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Ab Exercises: What worked for you?

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PoonRaider

New member
At almost 17, you could say I have a pretty nice 6 pack for my age, and although it's not totally symetrical for reasons unbeknownst to me, I'm still proud of my abs!

So I have decided to let you guys know the methods I have been using for the past 2 years. However, it takes more than just working out to get a great looking pack, you have to be eating right too! For men, in order for your abs to show, you must maintain 10% or less body fat. For women, I believe it is somewhere around 12-14%. My abs really didn't start to look great until I took the initiative to change my lifestyle, by quitting my junk food and soda habits. I am now on a very low sugar, low fat, high protein diet. With all that said, here are the methods I used to achieve my 6 pack:

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/conditioning/a/aa020402a.htm
1.) The Bicycle Manuever
This is my favorite ab workout, because put simply, it is the one that works the best. 5-10 minutes a day (Not counting rest period), in conjunction with at least one other abdominal exercise is enough exercise to attain a notable change in your abs within anywhere from 2 weeks to a month. This ab exercise has been ranked #1 for exercising the abdominals, and #2 for exercising the obliques. I do this exercise everyday.

2.) Captains Chair
This is the absolute best workout for targeting the obliques, however it is also effective in shaping the abs.

3.) 60 degree incline bench
I bought a nautilus about 2 years ago or so. It is a bench which is equipped with these padded pegs for your legs so that you can go up into a 60 degree incline to do situps. This is a great technique to finish your exercises up with.

With that said, does anybody know of any great ab exercises to add to the list?
 
Crunches. Either in high volume or needsize style with the plate on your chest.

That is all.

For obliques, standing weighted side bends. Also good for forarms.
 
Unfortunely your unsymmetrical abs are genetic so not much you can do to fix that...

right now I do kneeling cable crunches, those seem to be great although strangely enough it's deadlifts that make my abs sore.
 
Has anyone tried the '6 Second Abs' machine, or the 'Ab Scissors'?

By the way, Crunches are worth dick (no offense). If I were you I'd replace your crunches with the bicycle manuever. It's so much more effective! Crunches are a BS exercise.
 
From Zero said:
Poor choice of words. You cannot "shape" any muscle.
Click to expand...

Uhh, actually you can. You can tone and make the muscle more defined, or you can do hypertrophy exercises and make the muscle larger. Both of these things can be considered to 'shape' the muscle. Obviously a muscle already has a predetermined shape, however by working out the muscle through either endurance or hypertrophy exercise, you are giving the muscle a well defined shape.
 
Last edited:
there is no such thing a "toning" a muscle, you can make it bigger but thats it. The muscles on someone with 25% bodyfat are exactly the same as they would be if they had 5% bodyfat, they just look more toned because there is less bodyfat covering them. Look at the pic on my avatar, I am about as toned as you can get, but I trained low rep and heavy for that while dieting
And its also true you cannot shape a muscle, you can make it bigger, but your genetics will determine the shape
 
IMHO

abs may be a muscle group more than any other were excercise selection plays much less of a part than consistent training with perfect form and hard contractions.
 
d3track said:
IMHO

abs may be a muscle group more than any other were excercise selection plays much less of a part than consistent training with perfect form and hard contractions.
Click to expand...

Well, I believe that just like any exercise, exercise selection does play a significant role in training the abdominal muscle group. In fact I strongly believe that your success in attaining the classic '6 pack' depends on your ability to aquire and use great exercise techniques. In my first post, the first link leads to a study by a PhD in 13 different ab exercises,
"A recent study lead by Peter Francis, PhD, director of the Biomechanics Lab at San Diego State University, looked at a variety of common abdominal exercises in order to determine what really works. The study looked at 13 abdominal exercises, ranging from the traditional crunch to more complicated activities, using at-home and gym equipment."
Obviously, using perfect form would play another significant role in weight lifting, or any other kind of training for that matter.
There is a field of science which analyzes the principals of mechanics and anatomy in relation to human movement. It is known as Kinesiology. People with a broad knowledge of Kinesiology, as well as wise people with weight training experience will tell you that exercise selection always plays a critical role in any exercise that you do. Abs included. How else could a PhD order 13 abdominal exercises from best to worst?
 
PoonRaider said:
Well, I believe that just like any exercise, exercise selection does play a significant role in training the abdominal muscle group. In fact I strongly believe that your success in attaining the classic '6 pack' depends on your ability to aquire and use great exercise techniques. In my first post, the first link leads to a study by a PhD in 13 different ab exercises,
"A recent study lead by Peter Francis, PhD, director of the Biomechanics Lab at San Diego State University, looked at a variety of common abdominal exercises in order to determine what really works. The study looked at 13 abdominal exercises, ranging from the traditional crunch to more complicated activities, using at-home and gym equipment."
Obviously, using perfect form would play another significant role in weight lifting, or any other kind of training for that matter.
There is a field of science which analyzes the principals of mechanics and anatomy in relation to human movement. It is known as Kinesiology. People with a broad knowledge of Kinesiology, as well as wise people with weight training experience will tell you that exercise selection always plays a critical role in any exercise that you do. Abs included. How else could a PhD order 13 abdominal exercises from best to worst?
Click to expand...

you like to listen to yourself don't you

and if you knew about kinesiology you would also realize that there are hundreds of exercises that can be done for great abs.

I know a national level guy whose ab routine is hard static contractions while he drives to the gym
 
d3track said:
you like to listen to yourself don't you

and if you knew about kinesiology you would also realize that there are hundreds of exercises that can be done for great abs.

I know a national level guy whose ab routine is hard static contractions while he drives to the gym
Click to expand...

Lol, no, however I prefer to use skill when I write. If there is a point I am trying to get across, I will do my best to do just that. Lol, apparently people are somehow offended when I post replies with a better sense of writing than they have. I don't do things half-assed. I'm just sorry these forums can't be more intellectual, too many flame-ists. As for your second comment. . . there are infinate exercises for abs. However, there are only a handfull that actually work well. My uncle does a yoga technique called 'Yanni' I believe, in which he sucks his abs up into his torso, separates them and somehow works them out, he's 56 and has a great looking 6 pack.
 
Yeah, sad there aren't any intellectuals here. What, with you being able to spell "infinate" and all. :FRlol:

Oh, and man, shut up. Seriously, you can't argue with results and there are people who will swear by cable crunches alone to develop abs. Or static contractions, as d3 said, or V-Situps or other shit. Personally, I feel the bicycle exercise is useless, and makes you look like a jackass. Go on with your little maneuver, but don't argue with results. The abs are a muscle. The muscle gets stimulated, it grows to adapt to a heavier load. Much easier to add weight with crunches, as far as I'm concerned.
 
guys, lets keep this civilized okay?
I've pretty much only used one ab exercise, do it 1x per week, and my abs are pretty sick
 
PoonRaider said:
1.) The Bicycle Manuever
This is my favorite ab workout, because put simply, it is the one that works the best. 5-10 minutes a day (Not counting rest period)
Click to expand...

No wonder this works for you. That is alot of time in my book that can be spent elsewhere.
 
Tom Treutlein said:
Yeah, sad there aren't any intellectuals here. What, with you being able to spell "infinate" and all. :FRlol:

Oh, and man, shut up. Seriously, you can't argue with results and there are people who will swear by cable crunches alone to develop abs. Or static contractions, as d3 said, or V-Situps or other shit. Personally, I feel the bicycle exercise is useless, and makes you look like a jackass. Go on with your little maneuver, but don't argue with results. The abs are a muscle. The muscle gets stimulated, it grows to adapt to a heavier load. Much easier to add weight with crunches, as far as I'm concerned.
Click to expand...

Whoa man chill. Thats my opinion, just like the number one exercise rated by a PhD, the bicycle manuever, which you feel is useless, is your opinion. Don't get all offended man. . . just take some midol and chill. Just be cool, don't be a jerk. Unfortunately some people just aren't 'cool' ;)
 
He means you're spending too much time working the abs with such an exercise like that. Same as doing 5-10 minutes of crunches would be a waste of time. More intensity, less volume.

Chill? Hey man, you're the one claiming these forums aren't intellectual and stating you don't do things half-assed. Spell check next time. Use some of that writing skill.
 
There is no true exercise that is the ultimate ab exercise. I don't know a single person who uses that bicycle method, and yet there are some cut mofo's at my gym. Just do whatever works for you, no reason to think your method is better than someone elses.
 
Muscle tone is the quality or state of constant tension.

I recommend pilates for abs/core. It will work hip flexors well and this can assist with other movements.

Pilates will also improve your posture by working the transverse abdominis. This can have a positive effect on your posture, which can in turn help your digestion.

Yoga is good too.


Hey, where's brickgirl??
 
The crunches method isn't the thread starter's method. Just useful information he posted regarding a study that (if it's the same one I read about 2 mo. ago) used ECG measurements.
 
Synpax said:
Crunches. Either in high volume or needsize style with the plate on your chest.

That is all.

For obliques, standing weighted side bends. Also good for forarms.
Click to expand...

How exactly do yo do this??
Does it involve the cables, hooked up to the top of the machine and basically holding it to your side and crunching the obliqeus on that side???
 
I think you just hold heavy dumbbells at your sides (resting) then bend to one side, then the next. Do these work well, people? I was thinking of doing them.
 
So.....Needsize what is the one exercise you use??...After comparing your Av with punyraider's...you have the results...
 
ColdCut said:
How exactly do yo do this??
Does it involve the cables, hooked up to the top of the machine and basically holding it to your side and crunching the obliqeus on that side???
Click to expand...



Tom's description is right.

Here is a link to an illustration of side bends:

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Obliques/DBSideBend.html


In my opinion they work my obliques very well. I do 3x15 w/ an 80 lb dumbbell (per side) They feel pretty toasted after that. I do one side at a time.


You can use cables as well, if you like:

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Obliques/CBSideBend.html
 
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