Abs of the Month

ABS: Easier than you think

by Ryan Swann

When I am asked for training advice,

I usually ask, what are your goals?

And nine times out of ten, abs are

at the top of the list. And why not?

There is nothing that completes a

physique like a chiseled set of abs.

So, what is the problem? See, everyone

has abs, but there are two problems.

They are either too small, and smooth to see, or they are covered in fat, or both. So, when you think about this and throw all those thoughts of quick fixes from electric belts, or roller abs, or crunch machines, abs are easy.

Problem # 1

Lets look at the first problem. Your abs are too small. This is easy to solve. To build muscle, what do you do? Strength exercises, such as crunches, leg lifts, etc. But what works best. For years the emphasis has been on using high rep exercises, and training abs every single day. When you think about it, it makes so much more sense to train them just like any other body part, once or twice a week, making sure they are sore the next day. As for high reps, don't go crazy; it's useless, if your goal is to make your abs more prominent than you want to build their size right? Do you build size on any other body part by doing 100's and 100's of reps? No. So why are abs different? They aren't. A big problem area for most is the lower abdominal area. One exercise I like in particular are leg lifts with a dumbbell between my feet I have found the best results with this routine:

Crunches - Arms across my chest; lifting so my shoulder blades come off the floor, but not much higher. Four sets of 30-40 reps. I do these extremely slow, squeezing at the top and keeping tight all the way through, I give myself only about 10 to 15 seconds of rest between sets.

Leg Lifts with weight - I do these on a flat bench with my hands under my butt for balance and my hips on the end of the bench. I usually only use a 15lb dumbbell between my feet max. I go from laying flat with my feet even with the bench, and I slowly bring my knees to my chest again, squeezing at the top. I slowly lower the weight. I do 4 sets of 15-25 reps. On the last set, I drop the dumbbell and burn out with no weight.

Twists with a broomstick or body bar - I do about 100 of these just to stretch out my abs and warm up my oblique.

Leg crossed crunches - I lie on my back in a regular crunch position, place my ankle on the opposite knee, and crunch toward my raised knee. So if I start off by placing my right ankle on my left knee, with my arms behind my head, I try to touch my left elbow to my right knee. This is great for the obliques. I do them really slow and squeeze at the top. 4 sets of about 30 reps should give you a nice burn and leave them quite sore the next day. If you find they aren't sore, just throw in another exercise such as side leg lifts.

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