Posted by When we talk about abs tr
aining the very first thing that comes to our mind is hundreds of crunches. I have seen people working on their abs for hours and hours, doing thousands of crunches, reverse crunches and what not. Truly speaking to get six pack abs you don’t need train your abs like this. If you are one of those who train your abs everyday and do thousands of crunches you are doing nothing but wasting your time and energy.
If I talk about my abs workout, I train my abs for 15-20 mins twice a week. No kidding I work on my abs like any other small muscle part. Understand and follow few simple tips and you will feel the difference.
Lesson 1: Lose fat or else you will never see those six pack abs no matter how hard you train.
ABS TRAINING DOES NOT BURN FAT OFF YOUR MID SECTION!
This is something I keep on telling to each and every client. Abs workout does not burn fat off your stomach. There is nothing like spot reduction. This is the biggest myth in fitness and I think it will take years for this myth to die and will continue to be passed from generation to generation.
No matter even if you have the best abs in the world you will not see those six pack abs unless and until your fat percent is low. Abs is just like any other muscle. Training your abs everyday will lead to overtraining. Proper nutrition and workout will help you get six pack abs.
Lesson 2: Old school style still works!
New training techniques like “Core training” and “Functional training” are very famous these days. I have seen many trainers saying their clients that crunches are not of much use and show them newly introduced ab exercises. I don’t say that newly introduced exercise doesn’t work. They do work but eliminating crunches an
d just concentrating on new exercises is not a good idea. It wasn’t so long ago that power lifter and exercise physiologist Fred “Dr. Squat” Hatfield wrote, and I quote, “Crunches are the Cadillac of abdominal exercises.”
So what’s the idea? Should you do crunches or you should do the new stuff?
The best way is to vary your workout. You can incorporate both the old and the new ones. If you are bored of same crunch exercise, than try to add some variation to your crunches.
Some of the crunch variations are:
- Feet on floor reach through crunch
2. Feet on floor, hands crossed over chest crunch
3. Feet on floor hands behind head crunch
4. Feet on bench hands behind head crunch
5. Feet in air hands behind head crunch
6. Feet in air, hands behind head, pull in knees, touch elbows
7. Weight on chest crunch
8. Weight behind head crunch
9. Weight held at arm’s length above chest crunch
10. Stability ball crunch, bodyweight
11. Stability ball crunch, with resistance
12. Weighted supine crunch machine (such as Icarian Ab Bench)
The good old crunches is oldie but goodie. Add some new ones to your abs workout but not by eliminating the old ones completely.
Lesson 3: Cable Crunch Works!
Body weight crunches on floor are good. Cable crunches can be better. But unfortunately 1 out of 50 people perform this exercise properly.
KNEELING CABLE CRUNCH
Most people perform the cable crunch like they were bowing. They bend only at the hips brining the elbows straight down to the floor, while the entire spinal column stays in a straight line. This does not cause the abs to contract through their full range of motion, it only gives you an isometric contraction of the abs, while brining the hip flexors strongly into play.
Proper form on the kneeling cable crunch is a curling motion, almost like a carpet being rolled up. Another way I like teach this exercise is to have a trainee visualize that a log is in front of them about a foot off the floor, and ask them to imagine they are wrapping their torso around the log, rounding the back over and curling the spine in a circular range of motion, curling the elbows over and around the log and back in towards the knees.
Also, some people perform this facing away from the weight stack, which is one acceptable variation. I prefer facing towards the weight stack and holding a rope with my hands pressed against my forehead.
Lesson 4: Once you have built substantial ab strength add “Hanging Leg Raises”
Hanging leg raises and its variation “Hanging Knee up” can be performed hanging by your hands from chin up bar. The 
problem with this exercise is that most of the people can’t do them properly. The first time you attempt a hanging leg raise from the chin up bar with no back support, you swing uncontrollably, so most people try it once or twice and then give up. But please note that hanging leg raises are an advanced workout and don’t expect to perform this exercise like a pro from the very first time. Everything needs some practice.
If you are a beginner I would suggest you to perform this on the support leg raise also known as parallel bar. You will find this piece in almost every gym. This piece has the pad for your for arms and elbows and support for your back. You can start with knee ups and once you build enough strength then you can move to leg raises. But make sure the range of motion is good enough to get your abs working and not just the hip flexor. I am sure this exercise will surely help a lot to get those killer six pack abs.
Lesson 5: You can train your lower abs!
Technically not. Confused? Your abs i.e. Rectus abdominal is just like any other muscle. It is a single piece of muscle 
and not three different muscles i.e. “upper, middle and lower abs”. When you do any ab exercise you work on abs as a whole. You cannot isolate a single portion. But on the contrary it is also true that some exercises are there which emphasize more on specific portion of that muscle like crunches emphasis more on upper portion and reverse crunches emphasize more on lower section.
Talking more scientifically, Abdominals has continuous fibers running the entire length from origin to insertion. The ab muscles have a tendinous band in between each section. This is what gives the abs their segmented, “six pack” appearance.
Each segment of the abs flexes a portion of the lumbar spine and or pelvis. The lower abs are the part responsible for the flexion of the lower lumbar vertebrae and backward rotation of the pelvis. The upper abs are responsible for the flexion of the upper part of the lumbar spine.
The practical application of this information is simple: Exercises that draw the lower body towards the upper body, such as reverse crunches, hip lifts, and leg raises, emphasize the lower abs. Exercises that draw the upper body towards the lower body, such as crunches, emphasize the upper abs (but neither completely isolates one or the other).
Some of the lower ab exercises
1. Support knee ups
2. Support leg raise
3. Hanging knee up
4. Hanging leg raise
5. Reverse crunch
6. Incline reverse crunch
7. Stability ball reverse crunch
8. Reverse crunch with medicine ball behind knees
9. Hip lift
10. Bent knee leg raise/hip lift combo
11. Incline hip lift
Click here to read my article on Lower abs.
Lesson 6: Once you reach the advance level, Try to add some super sets, tri sets and giant sets in your workout.
For advance client I would highly recommended this kind of training.
- ü Superset: A superset is where you perform two exercises without rest. For example you do20 reps of reverse crunches and without any reset you perform 20 reps of regular crunches.
- ü Tri-sets: Tri-sets are somewhat similar to supersets the only difference is that you perform three exercises in a row instead of two. For example you do hanging knee ups, reverse crunches and regular crunches with no rest in between.
- ü Giant Sets: This is one of my favorite. Giant sets are also known as circuit training. Although “circuit training for a single part is referred as giant set. In this type of training you perform four or more exercise without stopping.
Following are some of the ab routines for beginners to advance clients.
Basic straight sets routine
1. Reverse crunch 3 sets X 15-25 reps
2. Floor crunch 3 sets X 15-25 reps
3. Elbow to knee twisting crunch 3 sets X 15-25 reps
(or side crunch)
Advanced straight sets routine
1. Incline reverse crunch 3 sets X 15-25 reps
2. Kneeling cable crunch 3 sets X 15-25 reps
3. Hanging twisting knee up 3 sets X 15-25 reps
Heavy-light routine
Select three ab exercises, all using resistance, for example:
1. Kneeling cable crunch
2. Weighted stability ball crunch
3. Supine Ab crunch machine
Perform three sets of each exercise. Every other workout, change repetition range as follows:
Workout A: (light) 15-25 reps, tempo 1011
Workout B (heavy) 8-12 reps, tempo 2022
Tempo (seconds)
2 eccentric
0 pause in stretch pos
2 concentric
2 pause in contracted position
Superset routine
1. Hanging knee up 2-3 sets X 15-25 reps superset to:
2. Kneeling cable crunch 2-3 sets X 15-25 reps
3. Reverse Crunch 2-3 sets X 15-25 reps superset to:
4. Crunch with feet on bench 2-3 sets X 15-25 reps
Tri-set routine
1. Hanging Leg raise 3 sets X 15-25 reps no rest, go directly to:
2. Hanging Knee Up 3 sets X 15-25 reps no rest, go directly to:
3. Weighted supine crunch 3 sets X 15-25 reps rest 60 seconds, repeat for a total of three tri-sets
The Ultimate Killer Ab Routine (giant set)
1. Hanging straight leg raise 15-25 reps
2. Hanging knee ups 15-25 reps or as many as possible
3. Hip lift 15-25 reps
4. Reverse crunches 15-25 reps
5. Weighted supine crunch 15-25 reps
6. Bodyweight crunches 15-25 reps
In this [giant set] each sequence of mentioned six exercise is one giant set. Rest for 60-90 seconds after you finish exercise #6.Perform this circuit for a total of three times. And I am sure you will feel the burn!
If you will follow these principles and ab routines with proper cardio and diet program, you will see your six pack abs so fast that it might amaze you!
Click Here to read more about one of my favorite online diet program!
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