reccomended 3 sets x 20 seconds yesterday after my first leg workout in about 10 weeks and believe me it was not as easy as I expected. 20 seconds seems like an eternity when you cant take in a normal breath.

I do however, plan on incorporating these into my everyday routine whether I lift that day or not cause I have NEVER had a completely flat stomach and I would kill to have one!

I am pshyced to see if these work as well as they are made out to.

Also, what time of day do you guys do these? And on your non lifting days, do you do vaccums with a full or empty stomach?
Click to expand...

I myself have been doing them during my morning shower, before I go to work. Do my 5 sets there, takes me about 3 minutes, and then carry on with my day. I do them standing, I feel like aside from laying that's the easiest for me.

I have also incorporated them on my abs workout, so somedays will do it twice in one day.
 
How come we don't see more pro bodybuilders doing the vacuum pose or even having the bodies like Frank Zane, Arnold or Lee Haney?
 
JerseyDrew77 said:
How come we don't see more pro bodybuilders doing the vacuum pose or even having the bodies like Frank Zane, Arnold or Lee Haney?
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I'm guessing they probably know what the judges of the contests are looking for and somehow that seems to not be it?
 
TheBreeze said:
I

Also, what time of day do you guys do these? And on your non lifting days, do you do vaccums with a full or empty stomach?
Click to expand...

I do them just about every day, if I am real tired Ill do 2 sets, usually I suck it up and do 3 sets. I do them anytime besides a workout, it really doesn't matter the time, recently I have been doing them before bed before my last meal. Yes empty stomach is almost required
 
These are so amazing, I've been working on them and it's still a work in progress. They really makes the upper and lower body look that much more impressive.

This pic of Arnold gives me the chills. :11:

I hope pro's start bringing it back it definitely is impressive with any pose to say the least.
 

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Honestly, that look (vacuum pose as you guys call it) is gross as ****. But back to the stomach vacuum, it looks like its benefit in your neutral pose is great. I've started doing these, lets see what they do for me.
 
John Smeton said:
I do them just about every day, if I am real tired Ill do 2 sets, usually I suck it up and do 3 sets. I do them anytime besides a workout, it really doesn't matter the time, recently I have been doing them before bed before my last meal. Yes empty stomach is almost required
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bla55 said:
I myself have been doing them during my morning shower, before I go to work. Do my 5 sets there, takes me about 3 minutes, and then carry on with my day. I do them standing, I feel like aside from laying that's the easiest for me.

I have also incorporated them on my abs workout, so somedays will do it twice in one day.
Click to expand...

lonewolf0420 said:
I used to do these, but stopped for a long time (got lazy with them). I'm now starting again. I never could do them on a full stomach. It made me want to puke.
I found its much easier to draw in your stomach, when its empty.

perform them when you have a few minutes to yourself. It requires some concentration.

Once you become proficient in doing them, you could do them on your drive home, or to work. I found I was too shot to do them after a workout.
To get maximum effect, you want to be able to strongly draw your abdomen in, and squeeze.
Click to expand...

Thanks fellas. I did them the other day after a pretty good ab workout and could barely hold my gut in from being so winded. But I do like doing the after a shower or before bed in mirror so I can see how far Im sucking my abs in or not.

Also, upon doing them last night I kinda figured out how to keep my abs sucked in while still breathing very short, kinda rapid breaths.
I saw someone else asked about holding your breathe. Do you guys hold it or breathe? I pretty much do a little of both, but am gonna try what I did last night again tonight and will repost hopefully in the morning.
 
TheBreeze said:
I saw someone else asked about holding your breathe. Do you guys hold it or breathe? I pretty much do a little of both, but am gonna try what I did last night again tonight and will repost hopefully in the morning.
Click to expand...

I have been holding as much as I can without breathing, if I feel I need to breathe Ill tale a breathe.

I am starting on week three up to 60 second at a time
 
John Smeton said:
I have been holding as much as I can without breathing, if I feel I need to breathe Ill tale a breathe.

I am starting on week three up to 60 second at a time
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Hey as you get better does the vacuum look better or is it more of just how long to hold the pose? I'm sort of confused. :fool2:
 
thetinyguy said:
Hey as you get better does the vacuum look better or is it more of just how long to hold the pose? I'm sort of confused. :fool2:
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cant tell you I've only been doing them three weeks on all fours...after all fours Ill graduate to seated for one month , which is even harder, then standing , which is even harder, according to the Arnold Modern Encyclopedia.

I was posing the other day in front of the mirror and I seemed to noticed a bit more stomach control so yes I think it is working.
 
John Smeton said:
cant tell you I've only been doing them three weeks on all fours...after all fours Ill graduate to seated for one month , which is even harder, then standing , which is even harder, according to the Arnold Modern Encyclopedia.

I was posing the other day in front of the mirror and I seemed to noticed a bit more stomach control so yes I think it is working.
Click to expand...

That's great, I need to keep re-reading through the Arnold encyclopedia i'm tending to miss stuff in there. Great source of info! Hopefully i'll master this lost art someday soon. :)
 
I've heard that all ab exercises should be done while breathing, so you might want to second guess holding your breathe for these. I could be wrong because I'm not very familiar with this particular exercise.
 
nugstriker said:
I've heard that all ab exercises should be done while breathing, so you might want to second guess holding your breathe for these. I could be wrong because I'm not very familiar with this particular exercise.
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The weird thing is i can hold the vacuum and take small breaths and it feels a lot better and is a little easier to pose while holding it. I'm guessing it's not as dramatic but it still works. It's a tricky little technique that's for sure. :)
 
thetinyguy said:
The weird thing is i can hold the vacuum and take small breaths and it feels a lot better and is a little easier to pose while holding it. I'm guessing it's not as dramatic but it still works. It's a tricky little technique that's for sure. :)
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yes
 
thetinyguy said:
The weird thing is i can hold the vacuum and take small breaths and it feels a lot better and is a little easier to pose while holding it. I'm guessing it's not as dramatic but it still works. It's a tricky little technique that's for sure. :)
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I take maybe 2-3 small breathes every 60 seconds...this is not a rule of thumb just whenever I really need it Ill take one

I am pretty good at this because when I was a kid I used to do these a little bit because I was really low body fat and used to give people the WOW factor by sucking in my stomach hard as I could and they used to go ewwwww or wowwww or amazing lol
 
John Smeton said:
I take maybe 2-3 small breathes every 60 seconds...this is not a rule of thumb just whenever I really need it Ill take one

I am pretty good at this because when I was a kid I used to do these a little bit because I was really low body fat and used to give people the WOW factor by sucking in my stomach hard as I could and they used to go ewwwww or wowwww or amazing lol
Click to expand...

Yeah same here i just take small breathes here and there. I won't be able to tell how well i can do it until i'm very lean but i can already see differences in posing. Still working on it but it's getting better and better. :)
 
thetinyguy said:
Yeah same here i just take small breathes here and there. I won't be able to tell how well i can do it until i'm very lean but i can already see differences in posing. Still working on it but it's getting better and better. :)
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I too have to take a small breath after a little bit, however, my muscle contraction pre-breath feels much stronger than after the breath. After I take a small breath in I can't seem to ever get as strong a contraction for that set/rep.
 
sapentia said:
I too have to take a small breath after a little bit, however, my muscle contraction pre-breath feels much stronger than after the breath. After I take a small breath in I can't seem to ever get as strong a contraction for that set/rep.
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Thats my feeling as well.. Lately I've been experimenting with taking small breathes, then when I starting to lose that contraction, I stop breathing and drawl in has tight as I can to finish off the set.
 
For what it's worth - I started doing these back in January 2010 and I'm pretty certain this was what caused me to develop asthma.
I know, sounds crazy. Taking the deep breath and then pushing it all out... every last bit while holding in my gut... more and more became harder until I couldn't get a full breath.

It's over a year later and I'm starting to get my breath back with the help of a bronchodilator such as ephedra.

Could be unrelated, though the symptoms came on at the same time.

R
 
AtomStrange said:
For what it's worth - I started doing these back in January 2010 and I'm pretty certain this was what caused me to develop asthma.
I know, sounds crazy. Taking the deep breath and then pushing it all out... every last bit while holding in my gut... more and more became harder until I couldn't get a full breath.

It's over a year later and I'm starting to get my breath back with the help of a bronchodilator such as ephedra.

Could be unrelated, though the symptoms came on at the same time.

R
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I'm not disregarding your post or anything but if that's the case that stomach vacuums can develop asthma then what about Shawn Ray, Arnold and other pro's who had competed for years perhaps decades doing them? Training the transverse abdominus shouldn't have any negative affect considering it supports the spine. Doesn't make that much sense to me :hypnotized:
 
thetinyguy said:
I'm not disregarding your post or anything but if that's the case that stomach vacuums can develop asthma then what about Shawn Ray, Arnold and other pro's who had competed for years perhaps decades doing them? Training the transverse abdominus shouldn't have any negative affect considering it supports the spine. Doesn't make that much sense to me :hypnotized:
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I completely agree with you. Just seemed odd that I started this around the same time the asthma kicked in. I remember pushing every last bit of air from my lungs and then holding... then again. Seemed over the next few weeks/months I wasn't able to take as deep a breath.

I know it's proven and sworn by many, so my experience may be completely unrelated... To me though, it's partially a breathing exercise which could have played a part.

I dunno though...
 
AtomStrange said:
I completely agree with you. Just seemed odd that I started this around the same time the asthma kicked in. I remember pushing every last bit of air from my lungs and then holding... then again. Seemed over the next few weeks/months I wasn't able to take as deep a breath.

I know it's proven and sworn by many, so my experience may be completely unrelated... To me though, it's partially a breathing exercise which could have played a part.

I dunno though...
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You know that could be the cause of it and you may be unlucky. Either way it's a shame that happened to you. I'll come back to this thread and update how i feel to help anyone else out who's interested in the stomach vacuum.
 
I have been doing these for about 3 months now, 3-4 days a week and I have noticed the gut coming in some. I only hold for 10 seconds though, and then slowly release.

Ironically enough, I was reading the remark about sexual improvement and just the other day the woman was talking to me and said "am I doing something wrong, its taking you quiet a bit longer to cum"
Never did I think it would be from this, but I guess that could be it.
 
These do not cause asthma lol they just caused you to realize that you have it. You will always have it and it will most likely get worse with age. I have it too. Doing regular cardio helps out. Especially training in higher altitudes. People don't even realize that I have it.
 
indysoccer16 said:
I have been doing these for about 3 months now, 3-4 days a week and I have noticed the gut coming in some. I only hold for 10 seconds though, and then slowly release.

Ironically enough, I was reading the remark about sexual improvement and just the other day the woman was talking to me and said "am I doing something wrong, its taking you quiet a bit longer to cum"
Never did I think it would be from this, but I guess that could be it.
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*Looks at avi pic* :hump: haha :D
Vacuums FTW!!
 
I am still doing these its been 5 weeks now. I took a deload week on them.

Now I am up to 40 seconds in the seated position. Next week is 60 seconds.

My stomach looks leaner; although I have been losing some bodyfat, and I can control it much more. Its more about control than anything
 
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