This post concludes (at last!) the series describing how to design adequate routines for training the different body-parts. This chapter provides you with the general guidelines for proper abdominal training.
Classical aim of bodybuilders has been achieving six-pack shaped abdominals. However, only training is unproductive to achieve this. Surely, you will not see your abdominals unless you eliminate the layer of fat covering them. Effective fat loss can only be accomplished with a proper clean diet in conjunction with cardiovascular exercise (I’ll go deeper on this in a future post). In spite of this, you must not neglect the abdominal work, because it can contribute to the whole picture providing muscle definition and thickening. And more importantly, abdominal work contributes also to prevent injury, since the abdominal muscles are heavily involved in maintaining the posture (along with the lower back), and they act as a stabilizer in almost every exercise.
What is commonly referred as the abdominal body-part is comprised of several muscles, namely the rectus abdominis, the obliques and the transversus abdominis. The rectus abdominis runs down the front of your stomach and its primary function is to flex the trunk. It is a single muscle and, as such, the whole muscle contracts when exercised. Because of this, we cannot really differentiate lower from upper abdominals, though some exercises can put slightly more emphasis in one area than in the other. The obliques, which run down the side of your stomach, have two heads, namely the external oblique and the internal oblique, and though these muscles contribute to abdominal flexion, they are mainly activated through rotation and lateral flexion (e.g. bending from side to side). The transversus abdominis lies underneath the rectus abdominis, and it is responsible for stabilizing the trunk during lifting movements and pulling your stomach flat. Finally, although they are not part of the abdominal core, the serratus anterior and the intercostals muscles, which lie just above the rib cage, contribute also to your abdominal look.
In the past, abdominal training relied on exercises such as sit-ups or straight-leg raises. However, these exercises are based on flexing the hip joint instead of flexing the trunk. For this reason, they primarily involve the iliopsoas muscle, contributing to increase your waist size, while the abdominals are not trained in a productive way, because they are merely exhausted in prolonged static work for preventing your spine from breaking off.
Proper way of training the rectus abdominis must involve decreasing the distance between the ribcage and the pelvis, for example, bringing the chest toward the hips, as occurs in crunches, or bringing the hips toward the chest, as occurs in reverse crunches and hip raises. Obliques training must be approached with caution, because too much oblique development will make you appear blocky, ruining your X-frame. Just in case you need some oblique definition, use exercises with a twisting motion, but with none or very little resistance, and aiming for a good stretch. Side bends can be another option, but also with extremely light weights. Training the transversus abdominis is important for avoiding that your abdominals begin to protrude and for improving your abdominal control. This muscle is engaged using bridges and vacuums. The serratus anterior and the intercostals work synergistically and are best trained using straight-arm pushdowns and pullovers.
Train your abdominals once, or at most twice a week, preferably after the other muscles. Use at least 2 or 3 exercises. People generally use none or low resistance, but you can occasionally experiment with more resistance for giving some relief to your abs (not with obliques!). Finally, perform all the exercises in controlled motion and hold the contractions for a count.
If you need more information for designing your abdominal workout, you can read the article “Atrocious Abs: A Guide to a Rock-Hard Midsection” by Matt Danielsson or the article “Intelligent Abdominal Training for Athletes and Bodybuilders!” by Ben Black.
Classical aim of bodybuilders has been achieving six-pack shaped abdominals. However, only training is unproductive to achieve this. Surely, you will not see your abdominals unless you eliminate the layer of fat covering them. Effective fat loss can only be accomplished with a proper clean diet in conjunction with cardiovascular exercise (I’ll go deeper on this in a future post). In spite of this, you must not neglect the abdominal work, because it can contribute to the whole picture providing muscle definition and thickening. And more importantly, abdominal work contributes also to prevent injury, since the abdominal muscles are heavily involved in maintaining the posture (along with the lower back), and they act as a stabilizer in almost every exercise.
What is commonly referred as the abdominal body-part is comprised of several muscles, namely the rectus abdominis, the obliques and the transversus abdominis. The rectus abdominis runs down the front of your stomach and its primary function is to flex the trunk. It is a single muscle and, as such, the whole muscle contracts when exercised. Because of this, we cannot really differentiate lower from upper abdominals, though some exercises can put slightly more emphasis in one area than in the other. The obliques, which run down the side of your stomach, have two heads, namely the external oblique and the internal oblique, and though these muscles contribute to abdominal flexion, they are mainly activated through rotation and lateral flexion (e.g. bending from side to side). The transversus abdominis lies underneath the rectus abdominis, and it is responsible for stabilizing the trunk during lifting movements and pulling your stomach flat. Finally, although they are not part of the abdominal core, the serratus anterior and the intercostals muscles, which lie just above the rib cage, contribute also to your abdominal look.
In the past, abdominal training relied on exercises such as sit-ups or straight-leg raises. However, these exercises are based on flexing the hip joint instead of flexing the trunk. For this reason, they primarily involve the iliopsoas muscle, contributing to increase your waist size, while the abdominals are not trained in a productive way, because they are merely exhausted in prolonged static work for preventing your spine from breaking off.
Proper way of training the rectus abdominis must involve decreasing the distance between the ribcage and the pelvis, for example, bringing the chest toward the hips, as occurs in crunches, or bringing the hips toward the chest, as occurs in reverse crunches and hip raises. Obliques training must be approached with caution, because too much oblique development will make you appear blocky, ruining your X-frame. Just in case you need some oblique definition, use exercises with a twisting motion, but with none or very little resistance, and aiming for a good stretch. Side bends can be another option, but also with extremely light weights. Training the transversus abdominis is important for avoiding that your abdominals begin to protrude and for improving your abdominal control. This muscle is engaged using bridges and vacuums. The serratus anterior and the intercostals work synergistically and are best trained using straight-arm pushdowns and pullovers.
Train your abdominals once, or at most twice a week, preferably after the other muscles. Use at least 2 or 3 exercises. People generally use none or low resistance, but you can occasionally experiment with more resistance for giving some relief to your abs (not with obliques!). Finally, perform all the exercises in controlled motion and hold the contractions for a count.
If you need more information for designing your abdominal workout, you can read the article “Atrocious Abs: A Guide to a Rock-Hard Midsection” by Matt Danielsson or the article “Intelligent Abdominal Training for Athletes and Bodybuilders!” by Ben Black.
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1 comment:
Great readinng your blog post
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