How to train abs without training abs
Brace yourself, this may be a long read.
Earlier this morning, one of my personal training clients had remarked that he felt his abs becoming more solid. Being one of the more recent people to sign up for my personal training program he is new to my philosophy and was surprised by the fact this phenomenon because we rarely do direct abdominal training in my personal training studio.
In fact, I often get questions about abs because it’s oftentimes a confusing area. Magazines, late-night infomercial products and Instagram influencers all seem to make the same promise of getting the much sought after six-pack.
The Before and After pics from the Amazing 12 body transformation program perfectly showcase the chiseled midsection it produces.
Their abs are well defined even though crunches, sit-ups and (insert popular ab exercise here) aren’t part of this program.
Just for the record I’m not currently accepting people into the Amazing12. I hope to be able to start January first, but my personal training clients get first priority.
So is there a need for direct ab work? Most of the time no. Sometimes yes.
If a person’s abs are getting left behind or it remains the weak link then sometimes yes. As an example mothers who have given birth via c-section sometimes have issues with this. Sometimes it’s just not kicking on at the right time (tested with FMS) and I’ll have to give some corrective exercises.
Sometimes it’s just been a long time since they were worked to any significant degree. In that case it just might need some extra attention.
So what exercises do we do for abs? Well here’s a quick list of “ab” exercises commonly seen in my personal training studio.
-Turkish Getups
-Swings
-Overhead pressing
-dead lifting and farmers walks
-Chin ups and vertical pulls
What most people think the abs are meant for is forward flexion ie bending the torso forward (think like a crunch). And yes, this is one role of the abs but a big one is also resisting unwanted movement.
As an example, in the case of an overhead press done with one hand, as the weight goes up overhead it is attempting to topple you over. The abs assist the lower back by locking everything in place.
In the case of the chin-up (assuming you are able to do one) your abs seem to naturally light up when done correctly. This prevents you from going limp when you are hanging. Done correctly (by correct I mean safe and effective) you’ll be solid as you go up over the bar. If you aren’t yet strong enough for a chin-up (9 out of 10 adults aren’t able to do one) then train the vertical pull like it’s a chin-up by forcefully tensing your abs, attempting to shorten the distance between your sternum and your belt buckle and drive your elbows down. Progress that correctly and you’ll do chin-ups in no time.
In the case of deadlifts and farmers carries the abs build internal pressure to keep the spine safe via bracing.
“Ok so they get worked in other things, but wouldn’t focusing be better?”
Not necessarily. For one every minute spent in training abs could also be spent doing something else that is better.
“What’s the ONE Thing I can do such that by doing it
The One Thing
everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”
Besides that many times working the abs integrating them into a movement can actually work them better. During movements, multiple muscles play roles in either moving, or stabilizing to enable movement. Assuming you have a low enough body fat percentage, this means you’ll not only have visible abs, but abs that are useful in preventing injury and making you strong over all.
If you need help with this, I offer a free trial membership of my personal training studio on Main Street in Boonton. Just send me a text at 973 476 5328.
Eric Moss is a world-record-holding modern-day professional performing strongman, author, motivational speaker, and personal trainer. In the tradition of the strongmen more common during the turn of the century, he performs feats of strength such as bending steel and breaking chains as part of a show and speaks on goal achievement for corporations, nonprofits, government as well as for schools and universities. His exclusive personal training studio is located on Main Street in Boonton New Jersey, is close to Mountain Lakes, Denville, Montville and Parsippany New Jersey.
Carriage Bolt, unbraced bend- Feats of Strength
As you probably already know by now, in addition to being a personal trainer with a studio on Main Street in Boonton I’m also a modern-day performing strongman. I had started a series called feats of strength Friday where I perform a feat of strength each Friday until life returns to normal.
I just realized I hadn’t posted this on my website last Friday. Whoops!
I hope you enjoyed this!
Eric Moss is a world-record-holding modern-day professional performing strongman, author, motivational speaker, and personal trainer. In the tradition of the strongmen more common during the turn of the century, he performs feats of strength such as bending steel and breaking chains as part of a show and speaks on goal achievement for corporations, nonprofits, government as well as for schools and universities. His exclusive personal training studio is located on Main Street in Boonton New Jersey, is close to Mountain Lakes, Denville, Montville and Parsippany New Jersey.
Perfection Prevents Progress
Sometime last week I was having a discussion with one of my personal training clients. He had mentioned a family member of his who has some health issues from being overweight and sedentary.
Well why doesn’t he try coming here? My personal training studio is in Boonton and he lives right here in town. Why not take my free trial?
“He’s the type that wants to research, and plan, and make sure everything is perfect before doing anything.”
Planning is fine but not at the expense of taking action. You know when it comes to our health, weight loss etc. there is no shortage of information out there. Type it into google and watch the algorithms try to sell you all sorts of stuff ranging from pills to detoxifying teas to girls wearing bikini’s sticking out there butts and putting motivational quotes by it, while attempting to redirect you to their “only fans” page.
I wonder what type of content they have there.
And with all that information you can get something called “paralysis by analysis” with the sheer amount that is thrown at you. Using my own experience if I’m in a restaurant that has a ton of things on the menu, I often panic and just get the philly cheesesteak with onions.
My motivational speaking coach once told me “Most people spend their entire lives getting ready to get ready, and in doing so are never ready.”
Success likes speed, do it now and you can always adjust as you go.
You can spend your life looking for the perfect program, and though unlikely you might even find it.
But how long did that take? Let’s say you searched for 10 years looking for the perfect program to lose 50lbs in 3 months. That would be awesome!
Or you could get on an imperfect but still pretty good program and lose that same 50lbs in one year.
(Actually one of my recent personal training clients lost 20lbs in a month, but we’ll have to see if that rate of fat loss continues)
And trust me, I’ve worked as a personal trainer for about 15 years, and I have yet to find the perfect training program. Maybe it is out there and maybe I’ll find it and if I do, I’ll add it to my personal training program.
Perfection can often times be the enemy of pretty good. And pretty good is still pretty good.
As an example, a recent client of mine had been interested in my Amazing 12 Body Transformation Program. I had accepted him into what was my first wave but neither of us anticipated the rigors of having full-time employment, plus a fast food start-up and on top of that a pandemic with mandatory shutdown to interrupt the training cycle right smack in the middle (he was in week 6 out of 12 when I was forced to close my personal training studio).
We worked with what we had, and since he wasn’t able to follow the nutrition plan, or do the cardio homework, and often showed up late to the training sessions because of last minute things from employees (forcing me to cut things from the hour) despite that he still made good progress.
So basically 30% adherence. Oh well, let’s see what we got.
When we retested his strength gains here’s what he did.
An easy set of 10 reps with 10lbs heavier than his previous one repetition max on bench press.
Doubled his chin ups, was actually good for more.
Added 63lbs to his max deadlift.
And what I’m especially impressed with is he took his max military press and did 9 reps with a weight that was 25lbs heavier than what he could previously do for one.
Was his situation perfect?
No, but perfection is the enemy of pretty good, and in this case, I think pretty good is still amazing.
You could wait your entire life waiting for the optimal time to get started when in fact if you get started now, you can do pretty good. And pretty good is still pretty good.
And the thing is, you can get started now, make decent progress now and if you find that perfect plan you may not even need it by the time you find it.
If you are looking to get started on a plan designed to help you achieve your goals, I have a free trial membership of my personal training program so you can see if you like it before committing to anything. And no, I don’t take your credit card or anything like that until we both decide to make you a regular member. There really are no strings attached. Text me at 973 476 5328 to get started.
Eric Moss is a world-record-holding modern-day professional performing strongman, author, motivational speaker, and personal trainer. In the tradition of the strongmen more common during the turn of the century, he performs feats of strength such as bending steel and breaking chains as part of a show and speaks on goal achievement for corporations, nonprofits, government as well as for schools and universities. His exclusive personal training studio is located on Main Street in Boonton New Jersey, is close to Mountain Lakes, Denville, Montville and Parsippany New Jersey.