How To Get Six Pack Abs | Ab Training Science Explained ft. Christian Guzman
Summary
TLDRIn this video, physique competitor and YouTuber Christian Guzman discusses the key to achieving a ripped six-pack. He emphasizes that while diet is crucial for visibility, targeted training is essential for development. Guzman debunks myths about squats and deadlifts being effective for ab growth, citing studies showing minimal activation. He recommends specific exercises like crunch variations and leg raises for targeted ab development and suggests incorporating both high and low rep ranges for optimal results. The video also touches on the importance of training the lower back to complement ab work.
Takeaways
- 🍽️ Diet is crucial for revealing abs, as they are made visible through leanness.
- 💪 Building abs involves training to develop the muscles and then revealing them through diet.
- 📚 Understanding the anatomy of the abdominal muscles is essential for effective training.
- 🙅♂️ Squats and deadlifts do not effectively activate the abs, contrary to popular belief.
- 🏋️♀️ Isolation exercises like crunches and leg raises are effective for targeting the abs.
- 🚫 High rep ab training is not supported by research; a mix of high and low reps is recommended.
- 🤔 The safety and effectiveness of crunches are debated, but expert opinions suggest they can be beneficial.
- 🔍 EMG studies show that certain exercises, like the ab slide and double leg thrust, activate the abs significantly.
- 🏋️♂️ Partner-assisted exercises can make ab training more fun and effective.
- 🧘♂️ Modified planks, like the long lever posterior pelvic tilt plank, can greatly activate the core muscles.
- 🏋️♀️ Training both the abs and the lower back is important for a balanced and healthy physique.
Q & A
What is the primary factor in getting abs that really pop?
-The primary factor in getting abs that really pop is diet. While training is essential for developing the abs, it's the diet that reveals them by achieving a lean enough body composition.
What are the four main muscles that make up the midsection?
-The four main muscles that make up the midsection are the external oblique, internal oblique, transverse abdominis (TVA), and the rectus abdominis.
Do squats and deadlifts effectively work the abs?
-No, squats and deadlifts do not effectively work the abs. They are primarily compound exercises that target other muscle groups and do not activate the abs significantly according to EMG data.
What are some of the best isolation exercises for targeting the abs?
-Some of the best isolation exercises for targeting the abs include crunch and sit-up variations, ab slide, supine double leg thrust, and side bridge.
What is the role of the transverse abdominis (TVA) in core stability?
-The transverse abdominis (TVA) plays a crucial role in core stability by compressing the abdominal contents and aiding in core stability, making it active in many different exercises.
Why are weighted crunches recommended for stimulating the rectus abdominis?
-Weighted crunches are recommended for stimulating the rectus abdominis because they allow for progressive overload, which is essential for muscle growth and development.
What is the significance of the 2009 study by Morrison and colleagues regarding abdominal exercises?
-The 2009 study by Morrison and colleagues found a trend for increasing activation with increasing load, supporting the idea that weighted crunches are an effective way to stimulate the rectus abdominis.
How does the hanging leg raise perform in terms of activating the lower abs?
-The hanging leg raise is found to be most effective for activating the lower abs, as it brings the pelvis towards the chest, which is a movement that targets the lower abdominal region.
What is the long lever posterior pelvic tilt plank and why is it effective?
-The long lever posterior pelvic tilt plank is a modified plank exercise where the elbows are moved forward under the eyes and the glutes are squeezed hard. It's effective because it results in over 100% activation of the upper and lower abs and the obliques compared to a standard plank.
Why is it important to train the antagonist to the abs, the spinal erectors?
-Training the antagonist to the abs, the spinal erectors, is important for postural health and longevity. It helps balance out a well-rounded ab routine and ensures overall core strength and stability.
What is the recommended rep range for ab exercises?
-The recommended rep range for ab exercises is moderate reps in the 6 to 12 range for easily loaded movements and higher reps in the 15 to 30 range for more bodyweight and explosive movements.
Outlines
💪 The Key to Ripped Abs: Diet and Training
Christian Guzman, a physique competitor and YouTuber, emphasizes that while diet is crucial for revealing abs, training is essential for their development. He explains the anatomy of the abdominal muscles, focusing on the rectus abdominis, which is central to achieving a 'six-pack' appearance. Christian debunks the myth that squats and deadlifts are effective for ab development, citing studies showing low activation levels of the abs during these exercises. Instead, he advocates for isolation exercises like crunches and sit-ups, which have been shown to have high activation levels for the rectus abdominis. The video also addresses the controversy around crunches, referencing expert opinions that they are safe when performed correctly as part of a total body resistance training routine.
🏋️♂️ Advanced Ab Exercises and Training Techniques
This section delves into more advanced ab exercises and training techniques. It discusses the effectiveness of different exercises on the upper and lower abs, highlighting the bosu ball crunch and hanging leg raise as particularly effective. The video also touches on the importance of training the obliques and recommends exercises like half-kneeling cable chops for a dynamic range of motion. Christian shares his personal favorite exercises for ab training, such as the partner-assisted decline medicine ball crunch throw for its fun and explosive nature, and partner-assisted lying leg raises for their effectiveness in targeting the lower abs. The video concludes with advice on plank variations, recommending a long-lever posterior pelvic tilt plank for its high core activation, and suggests a training frequency of 3 to 6 sessions per week with a focus on both ab and lower back exercises for a balanced approach.
🎥 Video Sponsorship and Additional Resources
In the final paragraph, Christian returns to his home in British Columbia, Canada, and provides a shoutout to the sponsor, Squarespace, an all-in-one website platform that he has personally used for his online coaching business and store. He encourages viewers to use Squarespace for their own websites, offering a discount code for first-time purchases. Additionally, he mentions a footnote with more details on the safety of crunches, providing a link for viewers to access further information. The video ends with a call to action for viewers to like, subscribe, and look forward to the next video.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Abs
💡Diet
💡Anatomy
💡Compound Movements
💡EMG Data
💡Isolation Exercises
💡Progressive Overload
💡Stability and Core Training
💡Training Frequency and Volume
💡Lower Back Training
Highlights
Diet is the number one factor in getting abs to pop.
Abs are made visible through being lean, but they must be developed through training.
There are four main muscles in the midsection: external oblique, internal oblique, transverse abdominis, and rectus abdominis.
Compound movements like squats and deadlifts do not effectively activate the rectus abdominis.
EMG data supports that squats and deadlifts have low activation for the abs.
Isolation exercises like crunches and sit-ups are effective for targeting the rectus abdominis.
Weighted crunches can be a good way to stimulate the rectus abdominis and apply progressive overload.
The ab slide exercise produced the greatest EMG activity for the rectus abdominis.
The double leg thrust is effective for all muscles and can be a good overall ab builder.
Exercises that bring the pelvis towards the chest target the lower abs better.
The reverse crunch is a good movement for targeting the lower abs when loaded.
The arms extended crunch is best for targeting the upper abs.
Side bends are effective for training the obliques.
Including both crunch and leg raise type movements in a routine can fully activate the six-pack.
Planks can be modified to activate the core more effectively.
Unstable surfaces do not increase core muscle activity compared to stable ground.
A combination of high and low reps is optimal for ab development.
Abs can be trained more frequently than other muscle groups if intensity and volume are managed.
Training the antagonist to the abs, such as the spinal erectors, is important for postural health.
Transcripts
so I'm here with physique competitor and
YouTuber Christian guzma Christian
you've had a lot of success with getting
that ripped six-pack shredded look I was
wondering if you were to offer your
number one factor in terms of getting
abs that really pop what would you say
it is 1 th sips I'm just kidding diet
one word diet um most of us have heard
this before abs are made in the kitchen
and while it's certainly true that you
need to be sufficiently lean in order
for your abs to show visibly through the
skin if they're not developed to begin
with they just aren't going to pop no
matter how lean you are and you build
your abs with training and then you
reveal them with diet but before we can
understand how to best train the ABS for
growth we need to quickly cover their
basic anatomy first there are four main
muscles that make up the midsection
starting on the outside you have the
external oblique which functions to flex
the spine like in a crunch and compress
the abdominal wall or increase
intraabdominal pressure like when
bracing your core they also Aid the back
muscles in rotating the trunk and
flexing laterally inside the external
oblique you have the internal oblique
which primarily assists in rotation of
the trunk and flexing laterally inside
that you have the transverse abdominis
or TVA which compresses the abdominal
contents and AIDS in core stability
which is why it's so active in so many
different exercises and can be trained
effectively by doing vacuums and finally
the main muscle will be focusing on is
the six-pack itself properly referred to
as the rectus abdominis which flexes the
lumbar spine like in a crunch and also
contributes to trunk rotation and while
we're going to cover training methods
that Target the entire core musculature
we're going to focus on the rectus abdom
ominous since it contributes most
significantly to developing that ripped
six-pack look most people are after so
there's a camp of trainers who claim
that as long as you include squats
deadlifts and other compound movements
in your training then there's no need to
train the ABS directly because squats
and deadlifts are the bee's knees for ab
development and by extension there's
another Camp of trainers who insists
that doing these heavy compound
movements will make your midsection grow
too much leading to a less tapered more
bulky appearance and if you want an
aesthetic midsection you should avoid
them altogether well it turns out
they're both wrong because Squad SPS and
deadlifts actually don't activate the
ABS very well which should be fairly
obvious based on biomechanics alone the
lumbar spine shouldn't be flexing or
rotating when squatting or deadlifting
but for safe measure EMG data is in
strong agreement as well a 2014 study on
Rugby players by Aspen colleagues found
that the back squat was ineffective at
activating the rectus abdominis and
external obliques netting less than 20%
activation relative to momentary
voluntary contraction and the simple
situp had more than twice the activation
Willards and atal found the same basic
thing except even less in favor of the
ABS am easly 10% for the overhead press
and less than 5% for the squat and
deadlift and these were pretty heavy 75%
one rep max loads so the idea that
squats and deadlifts are good exercises
for the ABS is completely unfounded and
by extension the idea that they make the
waist blocky is unfounded since they
don't activate the obliques much to
begin with in fact Dr Brett Conta
suggests that if a woman is concerned
with obtaining a blocky appearance I'd
recommend ditching the targeted
abdominal and oblique exercises rather
than avoiding squats and deadlifts
presumably because I is olation
exercises actually Target the abs and
obliques meaning if your goal is to grow
these muscles then you should be doing
ab isolation exercises and if you don't
want to grow these muscles then don't do
these exercises so what are the best
isolation exercises for targeting the
ABS well Crunch and situp variations are
generally very good which makes sense
given that the primary function of the
rectus abdominis is to flex the spine
and variations of the Crunch and situp
have been shown in the literature to
elicit very high levels of abdominal
activity a 2009 study by Morrison
colleagues published in the Journal of
physical therapy and Sport found a trend
for increasing activation with
increasing load lending support to the
idea that weighted crunches are a good
way to stimulate the rectus abdominis
and apply Progressive overload however
there's been a negative stigma around
crunches for some time and whether
they're safe or not remains a
controversial Topic in personal training
and physical therapy I've covered the
arguments in detail in a footnote to
this video but for here I'll defer to
the experts in a 2011 article Dr Brad
shenfeld and Dr Brett contras say that
there's no convincing evidence that
performing crunches as a part of a total
body resistance training routine will
have any negative effects on posture
also touting potential benefits of
crunches such as increased fluid flow to
discs Mobility improvements and
performance enhancement however despite
High activation levels and field tested
results with the crunch there may be
even better exercises a 2008 paper from
udis atal compared EMG activity of the
main ab muscles in four different
exercises the crunch the ab slide which
is similar to an AB wheel the supine
double leg thrust and side Bridge the ab
slide exercise produced the greatest EMG
activity for the rectus abdominis also
fairing very well for the obliques the
double leg thrust also did really well
for all muscles generally performing
both the traditional Crunch and side
Bridge it's worth noting though that a
potential limitation is that the
exercises weren't loaded relative to a
one rep max meaning that it could be the
case that the ABS slide and double leg
thrust had the subjects training harder
which may have influenced the results in
their favor data from bohack barens and
bukies is also enlightening as it
compared EMG activity in 12 different ab
exercises showing that it's possible to
Target upper and lower regions of the
ABS distinctly seder back and Nal
corroborated this basic idea by showing
differing activation levels between the
upper and lower abs in the bosu ball
crunch but their main finding was that
the upper and lower abs were both about
20% more active when placing a bosu BAL
under the lower back to create an
unstable surface for the upper body when
using 10 rep max loads so according to
bohack barens and busky's data the lower
abs were most active with the hanging
leg raise a finding supported by
biomechanically sound reasoning that
exercises that bring the pelvis towards
the chest should Target the lower region
better granted this exercise isn't
without limitation grip strength could
limit its Effectiveness if grip gives
out before the ABS do and similarly
since the hip flexors are highly
involved weak hip flexors could present
an obstacle to taking the ABS
sufficiently close to muscular failure
of course plausible solutions to these
issues include using straps
strengthening your hip flexors and
establishing a mind muscle connection
with the lower abs an approach supported
by some related data showing that
specific coaching instructions to
recruit and not recruit certain ab
muscles can change activation levels I
was surprised that the reverse crunch
didn't fa as well in this data given
that udis 2008 data showed the very
similar double leg thrust to be highly
effective and this could be because it's
easier to perform especially when done
as a body weight movement however I
think that if you load the exercise by
placing a weight between your ankles
it's one of the best movements for
targeting the lower abs that you can do
somewhat unsurprisingly the arms
extended crunch was best at targeting
the upper abs with the hanging leg raise
coming in second further supporting this
movement as a great overall AB Builder
they also measured activity for the
obliques and found the side Bend to come
out on top which makes sense given the
lateral Flex function of this muscle and
while it does present a viable way to
apply Progressive overload through the
use of progressively heavier dumbbells
I'm not a big fan of this movement for
the obliques personally I prefer to
train the obliques through a more
dynamic range of motion that trains
lateral flexion and trunk rotation such
as by doing half kneeling cable chops
with a rope despite aity of data on the
movement so to fully activate the entire
six-pack I recommend including at least
one crunch type movement and one leg
raise type movement in your routine my
personal favorite for the former is the
partner assisted decline medicine ball
crunch throw which is a mouthful but I
like it because it's fun to perform and
you don't have to slow down at the top
which affords an explosive Tempo to the
exercise something potentially
beneficial for size strength and power
also AB training can be boring and in my
experience doing exercises that involve
a training partner are not only more
motivating but just more fun to perform
and as for the lower abs I really like
partner assisted lying leg raises for
similar reasons and the fact that EMG
data from the University of Dortmund in
Germany found that amongst these 12
exercises the vertical Hip Flex or lying
leg raise showed the highest EMG
activity for the rectus abdominis so
what about planks well according to a
2014 paper published in the Journal of
sports biomechanics the traditional
front plank wasn't great at activating
the core however modifying the plank
into what the author's coined as a long
lever posterior pelvic tilt plank
resulted in over 100% activation
relative to MVC for the upper and lower
abs and the obliques which is really
impressive so to make this modification
simply move your elbows forward so that
they're more under the eyes that's the
long lever part and squeeze your glutes
as hard as you can that's the posterior
pelvic tilt part as a word of caution
this exercise is really difficult so if
you're new to Planks I'd suggest
starting with a regular plank first I
also have found doing weighted planks to
be effective from a progressive tension
perspective and again having a training
partner can make this more enjoyable and
while standing on an unstable surface is
often touted as being better for
targeting the core the research
disagrees willardson and colleagues
determined that there was no increase in
core muscle activity when performing the
squat deadlift overhead press and bicep
curl on a bosu ball versus on stable
ground indicating that you shouldn't do
exercises on bosu balls to activate the
core there's also no research to support
ultra high rep AB training the ABS are
roughly an even 55 45% split of type 1
and type 2 fibers meaning that like most
muscles a combination of High Reps and
Low Reps is most likely to optimize
development I recommend using moderate
reps in the 6 to 12 rep range for easily
loaded movements such as weighted crunch
variations and using higher reps reps in
the 15 to 30 rep range for more body
weight and explosive movements such as
the decline medball crunch I think that
because of their relatively smaller
muscle mass the ABS can be hit more
frequently than other muscle groups
provided the intensity and volume per
session are brought down something
between 3 to six sessions per week with
two different exercises per session and
three to four sets per exercise seems
likely to optimize development for most
but of course specific volume and
frequency recommendations will depend on
your level of advancement I'd be remiss
to not mention the importance of
training the ant Anon IST to the ABS
namely the spinal Erectors of the lower
back and I think that balancing out a
well-rounded AB routine with an equal
amount of lower back work is important
so including isolation exercises like
Supermans and lower back extensions
would be wise for postural Health and
Longevity however keep in mind that
while squats and deadlifts are bad ab
exercises they're fantastic lower back
exercises so if you do them they cover a
lot of bases for strengthening the lower
back and so assuming you have a solid
diet in place with sufficient protein
that allows for a lean body composition
applying these training principles will
have your abs popping just like your
favorite fitness
icon all right what is going on everyone
so I've made it back to Colona British
Columbia Canada and I just wanted to
give a super quick shout out to
Christian uh thanks for being a good
sport and doing this video with me if
you guys haven't checked out Christian's
channel uh it's linked down there in the
description and I also wanted to give a
shout out to Squarespace for sponsoring
this video uh in case anyone isn't aware
Squarespace is an all-in-one website
platform that allows you to custom
create your own website they have
beautiful designer templates 24/7
award-winning customer service and I
know this because because I've
personally used Squarespace for the last
2 years from my own online coaching
business and my own online store so if
you guys would like to get started with
building your own website you can get
started today at squarespace.com Nipper
and if you use the offer code Nipper at
checkout it'll save you 10% off your
first purchase I also made a really
quick footnote to this video going into
a little bit more detail about whether
crunches are safe or not so you guys can
check that out at the link over here
somewhere thank you guys so much for
watching if you like the video please
give me a thumbs up subscribe to the
channel if you're new and I will see you
guys in the next one
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