Gettin that six-pack to show..

[LaXDaVe]

What exactly do I have to DO? I've tried everything. Nothin seems to be working. Maybe I'm not doing enough of it?...Im not fat either, Im really thin soooo...rix, anyone, wanna gimme some tips/help me out here? A program would be helpful.:concerned

[blckout20]

well...what do you do now?

[cloo24]

ugh ive been trying for months

[laxbabe2121]

ok, you need to do crunches w/ weights. when you do crunches, hold like a 25 lb weight over your stomach when you do them. that'll increase muscle faster, and make it pop out, and you have to make sure to hit the higher and lower abs. most people just do higher (crunches) i would say the RESIST-A-BALL!!! for the lower abs, with weights of course. i love that ball, its so fun to just bounce around. it looks like you're humping the air. muahahha

[cloo24]

you like himping the air don't you laxbabe SICKO stick to guys they work better;) jk but anyways how do you get a resist a ball is it just like a big ball like they use for PT cause i have one of those

[stegmakk]

yeah...i have a problem with the lower abs...no probnlem really with the upper part...
hmmm...man...i guess i gotta put down the beer...
but still give us some excercises for the lower...

[Longest]

In addition to strengthening the abs, you have to have little enough body fat for them to be visible. So for example, despite having lost 70 lbs, I'm still not exactly skinny. So no matter how many crunches I do, I'm not gonna get some awesome ripped 6 pack without more weight loss. Just one possible thought.

Dan

[laxbabe2121]

the resist-a-balls usually bigger that the ones at PT. umm it comes up to about my waist when i stand up. its about.... maybe 2.5 feet high? and make sure that your butt is halfway on the ball, so that you feel the tightness on the lower part of your abs and not the higher part.

[cloo24]

cool thanks for the help i'll probably fall over when i try and do it. it should be a fun time

[laxbabe2121]

and if you want an even tougher workout, put your back on the ball, and put your feet up on the wall, so that your legs form a 90 degree angle. and then try and stay balanced while you do your sit ups. when you do these, you should touch your elbows to your knees.

[Jestah]

Theres no such thing as an upper or lower ab. It's all one muscle.

If you're looking to have visible abs theres only one thing you can do - lose weight. Extra crunches or situps won't do anything for you until you lose the layer of fat that sits on top of them. On the other hand, if you're looking for a fantastic - no the best - exercise for your abs, lay on a decline bench with an easy bar behind your head. Theres no reason to use weight with this exercise. If you're doing it correctly gravity is all the weight you need.

[bigDman]

lets see your body fat % has to be between 7-10 and thats a hard task

[Jestah]

Whats so hard about eating healthy and following a good workout routine? It's not an enjoyable endeavor but it's not very difficult.

[Snake~eyes]

Originally posted by LaXDaVe
What exactly do I have to DO? I've tried everything. Nothin seems to be working. Maybe I'm not doing enough of it?...Im not fat either, Im really thin soooo...rix, anyone, wanna gimme some tips/help me out here? A program would be helpful.:concerned
More crunches and stuff won't make them show, I'm sure you've already tried that stuff.

The key is you have too much body fat, even though you're probaly not fat at all. See if you can get your body fat % measured at a gym, anyways the key would be to lose some of that body fat, means go on a diet and exercise.

[pissedofflaxdud]

leg lifts, if done properly are awesome for it. if they are not done properly you can injur yourself.

crunches with weights work well too.

jestah's suggestion works great too, you can also use the tricep pull down contraption too. get down on all 4's, grab the ropes for triceps and do crunches with some weight. it works the lower back and if you do them slowly it will work all of your abs.

[LaXDaVe]

I have 10% body fat exactly..

[BuckWyld]

leg lifts are not a particularly effective ab exercise, they mostly hit your hip flexors, so it feels like lower abs, your abs are working but it is an isometric exercise for them

[pissedofflaxdud]

How are isometric exercises not particularly effective? Sit-ups and crunches are isometric too. Most ab exercises are isometric, unless you add resistance to them. Even adding weight, incline and/or decline to crunches and sit-ups they remain isometric, adding weight just decreases the time for the muscle to fatigue. So leg lifts are no more or less effective than sit-ups or crunches, but you’ve got to work the abs if you want to show the 6 pack. If you really want them to pop…add resistance.

[Jestah]

Working the abs will do absolutely nothing to make them visible. If you want your abs to be visible you need to lose weight and drop your body fat.

[pissedofflaxdud]

Jestah, true, unless you have no/low body fat and are at a target weight.

You can also get them to "pop" if you will with resitance training, they will "grow" just like any muscle, but like you said if you have 25% body fat you just won't see 'em.

[BuckWyld]

pissedofflaxdud - isometric means flexing at a single point rather than moving along the range of motion

here is a better definition from dictionary.com

Of or involving muscular contraction against resistance in which the length of the muscle remains the same.

[pissedofflaxdud]

Buckwyld...from a physiology site...In physiology, denoting the condition when the ends of a contracting muscle are held fixed so that contraction produces increased tension at a constant overall length.

In any of the definitions...it is exactly what happens during sit-ups, crunchs and leg lifts. The goal in those in to fatigue the muscle, thereby making them stronger.

You and I are pretty much saying the same thing, the only true way to build ab muscles is resistance. Isometrics will make them stronger, but won't build them.

[BuckWyld]

what I was saying is that situps are not infact isometric because the muscle contracts and the spine flexes while you do them, while during a leg lift yours abs tighten but stay the same length because there is no spinal flection.

the opposite of isometric is isotonic again from dictionary.com

Of or involving muscular contraction in which the muscle remains under relatively constant tension while its length changes.

[pissedofflaxdud]

gotcha

[Roadkillryan]

how do you guys know how much %body fat ya have?

[Jestah]

You can buy a cheap pair of calipers or have it done at the gym.

[DLanglois17]

you generally need a pretty low BF% like 8-9%. Do you have much fat on your stomach, or is the muscle just not toned so that you can see it?