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Full range situps...
- Thread starter Tom Treutlein
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musketeer
New member
Wehn I was 16 I wanted to have abs like shawn ray, and I figured that doing hundreds of ab movements would do it for me.
I would do hundreds of bent knee situps, bench leg raises and hanging knee raises.
I was ableto do a set of 1,000 situps in about 40mins, nonstop.
DID NOT DO A THING FOR MY AB DEFINITION!
what it did do, I believe, was give me a rock tight midesction. It hurt my lower back as well as my abs when I did situps, but after a while I got used to it. The first time I tried deadlifting, I pulled up 315 at a bodyweight of 160 and neary 6'0" tall. I believ that as I did not already have an injury, the situps just did me good.
I would do hundreds of bent knee situps, bench leg raises and hanging knee raises.
I was ableto do a set of 1,000 situps in about 40mins, nonstop.
DID NOT DO A THING FOR MY AB DEFINITION!
what it did do, I believe, was give me a rock tight midesction. It hurt my lower back as well as my abs when I did situps, but after a while I got used to it. The first time I tried deadlifting, I pulled up 315 at a bodyweight of 160 and neary 6'0" tall. I believ that as I did not already have an injury, the situps just did me good.
Tom Treutlein
New member
No exercise. Lose bodyfat. Get to 10% or below and you'll start seeing abs.
well, as true as that is... i don't have alot of BF (likely more than 10% however)...but lets say i was down to near 10% -what would you suggest then to have solid, defined abs; as opposed to a skinny (flat) stomach, or one of those 'keg' abs - you know, where the guy is so massive, that instead of a 6pack, he's just go a blig blob of solid muscle 
supreme
New member
Lets use science to answer everyone's questions:
No such thing as spot reduction, drop bodyfat and you see the muscle BUT genetics dictates where fat is metabolized from, usually first place on = last off!, if your BF is low you will see definition. Big. blob abs are big fat blobs!
The abs (all layers) are part of the core, you can't differentiate between a strong core/ abs BUT you can overwork the different muscles at the exclusion of others i.e too many crunches and get: low back, neck, jaw, shoulder and upper back pain
- the crunch is the world's most over used and abused exercise!!
You absolutely want & NEED a strong core or you will never make progress brcause the core protects you from injury, transfers power between the ground and extremeties, provides balance and coordinated movements.
Correct training and diet will produce both a six pack and a strong core!! - Think of it this way, a strong core is a six-pack that both looks good & functions correctly!
S
No such thing as spot reduction, drop bodyfat and you see the muscle BUT genetics dictates where fat is metabolized from, usually first place on = last off!, if your BF is low you will see definition. Big. blob abs are big fat blobs!
The abs (all layers) are part of the core, you can't differentiate between a strong core/ abs BUT you can overwork the different muscles at the exclusion of others i.e too many crunches and get: low back, neck, jaw, shoulder and upper back pain
- the crunch is the world's most over used and abused exercise!!
You absolutely want & NEED a strong core or you will never make progress brcause the core protects you from injury, transfers power between the ground and extremeties, provides balance and coordinated movements.
Correct training and diet will produce both a six pack and a strong core!! - Think of it this way, a strong core is a six-pack that both looks good & functions correctly!
S
Last edited:
Tom Treutlein
New member
Supreme - what exercises should one use to train their core "properly", then? Ab training, I take it, should not be excluded, but must be done right. Assuming proper pelvic tilt, what should one do?
supreme
New member
well if you have neutral pelvis you should start with lower abdominal work. there are NO lower ab muscles, it is just the distal end of the rectus abdominus but there are different nerves going to the portion of the six pack below the belly button.
This allows for segmented contraction of the abs, most other muscles only have 2 nerves, a primary & secondary - the rectus has 8, thus either end can be a prime mover or stabilizer. The function of the lower abs is to work with the external obliques to rotate the pelvis 10 degrees bacwards during movement thus allowing for neutral pelvic alignment and decreasing shear of the lumbar vertabrae.
also you need to remember to activate the transverse abdominus; you would always want to draw the belly button toward the spine to activate the TVA which will also align the pelvis and flatten the abdominal wall ****Note: pulling in your belly button (activating the TVA) is the only way to use muscles to flatten the abs, crunches DO NOT flatten the abdominal wall and if you do crunches without 1st pulling in you can distend the abdomen due to pushing out too hard.
After lower abs, oblique work - rotation & lateral bending and then finally full range forward flexion i.e. crunches.
Lower ab exercises can include: Pelvic tilts, leg lowering, reverse crunche, knee raises
Oblique work includes all forms of rotation: wood chops, russian twist, medicine ball throws etc. & lateral bending: side bridges, cable or dumbell side bends, overhead (Saxon) side bend
Crunches for the upper abs are best done over a physioball for the full ROM of the rectus is 40 deg. extension & 30 deg. flexion meaning if you do crunches on the floor, a bench or machine for too long you will lose 10 degrees of extension/mobility in the thoracic spine.
Although individual testing should be done to determine which muscles are weak so they can be prioritized (usually TVA & lower abs) and then dynamic full range movements using both the rectus & hip flexors can be used.
Believe me it is more detailed than this but I tried to keep it short. Here is a link to the BEST ab book ever!!! and some useful articles:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...f=sr_1_1/002-7519845-4328867?v=glance&s=books
http://www.chekinstitute.com/articles.cfm?select=24
http://www.chekinstitute.com/articles.cfm?select=31
http://www.chekinstitute.com/articles.cfm?select=33
http://www.chekinstitute.com/articles.cfm?select=12
Hope this helps!!
S
This allows for segmented contraction of the abs, most other muscles only have 2 nerves, a primary & secondary - the rectus has 8, thus either end can be a prime mover or stabilizer. The function of the lower abs is to work with the external obliques to rotate the pelvis 10 degrees bacwards during movement thus allowing for neutral pelvic alignment and decreasing shear of the lumbar vertabrae.
also you need to remember to activate the transverse abdominus; you would always want to draw the belly button toward the spine to activate the TVA which will also align the pelvis and flatten the abdominal wall ****Note: pulling in your belly button (activating the TVA) is the only way to use muscles to flatten the abs, crunches DO NOT flatten the abdominal wall and if you do crunches without 1st pulling in you can distend the abdomen due to pushing out too hard.
After lower abs, oblique work - rotation & lateral bending and then finally full range forward flexion i.e. crunches.
Lower ab exercises can include: Pelvic tilts, leg lowering, reverse crunche, knee raises
Oblique work includes all forms of rotation: wood chops, russian twist, medicine ball throws etc. & lateral bending: side bridges, cable or dumbell side bends, overhead (Saxon) side bend
Crunches for the upper abs are best done over a physioball for the full ROM of the rectus is 40 deg. extension & 30 deg. flexion meaning if you do crunches on the floor, a bench or machine for too long you will lose 10 degrees of extension/mobility in the thoracic spine.
Although individual testing should be done to determine which muscles are weak so they can be prioritized (usually TVA & lower abs) and then dynamic full range movements using both the rectus & hip flexors can be used.
Believe me it is more detailed than this but I tried to keep it short. Here is a link to the BEST ab book ever!!! and some useful articles:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...f=sr_1_1/002-7519845-4328867?v=glance&s=books
http://www.chekinstitute.com/articles.cfm?select=24
http://www.chekinstitute.com/articles.cfm?select=31
http://www.chekinstitute.com/articles.cfm?select=33
http://www.chekinstitute.com/articles.cfm?select=12
Hope this helps!!
S
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