How to Train Your Abs

A lot of people are really concerned with their abs. The number of infomercials talking about ab machines is truly incredible. And they are an important part of your body, but they are not the only part. Just before we go on I want to say it is not a good idea to be overly focused on any one body part or muscle. You want to train everything and blast every last muscle.

First off the abs are really a group of muscles which are divided into three categories. There are the rectus abs which you use to curl your stomach when you try to touch your nose to your bellybutton. Under them you find the oblique abs, which also help in torso curling. They are also used to rotate or twist your torso. Under them we find the deep or transverse abs. They help with breathing and hold your torso in position over your legs.

Here are some tips to think about when you plan to train your abs. Many people go for really astronomical numbers of sit ups, but the truth is that high reps will not really help to strengthen abs. One reason is because sit ups mainly work the muscles that flex your hips. Therefore a lot of sit ups will build stamina in your hip flexors and your abs will escape. Also the abs are made mostly of slow twitch muscle which means they can take a lot more reps than most other muscle groups. You will burn out your hip flexors before your abs have to take on the load.

Related to this, beyond about a 30 degree bend in a sit up or crunch your hip flexors are taking most of the load. So keep your sit ups shallow. Also go ahead and do them slow ... the abs are slow twitch remember? Also don't hold or fix down your legs. Fixed legs encourages use of your hips again. There is a layer of fat under your skin over your abs. This layer of fat will hide the definition of your abs. It doesn't matter what kind of muscle you have under there, it won't show up ripped as long as that fat is there. Getting rid of that fat takes a lot of time dedicated to a fat control program. So don't be fooled ... your abs are getting stronger and bigger even if you don't have as much to show for it as you might hope.

Here is a set of basic ab exercises you can use to get yourself off and running.

• Do a couple of sets of 12 crunches to warm up in a crunch machine
  
• Do a couple of sets in the machine until you can't do more (failure sets) adjusting resistance to fail between 10 and 12 reps
  
• Do another set of 12 crunches on a level bench
  
• Do a couple of failure sets to about 10 or 12 crunches on a declined bench with chest weight
  

That will get you started. As you need more, customize and expand to train your abs how you want it done!

Guest post by Bryce.