Abdominal Training

By Kerry O’Brien.

There exists a billion-dollar industry that preys on people’s dreams of attaining “wash-board abs”. If only it was as easy as shelling out a bit of cash, and receiving a fancy piece of abdominal training equipment that you use once then place under your bed till your next garage sale. Alas much like the truth of the tooth fairy was revealed to me, I must in turn reveal to you that it is hard work and diet that gets you a great midsection, and not your credit card. Don’t despair there is hope and it won’t cost you a cent, just sweat and tears.

Purpose of AB Training:

People have different aims in mind when training abs, and these aims will dictate what sort of training routine, intensity and volume you will employ. Here are the two main purposes for training abs and the type of routine you should follow to meet these aims.

1- AB’s for Aesthetics or Visual Appearance and Endurance. If it is simply your aim to have a tight looking midsection with some definition then the types of reps and sets you should use will be different from other routines. You should do two abdominal exercises comprising of 2-3 set per exercise, with between 25-50 repetitions per set. Obviously this routine involves a large volume of work, however, the intensity (weight resistance) is low. This means that you should recover quickly from workouts and will be able to train your abs up to 5 times a week without too many problems.

2- AB’s for Sporting Strength, Fitness and Bodybuilding Contests. The aims of the average person regards their abdominal are generally less extreme than the aims of those is sports requiring good core strength and power. Correspondingly we need to adopt a strength and muscle growth orientated routine. Contrary to general population opinion and perceptions, the muscles that make up the midsection are really no different from the muscles in the rest of the body. Therefore, if seeking size and strength, we should train the abdominal muscles in a similar manner as we would train any other muscle group in the body. This routine requires that we reduce our volume and increase the resistance and the time for recovery. Once again use only two exercises, but this time keep the reps in the range of 5-15, with 3 sets per exercise. You will need to use some weight or resistance to make sure that you reach muscle failure before the 15^th rep. As you get stronger increase the weight to keep reps under 15 per set. Because we are causing more damage to the muscle with this routine, you will need to allow the muscle more time to recover. Only train the abdominals twice a week with this routine.

Abdominal Exercises: Now we enter the confusing area of ab exercises. There are literally more than 100 abdominal exercises that have been proposed over the past 70 years. Given that there is only around 50 valuable exercises for the rest of the body in total, most of these ab exercises have got to be rubbish. Rather than list the exercises you could potentially use, we will focus on the few that are the most effective both in terms of results, and ease of performance.

A- Lying Abdominal Crunch (Upper and Lower Abs). This exercise should be the mainstay of your training and incorporates a number of variations designed for targeting different areas of the midsection. To focus on the upper-middle abs, lie down on your back and place your legs on a chair or bench with a 90-degree bend at the hip. Alternatively just make sure you backside is in line with the edge of the chair. Place the tips of your fingers on your ears, and without bending your neck up, raise your upper body off the ground while keeping your lower back on the floor. You should only be able to get your shoulders about 8-10inches off the ground, this is fine, just make sure you focus on the abs doing the lifting, and exhale as you raise your upper body. If you are wanting to use weight for this exercise in order to keep the reps below 15, you can either put a weight plate on your chest or hold a dumbbell just above your head in a fixed position. If you wish to target the lower abs more then move your backside to about 8 inches in front of the edge of the chair, so that there is about a 60-degree angle to your legs. Place your palms on your lower abs/hip-flexors, and focus on contracting this area when you lift your upper body. Follow the same procedure as before.

B- Crunch Twists. Place your self on your back in a similar position to crunches, however instead of putting your feet on a chair, put them with the sole flat on the floor. Clasp your hands together with arms straight positioned about 12 inches above your belly button. Now with your arms still out straight. Raise your upper body up and twist to alternate sides.

C- Side Bends. This exercise is for the obliques or the little side muscles above your hips that rude people often refer to as love handles. Now you must make the decision as to whether or not you wish to make these any bigger. For sporting purposes it is advisable to train them with as much weight as you can. However, because this exercise can actually make your waste thicker, if your aim is a tight small midsection then don’t use as much weight, instead use high reps of 25-50. Standing straight with a dumbbell or some weight in each hand and arms by your sides, bend over to one side of the body so that the dumbbell moves down to just above the knee. Then straighten up and repeat for the other side of the body. Remember to focus on feeling the obliques work.

Final Points:

No matter how big and chiselled your abs get from this training, you will not be able to see them unless you have your diet sorted out and don’t have a layer of fat covering them.

There is no such thing as spot reduction, so if your aim is simply to remove fat from your midsection then ab training alone will not achieve this.

The added strength and endurance that your midsection will receive from this training will add to your overall physical strength and power, and will protect you from injury, particularly back injuries.

While there are many ab exercises you could use, the key point is to ensure that you feel them working and focus on crunching them powerfully while exhaling.