Your Genetics and Abdominals

Right now some of you can see a perfectly set of staggered abs that are wide and thick and separated by a line down the middle.  Some of you have the classic four-pack which is four big abs with a smooth lower section.  Some of you have tiny cubicle boxes sitting high on your abdominal wall.  Some of you have the picture perfect eight-pack that makes people’s jaws drop. 

Like every muscle group, all you can do is train them as heavy and hard as possible and hope your genetics take care of the rest. You can’t change the shape or alignment or separation of your abs.  You can’t move them around and place them where you want them.  Your genetics will affect to which degree they “pop” out and to which degree they stay smoother or flatter. 

The good news is that abdominals are abdominals and when your body fat levels are around 5-7% you are guaranteed to impress people, including yourself, with a set of hot-looking abs.  Even though genetics play a huge role in how they look, it’s important to know how to train them to make them look their best. 

Divide Your Abdominals into Two Separate Workouts for Best Results

To train your abdominals safely and effectively you must know the basic movement patterns of your abs and train them within all sub-categories:

• Truck Flexion (upper abs)    
• Lateral Flexion (obliques)
• Hip Flexion (lower abs) 
• Rotation (obliques)

 

 The majority of books and articles you have read revolve the bulk of the ab exercises around the trunk flexion that is better known as ‘upper ab’ exercises. A full sit up is a perfect example of this.

Bill Starr in his 1976 classic ‘The Strongest Shall Survive’ wrote that the abdominals “…can be strengthened in a wide variety of ways. Sit-ups of all types, leg raises, truck rotation movements all involve the abdominal muscles to a different degree…”

I wouldn’t be surprised if the abdominal program you are following right now is based on one movement - trunk flexion. I am guessing that your primary goal is actually to have a well-defined and sculpted six-pack, so I have provided a sample abdominal program to break it up into a four day program:

Even though you are training each movement twice per week, you will perform different exercises for each workout.

Use a Variety Of Functional Exercises

The Top 3 Hip Flexion Exercises:

1.   Lying Hip Raise

2.   Incline Hip Raise

3.   Hanging Hip Raise

The Top 3 Trunk Flexion Exercises:

1.   Swiss Ball Crunch

2. Weighted Swiss Ball Crunches

3. Weighted Cable Crunches

The Top 3 Rotation Exercises:

1.   Russian Twist

2.   Weighted Russian Twist

3.   Weighted Cable Crossover

 
The Top 3 Lateral Flexion Exercises:

1.   Lateral Flexion on back extension machine

2.   Lateral Flexion with medicine ball over head

Lateral Flexion with medicine ball and twist

Each of these exercises progresses from basic to intermediate to advanced. I suggest you master the first exercise of each before commencing to the next.

Razor Sharp Abdominal Workout 1:

Hip Flexion and Trunk Flexion

Perform this workout at least two times a week separated by at least 48 hours rest.  You should experience a deep muscle soreness after each one of these workouts.  Focus on using a load that causes failure within 8-12 reps and then move to the next exercise.  This is a non-stop circuit.  Rest 1-2 minutes and repeat until you reach 4 sets total. 

Razor Sharp Abdominal Workout 2:

Trunk Rotation and Lateral Flexion

Perform this workout at least two times a week separated by at least 48 hours rest.  You should experience a deep muscle soreness after each one of these workouts.  Focus on using a load that causes failure within 8-12 reps and then move to the next exercise.  This is a non-stop circuit.  Rest 1-2 minutes and repeat until you reach 4 sets total.   

Conclusion

As said earlier, buiding razor sharp abs is not the easiest task in the work but nor is it the hardest.  The above abdominal exercises will help you build a deeply separated and evenly placed set of abs in little time.  The truth is that if you can’t see your abs, then the best exercise for your abs will be  better diet.

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