"The secret to cutting up is cardio, the more you do,
the more fat you'll burn, and don't get me wrong you
still gotta do your weight training "
I've heard so many training theories on abdominals from about every person
that has
ever touched a weight. In fact, if I gained an ounce of muscle for every
time someone
talked about a crackpot method to train abs, I would be accepting the Sandow
instead of Ronnie Coleman. AND I'M ONLY 23. Let's clear a few popular myths
up
about abs first of all.
There's really no such thing as perfect abs because when
trained correctly and if your body fat is low enough then
trust me they will look impressive. Very few people have
what I would call "textbook" abs, because the abdominal
muscles are actually one flat hunk of muscle tissue, the
thing that gives people this six pack look is this elastic type
tissue that runs across the muscle. So this elastic type
tissue stays pretty much the same size as long as your
abs don't get too big and the bigger your abdominals get the
deeper the grooves but if you abs start to get too big then
this elastic like tissue will expand. So its important to keep
in mind the intensity of your ab workouts. Now about those
"textbook" the only people that have those are the people
who's elastic like tissue isn't crooked.
So its just the beginning of spring I don't know about all of
you, but I've just started the cutting up phase, and I'm
already impressed with how much fat I've lost in just a short
period of time.
The cutting up diet is very similar to the bulking up diet, when cutting
up you and to
eat 5-6 small meals a day unlike the bulk up diet where you eat 5-6 medium
sized
meals a day. The secret to cutting up is cardio, the more you do, the more
fat you'll
burn, and don't get me wrong you still gotta do your weight training
"You can work abs everyday because they recover faster than other muscles"-
Haha, I'm getting a great ab workout from how much I'm laughing at this
one. Muscle
tissue is muscle tissue. Muscle tissue responds to stimulus (weight training)
to
grow larger and stronger.
"You need to use super high reps to increase definition in your midsection"-
Yea
right. You can do a thousand crunches per night but If your diet isn't
correct you'll
never see those abs.
"You don't need to train abs because they get enough work by being supporting
muscles during squats, presses, and deadlifts"- I'm sure the same people
that
believe also don't train biceps or triceps since they are supporting muscles
to the
back, chest, and shoulders...I think not.
"You should train abs with weight because it will make your abs big, which
will make
you look fat"- Oh my goodness, the biggest misconception of all time. I
will explain
why later .
The rest of this article will be dedicated to showing you that abs aren't
as
complicated as everyone thinks.
Let's begin with how muscles grow. Muscles are overloaded and stimulated
to grow
when they are trained with weights that are heavier than the body is used
to
handling. The muscles need nutrients (protein, carbs, fats and vitamins
to name a
few) and recuperation time to grow bigger and stronger. Would you train
your chest
everyday? Of course not, you would never make any progress. So why would
you
train abs everyday? There is absolutely no reason to. The abdominals can
become
overtrained just like any other muscle that is worked too often. One intense
day of
work per week is enough for your abs.
So how should you train your abs during your workouts? Heavy. That's right,
you
heard me. Heavy. "But if my abs get big they will make me look fat." Not
in the
least, first of all the abs are a very thin sheet of muscle and thus very
hard to
enlarge. But if you could make them grow, what would be wrong with that?
Let me
use analogy with a different muscle group since no one understands abs.
Here is the
question/analogy... There are two people, person A and person B. Person
A has 12"
arms with 7% body fat. Person B has 17" arms with 11% body fat. Whose arms
are
going to look more defined? It will be person B's arms because the muscle
sticks
out farther away from the body. The same thing applies to abs. If they
were bigger
they would stick farther out away from the body; thus it would appear that
one would
carry less fat around the mid-section since there is more muscle there.
This would
allow one to achieve what everyone wants. Visible abs even when you are
bulking!
Now I know what some of you are thinking out there, "If my abs are bigger
it will
make my waist look bigger." Not in the least. If your abs stick farther
out away from
the body it will appear that there is less fat in between the abdominals,
as it appears
that there is less fat around your arms if they are bigger. Now the converse
is true for
the obliques. You DO NOT want to build your obliques up. Large lower obliques
will
make you appear wider. They still needed to be trained but only with a
couple of light
sets per week.
The abs are split into upper and lower abs and the upper and lower obliques.
You're
workout should include exercises to hit each of these areas. The following
is a list of
exercises and what part of the abdominals they hit.
Crunches- the bench press of the abdominals. Crunches hit all of the
abdominals with special emphasis on the upper abs.
Decline Crunches- Emphasizes upper abs.
Cable Crunches (with a rope)- Hits both parts of the abdominals with
emphasis on the upper abs.
Reverse Crunches- Hits the entire abdominal complex with special emphasis
on the lower abs.
Hanging Leg Raises- Hits mostly lower abdominals.
Hanging Knee Raises- Hits mostly lower abdominals.
Sit ups- Hits the entire abdominal complex.
Decline Sit ups- Emphasizes upper abs.
Side Crunches- Hit upper and lower obliques, with a bit more emphasis on
the upper obliques.
Hanging Side Knee Raises- Emphasizes lower obliques.
Trunk Twists (with broom handle across shoulders)- Emphasizes obliques.
Abdominal Machines- Hit the entire abdominal complex.
When training the abdominals, the repetitions should be kept within the
8-15 rep
range. When training the upper obliques keep the repetitions in the 12-20
rep range
and when training lower obliques keep the repetitions over 30. Here are
a few sample
workouts.
2 warm-up sets of 12 reps of hanging leg raises
2 failure sets of 8-12 reps of hanging leg raises
1 warm-up set of 12 reps of cable crunches
2 failure sets of 8-12 reps of cable crunches
1 failure set of side crunches 12-20 reps (to both sides)
2 sets of 30+ reps on trunk twists
2 warm-up sets of 12 hanging knee raises
2 failure sets of 8-12 reps hanging knee raises (hold dumbbell between
feet if
extra resistance is needed)
1 warm-up set of 12 reps of crunches
2 failure sets of 8-12 reps of crunches (do on decline bench or with weight
on
chest is extra resistance is needed)
1 failure set of side crunches 12-20 reps (to both sides)
2 sets of 30+ reps of trunk twists
Keep at it and remember to do your walks , probably the best for of cardio
for bodybuilders
wanting to get rid of fat and maintain their muscle size.