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What makes ab's so special, that doing crunchs will work? It does'nt make sense to me. Sure if you do crunch'es after about 35+ you get a "burn", But so would doing 50 reps of curls with a risistence band. And I know that wont do crap for my arms.

Btw most all my ab work I've been doing is wieghted. I know people say that "abs are built in the kitchen, but you could lose a ton of wieght and if you havent built up your abs, you still wont have any

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i agree, doing high rep sets of crunches is probably a waste of time and one would be better served by doing heavy weighted crunches or just letting squats, deads, OH presses and especially chins take care of their ab development.
abs arent built in the kitchen, they're revealed in the the kitchen!

i get a huge kick out of society's obsession with "abs" and all the stupid little useless devices hawked on TV "guaranteed" to give you a washboard stomach. it is truly amazing how many people still belive you can "spot reduce" by doing hundreds of reps of twists or crunches, etc. or, to quote Dorian Yates "By rocking away in a flimsy plastic jigger", lol!
it is my experience that a vast number of people think pro BBers walk around all year long with 4% BF, looking just like they do on the Olympia stage and those same people believe that anyone who lifts weights should also look like that all year long.

in the last 6 months i've added almost and inch and a half to my arms and almost 3 inches to my legs and all my mom can say is: "why dont your abs look like Arnold's?"

*sigh*

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Can you imagine spot reducing did work, you would see a bunch of people who bought ab products from these commercials walking around with fat legs, arms, neck. But a great set of abs

You're right that just "doing abs" wont help much after some point. You eventually have to add resistance because they will have to have some reason to grow. Personally I got to where I was holding two plates on a declined bench doing sit-ups and was tired of that. If you have one of those sit-up machines then great. If not another option is to do shit lying on your back where you shuffle your feet.

But for me, I always developed my abs by doing other exercises. Like squat, deadlift (especially front squat). Do you think I could add 100lb to my deadlift without my abs becoming brutally stronger than they were before? So that's where I would bet my money on as far as ab training goes -- other exercises that require the whole body to move as a whole and the abs to bridge the gap.

I agree that doing heavy compounds will make your abs stronger, but lately (past year and a half) I've worked with the philosophy that building stronger abs makes for a stronger compound. I want my abs built on their own rather than from doing heavy compounds alone. If you're working a good set of plates on the bar your gonna wanna make sure that everything that stabilizes that movement isn't going to be your weak link. IMHO relying on your ab strength to increase because you've increased the weight on your barbell is a good way to increase your chance of injury. I believe that heavy heavy ab exercises should be a staple in anyones routine. To me the difference that it makes is night and day.

I've seen the best ab growth and definition from doing heavy ab exercises (in the 5x8-10 range 2 times a week) plus heavier compounds....fuck that 5000 crunches before bed shit, thats for the abercrombie models with 3% bodyfat and 12" pythons.

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Yeah buddy!!!

Haha! Yes!

But in the same breath some like myself find it hard to do heavy sets of abs with the equipment at hand. If you can do it and it works, great! For me personally I have developed my abs with little ab work because I find it way to cumbersome and other muscles trying to hold a weight or something end up being worked more than my abs!

Hey! I take offense to that! I am an abercrombie model with 12.2" pythons, kid, and make a whole lot more money than you. Being an abercrombie model is in my blood, starting with my ancestors from the Puritan colonies in the fledgling U.S.A., modeling sexy black and white garb. You better watch your back, cause I'll bet you couldn't top my 100 lb bench press!



Seriously, though, that's the quote of the week right there!

I think the fascination with the six-pack abs in this society is that the view of the sexy, virile male is geared towards a "competitive swimmer" look. I remember reading somewhere that women used to find the huge powerlifter types to be the best looking men in the early 20th century. I think nowadays a six-pack represents low bodyfat, which represents being thin and being thin is the "cool" thing to do now.

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"The iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you're a god or a total bastard. The iron will always kick you the real deal. The iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends come and go, but 200 pounds is always 200 pounds."

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it's hard to argue with the logic of that philosophy!
possibly for the novice, the compounds would be sufficient but as one gets stronger and moves onto intermediate shit, direct ab work becomes more necessary?
i think the most important point is that doing hundreds of reps of crunches, twists and side bends will not do much except waist (heheh, get it?) your time.


lol, Ok that was

I would start the ab work right from day 1. Even as newbie lifting 135lbs on deadlift, which is nothing for most of us, its still heavy to them. A vet pulling 700lbs or a novice pulling 200 could both be working at the same intensity. To me thats a potential trap you could fall in as a rookie, "I'm not lifting nearly as much as that guy and he doesn't do this or that, so I'm fine".

But most definitely ab work becomes necessary. There's no way I'd be able to pull 300+ on deads or squat 400+ without the abs I've got. I'd probably have a hernia otherwise.

Another thing I like about big abs is that on a tough rep or set I'll tighten my abs and it helps me push through and move the weights.