Time to work my abs... finally... any advice appreciated

[Brixtonian]

Well, I am finally down to around 15% bf... at the age of 42 and at a bwt of 243lb. My first time this 'lean' since I was a skinny, lanky teenager and vowed never to be skinny again!
After years of bulking, getting up to 292lb @ approx 22% bf or thereabouts - maybe slightly higher, but not much (I didn't have calipers back then - relied on the mirror, scales and a tape measure) my priorities have changed with my aging years, and now longevity is my goal - hence my dieting for the last 3 years or so.

I have pimped and pouted over the last 111/2 years using HST, but ultimately go back to a 'vanilla' routine, of Mon, Wed, Fri, heavy basics - leg presses, (occaisonally squats but after a prolapsed disc a couple of years ago, I don't risk it with heavy weight anymore) dips, rows and chins, and a couple of other lesser exercises such as incline bench press and calf raises.

I have never worried about my abs before - a few crunches every so often, usually before a beach holiday - because they have never been that visible, and I feel my core working through squats, chins and dips anyway, but now - and yes, the sunny mediteranean beckons in a few weeks , but now, with a handful more weeks of calorie deficit coming up, as I go into my three weeks of 5's and three weeks of heavy negatives (I drop down to twice a week on the heavy cycles) I am hoping, just hoping, that I may well see my elusive abdominal bits..

With this in mind, I would really appreciate any abdominal suggestions? Fitting in with my current 2 X week workouts - usual HST principles of progressive load etc.. Will crunches or hanging leg raises suffice? What about the obliques? I would like to tighten up my love-handles..

I know I should be >10% bf ideally, and I am still working towards that - painfully slowly - but even being a bit over, I should be able to flatten my mid section just a bit. At least slightly noticeably?


Luckily for me, my lovely lady wife actually prefers big arms and big chest and shoulders, to a 6 pack... at least that's what she's always told me... we'll see!

All and any advice appreciated

Thank you

All the best,

Brix

 

[Jester]

Abs are built in the kitchen, not the gym.

Sorry to be useless, but that's the sad truth.

I would avoid anything for the obliques. I did them when I was younger, and it took years for that to atrophy back down to 'normal' when I realised that thicker obliques looked awful.

Hanging leg raises are really good FWIW. Decline crunches holding the medicine ball are also pretty wicked.

 

[Old and Grey]

Abs are built in the kitchen, not the gym.

I would avoid anything for the obliques.

Working the obliques made Gaspari look like a refrigerator.

That said, you do need to work the core muscles to remain injury free. I just do one set of seated crunches at the end of each workout with 35 - 75 pounds on the machine throughout a cycle and work in the range of 15 to 30 reps and am happy with the results. I am never going to look like a male model, but I don't want to either. For me to have a real defined 6 pack, my face would be drawn so tight I would look like a walking corpse.

 

[Sci]

Dieting down to lower bodyfat will have a far greater effect on your abdominal definition and overall physique than any kind of "ab work" will. If people put all the time and effort into cutting calories and eating a healthy diet that they put into doing endless amounts of largely useless "ab work", there would be a lot more people with defined abs around.
I always chuckle when I see a fat guy working his abs for half hour in the gym...total waste of time, if he just stopped going to McDonald's and stuffing his face, he'd see far better results than wasting all that time in the gym flexing his abdominals. He could at least be doing cardio, or something useful.

Mikeynov is a good recent example here on the forum. He just posted photos of himself with a very prominent 6 pack, yet last I checked his HST log, he hasn't done any direct ab work in ages. Of course doing chin-ups with huge plates hanging from his belt certainly works the heck out of his abs I'm sure!!!

No crunches or any direct "ab work";
http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/5066/vzra.jpg

 

[wungun]

I do ab work with my routine...
It's kind of a reverse HST principal.

On my 2 weeks of 15's, I'll simple do crunches with 15Lbs plate on my chest.
Each workout day, I try to do 2-5 more reps then the previous day.
My 10's, I do the same routine but with 25Lbs.
My 5's, with 40Lbs worth of weight.

I can get into the 40 rep range with 40Lbs.

I just do straight up crunches, nothing fancy.

I have great abs in there somewhere, I'm sure of it....
I think this routine develops them really well without pounding out 100's reps every day.

 

[Brixtonian]

Thank you all.

Yes, I am gradually lowering my bf%. I am just trying to build some abs to show once this last few % of fat has finally scarpered.
My diet is currently pretty good, only spoiled at weekends while I am force fed huge meals at my in-laws - they are Turkish Cypriot, and they believe in feeding their guests to the point of busting... not ideal when they are our childcare and live a few streets away!

I have started (yesterday) adding a set or two of either crunches or hanging leg raises at the end of each workout. It probably wont be particularly progressive but hopefully it will harden my core.

Oh, and I have dropped another 100 cals/day off my diet this week...

Brix

 

[Lol]

Hey, Brix!

Have you tried knees-to-elbows or toes-to-bar?

Hang from an overhead bar and raise your knees to you elbows. Hold that position then lower under control. When that's easy for a set of 10, raise knees to elbows, hold, extend legs and lower under control (you may have to extend one leg at a time to begin with; alternate legs each rep). Once that's easy, keep your knees almost locked and raise your toes to the bar (mine clear the bar by a few inches), hold that position then lower under control. You may want to bend your arms a little to take some of the strain off your shoulders. It's perfectly okay to use straps to hang on to the bar with if your grip strength becomes a limiting factor.

A tougher variation, once you've mastered the above is to raise toes-to-bar, then lower your extended legs to an L-hang position, pause there, then raise your legs back to the toes-to-bar position. Repeat as many times as you can (probably not many!).

 

[Brixtonian]

Cheers Lol

I did used to throw in a few Roman Chair sets a few years ago. I'm trying to mix up my ab work now I've started again.... as my waist is slowly shrinking, but I do know that my core and abs are quite weak through lack of attention the last few years. Plus my legs are still pretty heavy, so I know I'm going to struggle, but I do like the sound of what you suggest - kind of like a gymnastic movement.

Thanks

I will post a pic once they start to develop!

Brix