Hey guys,

I've been watching a lot of videos on abdominal exercises.

I actually really enjoy working my "abs" (I put it like that because they're not actually visible yet - lol) and I try to do them for 4-5 times a week, and I've been going to the gym for 5 weeks or so now.

My questions is, what ab exercises are BEST for putting on muscle mass and also to help with losing that horrible last bit of belly fat!.

Scott has posted tonnes of ab workout videos, some using weighted exercises such as cable crunches, wood choppers, medicine ball... And there's an equal amount of workouts without weights and just using body weight like crunches, knee to elbows, and tonnes more.

Secondly, should I stick to one workout (so 5-6 different ab exercises) and repeat those 4-5 times a week to see the best results? Or does changing the ab exercises weekly or even daily show the best results?

Thanks for reading,

Ash.

Hey brotha ! It is impossible to say that one is better than the other just like I can not say that 5x5 is the best split EVER ! We have to experiment to gain experience. What I mean is, simply try out a ton of different routines scattered on seperate periods of time and see which one actually brings out your abs the most. In my experience you should stick to one routine for 6-8 weeks just like you would on a normal split, and then change it up. For myself I have seen the best results from bodyweight exercises, simply because I can do a ton of reps as well as controll the motion. If you are looking for one of these routines, I suggest you to jump on this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2QDhJNPqXk A very simple routine, yet it will leave you with intense DOMS the day after, at least for me. I hope that this somewhat answers your question.

okay im sorry william but im going to have to disagree with you, you're not aiming to get DOMS when you workout, that ridiculous, to the OP i recommend spending 6 months doing body weight or 6 months doing weighted ab workouts to see which best suits you, me personally my body best suits weighted ab stuff, best way to burn belly fat or simply trim down your stomach would be to throw in mountain climbers inbetween sets while being on a calorie deficit along side a low sodium diet, slap your stomach if it ripples for like a split second then its water covering your abs, if it goes for any longer its fat, you can generally feel it anyway but to simplify this whole situation id say do these exercises weighted...

sit up

knee up/ reverse crunch

leg raise

side bend

plank

in order to do weighted planks either get a rucksack with plates or sand in it or get someone to stack a few weight plates onto your bum, not back but bum, find out what reps and so on work best for you but the weight i use for all these is atleast 50% of my bodyweight so id be doing sit ups with a 45 id be doing that with all of them including plank, that works for me, but as of the past year ive been aiming to get big rather than stay as lean as possible to see my abs, but i will say a low sodium diet on a calorie deficit works best, up your protein and fat and decrease carbs, but keep feeding the muscles, more meals are better so 6 meals a day is better than 3 meals a day for fat loss. hope this helps, peace out :3

Well thats a good question.

Bodyweight is very similar to free weights so it will produce different results as long as you find ways to progress with the exercise. Generally, an isometric exercise like the plank is not the best to pack on muscle but if you are smart about it, it works just fine. You might want to progress into 60 seconds planks and then 2 minute planks etc etc. After that you may want to progress into decline planks or weighted planks etc etc. So as long as you are overloading the muscle, it will grow.


Having said that, its my own personal opinion, that free weighted exercises are better for hypetrophy response and bodyweight movements are better for core strength and stability. This is because its usually easier to overload with free weights. If you choose an ab pulldown, its easy to add 2,5lbs every week. or whenever. But if you choose, dragon flags, although its a phenomenal exercise for core stability, i dont believe its as good for building muscle. It will obviously still build muscle, because you are heavily using your abs but I would stick to the ab pulldown.

As for the number of exercises, its my own personal opinion ( again), that you dont need a lot of ab exercises. I would suggest you train abs 4-6 times a week and have 2 different routines at your disposal to alternate. The first routine would be weighted crunches and woodchoppers and the second routine would be like ab pulldowns and weighted planks/side planks. Thats it, you dont need any fancy routines. Just stick to the basics and try to progress with the exercises.

And since I m an advocate of strength and not so much useless hypertrophy, I dont want people to think that I m talking bad about bodyweight stuff. But the question was about getting size on the abs. To be 100% honest, if you only did weighted crunches and nothing more, your abs would get huge in a matter of months. Oh and yea, try not to get too sore if you train your abs 4-6 times a week. Its an indicator that you are not recovered 100%.

Kostas

Quality of contraction > *

yes although the plank is not the best for packing on muscle i do believe non of these strengthen the abdominal gurdle but the plank does, this way the stomach will stay flat, either do plank or learn how to do a stomach vacuum but personally mastering the plank is easy and you dont need to overload on it just keep it to a set level and increase everything else, as kostas said you dont need anything fancy but i like to hit all areas where as he stated those 2 exercises are enough, which they are, i just like to make sure as well as the fact my hips dont engage all too well unless i have been training them the day before, i always do them the day before legs so i get the most out of my squats, just a little piece of information to remember, oh and when picking your exercises take into consideration what you trained the day before and the day after... like if you wanted to train back the day after you destroyed your biceps... not going to end well you'll have monsterous biceps and a skinny back, so dont go burning out your abs if the day after you intend to do sprints or really havy squatting because your body will fail on you and you will end up in a "gym fail" video for collapsing to the floor because your abs couldnt support the weight from the barbell... just food for thought is all, pump the muscle dont reduce it to ashes...

That's some really great feedback guys, appreciate it.

I'll experiment with a few different exercises and routines. I do like weighted exercises but equally enjoy bodyweight so I guess it's just a matter of what works best for me and what gives me the best results.

Cheers again :)

You are allowed to disagree with me, only one thing. You can not disagree with something I did not say brotha. I never said my goal is to get DOMS or I am aiming to get DOMS. I think you should re-read my post brotha .

bottom line of that paragraph states that he should do that routine even though it will leave him with intense DOMS and you said so yourself that you do that routine, please if you consider yourself more experienced physically than somebody else do not point them in the direction of workouts that leave you with intense DOMS as it will have a nastier impact on those less experienced, for those new to abdominal exercises id suggest breaking it down into 1 exercise per area 3 sets per area leaving your strongest movement till last in order to bring up the weaker areas, like for me i lack muscle in the hip region so i do them first, i am strongest with my obliques so i do them lest, inbetween i do my upper and lower abdominals, id suggest doing the same.

"If you are looking for one of these routines, I suggest you to jump on this one:" I said IF. I did not say, hey dude you are gonna do this right now ! I gave him a simple suggestion I did not state that he must do this routine or even that he should.

Also notice "For myself I have seen the best results from bodyweight exercises, ". I said FOR MYSELF. So I simply state that this is effective for me, not necessarily for him, again it was just a suggestion.
"please if you consider yourself more experienced physically than somebody else " You say... Well I have never stated that I am in better shape than our fellow member here.

"bottom line of that paragraph states that he should" you say... Did I use the word "should", well... no I did not.

AAAAND that is going to be the end of that discussion, I am not here to argue nor prove anything to anyone. I am here to help, so we are going to end it at that

You don't really need to do abs 4-5 times a week... That's overload on your spine. 1-2 a week is plenty. Everyone HAS abs, it's the fat you gotta burn off to see them. Train them like any other muscle group. And 2 exercises, maybe 3 for obliques is enough. Any leg raising motion for lower attention and cable crunches for upper for ex. is all you really need.

the fact still remains you promoted the use of a workout that rendered you with negative side effects as if they where a good thing, please do not promote those to people of your physical abilities or lower.

anyway, directed at the OP here i seem to have missed out your bottom line of the post... no you should not change the exercises daily, most people believe changing the routine every 4 weeks to shock the muscles is the correct thing to do, this is incorrect, this idea came about simply because after 3 weeks of a routine you make neurological gains then in week 4 hit a sticking point... these types of workouts result in NO muscle mass being gained, the only thing you can gain from these types of workouts are muscular endurance gains by increasing the reps and decreasing rep time everytime you change it up, every muscular gain is made from breaking through plateus, so 4 weeks in you will hit a plateu, if you can force through that then the muscular gains will begin and the neurological gains will subside, example being powerlifters vs bodybuilders... generically bodybuilders will switch their routine anywhere from around once every 6 months or even once every season or once every year where as power lifters will switch it up once every 6 weeks but keep the same keystone lifts as their primary and first lifts, the rest are just their for neurological gains, the keystone lifts provide the strength and muscular gains, so in total i say no to switching your exercises daily as it really will not provide any benefit other than neurological benefits and the placebo effect of growing :P

Hey Scott I work on abs 3 times a week when I flex you can see my upper abs but not my lower so do you have any lower ab workouts I just wanted my abs to be ripped and show more thank you! :)