I want to work on my abs the most efficient way possible. I want to ad mass so I can get blocky sculpted abs. I used to do Ab Ripper X from the p90x series. But I feel like I am not flexible enough to properly do them. And I keep getting a click in my left hip on certain exersizes(Why?).

What advice do you guys have? There are usually a ton of people at the gym, and some workouts seem very odd to start out with at the gym. Thanks!

There are tons of great ab exercises in the exercise database. Starting of I'd recc 2 exercises twice a week that cover your upper abs, lower abs, and obliques. Give 2-3 days between and 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fbujeH3F0EThis ones excellent for hammering the upper and lower abs as a primary and obliques as a secondary. You can add tons of weight to this exercises.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Imui46JTe7s This exercise targets the upper and lowe abbs and give you a great burn, I'd recc the higher end of 12 reps with this one and you can put a weight across your chest.

As for the clicking/popping if it's minor and there's no pain I would think it's just your joints and that should work itself out and do make sure you are getting a good warm up in and stretching.

I am having trouble getting the videos uploaded so let me know if these links works for you.

Focus on having a strong core(abs, obliques, lower back). Abs aren't a very large muscle group like legs. There is a very limited amount of mass you can put on in that area. Thus, your focus for core should be on strength. Squats, deadlifts, farmer carries (one arm at a time to really work obliques) will get you a seriously solid core. Crunch machines are good, I quite enjoy using them myself, but you can develop lower back issues if you don't have the setup bang on for your body dimensions. Remember when the plank was the be all end all of core exercises? Now they're saying it's a waste of time unless you're a beginner. In the end, if you can diet down to low body fat, you'll have a nice set of abs regardless how strong your core is. Because let's face it, unless you're a power lifter you're likely more concerned with pretty abs rather than strong ones :)

You need to train your ABS just like any other muscle group.

If you want to increase their size, you need to be doing resistance work, i.e. training them with weighted exercises. Abs also respond positvely to high reps and lots of volume given they are active for a lot of different lifts.

Check out these two videos, they should help you out.

Jordan

The problem with the Ab Pulldown is that I don't have a partner to sit on my feet. And I feel ultra uncomfortable doing them at the gym.... I am ultra self concience.

So I was looking at this one website that shows the top ab workouts they found. I was mainly looking at the first exercise and wanted to know what you guys think about it:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek30.htm

Seems pretty decent. So my question is, should I try this out or should I continue p90x Ab Ripper X. I don't really know if Ab Ripper X will give me results with the quickest sculpture(I have little bodyfat, so I just need to ad more mass).

Thanks!

The problem with the Ab Pulldown is that I don't have a partner to sit on my feet. And I feel ultra uncomfortable doing them at the gym.... I am ultra self concience.

So I was looking at this one website that shows the top ab workouts they found. I was mainly looking at the first exercise and wanted to know what you guys think about it:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek30.htm

Seems pretty decent. So my question is, should I try this out or should I continue p90x Ab Ripper X. I don't really know if Ab Ripper X will give me results with the quickest sculpture(I have little bodyfat, so I just need to ad more mass).

Thanks!

Hey man.

So I looked at that link...are you talking about the oblique side bend, which is the first exercise listed, or the ab crunch machine?

You can give it a try for sure. You need to try different things to find what works best for you.

Adding mass will come with doing weighted ab exercises, just like you would with other muscle groups training with weight is essential.

And just because you don't have someone to stand on your feet for the ab pulldown doesn't mean you can't do it...just lower the weight to a weight you can do, and even if that feels too easy, just do more reps! :)

Jordan

Obliques

Dumbbell Side Bend

Hanging Knee Raise To The Side

Oblique Crunches

Abs

Ab Crunch Machine

Weighted Decline Crunch

FlatBench Leg Pull-in Crunch

This is the whole workout. I am trying to do Obliques one day, and abs the next. For now, I am doing just Dumbbell Side Bends for obliques only since they pretty much kill them completely(beinging my favorite workout to do).

Abs, I am just doing a machine at the gym. I want to incorperate Ab Pulldowns into the workout and probably make it my main ab workout later once I learn how to do it properly(tried it yesterday and I failed miserably at doing it).

Any other recommendations of what I should do or change? Is this workout setup good? Do you think I need some workouts that arent using machines?

Hey @studmuffin!

Those look like good ab exercises, nothing wrong with them, but it wouldn't hurt to do some ab work without using machines. Did you watch the 'How To Build More Visible & Blocky Abs!' video! There are heaps to choose from in there.

Just make sure to do a range of exercises to target your upper abs, lower abs and olbiques. It looks like you have some for each of those already.

Hope it goes well! #HTH

Jordan