The Truth About Training for Awesome Abs
Introduction If you want awesome abs then go on a diet.
Don't train your abs.
You already have the muscles.
If you can't see them it is because you are too fat.
You cannot affect the fat by exercising the muscle underneath.
You need to diet that fat off while training to get as strong as possible all over.
Training the Abs The abdominal muscles are muscles like any other.
Cosmetically they can either grow or shrink.
It is interesting that nobody does 100 rep curls with a broomstick to build their biceps but they use an equivalent technique for their abs - hundreds and hundreds of head-nods that they call 'crunches'.
If you train your abdominals effectively - hard and heavy, like any other muscle - then they will grow.
If your abs grow then you will eventually have an ugly looking, blocky pot belly with bumps on it.
And that's not very attractive! If you train your abs ineffectively - like doing 100 rep sit-ups - then, by definition, you wasted your time anyway.
And that's not very smart.
So you can train abs effectively and make your midsection look worse.
Or you can train abs ineffectively and waste your time...
Like I said before, ab training is a complete waste of time! Back Stabilisation The mantra of every mainstream 'Fitness Consultant' is that abs (and all the other fiddly little muscles in and around the midsection) stabilise the lower back - which they do - and therefore we should train our abs to strengthen the back...
? That logic is akin to training your biceps to strengthen your triceps because the triceps 'stabilise' the elbow.
It is a totally backward load of nonsense that comes from the 'experts' fear of back-injury litigation rather than the wellbeing of their clients.
Smarter folks realise that to strengthen and stabilise the back you should - and this may come as a shock - train the back! In training the back hard and heavy, your abs will obviously develop in proportion - they are needed to stabilise, remember! As an added bonus, if you train your back then it might be strong enough for you to bend over with out having to concentrate on flexing your abs, lest you break.
Just in case you hadn't realised, having to consciously flex your abs to move around without hurting your back is not normal or healthy.
You are in very, very bad physical shape if you have to do that.
Abs, Swiss Balls & Core Stability One of the most pathetically soft exercise techniques of recent time is the core stability nonsense that came with the Swiss Ball resurgence.
Did you know that those stupid balls have actually been around for about a century? Arthur Jones - one of the forefathers of high intensity resistance exercise - wrote about how useless they were back in the 1950's.
But when something can be made for 8c and sold for $80, it needs some scientific mumbo-jumbo to justify it! And for enough money, science can prove anything.
Just ask the Soy and Wine industries.
Swiss Ball advocates - despite being generally skinny and weak - claim that virtually all physical limits are as a result of insufficient 'core stability'.
If you can't squat 200kg it is not because your quads or back are too weak.
It is because your 'rectus abdominus' are too weak.
Apparently, circus tricks on a Swiss Ball will get you Squatting 200kg in no time.
Though for all of the squats they can do on the Swiss Ball, I am yet to see a Swiss Ball Advocate with big muscular legs that can squat a big heavy barbell.
And I've seen elephants do Swiss Ball Squats at the circus and their abdominal definition still sucked! If you want core stability then try sticking a 100+kg barbell on your back and doing Walking Lunges.
Or Standing Barbell Presses.
Or Power Cleans, Deadlifts or Squats.
Try training hard instead of farting around with techniques (like Swiss Ball training) that make hard training impossible.
No BS way to Abs: If you want ripped abs and a strong, healthy, stable back and midsection then: go on an appropriate diet (i.
e.
lower in carbs and higher in fats and protein) train hard and heavy with weights focusing on lifting ever heavier poundages on deadlifts and squats Conclusion If you want to see your abs, get rid of the fat! If you want 'core stability' then lift massive weights in free space.
If you want a strong, stable, injury free back then exercise your back! If you don't want to lift heavy weights (or at least exercise very intensely) and you don't want to diet then you will never have abs and you will probably have back problems.
Regardless of what you do or don't want, training abs is generally redundant when it comes to seeing them.
Don't train your abs.
You already have the muscles.
If you can't see them it is because you are too fat.
You cannot affect the fat by exercising the muscle underneath.
You need to diet that fat off while training to get as strong as possible all over.
Training the Abs The abdominal muscles are muscles like any other.
Cosmetically they can either grow or shrink.
It is interesting that nobody does 100 rep curls with a broomstick to build their biceps but they use an equivalent technique for their abs - hundreds and hundreds of head-nods that they call 'crunches'.
If you train your abdominals effectively - hard and heavy, like any other muscle - then they will grow.
If your abs grow then you will eventually have an ugly looking, blocky pot belly with bumps on it.
And that's not very attractive! If you train your abs ineffectively - like doing 100 rep sit-ups - then, by definition, you wasted your time anyway.
And that's not very smart.
So you can train abs effectively and make your midsection look worse.
Or you can train abs ineffectively and waste your time...
Like I said before, ab training is a complete waste of time! Back Stabilisation The mantra of every mainstream 'Fitness Consultant' is that abs (and all the other fiddly little muscles in and around the midsection) stabilise the lower back - which they do - and therefore we should train our abs to strengthen the back...
? That logic is akin to training your biceps to strengthen your triceps because the triceps 'stabilise' the elbow.
It is a totally backward load of nonsense that comes from the 'experts' fear of back-injury litigation rather than the wellbeing of their clients.
Smarter folks realise that to strengthen and stabilise the back you should - and this may come as a shock - train the back! In training the back hard and heavy, your abs will obviously develop in proportion - they are needed to stabilise, remember! As an added bonus, if you train your back then it might be strong enough for you to bend over with out having to concentrate on flexing your abs, lest you break.
Just in case you hadn't realised, having to consciously flex your abs to move around without hurting your back is not normal or healthy.
You are in very, very bad physical shape if you have to do that.
Abs, Swiss Balls & Core Stability One of the most pathetically soft exercise techniques of recent time is the core stability nonsense that came with the Swiss Ball resurgence.
Did you know that those stupid balls have actually been around for about a century? Arthur Jones - one of the forefathers of high intensity resistance exercise - wrote about how useless they were back in the 1950's.
But when something can be made for 8c and sold for $80, it needs some scientific mumbo-jumbo to justify it! And for enough money, science can prove anything.
Just ask the Soy and Wine industries.
Swiss Ball advocates - despite being generally skinny and weak - claim that virtually all physical limits are as a result of insufficient 'core stability'.
If you can't squat 200kg it is not because your quads or back are too weak.
It is because your 'rectus abdominus' are too weak.
Apparently, circus tricks on a Swiss Ball will get you Squatting 200kg in no time.
Though for all of the squats they can do on the Swiss Ball, I am yet to see a Swiss Ball Advocate with big muscular legs that can squat a big heavy barbell.
And I've seen elephants do Swiss Ball Squats at the circus and their abdominal definition still sucked! If you want core stability then try sticking a 100+kg barbell on your back and doing Walking Lunges.
Or Standing Barbell Presses.
Or Power Cleans, Deadlifts or Squats.
Try training hard instead of farting around with techniques (like Swiss Ball training) that make hard training impossible.
No BS way to Abs: If you want ripped abs and a strong, healthy, stable back and midsection then: go on an appropriate diet (i.
e.
lower in carbs and higher in fats and protein) train hard and heavy with weights focusing on lifting ever heavier poundages on deadlifts and squats Conclusion If you want to see your abs, get rid of the fat! If you want 'core stability' then lift massive weights in free space.
If you want a strong, stable, injury free back then exercise your back! If you don't want to lift heavy weights (or at least exercise very intensely) and you don't want to diet then you will never have abs and you will probably have back problems.
Regardless of what you do or don't want, training abs is generally redundant when it comes to seeing them.
