abs - Page 2

mikhemm · 30-Nov-05, 07:12 PM

I don't think I could do 100 situps without weights; that wasa poor illustration. so to display the abs is strictly diet? damn. the thing with my body is (as i mentioned previously) is that i am pretty lean but there is a problem when it comes to my lower stomach; from my chest to my lower abs is smooth and flat but then there is a crevice in the middle of my stomach afterwhich is a large kind of gut. It is not fat but it seems that my gut, stomach, orwhatever is large enough that it will protrude out. kind of pisses me off- i was thinking of focusing on lower abs to get it gone, but if you think its all a matter of diet, threenorns,...have any recommendations?

mikhemm · 30-Nov-05, 07:21 PM

lady c, you asked me if strenth is my goal or endurance. let me ask you, if strenght were my goal as opposed to endurance (or vise versa) what would the difference be in my physique? health?

**.V.** · 30-Nov-05, 10:25 PM

Abs ARE mostly diet. Hence the statement that "abs are made in the kitchen". However, what you are describing sounds like a weak transverse abdominus. Keep doing your crunches. Cable crunches help too. I've found that my lower abdomen has gotten somewhat better since I started doing my crunches on a decline. I take my bench, but the preacher curl pad at the end (I knew there had to be some use for it), put the head of the bench down like for doing decline bench press, put my legs over the preacher pad and scoot my butt as close under the pad as I can get it. Put weight on my chest...then at the top of the crunch count slowly to 5 while holding my stomach in and breathing out slowly. I concentrate on contracting the lower part of the abdomen to hold me up. It really helps to do it this way. Eventually you can learn your body well enough to tell which muscle or part of a muscle is doing the bulk of the work. Crunch up with rectus, hold up with transverse...helps me (not enough yet) but does help. Another thing I've recently learned is that if you put weight behind your head it makes the transverse muscle work harder too.

Supposedly leg raises mostly work the hip flexors and not the abdomen. But my little brother trains rangers and one thing he tortures the new guys with is leg raises. They lay in the mud and lift the feet 8-12 inches from the ground and hold them there - no higher - that is considered cheating and they then have to do it over. Those guys have killer abs. The leg raises might have something to do with that.

**threenorns** · 01-Dec-05, 06:26 AM

that sounds more like a static hold, not a "raise" (both legs going up and down).

sounds like weak TA to me, too - one exercise that's good for that is stomach vacuums. you basically "suck in your gut" as hard and high as you can and hold it for a count of ten, relax, repeat. also, make sure you are maintaining proper posture at all times - no slumping, no slouching.

**Lady C** · 01-Dec-05, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikhemm

lady c, you asked me if strenth is my goal or endurance. let me ask you, if strenght were my goal as opposed to endurance (or vise versa) what would the difference be in my physique? health?

Healthwise probably no difference. Body structure the endurance body would have less muscle mass and look leaner not necessarily more cut. It depends on what you want to look like. Some people like the endurance look while others like the big 'n buff look.

mikhemm · 03-Dec-05, 04:25 AM

Lady C
I want to look cut but not big. i want to look like a gymnast or bruce lee
a welch : don't know what kind of pads you are talking about,. sorry

**.V.** · 03-Dec-05, 05:13 AM

It's just an attachment that goes on the end of the bench for doing preacher curls. You can do something similar by just lying on the floor and putting your legs up on the bench.

steve2000 · 04-Dec-05, 08:28 AM

if you are seeing the line in your stomach but have a pouch at the bottom then you need to look at your drinking habits as you might be storing water there. are you drinking enough water? i personally try and drink atleast 1.5 gallons a day. with water you can always drink more than needed since your body will pass the remainder through you. if you dont drink enough liquids your body will take notice and store them when you do (in a pouch in your stomach). drink more water and do crunches. you should atleast be able to see some lumps on your stomach before you'll need to drop your body fat to acheive a full-blown 6-pack.

mikhemm · 04-Dec-05, 08:16 PM

I'll definitely start drinking more water. I don't see how I could begin dropping body fat- I am already very thin

however I am in the process of restoring my foreskin- the restoration unit prohibits me from urinating so I have to limit and time when I drink water. I have no other option. I wear the unit in the morning, take it off around lunch time for an hour and 1/2, then put it back on at 1:00 until around 4:30. I try to put another unit on at night for an hour or two. The tape that I use to attach the shaft skin to the unit is rather expensive, so constantly taking the unit off and on in order to urinate is not only time consuming but it wastes money.

My apologies if this discussion is inappropriate or irrelevant to this discussion; I decided to include this info to ask whether or not drinking large amounts of water in short intervals is good for the body or not. I could drink a gallon a day, but I would have to set aside time to drink certain amounts (drinking a 1/3 or a gallon within a 10-15 time span). Is this good for the body?

I could go into the reasons I restore for those who are intrested but my primary concern here is the water drinking habit in response to steve2000's suggestion.

**threenorns** · 04-Dec-05, 11:09 PM

no - don't be gulping down massive amounts at one shot. just drink regularly as you can.

seems to me you have other priorities at the moment that you should really be focussing on though....