how much abbwork do u really need

[EmptyneSs]

hey anyone know how much abwork u actually need to get great abs? i hear about some people doing like a 1000+ reps a day to acheive their hardcore abbs. do u really need that much. wont the constant overwork be bad for u? or can u acheive good results with more intense, but smaller workouts for your abs?

also is abwork done with weights at like 8-12 reps a set a bad idea? will it make ur stomach bulge out more due to more muscle mass or will it get it cut and built?

[koto_ryu]

hey anyone know how much abwork u actually need to get great abs? i hear about some people doing like a 1000+ reps a day to acheive their hardcore abbs. do u really need that much. wont the constant overwork be bad for u? or can u acheive good results with more intense, but smaller workouts for your abs?

It all depends on how you want to do them. I work out my abs six days a week: on weight training days, I do decline crunches with a weight on my stomach for as many reps as I can per set (no more than say 30-40 before I go up more) and then leg lift throwovers. On days I'm not at the gym, I go into them more intensely, using a combination of different exercises, most coming from either Furey's Combat Abs or gymnastics. That works well for me, but I've seen some guys who only work them out three times a week for so many reps and their abs are good. Gene LeBell used to alternate between doing 1000 pushups and 1000 situps a day, and he was good. It all depends on how much you want do.

also is abwork done with weights at like 8-12 reps a set a bad idea? will it make ur stomach bulge out more due to more muscle mass or will it get it cut and built?

It will build up the muscles which may bulge out a little bit more, but not in the grotesque way you see bodybuilders have some, mostly just visible due to high amounts of drugs.

[Tom Yum]

Bruce Lee said something about abwork to the extent that if you didn't punish your abs, you had no business fighting.

[Broadsword2004]

Provided you eat right, you can have fantastic-looking abs if you only do about 3 sets of 12 full situps (quality situps) everyday; with the proper diet, the abs don't take much to look good.

Now actually gaining the strength to hang from a pullup bar with combat boots on and slowly, with your legs straight, lift your legs all the way up so your feet touch the bar requires some true ab strength training, however, if you start training for that kind of ab strength, provided you eat right, you will have fantastic-LOOKING abs long before then.

[shirase]

"Bruce Lee said something about abwork to the extent that if you didn't punish your abs, you had no business fighting." I wonder what hed think about tank abbott.

[HtTKar]

Provided you eat right, you can have fantastic-looking abs if you only do about 3 sets of 12 full situps (quality situps) everyday; with the proper diet, the abs don't take much to look good.

Thats true. Most people try to rush through their situps, they dont do them correctly after the first couple, and end up wasting all their time. I read somewhere that a lot of schools focus more on quality that quantity the same way broadsword stated.

Your abs are one of the few muscle groups that you can work everyday. If you are fighting, you should plan on making your abs as solid as possible. The point is that you wont have to worry about getting hit in the stomach if you're that tight. Your abs can provide all the protection you need, and you can use your arms from better purposes. So whether you do 1000 our 36 situps, make sure your form is perfect.

The bulging that you see on a lot of the weightlifters is from steroids. That kind of buldging is not natural, so you really dont have to worry about it.

[EmptyneSs]

does the decline bench hit ur lower abs?

[Garland]

I practicly starve myself , and even when I do hard-core training, like 3 of 50 jack knives, 3 sets 50 knee to chest, straight crunches, and elbows and knees, EVEN then, I still don't get cut... I get some definition of my upper abs, and below my abs I get the V shaped cut around my hips and the bottom of my obliques....

I'm 5'6'' and weekly I fluxuate between 142-148 lbs (142, I look a little more cut, but kinda emaciated...148 I look bloated, not fat, just puffy)....and I when I do a crunch, I don't just bang them out for numbers, I commit to doing it until I feel the muscles fully contract...
I can do the whole boxer medicine ball drop drills, no problem...and I can feel my abs, I just don't see the CUT I want.
I'm wondering if I need to do something more to focus on my lower abs and my obliques, or suck some water weight out of me, or what...but I don't know what I'm doing wrong...
any advice for drills I should consider, anything? This is incrediby frustrating for me, and I've tried to remedy the not perfect six pack with obliques and perfect, impecible definition for a long time to no avail...I needs it, and I will WORK for it! Any advice, I guarantee you, will be taken straight to heart.

[HtTKar]

Garland, check your fat percentage out. You will usually have to be below 10% in order to see you abs. Skinny has nothing to do with it. One of my buddies is 6"2" and 167lbs, a real scrawny kind of guy. He checked his fat percentage and it was over 20%, that really gave him the motivation to start working out (he's not athletic at all).

Personally I think it's better to have a little fat over your abs. I feel physically stronger and healthier with a little fat. Its like a reserve for when you have to go for extended periods of time. Sparring for an hour and a half, or something like that. The only time I have a defined 6pack, not my normal 2 pack is when I'm doing something strenuos like hitting the heavy-bag for a long time. Then again, I'm at 11% bodyfat. If I lost more fat, I'd be more defined, its just not worth it for me.

[EmptyneSs]

I practicly starve myself , and even when I do hard-core training, like 3 of 50 jack knives, 3 sets 50 knee to chest, straight crunches, and elbows and knees, EVEN then, I still don't get cut... I get some definition of my upper abs, and below my abs I get the V shaped cut around my hips and the bottom of my obliques....

I'm 5'6'' and weekly I fluxuate between 142-148 lbs (142, I look a little more cut, but kinda emaciated...148 I look bloated, not fat, just puffy)....and I when I do a crunch, I don't just bang them out for numbers, I commit to doing it until I feel the muscles fully contract...
I can do the whole boxer medicine ball drop drills, no problem...and I can feel my abs, I just don't see the CUT I want.
I'm wondering if I need to do something more to focus on my lower abs and my obliques, or suck some water weight out of me, or what...but I don't know what I'm doing wrong...
any advice for drills I should consider, anything? This is incrediby frustrating for me, and I've tried to remedy the not perfect six pack with obliques and perfect, impecible definition for a long time to no avail...I needs it, and I will WORK for it! Any advice, I guarantee you, will be taken straight to heart.

i think u just need to focus more on your lower abbs. i have the same deal, my upper abbs are alright, and i got the v shape thing, but i need more definition. one of the fighters at my school who has hardcore abbs said i should do way more leg lifts and lower ab exercises, because crunches and most ab exercises only really target your upper abbs, like the top 2. leg lifts and lower ab exercises will hit the rest of the abbs and give u the definition u want.

[koto_ryu]

does the decline bench hit ur lower abs?

Try em out, those suckers hit everything. Just clench your abs tight like you're about to get punched in the gut and clench your buttcheeks together like you're in a jail cell with a man nicknamed Bubba and try them out.

[koto_ryu]

How much cardio do you normally do trying to get cut Garland?

[Garland]

I probably don't EVER do enough cardio.
My body fat is at about 11%, but I had it checked with callipers...not the immersion technique, so...it could be anywhere between 12 and 10...who knows.
Do you think if I up my cardio, it'll up the definition???
If so...it's miles for me tommorow.

[Garland]

i think u just need to focus more on your lower abbs. i have the same deal, my upper abbs are alright, and i got the v shape thing, but i need more definition. one of the fighters at my school who has hardcore abbs said i should do way more leg lifts and lower ab exercises, because crunches and most ab exercises only really target your upper abbs, like the top 2. leg lifts and lower ab exercises will hit the rest of the abbs and give u the definition u want.

you mean like pull-ups with leg lifts, or like lateral leg lifts...because I kill the machine down at my college with lateral leg lifts, and it does nothing...maybe gives a little split to my quads...but that's all, 200lb (full rack) 3 sets of 12...or 15, depending on how many days I've done legs that week.
What would be a good lower ab exercise...flutter kicks suck, they never seem to as much as they should...partner abs (where somebody tosses your legs down and you kick them up towards their chest) do a little more...but nothing seems to really get it the way I want it. I've heard people say, like, pilates and yoga elongate the muscle groups around your core and help add definition...should I start to encorporate that type of stuff into my training?

Even when I'm going nuts at training, like prefight for 2-3 months, and I work my body into a state of constant fatigue, all I get to SEE is this 4 pack, I'm so SICK of this 4 pack crap...now that I haven't trained, definitely not religiously, for the past 4 months, I'm starting to even lose that tone.....Oh my god....I seriously just think I need a fight, or something, 2 months away to just set the pitch and really get me going...maybe I'll start a MMA club on campus...??

[EmptyneSs]

uh no, im not talking about the leg exercise. im talking about laying on your back with your hands tucked under your ass, and hold your feet in the air just a couple inches off the ground and then do repetitions of moving your feet up and down. dont move your feet too much, just move them up and down about 8 inches, it will work your lower abbs. do tons of those. u can also lay down on a bench on your back and hold the top of the bench with your hands above your head, and lift your legs up and down. reverse bycles are also good.