ABS revisited

**sigh**

tried to do hanging leg raises today. They went ok except for the broken blood vessels on my arms now (they have those things you stick your arms in to hang from the bar - know what I'm talking about?).

So, give me alternatives. I don't really like crunches, my hip bothers me when I do them.


Help?


Oh yeah, and why the broken blood vessels?

I hate those things. at my gym they have a padded thing where you rest your forearms to do that movement. you could always try hanging from a pullup bar, it may be harder but just a suggestion.

Originally posted by seyone
I hate those things. at my gym they have a padded thing where you rest your forearms to do that movement. you could always try hanging from a pullup bar, it may be harder but just a suggestion.

Click to expand...

Our old gym had that.

Flexing your abs in the mirror is the best workout you can get. Try it one night, do your obs and you front for like 15 minutes. Flex and hold. Trust me.

Originally posted by Rick C
Flexing your abs in the mirror is the best workout you can get. Try it one night, do your obs and you front for like 15 minutes. Flex and hold. Trust me.

Click to expand...

I don't know about anyone else, but I am a very athletic guy. I have a pretty good six pack. (my bottem two and top two could use some more work, how can I work those?) I notices after doing my football practice, and then soccer practice, we have a lot of running, and I think that is what get's me a defined six pack. I don't really work on crunches a lot, I guess it's just the running, but when I do do crunches, I do around 800 crunches in less than 12 minutes. I do 4 sets of 50 for each "position" of crunches and I do 4 "positions". The key for me is to do them fast and do not stop til your done with that set. Have around a 20-30 second break between each set. It will burn a lot, but you have to push through it. So far it has been efficent, just run a lot and do ab work. Remember, I am young, so my theory might not work for you, but it works for me, so do whatever you want. (If 800 crunches is too easy for you, than do sets of 100 or however many you want.

Abs revisited

800 crunches in less than 12 minutes!
That is less than a second per crunch man!
No matter how young / old you are that is way too quick to give the abdominals a proper workout.
I can visualise it now.............
Momentum! + Speed! = minimal contraction of the targeted muscles.
Yeah, I know, you say you feel "the burn". you're probably feeling "the burn" in other muscles as well. (Lattisimus Dorsi?)
Crunches performed with slow concentric and eccentric contractions will ensure good form and effect.
AND you won't do (or need to do) anywhere near 800!
Quality should always take preference to quantity.
Quote: "I have a pretty good six pack. (my bottem two and top two" unquote. When I went to school 2+2=4. What have you done with the other 2 of your "six pack"?
You are right though, running helps to define the six pack more so than the crunches. It's the body fat that hides them. Most people have strong enough abs anyway as they are usually in constant use throughout the day.

MBC- have you tried doing hanging leg raises with wrist straps(the kind you use to hold onto a heavy deadlift)?don't hang by them, just use them in addition to gripping the bar.also, you could try crunches on a stability ball.regular crunches cause my hips to cramp up sometimes, then I switched to ball crunches.better rom too.another exercise is russian twists.

Get in a habit of flexing your abbs all during the day. I started this accedintally, but it works!!!

Well, hanging leg raises are used to target the lower abs, so you need something else to target the lowers...

Try incline reverse crunches, hip raises, or lying leg raises.

To replace regular crunches, try pully crunches.