ballsoutpunk
New member
I recently had a discussion with a friend of mine who is a former lifter and wrestler about ab workouts. His opinion is that abdominal muscles are no different than any other muscle and the best strategy for hypertrophy is 8 - 12 reps at high resistance. I had previously been doing stability ball situps with lots of sets and rep counts of 30+ depending on technique (arm placement, etc.), 3 sets of cable crunches in the range of 20 -30 reps, and 2 to 3 sets of 45° side bends in the range of 12 - 15 reps. I had very slowly gone up in weight and reps, but don't have a lot to show for it. His argument is that high rep counts of 12 or greater primarily tone muscle instead of building it - abdominal muscle included - and that my abs would be more developed if I'd used higher weight and lower reps. He also believes that most people overtrain abdominal muscles. He argues that the best exercises are those that do not use machines, except maybe the cable machine, so that all of the stabilizing muscles get exercised. He suggests stability ball pikes (with a weighted belt if the athlete can handle more weight), stability ball crunches while holding plates, weighted hanging knee raises, etc.
His advice seems sound, but I don't see a lot of people doing it. Most people with great abs that I've talked to claim to do the high rep / low weight thing and exercise abs five or six days a week. Based on their advice, many years ago I tried doing very high reps of situps (say 200 situps three times a day, every day), but I never felt like my abs had a chance to properly recover and I didn't get much from it physically.
I've tried my friend's advice and it seems to work well, but it's too early to tell for sure. I'm definitely more sore the following day. I can also say that it's certainly less painful during the exercise to squeeze out 10 reps with heavy weight to failure than 30 reps to failure with lighter weight, but less pain usually doesn't equate to more gain in our chosen activity. I personally feel like I shouldn't work abs more than once every three days (when training naturally) to allow appropriate recovery.
So what do you guys think about the strategy of focusing on exercises that require high use of stabilizing muscles and high weight in the 8 - 12 rep range? Do any of you already do this? Would you argue against it for any reason?
His advice seems sound, but I don't see a lot of people doing it. Most people with great abs that I've talked to claim to do the high rep / low weight thing and exercise abs five or six days a week. Based on their advice, many years ago I tried doing very high reps of situps (say 200 situps three times a day, every day), but I never felt like my abs had a chance to properly recover and I didn't get much from it physically.
I've tried my friend's advice and it seems to work well, but it's too early to tell for sure. I'm definitely more sore the following day. I can also say that it's certainly less painful during the exercise to squeeze out 10 reps with heavy weight to failure than 30 reps to failure with lighter weight, but less pain usually doesn't equate to more gain in our chosen activity. I personally feel like I shouldn't work abs more than once every three days (when training naturally) to allow appropriate recovery.
So what do you guys think about the strategy of focusing on exercises that require high use of stabilizing muscles and high weight in the 8 - 12 rep range? Do any of you already do this? Would you argue against it for any reason?