Abs Specialization
This is sort of a retread of earlier abs posts. But I wanted to collate everything into a proper post, so that people can easily pick this topic out. Everybody has their own spin on abs. If you're interested in this unique approach, continue reading.
I'm not a big fan of specialized abs training for various reasons:
1) You probably need to be <12% bodyfat to actually see the fruits of your effort.
2) Heavy compound movements, particularly pulling and rowing movements, already work the rectus abdominis (6-pack) and transversus abdominal muscles.
3) Truly effective abdominal training -- the stuff that could actually produce DOMS in the area -- weakens the core. With a weakened core, this makes almost every other exercise an ordeal. Trust me; this really sucks.
4) Most abdominal crunches are poor at recruiting the abdominals. Only when using significant weights do the abs become serious worked.
5) Because the ROM of most abdominal crunches is so limited, they're more like peak contraction exercises. That is, they're excellent at generating burn and increasing functional strength, but they don't create a lot of DOMS without a heavier load. This is, practically speaking, a good thing because you want to avoid a significantly weakened core.
Vacuum and Using the Transversus Abdominus to Enhance your Crunches
You don't "see" the transversus muscle; it's the girdle that tightens your waistline and keeps you from throwing your lower back on the deadlift and squat. Much of stability training is about developing the strength of this muscle.
When you perform your core movement, ideally you want to contract your transversus abdominus along with everything else. Not only will this protect your lower back, but it helps to strengthen this muscle and "tighten" your tummy. To do this, you "flex" your belly button into your spine without sucking in your stomach. If you want to work on this muscle (and feel what is your transversus abdominus), you can try out stomach vacuums. Here is just one example of performing said vacuum.
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ms-fit5.htm
The other thing is this . . . when you contract the transversus abdominus, you are also contracting your rectus abdominus. That is, the harder you flex your belly into your spine, the harder you are making your entire ab section work
in addition to whatever core or abs movement you're already performing. This is the reason why crunches on medicine ball are so effective -- the ball forces you to contract the transversus abdominus muscles harder to stabilize yourself, that in turn significantly increases the intensity of your ab contractions while doing crunches or core movements. This is also an important basis for Pilates's efficacy.
Thus, by contracting this muscle, you can make your current abs workout much more effective.
Pulling movements, Pullovers, and Abs
Pulling movements (especially chins) are pretty good ab exercises in their own right, because the arm-limb movement causes the rib cage/sternum to go up and down. Abdominal muscles -- oblique and rectus abdominus -- are attached to the sternum. When the rib cage gpoes up and down, well that is largely the extent of the ROM of your abs and is your concentric and eccentric motion.
Because barbell/DB pullovers uses a more exagerated arc with the arms (going backwards of the body), it naturally provides a bigger stretch for the abdominals. And because machine pullovers provide significant resistance and concentric motion through the bottom of the movement , they provide a bigger burn for the abdominals. In general, pullovers -- either baby -- are actually superior exercises to crunches for both reasons. And they're excellent movements for back width and traps as well.
You may recognize barbell/DB pullovers as stretch-point movements, and machine pullovers as a peak contraction movement. But, generally, both are pretty good for developing the abs.
The Nelson Situp
If you're looking for a change of pace in your abs exercise, try this one out. This movement is great and pretty intense. Like the pullovers, it has a very exaggerated arm arc to facilitate proper concentric and eccentric motion. I would add this into 10s, even halfway into the 10s. I think it's the best general purpose abdominal exercise out there. Below is a reprint of a previous post on the Nelson situp.
A) It takes out the hip flexors and completely isolates the abs section. You don't work anything but the abs with this movement. Completely safe for the lower back.
B) You can do it in front of the telly! No additional equipment necessary! It's free! Just 30-60 seconds a day on the carpet!
C) It brings men closer to women, for they too shall know what abdominal cramps feels like! Did I mention you can do it in front of the telly!
D) Pretty easy to modulate tension. You can perform it on an incline. You can bend your elbow (as if doing an overhead tricep extension) at the end; the contraction can be excruciating. You can hold a weight. Because this completely isolates the abs, you can generate ridiculous amount of tension in just this area. For most people, this will be all they need.
http://marinefeatures.subportal.com/fitnesslink/men/diffab.html
E) GREAT for pulses. It sets the abs on fire.
Ab-based stretches
The key to create mechanical strain on the abdominal muscle (which has relatively average FT/ST composition . . . unlike calves, it has normal growth potential) is to increase the stretch under significant load. And this is done by moving the rib cage/sternum as far above (by raising your arms) and behind the pelvis (by bending backwards) as possible.
By default, it means to use ab-specific stretches with loads. Ironically, this is how obliques (side bends) are often worked. And people often complain that side bends seem to overdevelop the obliques. Hmm.
This is one example of such a standard stretch -- the Standing Stretch.
http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/RectusAbdominis/Standing.html
The combination of bending backwards and raising off the arms creates the effective stretch and ROM of this movement. Preferably, one would do this one kneeling (similar to this:
http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/RectusAbdominis/Kneeling.html but with arms raised.) It's both safer and more effective this way.
While kneeling, a person would hold a heavy weight with arms straight, though slightly in front of the heads. They then flex their transversus abdominis. Then, as they bend backwards, their arms move backwards as if this were a pullover movement. When the arms cannot move anymore, then the person can bend their arms as if it were a tricep extension. Then, to move back into position, they unbend their arms, move their arms forward, and reset.
A more extreme version of this stretch is to perform this movement on a roman chair or hyperextension bench. One would try to "situp" moving from 90 degrees to way below the bench, with arms starting perpendicular, then moving backwards until they are behind the head. The lets you use less weight than the above example and, given that your upper body is pulling downwards, usually produces a much deeper stretch.
However, this movement can be a little dangerous if you don't have your ankles firmly in place, and if you don't have your lower back firmly supported by the bench. It's ideal that the bench not only supports your buttocks, but your tailbone as well.
The stretches are not that intense (usually because you're actually much stronger in this ROM), but they can produce significant DOMS. Thus, it may not be a good idea to use these techniques until the 5s, opting to use 10s-ish weights and progress linearly until they match. And these stretch-point movements are excellent for LS. A combination of this movement and some form of pulsing (from pullovers or Nelson situp) for metabolic stress would probably cover all you need for your rectus abdominus.
Of course, none of this means squat if you're 20% bodyfat.
cheers,
Jules
Be very, very aggressive with post-WO carbs if you add cardio. Try out the vinegar. An earlier post offers one hypothetical bulking scheme to approach a program like this. (Hint: 2*BW protein)