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The truth about abs - stop doing crunches

A

Admin

Administrator. Graeme
Staff member

Summary:

  • Primary goal should be to reduce body fat first (diet, cardio, overall fitness), then worry about a sweet iron board
  • Crunches have little to no effect and may actually be detrimental
  • The three key lifts (overhead, dead, and squat) require a tremendous amount of core strength and can lead to a strong core over time
  • Six pack = Friends
 
Do you do pushups or bench press to build your chest? I feel same principle applies to abs. Weighted all day. Made in the gym. Revealed in the kitchen
 
He said; do them (for strength) if needed.

its a good exercise, better than sit-ups.

An even better movement is hanging leg raises, if you can do these, with a straight leg, even better (all the wat to the top) for the abs, if you could! You'd have a very strong mid section, I like what he said about; if you're going to work the abs in this manner you should also pay equal attention to the back.

And he looks like a garden gnome.
 
Actually, those lifts don't stimulate the muscle enough to induce hypertrophy (I can dig up the research somewhere if you want it). I recommend something like cable crunches which is a good spinal flexion exercise. Hanging leg raises involve hip flexors too much
 
I hate doing ab's specifically, I have never done them and they were starting to peak through at 19% bf.
Engage in every workout is my plan! And im sticking to it!
 
Alpha Moth said:
Actually, those lifts don't stimulate the muscle enough to induce hypertrophy (I can dig up the research somewhere if you want it). I recommend something like cable crunches which is a good spinal flexion exercise. Hanging leg raises involve hip flexors too much
Click to expand...

I tend to agree with this. I find the hip flexors and quads tend to fatigue before the core for me so I can't effectively train them.

Front levers work better :)

I also have been doing some weighted decline situps. I do these after leg stuff and get a decent quad stretch at the same time.
 
I proved that as well a few weeks back. I did 300 decline crunches as a challenge. The next day, abs were fine, but my hips were really tight.
 
steveP said:
I proved that as well a few weeks back. I did 300 decline crunches as a challenge. The next day, abs were fine, but my hips were really tight.
Click to expand...

I dunno, IMO if you can do 300 decline crunches you're not doing them right. Maybe moving at hips not dragging your shoulders towards your pelvis with your abs?
 
It was on a 30 degree decline bench with my feet locked in. I think at this angle, there is just too much tension on the hips and they take over. There's not enough isolation for the abs.

I did try this again on a proper decline ab thingy. The one that looks like a chair fallen backwards and I definitely felt it more. But like jzpowa said, you also feel it stretching out the quads.

An exercise I use sometimes is when laying on your back, have your knees in the air at a 45 degree angle and a plate held above your head. Then lower each leg at a time while extending the plate behind you. Almost like an upside down ab roll out. I feel this in the abs the next day and you can increase the weight.
 
steveP said:
An exercise I use sometimes is when laying on your back, have your knees in the air at a 45 degree angle and a plate held above your head. Then lower each leg at a time while extending the plate behind you. Almost like an upside down ab roll out. I feel this in the abs the next day and you can increase the weight.
Click to expand...
Might have to give this one a try
 
Alpha Moth said:
Actually, those lifts don't stimulate the muscle enough to induce hypertrophy (I can dig up the research somewhere if you want it). I recommend something like cable crunches which is a good spinal flexion exercise. Hanging leg raises involve hip flexors too much
Click to expand...

The specific trick with this exercise is to lift your feet over your head, if you can do that your doing ok.
 
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