HARDCORE AB TRAINING with Panos Kalofolias A great set of abs is a function of two factors - abdominal muscle density and low body-fat. It’s a major factor to have low a body-fat level, usually below 10%, because the less of it the more visible the abdominals. As far as ab exercises go, there are many to choose from, but some of them are not working the midsection 100%. In fact scientists have an amazing tool called Electromyografy (EMG) that shows how much muscles work during specific exercises, Scientists place electrodes over the abdominal muscles during contraction. The harder the muscle works the more electricity is measured on the EMG. From these EMG studies, results show that the best ab exercises are bench crunches, hanging leg raises, pull-down crunches, swiss ball crunches, vertical crunches (especially on a swiss ball) and swiss ball side crunches. So I combine these marvellous exercises and use them in my training session 2 times a week. Beware that the above routine is for people who are somehow advanced in the fitness level and have some experience of doing ab exercises with proper form. So the main training session I do for my abs (and I must say that it is pretty hardcore) so please don’t do it alone without the proper guidance from a qualified trainer or training partner, is: I do 4 giant-sets including all of the exercises I mentioned above, with 1 minute rest between them in order to keep the heart rate high. A giant-set is a very intensive set that is consists of various exercises with very little rest in-between. Only when you perform this whole series of exercises you can rest a little according to your fitness level. So I do: GIANT-SET: 1) Bent crunches X max reps 2) Hanging leg raises X max reps 3) Pull-down/Cable crunches X max reps 4) Swiss ball crunches X max reps 5) Swiss ball vertical crunches X max reps 6) Swiss ball side crunches X reps As you can see half of my ab routine is consisted of make them on a Swiss ball. With this way you can work through a greater range of motion, activate more muscle fibers than regular exercises and therefore you can make very intensive ab workouts when performed properly. Now lets take a look at each exercise alone.