What exactly is a Six Pack?
The abdominal region is made up of several
different muscles but the actual Six Pack is
the rectus abdominis . This is the muscle we will
be targeting. The rectus abdominis is made up of
mostly slow twitch fibers, designed for endurance,
but it’s basically a muscle like any other, and it
should be worked with the same principles of
muscle building that you would apply to all your
other muscle groups. Ironically, the Six Pack is a
single muscle. It’s long and flat like a small surf
board. It runs vertically from your hips to your rib
cage. The Six Pack appearance is formed by the
fibrous tendons reinforcing the fascia that covers
the muscle. The function of the rectus
abdominis is to pull the hips toward the chest or
the chest toward the hips – notice the legs are
not involved. Think of it this way: If your spine
was a bow, your abs would be the string.
Which exercises are most
effective?
If you ask ten fitness “experts” how to build great
abs I guarantee you’ll get vastly different
answers. Some would say you will achieve them
by performing structural exercises
like squats , dead lifts and standing overhead lifts.
While these exercises are some of the most
effective for building overall strength and involve
just about every muscle in your body, you still
need to address each muscle group separately for
maximum muscle growth.
Another “expert” would have you doing static
holds like planks , dead bugs or supermen . These
too are worthy of your effort because they’ve
been shown to improve your core stability and
protect your spine but would you expect to build
any other muscle group with a static hold?
Another strategy I see in most articles, and from
most trainers, is a long list of low intensity ab
exercises all done one after the other. This adds
up to hundreds of reps. I guess the intention is to
make the trainee believe that these never ending
reps are going to burn that fat right off your belly.
I hope there’s no one out there that stills believes
in the myth of spot reduction. Sadly, the general
rule of body fat is – the first place you gain the
fat is the last place you’ll lose it.
I often see “expects” advising the various leg
lifts or knee lift movements, whether lying on the
floor or slant bench, or suspended from an
Abdominal chair or hanging from a bar. Let’s get
one thing straight. Your ab muscles are not
connected to your legs! The hip flexor muscles
are responsible for pulling your legs forward.
Don’t believe it? Take this test:
Stand up straight and relax your abs. Press your
fingers into your abs so you would feel if they
activate. Now raise one leg up in front of you. Did
you feel any flexion in your abs? NO!
If your spine isn’t moving you’re only using your
abs for stabilization and holding them in a static
position. For leg lifts or knee lifts to be at all
effective you need to crunch for hips toward your
shoulders.
Just as the rectus abdominis serves a duel
function of bringing your hips toward your
shoulders, and vice versa, so do your hip flexors.
They pull the legs forward but also serve to pull
the torso toward the legs. So if your legs are
stabilized in a roman chair or your feet are
anchored for old fashioned sit ups, chances are
you’re just holding your abs in a static
contraction and the hip flexors are doing all the
real work.
I often see the same situation when someone’s
doing cable crunches using a high pulley. They’re
holding their spine in a fixed position and the hip
flexors are responsible for all the effort.
If you want to know if your ab muscles are really
working, during any exercise, you need to answer
one question: Is your spine moving?
My 1st choice for the best ab
exercise: Knee raises on a bench.
Lay on your back on a flat bench. Skooch yourself
down so half your butt is hanging off the bench.
The edge of the bench should be just at your
tailbone. Reach behind you and grab both sides of
the bench firmly. Your knees should be at a 90
degree angle and your toes should be touching
the floor. You should feel a stretch in your abs.
This is your starting point. Now slowly tense your
abs and bring your knees up, in an arc, until they
are pointing straight up toward the ceiling.
Continue to contract your abs, bringing your butt
off the bench, until your knees touch your elbows.
Hold for a second. This is your finish position.
Slowly lower your knees back down and tap your
toes on the floor before starting another rep. This
exercise feels like it’s performed in two stages
and it actually is. While you cannot truly isolate
the upper and lower abs, the first stage of this
movement emphasizes the lower abs and the
second stage really hits the upper abs hard.
My 2nd choice for the best ab
exercise: Full crunches on a
stability ball
First you need to get into the correct position on
a fairly large stability ball. If you’ve never worked
with one, be advised, they can be tricky. Take a
wide stance and put your lower back against the
top half of the side of the ball. Lower your butt
while leaning back and raise your arms over your
head. Lean your head and your arms all the way
back and feel a deep stretch in your abs. This is
where you’ll need to find where your perfect
position is on the ball. I love the feeling of this
stretch and I tend to linger here for a while, not
only because it feels good, but because it serves
to stretch out the fascia encasing your abs. If you
think about it, your abs are almost always
working but the muscle and fascia never get fully
stretched out so take full advantage of this
opportunity. Keep your hands on top of your head
but avoid pulling on your head, as this could
cause neck problems. Now contract your abs and
crunch your shoulders toward your hips, while
expelling air from your lungs, until your abs are
fully contracted. Hold for a second and slowly
lower yourself back down to your fully stretched
out position. I perform my first set, as a warm up,
without any weight for 20 reps. If you are able to
complete this set without any problem it’s time to
grab a weight and hold it above your head for
your next set. You can hold a dumbbell as if you
were doing behind the head tricep extensions but
I prefer to hold a weight plate. Work up to a
weight where you fail at twelve reps. I find that 3
or 4 working sets is all I need. Many gyms have
done away with stability balls, due to liability
issues, but you can perform this same movement
laying perpendicular on a flat bench.
“Weight till you see your abs”
Another question that often arises is whether to
add resistance to your ab work. Some would
advise against it claiming that it will make your
waist wider and your belly protrude. I don’t
believe this to be true. The rectus abdominis is a
thin wall of muscle framed by the fibrous bands,
of the fascia, that retain its thickness. The result
of building mass in the muscle is that the
individual sections ‘pop’ out showing that desired
grid pattern. The further out these sections pop
the more body fat you can carry and still have
them visible. Because the abs are made up of
slow twitch fibers I wouldn’t work them with
anything less than 8 reps but stay below 25.
Does moving sideways set you
back?
No article on abs is complete without discussing
some kind of twisting movements. Any twisting or
bending sideways involves the obliques. The
oblique muscles attach your hips to your ribs and
run diagonally on both sides of your trunk. One of
the most popular exercises, aimed at the
obliques, is the good old Broom Stick Twist .
Think about this movement for a minute. What is
it supposed to do and how could it possibly be
effective? It’s one of those exercises people do
because, for years, they’ve seen a lot of other
people doing them. They must do something,
Right? Well guess what? Broom Stick Twists are
a big waste of time!
Let’s move on to the other oblique favorite:
the Dumbbell Side Bend . First of all, my favorite
side bender people are the ones holding a
dumbbell in each hand. They must have been
absent the day this principle was covered in
physics class. Equal weights at each end of a
horizontal beam (your shoulders) cancel each
other out. The correct way to perform this
exercise is to hold a dumbbell in one hand and
then work the opposite oblique. The problem is
working your obliques, with resistance, builds
thickness in the muscle and you end up with a
blocky waistline. Did you ever see a guy with
ripped up abs and he still looks like he has ‘love
handles?’ That’s not fat. Those are well
developed obliques.
While we’re still on the subject of our sides, I
need to address another popular exercise – The
Seated Trunk Rotation Machine. Not only are you
creating a thicker waistline, but this machine
causes harmful shearing forces on your spine. I
suggest you avoid any version of this machine.
I’ve got your Six
It’s time to drive home some important points.
Work your abs like any other muscle group. Stay
in the 8-25 rep range and use a full range of
motion. Keep in mind that your core muscles are
constantly working so don’t over train them. And
don’t build mass in your obliques.
