Should I bother with abs

K

KungFuJoe

New Member
I'm basically lean all over except for a little pudge around the midsection. I've never worked out my abs in my life...but I've always figured it was useless to work out abs unless you were trim in the midsection because bigger ab muscles would just "push out" the fat making you look bigger in the stomach area (and not in a good way). However, I was wondering if maybe the reason I've never been able to lose that last bit of "pudge" is because I've never worked out my abs.

Any opinions on whether or not I should consider doing abs or should I not bother unless I am very lean in the midsection. Also, should I do abs HST style or just do a bunch of crunches in between workouts?
 
1 - Ab workouts wont affect the "pudge" on your midsection. Thats fat and you cant spot reduce fat so if you want to get rid of it you need to lose fat ie eat under calories and do some excercie.

2 - Abs are just muscles - like any other muscle in the body. If you want them to grow, you gotta work them. And just like any other muscle, doing them HST style should illicit the quickest results.

Yes, if you grow yur abs it will make your gut look bigger but dont cheat yourself. If you wanna look good (as far as society is concerned anyway) you need to work them abs and lose the excess fat.

I wouldnt have thought you were that lean with a fat gut so maybe your just bloated?
 
Also I believe its hard to get your abs to show if you dont have hypertrophy in the ab region.

The only way to get muscles to grow is surplus calories...so if you think about it ...abs are more and obxmoron.

meaning you want to train them hard when bulking...then hit them with maintenace sets or not at all when cutting.

If you are trying to lose fat..I will tell you a great tried a true secret.

Just use compounds benchpress, deadlifts, squats overhead barbell press , chins and rows...with rep range of 5 to 8 reps...and low rest periods and you will be drained.

Cutting is a whole different way of looking at things...you are not going to get much growth out of cutting..so I dont worry about progressing with the weights as much.

i just keep it simple.
 
Yeah, definitely do some abs while bulking. You won't have much for definition when you cut down unless you get at least some mass on your abs. I wouldn't worry about them getting too big. From my experience, it seems most guys don't have the genetics for huge abs, so you won't have to worry about them getting real large. It can happen though. I used to hit my abs but they've gotten pretty large now. I must have weird ab genes. When I cut down, I can't get a perfectly flat stomach anymore unless I suck it in all the time. My abs protrude too much. You can see them through my shirt, and it kind of looks like I have a little bit of a gut, even under 10%. So I don't do abs anymore.
Ehh... wish I had that problem with my pecs.
 
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