# Abs...(Need advice)



## pichardop1986 (Jun 5, 2012)

Good morning all,

       Guys I have been lifting a total of 22 days now and I am finally over all the little aches and pains and soreness am sure you all know what I am taking about. Now my question is, I want to develope abs it doesnt need to be like cutlers ot heath's but I would like to start seeing definition how should I tune my diet and what type of exercise shoud I start doing? Any help is much appreciated. Thanks in advanced. 


Peter


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## Shamrock. (Jun 5, 2012)

pichardop1986 said:


> Good morning all,
> 
> Guys I have been lifting a total of 22 days now and I am finally over all the little aches and pains and soreness am sure you all know what I am taking about. Now my question is, I want to develope abs it doesnt need to be like cutlers ot heath's but I would like to start seeing definition how should I tune my diet and what type of exercise shoud I start doing? Any help is much appreciated. Thanks in advanced.
> 
> ...



Cutler is not known for great abs definition.

And the obvious answer is to do crunches and maintain clean diet.


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## dsc123 (Jun 5, 2012)

Before asking a very broad question, start by reading the stickies in the diet and nutrition and training zones.


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## Cork (Jun 5, 2012)

Shamrock. said:


> And the obvious answer is to do crunches and maintain clean diet.



Yes that would be an obvious answer, half of it is nonsense though.  Crunches are worthless.

If you want visible abs, you have to train them like you would any other muscle.  You also have to clean up your diet and do your cardio.  It's all about fat loss.  Bulkier abs will be more visible at higher BF, but you still have to get lean.


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## sassy69 (Jun 5, 2012)

Cork said:


> Yes that would be an obvious answer, half of it is nonsense though.  Crunches are worthless.
> 
> If you want visible abs, you have to train them like you would any other muscle.  You also have to clean up your diet and do your cardio.  It's all about fat loss.  Bulkier abs will be more visible at higher BF, but you still have to get lean.



Abs are made in the kitchen. IF you're trying to build muscle (hypertrophy) and cut at the same time (don't know anything about your bodyfat levels right now), you're going to have hard time sending your body conflicting messages of not eating enough and lifting too much for the energy you're providing. If you want to focus on cutting, you'd need to post up some more info on diet & training right now.

You also can't spot reduce so if you're just doing good basic functionally correct / core training stuff, that will contribute to ab / trunk / core stability & strength. Medicine ball crunches / twists, planks, side planks, etc are also good core stability builders.


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## Chainz (Jun 5, 2012)

Kind of a strange question even for fitness newbies.


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## ThreeGigs (Jun 5, 2012)

sassy69 said:


> Abs are made in the kitchen.



Ok, sorry, but I'm going to rant a bit here because I've heard this saying too many times.

Abs are made in the gym, just like any other muscle.
They are *EXPOSED* in the kitchen, by low bodyfat levels.


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## parsifal09 (Jun 5, 2012)

i did low bar squats yesterday

very light workout

i can feel it today in my core,especially abs

if u use low bar position, and drive up with your hips, ur going to feel it in ur abs


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## sassy69 (Jun 5, 2012)

ThreeGigs said:


> Ok, sorry, but I'm going to rant a bit here because I've heard this saying too many times.
> 
> Abs are made in the gym, just like any other muscle.
> They are *EXPOSED* in the kitchen, by low bodyfat levels.



Its a nice catch phrase that, yes simplifies the idea, but also reminds newbs that you can't do a million crunches and expect to see your abs.


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## SloppyJ (Jun 5, 2012)

Basically what it means is that you can build the biggest abs in the world but if your boddyfat is too high it will just hide them. 

People getting in the gym just to get abs is retarded IMO but I'd be willing to be that it's probably the reason about 60% of guys start working out.


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## LightBearer (Jun 5, 2012)

SloppyJ said:


> Basically what it means is that you can build the biggest abs in the world but if your boddyfat is too high it will just hide them.
> 
> People getting in the gym just to get abs is retarded IMO but I'd be willing to be that it's probably the reason about 60% of guys start working out.



Exactly.  Drop bodyfat. Abdominal exercise has little to do with having "abs"

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2


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## JMedic79 (Jun 5, 2012)

sassy69 said:


> If you want to focus on cutting, you'd need to post up some more info on diet & training right now.



x 2. we can't help if we don't know. specifics about your diet will get you better answers.


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## pichardop1986 (Jun 5, 2012)

SloppyJ said:


> Basically what it means is that you can build the biggest abs in the world but if your boddyfat is too high it will just hide them.
> 
> Thanks SloppyJ for the simple answer I appreciate. This is what I was looking for. To all others thanks as well but remember I posted on the training because I was looking for training tips.


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## parsifal09 (Jun 5, 2012)

diet

and squats and deadlift will work ur abs


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## jimm (Jun 6, 2012)

lol @cutlers and heaths


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## ThreeGigs (Jun 6, 2012)

SloppyJ said:


> Thanks SloppyJ for the simple answer I appreciate. This is what I was looking for. To all others thanks as well but remember I posted on the training because I was looking for training tips.



I get asked at the gym all the time about my abs. By skinny guys, big guys, and guys that can bench what I deadlift. I'm somewhere around 15% bodyfat, and BBers with 10% ask for my abs routine. No other body part, just abs.  And I tell them all the same thing:

5000 meters every gym day on the rowing machine. Nothing else. No crunches, situps, planks, hanging leg raises....nada.

You'd think rowing is a back exercise, and it is. But if you lean back properly, at about 30 degrees with a neutral spine and chest up, and keep a tempo of 30 strokes/minute, you'll feel it in your abs. Stopping the lean back and reversing to get upright while pushing your arms forward puts more demand on your abs than most people realize. And 5000 meters on a Concept rower will take anywhere from 21 to 25 minutes. So at 30 strokes a minute, you're doing somewhere on the order of 600 to 750 "crunches", even though it doesn't feel like you're doing crunches, because it's only one 'crunch' every 2 seconds.

So, just a suggestion. Try using a rowing machine for your cardio, and make sure you lean back far enough on each pull to engage the abs. For the first minute, lean back really far until you feel the beginnings of a burn, then adjust the angle of lean to keep just a slight burn. KEEP A NEUTRAL SPINE (i.e. a straight lower back) and keep your chest up (i.e. don't hunch over).

And of course, bodyfat below 15% to uncover all your hard work.


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## jimm (Jun 10, 2012)

ThreeGigs said:


> I get asked at the gym all the time about my abs. By skinny guys, big guys, and guys that can bench what I deadlift. I'm somewhere around 15% bodyfat, and BBers with 10% ask for my abs routine. No other body part, just abs.  And I tell them all the same thing:
> 
> 5000 meters every gym day on the rowing machine. Nothing else. No crunches, situps, planks, hanging leg raises....nada.
> 
> ...




u walk about ur gym topless or summit bro how do guys see ur abs? lol


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## VanessaNicole (Jun 14, 2012)

I'm gonna disagree with anyone who says that crunches are "useless". Weighted crunches are excellent abdominal exercises. In fact, someone who is relatively out of shape will see the fastest improvement from regular crunch-based abdominal routines combined with a caloric-defecit. Seen it hundreds of times. 

For someone who's only been lifting 22 days (or times?) bulking vs. cutting is not even an issue. They need to reduce abdominal fat (particularly VAF) and incorporate weighted crunches and planks, etc. While one cannot spot reduce through lifting, there is a strong correlation between abdominal fat/visceral abdominal fat and diet and VAF and cardio respiratory fitness.

VAF is very vascular, and therefore it's *very* easily mobilized compared to other types of body fat. That makes it much mire dangerous than, say, but fat, but also much more easily burned off. As a dietition, I can make pretty good inferences about someone's diet and lifestyle habits by looking at *where* they store their fat.

So, eliminating dietary sugars, increasing poly and monounsaturated fat intake relative to total fat, and increasing vegetable and fruit intake (as well as eliminating night time snacking), and adding a few high-intensity interval cardio workouts to a well balanced weight lifting program (which includes crunches) yields excellent results for most noobs.


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## pichardop1986 (Jun 19, 2012)

VanessaNicole Thanks for the help it made understand what need to start doing. (at the time it was my 22nd day lifting)


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## I'M retarded (Jun 19, 2012)

want nice abs, build everything! legs , back, chest, arms, lats,traps,obs. just build everything, it will stretch your skin. don't need to be calorie deflicted , just got to eat fat burning stuff. diets are stupid, you just need to eat smart, cardio for fat loss is useless,waist of time, it's good for your heart, indurance ,and watching some titties bounce.  less calories+lots of intense cardio= lost muscle, after burning so much calories and fat, say good bye muscle, then your body will store fat. i do cardio 1x a week(if i remember). to much cardio also causes bird legg syndrom and hard gainer complexes.and fucks up your rest time. if your active all day allready,cardio is worthless. hit your workouts hard,fast,and short.after each exersize throw in 2 sets of abs,move to next exersize, hitt your whole routine in less than an hour, you'll be good to go.


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