Save Time & Really Work Your Abs!

<< Read Part Two

Some people are proud of doing 100's of crunches, but I was curious if there was a more efficient way of doing things. I mean, most people don't have the time to do that many crunches in one go, and I wasn't even sure if that was the best way of working your abs, given my knowledge about muscle fibers.

So, I had to ask my buddy Nick Nilsson again for some tips, to really be as quick and efficient as possible, when it comes to ab training. Here's his response...

I've heard a lot of people brag about how many body weight crunches they can do, and to me that's kind of misplaced. I mean, it's great that they're actually doing something, something is better than nothing, but that's not always the most effective way. And to be honest, it's kind of boring.

I'd rather not slug out hundreds and hundreds of crunches, when I know there's something better out there. The bottom line is, your abs are fast twitch muscles, which are designed for power and strength. They respond better to lower to medium rep ranges, and actual added resistance. And with crunches you know, if you're new to them, you're going to get a pretty good amount of resistance, so that's a good place to start, but as you get more advanced and you do it more often... if you can do 100's of this exercise, then you're not going to get the same effect.

Basically, the more you can do, the less effective it's going to be, and you're going to plateau very quickly.

Using resistance with ab training is the key. I mean, even if you just add a dumbbell or some kind of added weight to that crunch, it's going to be better than doing 100's of crunches. Just like any other muscle, your abs develop best against resistance, not just any repetitive movement. If you can do a lot of reps, it's like walking... who's going to be more in shape, someone who does a lot of sprinting up a hill, or someone who just walks around a track a few times?

It's going to be the person who's really pushing their muscles against resistance. That's one of the reason doing 100's of reps, for any exercise, is not going to be as effective. You'll really challenge yourself, by adding in some good weight with these exercises. And I know a lot of people are worried that this is going to thicken up their abs, but that really doesn't happen. With the way abdominal muscles are built, they are not thick muscles, and they don't have much potential for expanding. The same people who worry about them thickening, when they add some weight to their ab training, come to find that their abs tighten up and get smaller, even than when they were doing 100's of reps for their training. AND they save like three hours out of their day by making this change. So, it's not only more effective, but it's more fun, more challenging, and it gets you out of the gym faster.

I knew there was something to a more focused workout, and I'm glad I didn't fall for attempting 100's of crunches, or any other exercise, in the gym. I just don't have the time! But now we all have a little more knowledge when it comes to build the abs that we want.

Click through for the next part of the interview, where Nick reveals two secret ab exercises to make your abs not only look good, but really strong too!