[serbmarko]

THE SCIENCE OF ABDOMINAL TRAINING

Look at any well built athlete, model or bodybuilder and a few things come to mind.
First, the tell tale universal truth about an attractive body, usually hinges on two body
parts. Shoulders and waist, or abs. A capped set of shoulders tapering down to a small
waist is considered still to this day the tell-tale sign of a great physique. And while
shoulder to waist ratio determines a good physique, well defined abs are considered the
cornerstone of conditioning that good physique. Well-defined abs turn a good physique
into a great physique, and the opposite, not so defined abs tend to ruin in the eye of the
beholder what could have been a great physique.
While everyone seems to agree on the standards of a great physique, most find it difficult
if not impossible to get there because of the necessity of well-developed abs. What
seems easy enough to accomplish in training is in the end, one of the most difficult but
sought after finishes to a great physique. No matter who I seem to train, regardless of
how big they may or may not want to get, they all seem to agree that a washboard set of
abs is a definite goal they wish to accomplish.
I’ve been training athletes for the better part of two decades now and I have been saying
all along that bodybuilders only think they know how to train and if they had the
knowledge of the Innervation Training System, they would realize that a great deal of
time they spend in the gym is wasted. No where do I see that more, than when it comes to
training and developing the abs.
Myself, I am 270 lbs, all year long, with a narrow waist and well developed abs. a lot of
people approach me in the gym and say, “well I would never want to be that big, but I
sure would like to have abs like yours.” From people outside the industry I consider this
quite a compliment.
But abs training isn’t nearly as easy as everyone would have you believe. Not only does
abs training enhance the physique but well conditioned abs also lend support to other
body parts and muscle groups, most notably the lower back, providing stabilization to the
back, in different ranges and planes of motion.
So why are the abs so very difficult to develop, and to show with a degree of clarity?
Well the answer lies again in the science of training, and the Innervation Training
Methodology shows you what abs training is, and what it isn’t to help you on your way to
better developed abs, in the minimum amount of time.

ANATOMY
The abdominal group is composed mainly of four distinct muscle groups which share
some functional anatomy but also have distinct functional characteristics. The main
muscles of the anterior abdominus, are the rectus abdominus, (considered by most to be
“the abs”), the transverse abdominus, the external and the internal obliques. While the

external and internal obliques function mostly in twisting movements they also aid the
primary function of the rectus abdominus, which is to bring the pelvis and rib cage closer
together. This is usually accomplished in training in two distinct ways. Ones by doing
various leg lifts or leg raises, considered to effect primarily the lower abs, and variations
of sit ups, crunches or curls, considered primarily to focus on the upper area of the rectus
abdominus. As research will indicate below this is not necessarily the case, and training
your abs may never been as plain and easy for results as it now seems to be.
The obliques, also will assist in the brining the trunk toward the pelvis in number of ways
but primarily in order to stabilize and support the lower back. But there is more to the
story than this.

TARGET TRAINING
Most of you by now are somewhat familiar with my writings on Innervation Training and
the term of Target Training. Target Training refers to a mentality and concentration
which aims to only use the muscle you want to train and no other muscles when trying to
exhaust or train a muscle group. You would think that training the abs would be obvious
yet that is the furthest thing from the truth, once again proving that knowledge is
necessary in producing real world results trying to accomplish developing a body part, in
this case the abs.
Dr.Fred Hatfield and others agree that most stabilizing muscles of the body are comprised
mainly of mitochondrial mass and density. This means the muscles are highly resistant
and have greater endurance capacity when training. While this usually means high reps
would be the way to go there is a caveat here when training the abs. When training the
abs correctly and effectively and athlete should not be able to accomplish more than 15-
20 repetitions a given abs movement.
Anyone who can accomplish more reps, is training using momentum, using leverage, and
or not keeping their abs tensed through the entire range of motion which is one of the
keys to training abs effectively and getting good abs development. Because of the
mitochondrial composition of abs fibers, keeping the abs tensed through the entire range
of motion when training abs, is the only way to ensure being able to fatigue the abs in an
appropriate way, which will force an adaptive response. But there is more. If anyone has
ever seen the Ripley’s Believe It or Not segment on the world record holder for sit ups,
one thing stand out immediately.
This guy has absolutely no abs development showing. Why? One would assume if this
guy has the world record for performing sit ups, and sit ups are the pinnacle exercise for
abs, then why doesn’t he have a pair of the wickedest abs on the planet. Why? Because
he is training the movement NOT the muscle. One of the biggest lessons of Innervation
Training Methodology is that a movement should be used to overload the muscle and the
goal should be to always train the muscle and not the movement.

People who have seen this world record holder’s lack of abs development should have
been immediately frightened for their own lack of progress from the exercise.
But still if you control for the use of momentum, and the use of body leverage the story
isn’t over yet. With abs training there is a whole system of other muscles functioning as
well, which can make training abs a complete waste of gym time, if you don’t know how
to counteract what is happening.

[thedon]

i definatly need this....my abs are the weakest part of my physique

[serbmarko]

Originally Posted by thedon

i definatly need this....my abs are the weakest part of my physique

when you say weakest what do you mean??? you mean they simply arent their or they just look like shit?

[Q80_MuscleHed]

Diet + cardio + and then training = getting an abs

[SweatyK]

I agree, abs are the cornerstone of not only great core strength, but often times are the most appealing muscle to develop. This comes at quite a price given they are one of the hardest muscles to develop.