Lounge
Fitness: How to build yourself a bulletproof abs workout
Summary
If you've always wanted a strong core and six pack abs, you can achieve it by building your own failsafe workout. Lounge tells you how
Some muscle groups have a set way of being exercised at the gym. Chest day, for example, will always include some push-ups, bench presses at different angles, some chest flyes, and possibly the chest press machine. Back day will always consist of pulls and rows and deadlift variations, and even legs day is easy to figure out when you know your lunges, squats, and extensions.
It’s the abs that can pose a problem. With hundreds of exercises, variations and formulas, it is difficult to figure out what works and what doesn’t, especially because the results take a longer time to show than is the case with other muscle groups.
Over the past decade, I must have tried many core exercise variations with varying results, depending on time available, access to equipment and the goal of the workout. Having trained under coaches who come from callisthenics and functional training, to training with boxers and purely body-builders and athletes from various sport, I have realised that there is a simple way to figure out your own new core workout, every time you plan to do one!
The first step would be to determine your level, from starter to advanced. This will help you understand how long you can workout and in which format. Anything between three to 10 minutes is enough for a core workout, given you choose the right exercises and keep the core muscles engaged during the rest of your workout.
Also Read 5 great home workouts for rainy days
You can choose between a time-based format (e.g. 30 second of work, 30 seconds of rest), which can be tweaked as you progress. You could also go for a rep-based format (for tougher exercises), and a burn-based format (where you train till failure, rest, and go again). Cap your workout, if it’s a circuit, at either minutes or rounds, so that there is a finish line in sight.
And now comes the big task—choosing the exercises. This is where you simplify: Start with something as simple as picking one crunch-based, one plank-based, and one rotational exercise. An example of such a progression would be to do ab machine curls, followed by mountain climbers, and finishing with Russian twists. Doing two rounds of these, in a 40-seconds-on, 20-seconds-off format is tougher than you think. That is six minutes well spent.
As you progress, add a hanging exercise (like knee raises, leg raises, corkscrews) and an oblique-focussed exercise like bicycle crunches. The idea is to be able to focus on a dozen exercises and master them and their progressions, rather than constantly choose new ones from the hundreds available.
Also Read What is the 12-3-30 workout?
Like with every muscle group, it is important to understand your workout. You should know that the upper abs and lower abs make up the rectus abdominus, and how they are different from the obliques, and the serratus anterior, which is just above the ribs and also aids shoulder health.
“Your abs routine needs to be designed in a way that hits each of these various muscles. But this is something that most people fail to do with their ab workouts. That's really because of the overwhelming number of core exercises out there. Which makes it difficult to pinpoint exactly which ones you should be focusing your time and effort on," writes Jeremy Ethier, creator of the fitness programme Built With Science, in an article titled The Best Ab Workout For Six Pack Abson his website.
Ethier starts his ab workout with a bottom-up movement—the reverse crunch. He then follows it up with high-to-low woodchoppers on the cable machine or bicycle crunches for obliques. Up next is a weighted crunch and the finisher is called serratus jabs which are basically upward punches using a resistance band or a cable. That’s all he does—four exercises.
Baroda-based fitness trainer Shalak Nelson has maintained a well-sculpted core for a decade now. While the selection of his exercises are different to Ethier’s, the selection mirrors the same science. He adds a hanging leg raise, a weighted oblique crunch, a reverse plank and his advanced move would be Bruce Lee’s favourite ab exercise, the dragon fly. “I can get a good workout with just six to eight reps of each of these if I do them to perfection. That is under ten minutes," says the 30-year-old.
Also Read Welcome to the fitness phenomenon Quadrobics
It’s amazing how every expert and website will suggest a different set of exercises promising the same results. Bodybuilding.com, one of the most popular fitness websites, also has a seven-exercise workout to be done for 20-30 reps. Their suggestion is to create a separate workout for every group of core muscles. And then mix it up. Which is a great suggestion to keep things fresh when you get on the floor. They have four groups: Upper abs and external obliques, lower abs and internal obliques, isometric holds, and back extensions.
Their sets do not involve too many advanced moves. From simple knee tucks and mountain climbers with sliders for extra drag resistance with the floor, to overhead med-ball slams for explosive rotational power, the one thing that stands out is their lower ab selection. It is fully made of hanging ab exercises.
“What people seem to be afraid of (hanging ab exercises) are actually also beginner exercises because you can do them with the support of a dip bar as well. The pullup bar is a progression. What is special about them is that you can isolate the abs here because you don’t use the upper body and the momentum it can generate while you are doing, for example, a V-up," says Kunal Mahour, who is a five-time national level callisthenics athlete and has also coached me for a year. He now runs the AlphaNation Callisthenics Club in Pune and shared his ab workout exercises.
Also Read Why you need to work on your breath
Mahour follows a rep-based workout (10-15) of each of these exercises: Ab rollouts (with a roller), V-ups, banded woodchoppers (rotational), toes to bar (hanging), and a hollow body hold (isometric). He rests between them according to fatigue.
I will end by saying that you should think of your abs just like any other muscle group and train them accordingly. Just as we pick the flat bench and then the incline press for upper and mid chest, similarly ensure that you are working the entirety of the abs rather than just overtraining a certain section of the midriff.
Pulasta Dhar is a football commentator, podcaster and writer.
