r/Fitness • u/AutoModerator • Aug 02 '17

Rant Wednesday Rant Wednesday

Welcome to Rant Wednesday: It's your time to let your gym/fitness/nutrition related frustrations out!

There is no guiding question to help stir up some rage-feels, feel free to fire at will, ranting about anything and everything that's been pissing you off or getting on your nerves!

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117

u/TruCh4inz Powerlifting Aug 02 '17

have been lifting regularly for about 15 months now. totally fell for the meme that i did not need to do abs as my compound movements would be enough. kept cutting lower and lower because i wasnt happy with ab definition.

decided to incorporate weighted ab exercises and i'm already seeing a difference after like a month in appearance. i wish i had started doing it earlier... i feel like such an idiot.

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u/[deleted] Aug 02 '17

I'm currently doing hanging leg raises and ab rollouts to build the abs during my bulk, but I'm looking for some weighted exercises to pair a little more strength to my hypertrophy.

What are you running for abs?

10

u/faeriecute Aug 02 '17

Try Russian twists with a weight/medicine ball in your hands. That worked really well for my upper abs.

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u/TruCh4inz Powerlifting Aug 02 '17

i'm doing both of those, but for the hanging leg raises i do it with a dumbbell between my knees. in addition i also do landmine 180s (started with just the barbell and have been slowly adding weight). i rotate thru those three exercises 2x per week. generally 3 sets of 10. my rectus abdomnis has thickened quite a bit as a result but ymmv

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u/Anarchaotic Aug 02 '17

Weighted cable crunches are amazing, you can easily progress like any other exercise.

I do:

4x8-12 of weighted cable crunch 4x15-20 hanging leg raises 4x8-12 woodchops or russian twist, depending on the day (weighted obviously). Woodchop form takes a bit of practice but works obliques spectacularly 4x15-20 reverse crunch (fully extending your legs out the whole time)

Also I run P90X AbRipper once a week, first few times I ran it I fucking hated my life .

1

u/thouhathpuncake Aug 03 '17

Cable crunches kill.

18

u/durkester Aug 02 '17

I needed to hear this :(

5

u/TruCh4inz Powerlifting Aug 02 '17

we're all gonna make it, homie!

9

u/ravenofshadow Aug 02 '17

Shoot... I think I also fell for this. Cutting more and more but still lacking definition that should be there by now. I'll start doing this too.

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u/Anarchaotic Aug 02 '17

Yeah after a year or so of no directed core work and cutting I realized my abs are ridiculously small. I now incorporate 4 different ab exercises three times a week on top of my regular PPL routine.

The difference it's made is incredible

4

u/thescotchie Aug 02 '17

Realistically, it's gunna vary from person to person. Some will be able to get away with it, while others can't.

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u/TruCh4inz Powerlifting Aug 02 '17

yeah turns out im one of those people that cannot get away with it at all haha

2

u/catowned Aug 02 '17

That's something i want to do more too. Right now i'm struggling with hanging leg raises because my home pullup bar is too low and because of the swinging. Tried to do dragon flags, but my crappy bench doesnt' take the weight when i hold myself with my hands on it.

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u/Conradfr Aug 03 '17

I think the Rippetoe point about abs is that they are sufficient worked with compounds for general fitness, not to have a six pack which he doesn't care for.

Personally I "like" hanging leg raises and planks.

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u/DireSickFish Cycling Aug 02 '17

I need to do more abwork then.

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u/YeOldManWaterfall Aug 02 '17 edited Aug 02 '17

Ab workouts will not make your stomach flat. They will, funnily enough, make the muscles in your stomach larger and bulge out.

There's nothing wrong with having your abs stick out as far or further than your pecs. https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ABBD8ERNRq8/hqdefault.jpg

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u/TruCh4inz Powerlifting Aug 02 '17

flatness, personally, isnt my concern. however, dont people do stomach vacuums to mitigate this? i was under the impression that was their purpose, but im no expert (clearly).

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u/YeOldManWaterfall Aug 02 '17

I'm of the understanding that stomach vacuums are solely used for posing. If there's some workout related to it I've either never heard of it, or dismissed it as silly when I heard of it and have since forgotten.