Weighted vs. Non-Weighted AB workouts

[leanedout303]

Alright guy, there seems to be a constant debate from whoever I talk to and wherever I look as to which is generally best for building up your abs...doing all exercises with added weight vs. doing higher rep/all body weight. Right now I'm prepping for my first show and I am 11 wks out, 24 yr old, 5'7, 189lbs, at 4.2% BF and my abs look good..but I want them to look freaky good but I cannot seem to get them to pop or rip out evenly to the rest of my body..I'm a naturally lean guy always, rarely being over the mid 6's in BF%. I was just curious on everyone thoughts and to hear what has worked best for some of you??

 

[superbeast22]

weighted gives me big abs... body weight high reps gives me longer looking abs.

 

[FIRE0808]

Definately weighted. Cable crunches being my fav.

 

[Quad-smack]

I don't work mine except for the last two weeks before my contest. Then its some specialty floor work that hits the entire abdominal wall...

 

[leanedout303]

thanks guys...how many times a week do you typically work yours?? EOD, ED, depending on how they feel? I was just wanting to get on something set..like 2 days non weighted, 1 day heavy weighted..I know abs are all genetic based, just like everything else..but hell, the rest of my body looks great, my abs are definitely my weak point

 

[superbeast22]

thanks guys...how many times a week do you typically work yours?? EOD, ED, depending on how they feel? I was just wanting to get on something set..like 2 days non weighted, 1 day heavy weighted..I know abs are all genetic based, just like everything else..but hell, the rest of my body looks great, my abs are definitely my weak point

i do it everyday.

 

[ojs]

I hit mine once a week weighted. Typically a set of 20 to warm up. Then 5 sets of 5 as heavy as I can go.

 

[hawkmoon]

Weighted. Abdominals are muscles like all others. Use weights to make them thick - diet to bring them out.

 

[robot]

sqwatz

 

[Ness]

Compounds do the job well enough for me, I dont ever exercise them directly.

 

[oldfella]

Weighted. Abdominals are muscles like all others. Use weights to make them thick - diet to bring them out.

Here is the best response so far. Abs are not made of some magical muscle fibres, they are just like all the other muscles in your body bar one...........your heart. It is the only muscle made of a different type of fibre to the rest of the body. Be careful when hitting the abs heavy, as Hawk just said, make them thick and what do you end up with.........A THICK WAIST LINE! You can be freaky lean but if you have a thick waist it will hurt your overall look.

 

[Flex2019]

I train them with weight, mostly cable crunches and hanging leg raises. Offseason it's 2-3 times per week and 5 days per week precontest. I don't directly aim to work the obliques with heavy weight though-a couple of years ago I did a lot of heavy weighted side bends and ended up thickening my waist a lot, it took months to bring it back down.

 

[leanedout303]

thanks guys...this helps. any particular exercises that work best for you guys??

 

[muscle_n_blood]

My abs get pretty thick from heavy basic moves that involve the core, like deads. I never work them unless cutting, especially for a show. 8 weeks out, I drop heavy deads, and do a circuit of heavy weighted crunches (a decline bench under a smith machine is good for these) leg raises, twists with a plate on a decline bench (all these a minimum of 20 reps), and high rep side bends, like 50 reps a side with a 50 pounder. One circuit, 3 x a week, will bring out the seperations when I'm lean. My abs were never a weak point in a show.

 

[hikitiki]

I usually work them every other day and I mix it up between weighted and non.

Cable crunches all the way for weighed days and I absolutely love some planks (and all sorts of fun variations on them) for non weighted.

 

[machola]

decline weighted crunches are a great ab movement

Abs are not made of some magical muscle fibres, they are just like all the other muscles in your body bar one...........your heart. It is the only muscle made of a different type of fibre to the rest of the body.

There are three types. Voluntary striated skeletal muscle, cardiac, and involuntary smooth muscles. Smooth muscle makes up the gi tract, bladder, blood vessels, reproductive tract, etc.

 

[nosnmiveins]

I regret working abs really hard when I first started lifting. It left me with a very thick midsection Whig definitely takes away from the rest of my physique. The only possitive is that my abs op through even at a higher bf%

 

[Jude2]

I would worry more about over dieting and losing muscle at 11 weeks out with 4.2% BF.

 

[leanedout303]

Ya...my trainer bumped me back up to a daily intake of 300g's of carbs...320g's protein and around 40-45g's of fat because I was dropping weight way too quick...Going to start pulling carbs out slowly, about 50 per week around wks 6-8..

 

[MR. BMJ]

I like to use a combo of both--weighted and non-weighted.

I workthis around my heavy squat and deads.


BMJ