HST and stomach

[ian]

Was just wondering what everyone did for stomach? Especially for the lower abs (my weaker part).

In the past iv been told not to do stomach unless ur down to competition body fat levels (as the muscle makes you look fat), but it seems iv got to throw all past advice out the window if im gona profit from HST.

 

[Tcup]

Quote[/b] (ian @ Feb. 28 2005,6:30)](as the muscle makes you look fat)

WTF?!

Train them hard, train them frequently!

 

[ian]

Ive heard that from millions of competetive bodybuilders and read it in loadsa books.

Aparently.... The stomach is like every other muscle i.e. if you train it regualary and properly it grows. Therefore it can make you look fat. Therefore iv been told only to do stomach a couple of months before competition. Duno whether thats true or not but it sounds plausable.

 

[BIZ]

Cosmetic benefits aside, you should train abs for postural benefits and hernia prevention at the least. Contrary to popular belief, the abs do not grow outward much unless you have a bad habit of pooching when you crunch. Remember to pull your navel in as you crunch and blow your air out. Most of the thick abs seen on bodybuilders is more a product of GH and AAS use, and doing abs more often may be just what they need to keep their overgrown intestines in.

 

[ian]

So i wont end up with a stomach like ronnie coleman then

How do would you go about encorporating HST techniques with stomach then???

As I say I really want to work on my lower stomach, the tops alright

 

[Louno]

uhm
are you guys sure that working abs isnt going to make you look fat?
if for example you have some fat already enough so you dont see your abs, if u grow you abs , the fat will still be there but ure going to have more mass thus it will look like you have more fat...

 

[ian]

My thoughts exactly, but at the same time havin a stronger stomach does help as a stabilizer in other exercises.

I was told to just do loads of oblique twists to narrow your waste. But once again I just wanted to know what the HST crew do

 

[Dood]

Quote[/b] (ian @ Mar. 01 2005,4:29)]I was told to just do loads of oblique twists to narrow your waste.

Well, lets think about that. How is working a muscle, even with many reps, going to make it smaller? I mean your obliques are on the outside of your waist, so if you work them to make them grow, you'll get wider, not smaller, and if you work them and they don't grow there will be no change. You can't "spot" reduce.
The best way to shrink the waist is to lose fat, through diet and cardio. Remember, there are 2 kinds of fat around your midsection: Subcutaneous, just under the skin and on top of the muscle, and Visceral, inside your body around your organs. I think diet affects the visceral more and exercise affects the subcu.

 

[ian]

I know what your sayn im just telln you what I heard from an experienced competitor. No ones answered my quezy yet tho???

PS Regarding them twists, I cant feel them at all and always thought them useless. However 3years ago I went to a gym in spain and all anyone did was oblique twists, (no weight just a bar on the back) and I have never seen so many amazin 6packs

 

[Louno]

so
unless we can see your 6pack already ( low bodyfat ) , working abs in a hst style isnt a good thing ? Since you want your muscles to stay small.
Instead work with high reps without any progressive loading, this will increase strenght and will reduce hypertrophy potential?
Is this a good ideal ?

 

[ian]

Think the moral of the storey is ur f####d if you do and you f####d if you dont.

The other thing you have to think of is, if youve gota bita fat and your goal is to geta 6pack ( like myn ) the extra cardio you shoud be doing will prohibit the muscle you put on. So uv gota decide what you want if you want relativley fast results

 

[savagebeast]

Building up your ab muscles will make them more visible even if you do have a bit of fat stored in your midsection. Of course, your six pack will be more visible if you have a low BF%, but either way if you have no muscle you have no six pack. And don't worry, you're not going to put 2+ inches of pure muscle onto your midsection.

 

[Totentanz]

Personally, I think the people who do 700+ crunches every day are insane. I do ab exercises just like I do my other exercises and my midsection is strong enough. I use weights for my ab exercises a lot too and I'm still skinny in the middle, so I don't think it will make you look fat.

 

[Dood]

Quote[/b] (Totentanz @ Mar. 01 2005,6:51)]Personally, I think the people who do 700+ crunches every day are insane. I do ab exercises just like I do my other exercises and my midsection is strong enough. I use weights for my ab exercises a lot too and I'm still skinny in the middle, so I don't think it will make you look fat.

Exaclty. You know, it's kind of funny, we all know how hard it is to grow muscle, we blast all our body parts to make them grow and try everything we can and we are happy if we put on half an inch somewhere, but when it comes to abs people act as if weighted crunches or another kind of weighted resitance are going to make them grow huge immediately. We're all so afraid of getting bigger in the middle we stop thinking logically.

 

[imported_dkm1987]

Quote[/b] (BIZ @ Mar. 01 2005,8:39)] Contrary to popular belief, the abs do not grow outward much unless you have a bad habit of pooching when you crunch.  Remember to pull your navel in as you crunch and blow your air out.  

Great advice BIZ, thanks, I had never thought of that and I tried it last night and it also makes them harder to perform

 

[Louno]

Quote[/b] ] Contrary to popular belief, the abs do not grow outward much unless you have a bad habit of pooching when you crunch. Remember to pull your navel in as you crunch and blow your air out.

im not 100% bilingual, what does, "pooching" means ?
and what is a navel hehe

 

[savagebeast]

Here's a link to an alternative ab exercise recommended by vicious (at least, I think it was him): http://www.marinefeatures.subportal.com/fitnesslink/men/diffab2.html. I tried it today for the first time and it worked pretty well. Plus, as you get better at it you'll be able to tweak the exercise a bit to make it more difficult.

P.S. I don't know what pooching means, but your navel is your belly button.

 

[Totentanz]

Pooching would mean that you are pushing your stomach out.

 

[Old and Grey]

I do this trunk routine twice per weeK:

Weighted crunch machine
Decline leg lift
Oblique side raises on an hyperextension bench
Weighted hyperextension

It has provided me with the core strength I need not to get injured and my abs clearly show through at 9% bodyfat. I keep reps in the 15 to 25 range.

 

[Louno]

Old and Grey
15- 25 range, does this mean ure not working ure abs in a hst fashion ? or just with bigger reps ...

Im asking because, like i said , maybe its best to have strong and toned abs then big abs , if you have a "high"(too high to see 6pac) level of bodyfat.