body builders out there, help!!

[derocker Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close derocker]

It's sad to say, but all of that was not only a waste of time, but arguably detrimental! All of those crunches are likely yanking on your psoas muscle group (lower back). Over time, you might irritate and weaken then or pull something and injure yourself.

You want the ultimate ab workout? Follow these simple tips:

- Minimize processed foods of any sort. Lots of scientific literature has gone in to explaining why food-like products up your fat stores and promote disease. So get rid of all of it.
- Eat your fruits and veggies. Eat more than your fair share of them. When it comes to salad, my attitude is that you can eat an unlimited amount green-leafy things and still stay lean and lose weight.
- Up your protein intake and minimize your animal-based fat intake unless you know specifically where it comes from (example is that grass-fed cattle and corn-fed cattle have different nutritional make-up and will affect your body differently). Eat organic butter. Ditch the margarine bullshit.
- Eat more plant-based fats while you're at it. Avocados, nuts, seeds, coconut, olive oil.
- Juice if you can.

Keep your cardio sessions short and intense.

What the f....? Are you seriously advising someone to use steroids?

[GoingForGold Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close GoingForGold]

I think Toad meant juice from plants lol. My gf likes to do juice diets and in a few days you can tell the difference in her skin, mood, energy levels etc.

What type of cardio do you do? Dance is great for abs and running can be if you work on you form to connect motion from upper body to lower body. The abs connect the upper and lower bodies... I can cramp my abs in 5 minutes or so if I run with odd form to focus on the abs.

Shadow boxing can be great too but the transfer moves from lower to upper instead of upper to lower like in running. Most people have stronger lower bodies so try exercises that transfer motion from hips to chest. I can only think of shadow boxing or if you have a bag, great.

Body fat tends to accumulate on the belly, so good luck on losing that!

All I have done for my abs in the last 5 years or so is running, boxing, swimming, or some other form of cardio. I find the weight and force of my body is more than enough to work out my core.

[MrHammer Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close MrHammer]

What the f....? Are you seriously advising someone to use steroids?

Haha, no I think he is actually talking about the liquid substance called juice, naturally contained by fruits and vegetables... You should try it sometimes

[derocker Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close derocker]

To juice is known all over the bodybuilding world as using steroids, but ok, I guess I misunderstood him.

[Bnip Retired Moderator Member of the Month July 2013PEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close Bnip]

First off, you don't do dead lifts to bring out your abs, that is to thicken your back muscles. It may incorporate a bit of abs, but is mainly a back muscle. What is also important is your lower back. Make sure you work out your lower back muscles with your abs, because that is your core foundation.

I never said you do deadlifts to strengthen your abs.... I said that abs along with your back are what supports your core. When your core is strong you can do heavier weight with deadlifts and squats. If your abs are weak, you will have more back problems.

[Toadstool Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toadstool]

To juice is known all over the bodybuilding world as using steroids, but ok, I guess I misunderstood him.

ahahahah. I'm laughing because as I wrote "juice if you can," I thought for a second that someone might think I meant steroids. No, I do in fact mean the freshly squeezed natural juices of fruits and vegetables. Excellent for your health. Stay away from drugs!

If your abs are weak, you will have more back problems.

this is very true. Often, the abs don't work as team players and so other muscle groups have to compensate.

[mr.growmymeat Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mr.growmymeat]

I think you can see abs at 15% if you're not bloated and you flex. I would also recommend doing planks, weighted planks, side planks, leg lifts, russian twists, and stomach vacuums and ditch crunches. You can do sit ups but you do not want to cuve your torso.. you need to keep your spine straight... you'll realize that its not easy. Also i'd recommend roman chair back extensions and supermans to keep the back strong.. planks also work the back. Hanging leg raises and windshield wipers are great when you have the core strength and posterior chain flexibility to do them properly. Like others said abs showing comes from diet and burning fat. I agree with eating as clean as possible (cut out the processed stuff) but eating 5+ meals a day is completely unnecessary and a waste of time. It comes down to calories in vs calories out and electrolytes and other things the effect the bloating ... I also think 100 meter sprint repeats 6 - 12 with about 2 - 3 minutes rest 2 times a week is an awesome fat blasting HIIT workout which studies have shown to increase HGH levels, test Levels, and burn calories for up to a few hours after the short intense workout. Try to hit about 1 gram protein per pound of body weight and get enough fat (lots of healthy plant fat and some animal, at least about 60g total daily) to maintain muscle and hormone production and fill the rest with clean carbs from things like fruit, sweet potatoes, legumes, and brown rice. You can figure out the amount of calories you need to eat per day by weighing yourself on an empty stomach after using the restroom in the morning and counting your calorie intake every day for a week then weighing yourself in the same fashion on the morning after the week is complete. If you maintained your weight reduce calories by 500 per day to lose about 1lb per week. If you gained 1lb reduce calories by about 1000 per day. + or - 500 calorie a day will make about 1lb weight gain or loss difference over 1 week.. essentially 3500 calories burned = 1 lb lost being about 85% fat. While losing weight it is essential to lift heavy to maintain muscle.

[DeepConcentration Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close DeepConcentration]

i seek the advice of any body builders on the forum please
you will laugh when you read the subject as it will be a very familiar problem

ABS!!!!!!!! why the hell are'nt they showing!!!! sooooo frustrating
300 crunch's a day + other abs work, hasnt worked in a whole year of trying
im now on a high fibre diet and doing some INSANE cardio workouts as i still have a small amount of belly fat that needs its arse kicked.
is this the right way to go for abs? or am i going to waste another year?
ive also tried the deadlifts to bring out my abs, made my back ache, bad lift tecnique i guess or maybe my backs not upto too much.
thanks for any opinions people

Ok Mojo. Tell me your stats.

Weight
BF % ( skin fold or water dunk only!!!)

Where do you hold the highest amount of fat? Stomach, chest, legs, etc?

My routine is simple and does not include all the things you do.

Start 160 lb. now 150 lb. This was done over 5 weeks. Now before anyone says water weight I was actually at 168 lb. and dropped that 2 weeks prior.

My Nutrition: Paleo!

Yes I do paleo and I love it. No heart burn, no feeling bloated, no dry skin and better more stable energy through out the day.

Now I am not extremely strict paleo, so don't worry if you can't get grass fed meet from the Scottish highlands or some BS like that.

The below is based on my measurements and calculated lean body mass.

Calorie Intake 1600-2000/ day

Protein Intake 130-145 g/ day

Fat Intake 70-85 g/ day

Carb Intake 80-100 g/ day


Workout Regimen:

Warm Up...

10 Minute Jump Rope

Ido Portal Scapular Routine

Exercise Routine.

I do bodyweight (gymnastic strength training) workouts along with what are called integrated mobility.

7 Bodyweight Exercises
7 Mobility Exercises

There is essentially no rest. The focus here is strength and form.

The exercises are extremely beginner. And no one here should doubt the efficacy of starting from the bottom and working up.

So give me your stats and I will workout a calorie range for you. Also any underlying medical conditions will help as well. Any supplements you currently take, list them.

Disclosure: Calories are not the be all end all. We must work from the inside out.

Watch the videos in the links provided to learn more about the process of how fat is burned.

Part 1 : BODY BY SCIENCE 5 (The Science Of Fat Loss -- Part 1) - YouTube

Part 2 :
BODY BY SCIENCE 5 (The Science Of Fat Loss -- Part 2) - YouTube

[minds eye Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close minds eye]

you have to cut out all foods that are bad. So no pop first of all, no fast food at all, make sure you read ingredients on everything, no gmo, less carbs like breads. the main one is high fructose corn syrup. after i stoppped consuming that i lost 15 lbs in like a month easy. mater affect all synthetic sugars, all artificial flavors. i know this is probably hard to do but it is ideal. Also shop at places like whole foods or trader joes. Eat more fruits a veggies. If you really wanna speed up the process find you nearest gymnastics gym, go to open gym and learn back tuck. this will give you abs extremely fast. which is really how i got my abs. i didn't do crunches or anything. A couple years ago i was really into flipping. i started seeing my abs very soon. But i also have a very low body fat percentage..

[MovingUp Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close MovingUp]

To comment on body fat %

15% is usually the first signs of abs when you have decent sized ones under fat ... it's also where most people start adding fat majorly elsewhere in the body ... chest, love handles, face, etc etc ...

12% bf is when you start to get a 6 pack

10% is your general 6 pack that you see ... nice ole 6 pack

8% you're ripped to fuck and any lower than 7-8 is not healthy to maintain for long

[Toadstool Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toadstool]

DeepConcentration, I just recently bought the book Body By Science. I haven't had the chance to dive into it yet (I spent a stupid amount of money on books, so now i have a huge collection I'm chowing down on), but the first couple of minutes of your first video says this: "fat loss is so much more than calories in and calories out. It's actually about the hormonal environment we create." That is congruent with some things I know about fat loss.

I particularly enjoy this video by Charles Poliquin on the notion of calorie counting: ASK COACH: Counting Calories...? - YouTube

[camaro Senior Member Member of the month June 2013 Find all posts View Profile Close camaro]

I think you will find deadlifts with higher weight produce a lot of ab development...

[DeepConcentration Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close DeepConcentration]

DeepConcentration, I just recently bought the book Body By Science. I haven't had the chance to dive into it yet (I spent a stupid amount of money on books, so now i have a huge collection I'm chowing down on), but the first couple of minutes of your first video says this: "fat loss is so much more than calories in and calories out. It's actually about the hormonal environment we create." That is congruent with some things I know about fat loss.

I particularly enjoy this video by Charles Poliquin on the notion of calorie counting: ASK COACH: Counting Calories...? - YouTube

Haha Toad,

Charles is awesome. Ido portal actually idolizes him in a way. I'm not disregarding calories in and out. They do matter. But if one does not take care of the internal biological function. By feeding the body the nutrients necessary to facilitate the burning of fat. Then your caloric deficit is in vain as even though you are losing weight. The body itself may struggle to adapt because it feels starved rather than satiated and nourished. This leads to the common crash dieting prevelent in today's fast fat loss world.

I will leave you with this tidbit... A gymnast under the teutelage coach sommers has extremely low body fat and no consistent diet. It's an argument against my own case.

[DeepConcentration Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close DeepConcentration]

I think you will find deadlifts with higher weight produce a lot of ab development...

Saw this and had to respond... I am looked at as a perfect dead lifter by my powerlifting coach. You will learn to use your core. Notice I said core, not just abs. But this is purely an element of strength development, with little to do with hypertrophic effects as seeked out by many body builders.

Best 315 @ 145 lb. with very little to no training. And that's after blasting out 5 other sets of 5.

[Toadstool Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toadstool]

I hope you didn't mean me to say that calories are not worth measuring. They can be an important thing to watch, especially for meat-eaters.

I'm just saying that they aren't the be-all and end-all to weight loss.
I'll even go so far as to say they aren't all THAT important to the general population. You don't need to be counting calories or making charts of your food intake to live in a happy range of body fat. That may be different for models and athletes, or construction workers or anyone who expends a lot of energy at work. For the average individual, quality of food should be the dominant factor in weight loss.