Abs and muscle growth

[jeff thomas]

i boxed for about 7 years, never really got a toned up body, anways, i am trying to build a little muscle, i am tired of the "experts" advice........first, should i work abs everyday for best results, or every other day, same thing wwith everything else, should i just say f*** it and train everyday or skip days and recooperate

Are you trying to tone, or are you trying to increase mass- both require different methods of training.

[Boxer4life]

i boxed for about 7 years, never really got a toned up body, anways, i am trying to build a little muscle, i am tired of the "experts" advice........first, should i work abs everyday for best results, or every other day, same thing wwith everything else, should i just say f*** it and train everyday or skip days and recooperate

Are you trying to tone, or are you trying to increase mass- both require different methods of training.

well i am trying to get a 6 pack for one, and i wanna get ripped but also be able to perfrom, not just look like i do, i guess a mayweather or cotto, or mosely type of body

[ICB]

i boxed for about 7 years, never really got a toned up body, anways, i am trying to build a little muscle, i am tired of the "experts" advice........first, should i work abs everyday for best results, or every other day, same thing wwith everything else, should i just say f*** it and train everyday or skip days and recooperate

Are you trying to tone, or are you trying to increase mass- both require different methods of training.

well i am trying to get a 6 pack for one, and i wanna get ripped but also be able to perfrom, not just look like i do, i guess a mayweather or cotto, or mosely type of body

In simple terms.

1. Work each part of your abs lower, sides, upper. 3 times a week.

2. Do cardio atleast 3 or 4 times a week between, 45 mins and 1 hour try swimming.

3. Try lifting weights and do Squats, Benching Pressing, Barbell Rows, ETC. Excellent fat burners.

4. Diet is the most important thing cut down on the fatty foods, drink loads of water.

And it really is that simple, i could give you some exercise advice. But in reality thats a simple breakdown of what you need for sixpack abs.

[AdamGB]

i boxed for about 7 years, never really got a toned up body, anways, i am trying to build a little muscle, i am tired of the "experts" advice........first, should i work abs everyday for best results, or every other day, same thing wwith everything else, should i just say f*** it and train everyday or skip days and recooperate

Are you trying to tone, or are you trying to increase mass- both require different methods of training.

Nope... muscles do not have 'tone'.

A 'toned' physique is the result of having adequately low body fat and visually developed muscles.

A fatty if I put on 20 pounds of fat my muscles would be no less toned, they'd just be less visible.

A lot of people think that training for muscular endurance is training for tone... this is untrue, muscular endurance type programs tend to focus a lot on fat burning as a byproduct and the muscles get a bit of a pump.

But if you're really interested in getting a proper six pack you need to increase the mass of your abdominal muscles.

Initially crunches etc might work but when you can do 15+ reps of a movement at a given load you can forget it stimulating you in a way that is going to develop much if any size. At that point the muscles can cope with the load so they don't need more mass.

Progress on to harder moves that will give lots of stimulation, hanging leg raises etc are great... I tend to shy away from using weights when it comes down to working the core, it's a muscle group designed primarily for stabilising the body during movements, not shifting objects about the place... I see countless blokes in the gym either with their feet tucked under a sit up bar (waste of time those things) with a weight on their chest or doing sit ups at a million miles an hour, swinging their arms about with their feet flying about the place... they can't do one strict sit up - the whole point is activating the muscle and they can't do that properly so are wasting their time.

As a rule of thumb if you can do lots of it then it's not providing enough stress to stimulate growth.

I rarely isolate my ab muscles either, try compound based work outs... Yesterday I worked through 5 sets of 5 clean and press at 65-70kg... primarily you're working your posterior chain (glutes, hamstrings, back etc) arm muscles and shoulders (to be fair it hits just about everything, great exercise for teaching your body to function as a whole unit) but towards the end my abdominal were as ready to give out as anything else was. Like I said it's a muscle group that is designed to stabilise the body so treat it as such.

I'll repeat what else has been said too - you've got to rest.

In a nutshell the whole point of training is this - stress, stimulate, adapt/grow

stress is obviously the training phase, if all you do is stress,stress,stress then when will the growth happen?

Any enough ranting, get two identical chairs set them so that the backs are shoulder width apart place your palms on the back, lift your self off the floor and from there straighten your legs so that you end up in an L position, for maximum effect keep your legs as straight as possible and focus on not just lifting the legs up but tiling your pelvis upwards... try to swing as little as possible.

hard moves like that followed by adequate recovery will develop more abdominal muscle mass then endless crunches will and through there it's a case of getting your body fat low enough that they're visible, which is a whole different story.

[Drago]

i do lots of weighted pull ups and press ups supersets plus general weights but in my opinion its all abt intensity, igf u wanna burn fat quick intense workouts are your key! i do hill sprints & they take alot outta u but work wonders for fat loss

[WayneFlint]

Adamgb has hit the nail on the head in my opinion, compounds are the way to go for your abs and like he said to put it in basic terms, you are never going to see your abs no matter how developed they are if they are under a layer of fat, everyone has abs or they wouldnt be standing up the trick to it is to actually get rid of whats stopping you from seeing them rather than developing them to a point where youir going to see them, even thick, well developed ab walls dont look impressive when covered in fat it tends to just look like a gut.

[ono]

i boxed for about 7 years, never really got a toned up body, anways, i am trying to build a little muscle, i am tired of the "experts" advice........first, should i work abs everyday for best results, or every other day, same thing wwith everything else, should i just say f*** it and train everyday or skip days and recooperate

Are you trying to tone, or are you trying to increase mass- both require different methods of training.

Nope... muscles do not have 'tone'.

A 'toned' physique is the result of having adequately low body fat and visually developed muscles.

A fatty if I put on 20 pounds of fat my muscles would be no less toned, they'd just be less visible.

A lot of people think that training for muscular endurance is training for tone... this is untrue, muscular endurance type programs tend to focus a lot on fat burning as a byproduct and the muscles get a bit of a pump.

But if you're really interested in getting a proper six pack you need to increase the mass of your abdominal muscles.

Initially crunches etc might work but when you can do 15+ reps of a movement at a given load you can forget it stimulating you in a way that is going to develop much if any size. At that point the muscles can cope with the load so they don't need more mass.

Progress on to harder moves that will give lots of stimulation, hanging leg raises etc are great... I tend to shy away from using weights when it comes down to working the core, it's a muscle group designed primarily for stabilising the body during movements, not shifting objects about the place... I see countless blokes in the gym either with their feet tucked under a sit up bar (waste of time those things) with a weight on their chest or doing sit ups at a million miles an hour, swinging their arms about with their feet flying about the place... they can't do one strict sit up - the whole point is activating the muscle and they can't do that properly so are wasting their time.

As a rule of thumb if you can do lots of it then it's not providing enough stress to stimulate growth.

I rarely isolate my ab muscles either, try compound based work outs... Yesterday I worked through 5 sets of 5 clean and press at 65-70kg... primarily you're working your posterior chain (glutes, hamstrings, back etc) arm muscles and shoulders (to be fair it hits just about everything, great exercise for teaching your body to function as a whole unit) but towards the end my abdominal were as ready to give out as anything else was. Like I said it's a muscle group that is designed to stabilise the body so treat it as such.

I'll repeat what else has been said too - you've got to rest.

In a nutshell the whole point of training is this - stress, stimulate, adapt/grow

stress is obviously the training phase, if all you do is stress,stress,stress then when will the growth happen?

Any enough ranting, get two identical chairs set them so that the backs are shoulder width apart place your palms on the back, lift your self off the floor and from there straighten your legs so that you end up in an L position, for maximum effect keep your legs as straight as possible and focus on not just lifting the legs up but tiling your pelvis upwards... try to swing as little as possible.

hard moves like that followed by adequate recovery will develop more abdominal muscle mass then endless crunches will and through there it's a case of getting your body fat low enough that they're visible, which is a whole different story.

You beat me to it. But excellent post. Everyone should listen to Adam. He knows his stuff.

[Boxer4life]

thanks alot fellas, gonna give it a go see how i do, but i guess the main thing i wanted to get is if i should rest my abs and the answer is obvious now.....appreciate the help

[HerbM]

Unless you are naturally skinny (and you indicated that is not the case) you are going to have to diet your ass off (and your gut).

No amount of ab work will remove the fat layer on top of the abs -- only reducing your body fat will do that.

All exercises (some more than others) will help you metabolize more, but when you do the math it is mainly by restricting your diet that you will lose the FAT.

--
Herb

[Scrap]

Try these, not easy:

[Chris Nagel]

I agree with Adam. Anyway, what works for me is to start with the harder exercises first. Exercises that involve the abs more take priority, they should never be done when fatigued.

To get strong enough to do hanging leg raises, or roll-outs, you start with a variation that's easy enough to do, yet difficult enough to challenge you. For instance with hanging leg raises, you may start doing them with your knees bent more, or with something to help support your back. With roll-outs, you can also work up to the standing variation by cutting the distance, perhaps working on a specific segment of the movement, using something to make it easier such as a ramp, or elastic bands. I don't know what they called, but I found that the arms-extended-forward sort of plank to help too, in the feet can be elevated to make them harder. After my abs have had good workout, I might do a circuit of easier exercises (crunches, etc.) as a finisher.

Lower reps can help if taking on a new exercise is difficult. I've used staggered sets, in which the leg raises are dispersed throughout the workout, allowing for more recovery. Focusing on the muscles and your technique is important, don't cheat by swinging your body. Any other exercises that engage your abs is a plus.

Besides that, I think that it's important to include exercises for your lower back and spinal erectors. Not that this will particularly affect how your abs look, but our muscles work in pairs, and our abdominals and spinal erectors work together to stabilize the body.