Abs.

Strife · Yellow Belt

Does anyone out there know some effective workouts for the abs other than crunchs and sit-ups? They only seem to take me so far when i do them and i want something thats a little more effective.

ad · Brown Belt

bag work, you would be surprised but it would really help
try doing lets say and intense jab,cross and hook session, for two minutes, then try your feet

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Brown Belt San Shou
17 yr old
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Jack · Black Belt

Strife - what do you want from your abdominal training? Endurance, strength, speed, or bulk/size? Let me know and I'll get back to you.

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Jack
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Strife · Yellow Belt

Well...I dont know if it would be asking alot if i were to say working on all areas.

I've been looking around and have seen so much on eating right but its hard alot of the time to eat like i need. Do you have any sensible ideas? Im only 15 so i kinda have to think in advance.....like 2 week advance. I you know what i mean(if not....)

Jack · Black Belt

Well, I will try to help you out here. If this post is longwinded, then I apoligise.

Abdominal Endurance:

One of the most simple ways to train, you are aiming for high repetitions, with a medium speed of movement. Although you may not be moving slowly, you should still keep your muscles tense throughout the whole exercise. Try doing..

Situps - 4 sets of 50
Twist Situps - 4 sets of 50
Reverse Crunch - 4 sets of 25

No rest between sets, and triset the movements. This means do 50 situps, instantly followed by 50 twist situps, instantly followed by 25 reverse crunches. Do this for a total of 3 or 4 times, by the end you'll be pooped. Do this twice weekly.

Size:

Most size increases throughout the body happen when the repetitions are between 8 and 12. This applies to the abdominals also. So you will want to perform your movements very slowly and with high tension in your abs to be able to find 8-12 repetitions tough to complete. Try this routine.

2 sets of 8-12 reverse crunches
2 sets of 8-12 twist crunches
2 sets of 8-12 crunches

When you can do 12 repetitions, either find another ab exercise, or add resistance to the current one by holding a dumbell between your feet for reverse crunches, or holding a weight plate over your chest for the other two movements. Don't forget to keep movement slow, you're not aiming to simple cruise your way through the movement, but to feel every muscle working hard and struggling - this will cause you growth!

Strength

This is one of the section I am not so knowledgable about, but I think the size routine also builds strength pretty well. Maybe another member would be able to help us out here?

Speed

Again, not so knowledgable. There are several exercises on a medical ball to help build explosive strength - but I'm afraid we'll have to research those ourselves.

To put it all together, I suggest doing each one of these for a one month period, working the abs twice a week. So do a month of high repetitions, then a month of slow, high tension, low rep movements, then work on strength, and finally on speed. Working on endurance and size first gives us 2 months to research about building solid strength and explosive strength in the abdominals.

I hope this helped.

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Jack
Currently 'off' from formal MA training
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KickChick · Black Belt

Do squats and deadlifts to build your abs. These two exercises force your ab muscles to do a significant amount of work to maintain your posture (core strength) and will work that whole ab area.

How about hanging knee raises? I think these are actually fun!
Grasp chinup bar with overhand grip and hang at arns length with knees slightly bent. If you have elbow straps , hang from them.

Without bending your legs anymore lift your knees as close to your chest as possible by rounding your back and curling your hips toward your rib cage bringing legs up.

Pause. Then slowly lower your legs to the starting position.
To work the obliques (sides of abs) when lifting knees bring them toward your left armpit until your lower legs are nearly parallel to floor. Pause, then return to starting position and then do otherside (legs to right armpit) .... this will be one rep.

Back extensions are great for working the ab region too. You can twist side to side on these too to work the obliques. You'll need a back extension station to do these. Maybe your weight bench or universal has this.

There are other ways to work your abs ... swissball/medicine ball ... weightliftng, machines....
.... be conscious of your abs when kicking and punching .... exhale forcibly at the top of a movement when you do techniques ... it forces your abs to work harder!
When sitting or laying in bed .... suck em in and out ... hold for a certain count.

ad · Brown Belt

kick chick ar the hanging knee raises, the same as the hanging leg raises??

_________________
Brown Sash Hsing I/Lau Gar Kung Fu
Brown Belt San Shou
17 yr old
http://www.selfdefencehelp.co.uk

Jack · Black Belt

Yes Ad, they are. The hanging leg raise (with a straight leg) is a more difficult version of the hanging knee range.

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Jack
Currently 'off' from formal MA training
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monkeygirl · KF VIP

The gym I just joined has me on some new kinds of crunches...
the hanging knee raise (they just call it a High Chair because of the equipment used) is really really nasty! I can pop off very large amounts of regular crunches with no problem, but the High Chair? That was one of the best ab workouts I've ever had. Part of it is the struggle to keep yourself suspended in midair.

Blasters are good too. Begin flat on your back, feet shoulder width apart. Hold your hands together and reach up and out between your legs. Make sure you keep your chin facing the ceiling...there should be an area large enough to fit your fist between your chin and chest.
Now, keeping your arms out, do a small crunch forward, come down slightly, crunch to the right, back down slightly, and crunch to the left. That counts as ONE crunch! Try 2 sets of 30...I did these yesterday and now I can barely arch my back without feeling it!!

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1st dan & Asst. Instructor TKD 2000-2003

No matter the tune...if you can rock it, rock it hard.

KickChick · Black Belt

I prefer the hanging knee raise as opposed to the straight leg raise as I feel it puts way too much strain on one's lower back. You drive up into position with both knees and then extend your legs up and slowly lower.

monkeygirl ... just watch the back on this one too ... (whether you are old or young you can put added stress on the back) As with any ab exercise done in the supine position, press the small of your back firmly against the floor or wedge a rolled up towel in the small of your back.

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