Thread: Abs of Summer 2011

Reserved for photo updates.

Gettin ready to tear this shit up son!

You should apply 5/3/1 for your abs.

Nah just kidding. But seriously, an ab journal? It sounds like you were on the right path before with squats and deadlifts. Hell, looking at your pic I can see you have well developed abs. You just need to lower your BF. That's all abs are about. The bigger the muscle the more they'll show, regardless of BF. But, the lower BF the better they'll show.

How much were/are you deadlifting and squatting? You may not have gone far enough to see the results. I can't see much else from that pic but it seems you're not the most built guy (not sure though??). Exercises like squats and deads develop all the muscles, but they do so evenly. Abs will develop but so will legs, back, and chest (when doing bench, as well...squats and deads won't really do anything for that one area). However, if you're really just wanting a certain few muscles to show then ya they probably won't give you the results YOU want terribly fast. If you want crazy abs and arms but nothing else then you might as well curl and do situps, but nothing else will be developed.

If you take the big lift approach, train smart, rest plenty, and eat a lot you'll get good abs, but remember if you never got your weight past a certain number your muscles will have only developed to a certain point. I don't do direct ab work as of a year and a half ago but mine are more developed and stronger because all my major lifts have since increased dramatically. My abs were a certain size when I was squatting 155 for 5 and doing ab training 3x a week in my broskie days but they're more developed now when I squat 220 for 12, deeper, and ignore direct ab work.

Think of it this way: it's a hell of a lot harder on your abs and other torso muscles -- including the legitimate core muscles -- to stabalize the torso on an over-body weight deep squat for reps than it is to perform endless narrow ROM situps with.

+1 on the excellent post by Phineas. Its definitely a pain in the ass (no quick answer), but I feel my core/abs are hella stronger now that my squats and deads have gone up than before when I did no deads, but did a ton of ab exercises. My focus right now is to put on as much muscle as possible through the basic compound exercises, and then cut a bit before beach weather. Ill have "some" abs - perhaps not a crazy 6 or 8 pack; more like a 3 1/2 pack I imagine, lol. But that 6/8 pack thing may just have to wait until I can dead/squat more weight (maybe next year?).

Originally Posted by 33sun33

+1 on the excellent post by Phineas. Its definitely a pain in the ass (no quick answer), but I feel my core/abs are hella stronger now that my squats and deads have gone up than before when I did no deads, but did a ton of ab exercises. My focus right now is to put on as much muscle as possible through the basic compound exercises, and then cut a bit before beach weather. Ill have "some" abs - perhaps not a crazy 6 or 8 pack; more like a 3 1/2 pack I imagine, lol. But that 6/8 pack thing may just have to wait until I can dead/squat more weight (maybe next year?).

Good for you on taking the compound route.

Really, everyone has abs. Whether it's a "six pack" or "eight pack" or whatever combination of packs comes down to genetics. Even the most famous BB'er of all time (Arnold...) had abs that were much less great than his contemporaries, but they were still awesome because he was lean in competition.

It's all about how lean you are.

Hey guys thanks for jumping in!

The target for me is really "core", my lower core areas (lower abs, hip flexors) are weak from sitting behind a desk most of the day for the last 20 years. As of two months ago I now stand at work a majority of the time to improve posture, burn a few extra cals, and keep the hams stretched. Sure I've been fairly active outside of work, but a majority of my time has been sitting. I've always loved working out, competing against myself and numbers, martial arts, military for 8 years, etc.

I agree that you both are right about the compound movements, but I have this thought in my head that I need to focus on these few areas for a little bit of time, and then go back into compounds. I'm not happy until I'm deadlifting 405+, squatting 300 for 8-10 reps, and benching at least 225 for 8-10 reps. I also believe that the whole sitting thing, and some of the twisted posture variants that I'm used to has caused enough of an imbalance that I'm not benching 100% with correct form- ie: one arm canted slightly and affecting different muscle groups than the other arm. This leads, for me, to shoulder pain on my left side after awhile, at which point even with cissus its hard to cope with aside from just stopping.

The title makes it sound like I'm going to do 6 days of crunches which would be laughable and you'd be right to make fun of it. Hell I would!

Short version: my lower core needs work, I'm very imbalanced between upper and lower. I don't necessarily need a 6 pack, but I do want to bulk up the lower part to at least be close to even. Even with a layer of flub, it will be better than where I'm at now.

Deadlift/squat numbers to answer your question: DL 8x325 Squat 325x5

This was prior to the medial meniscus tear, and partially why I'm doing these sissy ass exercises until I have more faith in my knee. I can tell I lost a decent amount of mass on the left side, but it is coming back.

Originally Posted by rbuecker

Hey guys thanks for jumping in!

The target for me is really "core", my lower core areas (lower abs, hip flexors) are weak from sitting behind a desk most of the day for the last 20 years. As of two months ago I now stand at work a majority of the time to improve posture, burn a few extra cals, and keep the hams stretched. Sure I've been fairly active outside of work, but a majority of my time has been sitting. I've always loved working out, competing against myself and numbers, martial arts, military for 8 years, etc.

I agree that you both are right about the compound movements, but I have this thought in my head that I need to focus on these few areas for a little bit of time, and then go back into compounds. I'm not happy until I'm deadlifting 405+, squatting 300 for 8-10 reps, and benching at least 225 for 8-10 reps. I also believe that the whole sitting thing, and some of the twisted posture variants that I'm used to has caused enough of an imbalance that I'm not benching 100% with correct form- ie: one arm canted slightly and affecting different muscle groups than the other arm. This leads, for me, to shoulder pain on my left side after awhile, at which point even with cissus its hard to cope with aside from just stopping.

The title makes it sound like I'm going to do 6 days of crunches which would be laughable and you'd be right to make fun of it. Hell I would!

Short version: my lower core needs work, I'm very imbalanced between upper and lower. I don't necessarily need a 6 pack, but I do want to bulk up the lower part to at least be close to even. Even with a layer of flub, it will be better than where I'm at now.

Deadlift/squat numbers to answer your question: DL 8x325 Squat 325x5

This was prior to the medial meniscus tear, and partially why I'm doing these sissy ass exercises until I have more faith in my knee. I can tell I lost a decent amount of mass on the left side, but it is coming back.

Ah ok so you're looking for improved core strength and what sounds like maybe posterior chain?


Those are some amazing DL and squat numbers, by the way. Very impressive. Your core/abs would have to be very strong already to do that, but of course you had your injury so that poses challenges for you.

Obviously knee flexion is an issue but how do you feel about standing and holding heavy weights? I'm no physiotherapist so don't take my thoughts for gold but maybe (moderately) heavy holding exercises could help develop your leg/knee stability in time -- while giving you your desired core workout.

I'm thinking of exercises like front squat holds (holding a heavy barbell in a front squat stance for a period of time) and overhead supports (same thing but the top of a military press/push press stance). They're basically the planks of their associated movements (squat and overhead press...).

Re: the shoulder pain. Do you actively warm up your rotator cuffs prior to pushing sessions? Also, how you warmup prior to working sets? Rotator cuff injuries are one of those most common, especially with the emphasis on pushing and shoulder isolation exercises so many men tend to use.