Ab/Core Conditioning

[Mateo]

http://www.testosterone.net/articles/205abs2.html

http://www.testosterone.net/html/body_96ab.html

http://t-mag.com/html/body_148short.html

[kh_s]

Ehh ?? He said the basic crunch was worthless ? I do crunches damnit

[Ephraim]

For effective results, don't do crunches. Instead, do leg raises and knee raises. Granted, these two exercises may not target your upper abdominals, but the upper abs are much easier to condition than the lower half. If you do a variation of knee raises like twisting, you can work your hard-to-develop obliques.

[kh_s]

damnit, I never knew there was so much more to ab training

[Ephraim]

Oh ya, working your abs alone can be a day in your training routine.

[terry]

Excellent post, mateo.

Terry

[James Bullock]

Checkout www.dragondoor.com

this is Pavel Tsatsouline's site...great information for all types of conditioning.


James

[Mateo]

kh_s-I agree that basic crunches are less effective than many other forms of ab work, but there is one way to do them that makes them a bit more difficult.It's called a static contraction crunch.Basically what you do is isometrically contract your abs at the top of the crunch and hold that contraction for a good three seconds on every rep.Just a suggested variation you can try.

[Turing]

Between this thread, and every other damn thread about ab conditioning, I really don't know what to do. I used to do crunches and oblique crunches, and I just bought a medicine ball yesterday so I figure I can start using that. But will all this stuff apparently crunches are pretty ineffective. What are like the three best? I'm sure there is some opion in it and personal prefrence, but are there any workouts, specifically for abs, that most people here can agree are really good? Thanx in advance.

[kh_s]

Well, it was on the site, but I heard that 'Russian Twists' work the whole ab area, correct me if its not true. Also, I do flutter kicks that work your lower abs, whether it is ineffective or not... I got nothing else better to do anyways

"But will all this stuff apparently crunches are pretty ineffective."

I'm not sure what you mean, as this seems to be a non sentence. But if you mean that crunches are inneffective, then you're wrong.

Performed correctly the crunch is a real killer. But its easy to cheat. It reminds me of the old joke where two men are pushing a car up-hill. One is pushing like mad saying "This is killing me". The other feels all superior. He only has his little finger on the car and thinks it is easy.

Think about it.

[JoAnn]

I lay on my back and as I begin to crunch up I raises my legs straight out and up to a 90 degree position. I hold them there while I do 50 slow pulsing crunches. When I have done those 50 I drop my legs to 60 degrees and do 50 more crunches, when I have done those 50, I drop my legs to 30 degrees and do 50 more crunches. When you are finished you will have done 150 crunches.I promise, this will make your abs real strong.

[RBFC]

If you're doing more than 10-15 repetitions of any exercise, strength is NOT the primary attribute being developed. This includes abs. Large numbers of repetitions develop endurance more than strength.

Try the crunches on an incline board, with weight behind your head, or both. Adjust the weight/incline so that 10 reps is extremely challenging, and let me know what you think.

Lee

[terry]

In line with Lee's comments above, weighted incline situps with low reps will develop core ab strength well. What I'm wondering about is about how you might setup a (sorry to use periodization terminology) weekly microcycle that includes, say, one or two heavy (weighted) days and a couple of dynamic (lighter) days for speed.

To that end, I've seen people doing incline situps with a medicine ball. They catch the medicine ball on the downstroke and push it off on the upstroke. I was thinking that might help in terms of a dynamic day in which your objective is to coordinate your muscles to react to a lighter stimulus explosively with the maximum amount of motor units, i.e., applying 200 lbs of force to a 100 lb weight. I'm interested in developing that kind of neuromuscular coordination in general and am wondering if anybody knows a good way to apply this to ab work.

Terry

[Builderofmuscle]

I can't beleive this post is still being discussed, anyway good topic. I stopped working my abs directly a long time ago. I know that when I'm bobbing and weaving and doing all this other shit that makes martialarts so good, I'm working my abs. Many a times I'll feel my abs sore without even working.

My dojo does the basic situp as it's core movements. And then we do a lot of other variations, jacknives, legs on top of free-standing bags, leg raises,medicine ball situps... etc.

It's true that high reps will build endurance, and not strength. But when we do abdominal training, which usuall lasts about 10 minutes, we go all out on them, and do a variation of angles. So, we'll start off with leg raises, switch to scissor type leg raises, up and down, than move our legs side to side. We'll do rolls, and then come back up, punch, down, situp, roll, etc.

We do a lot of shit. But here is what I think are probably the most effective exercises that u can do by using equipment found in any dojo:

Janda Situp - You've read about this one. I didn't even realize I was doing this type of situp until I actually read about it. Sometimes I would have someone holding my legs, or I would lock legs with a partner. I stopped going all the way down on my situps and stopped going all the way up. If I ever do go all the way up, My back would be rolled and I WOULD sqeeze. but I
ve found that keeping your back slightly rolled, or curves, staying in the CONTRACTION ZONE for a long period of type for about 5 or 6 reps, helps a lot. My sensei does this for a good 30 to 40 reps! I CAN DO IT for 20 reps, but our pace is a bit fast.

We also after 10 fast reps, slow down to 10 slow reps, and so on, alternating. Try this with a medicine ball!

Woodchop - This is done with a medicine ball. I like to use a 15 pounder. Simply grip the ball with both hands, squat down, and start off with the ball past you legs. So your arms are between your bent legs, and the ball is behind your ass, or as far as you can take it. Simply lift the ball in a circular motion up abover your head. But that's not the end. I like to go a few inches beyond my my head, so that I'm also working my abs, and stressing my lower back.

Roll and punch - This is a complex exercise. Sit in front of a free-standing heavy bag, and roll backwards, Roll back, than sit back up (you should already be using your abs) and do two punches. Do 5 situps, and on the last one, use the momementum to do another rolls, and again 2 punches.

Jumping Leg Raise - This is simply a jumping exercise that works ur lower abs. SImply jump up and bring ur knees to ur chest. If u can do a good number of these, than twist your knees to one side, and your torso to the other side.

If you can do this, which kind a tough, now try to use the momentum of you knees, to twist your entire body, and end up 180 degrees from where u orignally started.

I have to go, I have two more, I will post them later.