Indeed it does. Lots more. Eventually, you'll accept that fact and fold up the ab roller-rocker-slider-cruncher 
thing and toss it under the bed. Twenty years of hanging out in some of the world's most hard-core gyms has revealed the definitive, foolproof method of finding and keeping your abs. But you won't find any of this information contained in that stupid video that came with that dust-collecting contraption. This is the culmination of many tried and true paths to abdominal development followed by many of the world's best bodybuilders in the gyms around Venice, Calif. These guys held titles like Mr. Universe and Mr. America, or were various NPC and IFBB champions. All of them, and those who followed, owned the distinction of having killer abs. This is how they did it. This is what has evolved into the proven path to abdominal enlightenment- impressive development devoid of body fat. This is the truth.
Unfortunately, as with most truths, if you probe the depths of its secret, you'll find a dark side. However, once your brain is armed and you can determine risk-to-benefit odds, you might decide it's indeed worth a little piece of your soul to take it all the way. How badly you want abs will determine the degree to which you'll get them, and in this case, there is an alluring extreme.
Some people are blessed with an incredible body chemistry that keeps them lean and muscular with very little work. Even regular stops at McDonalds don't seem to affect these guys. They just go to the gym, lift a little, and bam- they have this miniature bodybuilder look, complete with separations in their muscles and the coveted six-pack. This amounts to just a handful at any given gym, yet even one is our envy. In reality, for most of us it takes a lot of work. My thinking is, if you have to work at it anyway, why sandbag? Just go for it. Do whatever it takes to pull out not only the six-pack, but also the gnarly striations that run up your sides from oblique to armpit. I'm talking abs that make the Calvin Klein guy look fat.
So, what kind-a balls ya got? What are you really willing to do to expedite the appearance of an exquisitely chiseled midsection? Are you willing to do whatever it takes? Maybe a tad more? Then, once you finally do get them, you're going to want to keep them, right? That's also going to take some doing and the only one capable of knowing whether it's possible is waiting for you in the mirror. But, anyone can do it.
Basically, we're talking about a two-part commitment that will remain in effect for the rest of your life, or for as long as you want killer abs. Your first commitment is to adopt a lifestyle change that includes diet, nutrition and supplementation designed to build muscle and burn fat. I'll get into that later.
The second prong of the commitment is brutally physical. You're going to have to find an extra half-hour five days a week to consistently throw down an incrementally more difficult, ab-specific training program in the gym. That means with weights as well as body resistance and bearing pain so grievous you'll ask God to intervene. This is in addition to your regular cardio and weight training.
When your body fat gets below five percent, you might want to consult a plastic surgeon to see if liposuction is something you'll want to consider in order to even things out or contour that pesky low back/posterior oblique region, formerly the location of the love handles. In this day and age, surgery is always an option, but first do the work. When the fat finally melts off and your skin tightens up, you'll be sporting some killer abs complete with all that veiny sinew that etches its way up under the rib cage to the serratus and the lat tie-in until disappearing under your pecs. Something you'll want to catch a shot of in the mirror a time or two during your workout while you're wiping the sweat off your face with the loose end of your tank top, you know what I mean? Killer abs.
Anatomy 101:
At the very least, this will help you establish the very important mind/muscle connection when you are training your abs in the gym. If you know where everything is and understand how it moves, you can really target each muscle that makes up the abdominal and lower ribcage musculature. You'll learn to feel each muscle work, thereby allowing you to torch it bad enough to grind in the details. This looks pretty fierce along the upper edges of your abs, where they tie into the ribcage in front of your lower lats. If you can get lean enough to pull them out and learn how to flex them, you are going to be one proud papa. If you're tanned and have cropped your body hair, you are definitely going to enjoy hitting some shots in the bathroom mirror- which, by the way, is part of the whole process- it really helps bring out he details.
The main muscle of the anterior trunk is the rectus abdominis. This is the long, flat muscle that extends vertically the entire length of the abdomen making up the coveted "six-pack." The muscle flexes the spinal column, particularly in the lumbar portion, drawing the breastbone (sternum) toward the pubis. It also tenses the abdominal wall and aids in compressing the contents of the abdomen. Tendonous inscriptions create a space that enables muscles to bunch up as the distance between the ribcage and the pelvis is decreased when the muscle is flexed. This makes the little blocks that add up to the six pack- they are not individual muscles and cannot be targeted separately. There is also no such thing as a lower or upper abdominal. It is all one muscle, split down the center, originating at the sternum and inserting into the pubic bone without interruption. The muscle can indeed be stimulated in such a way as to emphasize the actuation at either the origin or the insertion. However, there is no anatomy that will allow anyone to concentrate on a "lower ab" without affecting the upper one.
One of the least understood and often lamented constituent of the abdominal group is the external oblique muscle, lying on the sides and front of the abdomen. Covered in fat, it is the notorious love handle. This is the largest and the most superficial of the three flat muscles in this area. It is broad, thin and irregularly four-sided, and occupies the lateral walls of the abdomen, stretching across to the front. Both sides, acting together, flex the spinal column by drawing the pubis toward the xiphoid process (the smallest of the three parts of the breastbone). Separately, they flex the spinal column sideways and rotate it, bringing the shoulder of that side forward.
To my mind, the most intriguing and most difficult muscle to unveil in the bunch is the anterior serratus. This is a broad, curved muscle located on the side of the ribcage that looks like shark gills when flexed. It functions to pull the scapula (shoulder blade) down and to the front, and is used to thrust the shoulder forward as when pushing something. This is the section that really jumps to life when you're lean enough.
Although ab routines are subject to change based on individual preferences, this is the common denominator I know works for people who have killer abs all the time. Chances are pretty good it will work for you. But you have to be consistent and commit to doing it five days a week. While you're doing it, you really have to get into it and feel each muscle work while enduring grievous pain. This is where the mind/muscle connection comes in. While you're doing these exercises, wherever possible, touch the area being worked with a free hand. Feel the spaces between the muscles gobble up your fingers and squeeze them with each rep. Poke around and find the details and feel them work, especially as the pain gets harder to bear. Certain exercises will preclude a free hand. In these cases try to picture the muscle while you're in the start position. Close your eyes and find the origin of the muscle at the top, then try to imagine where it inserts below. Remember, your torso is moved by numerous muscles in concert. Some of them have nothing to do with the muscles you are looking for and can get in the way of what you're trying to achieve. So, pay attention to what you're doing.
Although you can't completely isolate any one muscle of the trunk, you can concentrate the effort in one specific area if you think while you're training and make each move deliberate. Tossing weights around and doing sloppy reps is an exceptional waste of time here. Don't let your ego ruin your progress. There is no set weight or number of reps below which it becomes emasculating in any ab movement. The key is isolation and deliberate movement with only enough resistance to allow you to consistently perform clean reps right up until you hit the wall- somewhere after 12-15 reps during each set of each exercise. You have to go to failure and that means enduring thick burning pain to which no sane man would deliberately subject himself.
Now, let's see how tough you are. Assuming you will do this workout Monday through Friday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday will be heavy work days while Tuesday and Thursday will be lighter with different movements.
Monday-Wednesday-Friday
The order of these exercises is critical because they descend in degree of difficulty. In other words, the weakest move is first and the strongest move is last (i.e. prioritization). So don't mess with the order. There is also a slew of other ab exercises and a pile of pretty equipment upon which to do them that I'm not going to mention. I usually believe less is more, so I find the basic moves suit this program just fine. The simplicity of the equipment needed to accomplish the whole workout can usually be found in any gym anywhere. If you ever find yourself traveling to a foreign gym, you won't be at a loss for your ab workout. If your gym has a bunch of expensive high-tech equipment that you are just dying to use, go ahead. Just make sure you are duplicating the movement you are replacing.
Hanging Knee Raises. This is perhaps the most difficult ab exercise ever invented and the one you're first most likely to relegate to some newfangled contraption. But doing them au natural is better because you are training your whole torso and tying it all into your abdominals. Machines tend to isolate the movement by strapping you in and forcing you to actuate the move with your lower abdomen. This is all well and good, probably safer too, but it does rob your upper body of the ancillary benefits. So, try to master the old-fashioned hanging knee raise before you move on to a machine that stresses actuating ab flexion from the bottom.
If your gym has those comfortably padded nylon weave loops with a carabineer on one end that you can clip into a chin bar and hang by your elbows, you're in luck. This is the easiest way to do them. If your gym doesn't have a set, find the Ab Originals ad in a bodybuilding magazine and order yourself a pair. Otherwise, wrist straps can hold you in. Or, if your grip strength is of rock climber caliber, just hang on.
Stand on a block or an up-turned dumbbell and grab the bar with your hands facing out (or slide your elbows into the straps) using a very comfortable shoulder-width grip. Step off the dumbbell and hang there for a second to get set.
The most common problem people tend to have with this exercise is swinging. They swing because they are not using their abs to lift their knees. Although lifting your knees with the pivotal axis at the hip does indeed cause the muscles of the abdomen to tense, the primary mover in this instance is not the rectus abdominis, but the psoas muscle. The psoas muscle is the main muscle that raises your leg toward your body. It's attached to the vertebrae of your lumbar spine at the top and in the back, and it's attached to the top of your thigh in the front. It runs right through your abdomen under your guts. Unless you're a sprinter, there's no point in working this muscle- you can't see it. If you find yourself swinging, don't ask a spotter to hold your back still. All this will do is allow you to work your psoas muscle even more. The reason you're swinging is because lifting your knees pushes your butt back, shifting the pivotal axis from your hips to your wrists and shoulders. Hence, just like a playground swing, you are going to rock back and forth as the balance shifts.
Instead, hook one foot over the other and lift your knees until your quads are almost parallel to the ground and lock them there- this is the start position. Now, the object is to pull your knees up toward your chest as high as you can by rolling your spine, not lifting your legs. You do this by actuating the move from the top and the bottom by drawing your elbows down and your knees up in one deliberate movement until your abdominal muscles are completely contracted and your low back is arched upward. Then, slowly lower your knees back down to their locked bent position and start another rep. Your knees stay bent and locked the whole time. Your femur should never pivot in the pelvis. Properly executed, this movement will not only call into play the rectus abdominis as the primary mover, but will also secondarily stress the serratus, external oblique and your lats. If you are doing these properly, you can't possibly swing. This is a powerful systemic exercise that will shift your ab development into high gear. Regardless of how much they hurt- and boy, do they ever- stick with this exercise. In the end, you'll be glad you did.
Taking into account the degree of difficulty in performing this exercise properly, it's quite possible your abdominal muscles are not conditioned sufficiently to perform this movement at all. If that's the case, try it on a decline bench first. You can adjust the angle all the way to horizontal if you need to. The less steep the angle, the less the resistance and the easier it will be to perform this movement properly. Regardless of how wimpy you may feel while you are trying to get this right, work at it anyway. This is an incredibly effective exercise as well as a significant example of the power of the mind/muscle connection. Do four sets to failure.
Side Cable Crunches. The primary mover here is the serratus and external oblique, with your rectus abdominis and lower lats coming along for the ride. This movement also underscores the value of the mind/muscle connection. Although it is considerably less difficult than the previous move, this exercise still takes some practice to get to the point where it is most effective.
Clip a stirrup handle on a high cable pulley, face the machine with one shoulder slightly ahead of the other and grab the handle with the forward hand. Step back, bend slightly at the hips and shift your weight back to your opposite leg. Your arm should be fully extended and the weight should be hanging several inches up off the stack. Starting from this long stretched-out position, the object is to pull your elbow down while tilting your hip up to meet it. The movement should be deliberate and slow, slightly twisting your torso and crunching one side of your upper ab, serratus, lat and oblique as your elbow practically touches the front of your hip. This is a perfect time to use your free hand to feel around for the muscles being worked. It is perhaps the key to doing this exercise right. Slowly return to the start position, stretch the whole thing out and start again. You'll want to use enough weight to get at least 15 reps on each side, with another five bringing you to the wall with all its brutality. If you did these right, finally letting go is a total rush. Give me four honest sets of these, too.
Cable Crunches - By the time you get here you'll think you're on vacation. Your abs should be pumped and screaming by now, which means you are going to have to dig in deep to find the zone. You're on the home stretch and that means giving your body something to remember. The relative ease of this exercise compared to the previous two is decidedly less. Since it is, this requires less thinking about mind/muscle connections, which in turn avails you of a much brighter shade of pain. This movement is really about finding the upper threshold of what you think you can't possibly bear and going past it. For some reason, the primary mover here- the rectus abdominis- is freighted with nerve endings that cause you to feel an incredible amount of searing pain at the upper limit. Taking this muscle deliberately to honest failure four sets in a row is perhaps the most grievous route to enlightenment. However, necessary.
Unclip the stirrup handle you just used and clip in a double-ended rope. Find a pad or an aerobics mat and place it on the floor in front of the machine. Grab the rope in each hand and kneel down a little more than arms length from the weight stack. Raise your hands up behind your head so that your head is positioned between your elbows, and the cable is angling up away from you toward the machine. Arch your back and completely stretch out your torso making sure you are far enough away from the pulley so the weight does not rest. From this start position, lock your hips and pull the weight down by flexing your rectus abdominis, trying to touch your knees with your elbows. Do not let your femur pivot in the hip joint! And, don't bring your elbows past your face. With your hips locked, this movement is accomplished by rolling your back from the arched position to hunched over, completely isolating the rectus abdominis. Use enough weight to get at least 20 reps with another five to ten thrown in for masochism's sake. Pain management is like a game; see how much you can handle. You can't hurt yourself if the weights you're using are realistic. So, crush'em. Try to find your limit. Killer abs await.
Training the same muscle five days in a row flies in the face of conventional training philosophy. Surely, this will lead to overtraining and thus diminished returns. If we were talking about any other muscle except for maybe calves, I'd have to agree. I can tell you from experience that the muscle fibers in your torso react differently than those that make up the thick muscle bellies of the bigger muscle groups. This could have something to do with the fact that your abs are constantly in use. The only time they are not working is when you are laying flat. Evidently, training them five days running is something they can handle. Just like cyclists have amazingly huge calves for their size, the bodybuilders with the best abs do something for them almost every day. There was a bodybuilder from the ‘60s and ‘70s named Zabo who was known to perform 1,500 ab movements a day. No one since has sported abs like "the chief."
Since you just torched your abs with weight, they are likely sore. This is normal, and if you are training your abs properly, it is something you're going to have to learn to live with. Getting some blood back in there seems to help dissipate some of the soreness, and keeps your abs tight. So, these two in-between days stress high reps with only bodyweight as resistance.
Here, two very basic traditional exercises are employed to further stimulate abdominal development. The only catch is that you have to do them right. Once again, the mind/muscle connection prevails.
Twisting Sit-Ups. This is an all-encompassing exercise that can really fry the entire midsection. It never ceases to amaze me how few of these I can do when they are done correctly. Sit on a Roman chair or sit-up bench with a very mild incline- the first or second pin stop is steep enough. Make a loose fist out of each hand and hold them knuckle to knuckle directly over your pecs. Rock back with your hips until your torso is at roughly 45 degrees and lock yourself in. Now, sit up by flexing your abs and rolling your back until you begin to hunch. Again, your femur should not pivot in the hip; the movement is accomplished by rolling your spine. Keep your quads flexed and locked. At what you perceive to be the midpoint of the movement, slightly roll one shoulder toward the opposite knee. Come to a complete and deliberate stop with your abs totally contracted. This is another opportunity to use your finger tips to pinpoint the muscle contraction. Return to the start position slowly and come to a complete stop before you begin the next rep. Do as many controlled deliberate reps as you can, alternating sides every other rep. As simple as this movement is, is as painful as it will become. Give me four sets to failure.
Twists. This always seemed like a superfluous exercise until I grew to understand it. Now that I do them religiously, I can only lament all the years I didn't do them. Seeing someone with a broomstick across their shoulders twisting into infinity is not a rare sight at most gyms. Unfortunately, most of the mooks doing the twisting are wasting their time. The purpose of this exercise is to strengthen the abdominal walls so they perform the same function as a girdle and hold your stomach in, thus reducing the girth of your waist. You can only accomplish this by starting and stopping the movement both in the center and at each lateral extreme. Wind milling back and forth won't do a thing.
Lay a broomstick across your shoulder blades and wrap your wrists around each end. Stand with your feet a little greater than shoulder width apart and face the mirror. Twist in one direction ultimately locking down all the muscles on the side of your ribcage to your oblique and lat until you come to a complete stop as far to one side as possible. Then, flex your rectus abdominis and twist back to center coming to a dead stop with your abs flexed. Repeat it on the other side. Basically, you will be twisting in one direction until you stop, twist back to center and stop, twist in the other direction until you come to a stop, then twist back to center and stop. Do four sets of at least 100. Going to failure here is pretty much impossible.
The final part to this physical commitment may seem a bit narcissistic, but it is certainly valid. Flexing, or "posing," is an integral part of a competitive bodybuilder's final preparation for a contest. Bodybuilders must be able to hold certain compulsory poses during the comparison rounds of a bodybuilding competition, thus training for this aspect of competition is essential. We came to find that the very act of flexing and holding a pose was actually a whole other workout evoking something on the order of Charles Atlas' dynamic tension principal. A half-hour of posing can give you quite a pump. It also serves to ingrain the mind/muscle connection. The more you flex and study a muscle in the mirror, the better you will be able to manipulate it while training.
Your abs can benefit from this as well. Learning to flex your abs and display their various aspects can be just as much of a workout as dozens of sit-ups. Obviously, you are going to have to be pretty lean for this to mean anything. If you're not yet trimmed down enough to see anything, this will give you something to look forward to.
Before you go to bed, check your gut in the bathroom mirror. Face front and flex your abs. See if you can adjust your movement to call more of them into play. Blow all your air out and crunch them as hard as you can and hold it for as long as you can. Looks pretty cool, huh?
Do the same thing standing to the side with your body rotated slightly toward the mirror. Reach up and grab the back of your neck and pull your elbow down toward your oblique. Blow out all your air and rock your hip up slightly as you crunch down your ribcage. Watch what happens and try to adjust your movements until you can see as much detail as possible. See how long you can hold it. Turn around and do the other side. Repeat the whole thing for four or five revolutions. Then, climb into bed knowing you did everything right; the burn ebbs as you drift off to sleep.
All the work discussed will be a total waste of time and energy if you insist on keeping that thick layer of abdominal fat. As unbelievably effective as the workout is, it's but a small part of the total package and no amount of blood, sweat and tears is going to help you find your abs if you don't diet off the fat. What you eat and how much you eat play a much greater roll in attaining killer abs than all the physical aspects. So, if you're not willing to commit to the diet- a lifestyle really- you might as well forget the whole thing, stop training and order a pizza. Diet - as Mr. G will tell anyone who will listen - is 85 percent of the game.
Finding your abs requires that you strictly follow a carefully laid out, fat-burning diet consisting of a specific ratio of macronutrients (protein, carbohydrate and fat), as well as a total calorie cap for the day, not to mention a prescription for cardio- one that must be done religiously. Just how much of each nutrient, when to eat, and how much cardio, used to be a big mystery. It was hit and miss. You had to keep enough calories coming in to keep your body from going into starvation mode and start holding onto fat at the expense of muscle. You had to do just enough cardio to mobilize fat stores. You had to have enough protein coming in to facilitate muscle growth and repair. And you had to consume a certain amount of fat for sustained energy and stable blood sugar.
For exposing the abs of your dreams I highly recommend Dave Palumbo's high protein/moderate fat/low carbohydrate ketogenic diet. If you want to see your abs, Dave will hook you right up. If you do exactly as he tells you, there is no way you won't be sporting a six-pack at the beach come summer. His program is absolutely foolproof, if you do exactly as he tells you. From anywhere in the world, by fax, phone, and via the Internet, he will help you find your abs.
Once you're training consistently and you've been on your diet awhile, you're going to notice a slowdown in the rate at which you see results. You may even think you're going the other way. This is nothing but a plateau, more common the leaner you get. This is where the whole thing really gets tough and you'll ultimately find yourself faced with some critical decisions. In reality, there's only so far you can go without a little help. Sure, Dave can adjust your program, you can intensify your training and you can endure a new pain level. It will all work, for awhile. Eventually, the effort will exceed the reward or the time you can devote to such an endeavor, and you'll look to modern chemistry for answers. How far you take it is up to you.
The only other supplement I recommend as an essential constituent to your arsenal is whey protein. I would seek nothing less than Species' Isolyze. As far as I'm concerned it's vital to have around in case you can't get to your next meal. Protein is the most important nutrient for any fitness endeavor because not only is the demand for it high, but it's absolute. Your body isn't taking no for an answer when it craves protein. If you don't take in enough protein to quell the body's demand, it will find it somewhere. That means cannibalizing muscle- the very muscle you are trying to build and keep. Always make sure you're taking in enough protein.
There are other supplements that will be of some benefit. You probably already take several as part of your bodybuilding efforts- creatine, BCAAs, glutamine, fat burners, ZMA, etc. Keep at it. I'm giving you what seems to be the essential complement to your quest for killer abs. In essence, how to maximize fat burning while retaining as much muscle as possible. That's it as far as legal, over-the-counter stuff goes. However, there's more you can do. Lots more. Unfortunately it requires going to the street and taking some chances.
What I'm about to discuss is in no way meant to entice anyone to go out and start using illegal drugs. However, I'd be remiss if I ignored the subject. For better or worse, performance enhancing drugs work and since they do, there's a good chance you might one day consider using them. It certainly makes the whole process of staying lean and muscular more productive. Why do you think almost every high-end bodybuilder uses them? This topic has filled numerous books and websites, and there are several that really give you the lowdown on the drug scene. It makes for interesting reading. If you know the facts, you can make up your mind.
Mild doses of certain low androgen steroids and a little growth hormone can really help keep you ripped with very little effort on the treadmill and with absolutely no side effects or deleterious effects on your health. If you stick to your diet and keep doing your cardio in addition to your ab routine and weight training, you are going to be one buff dude on a mild cycle. The difference will be astonishing.
There are other fat burning drugs you might also want to take a look at. They range from mild amphetamines (Fastin) to beta agonists (Clenbuterol), thyroid hormones (Synthroid, Cytomel) and diet pills (Phentermine) to name a few. These drugs tend to up the ante as far as risk goes, so their use is usually limited to pre-event dialing in rather than long-term use. Since I'm interested in the long haul, I'll let you do the research if you're interested.
Okay, so let's say your conscience won't let you stick a needle in your ass, but there is still something you need to do to get the rest of the way there. What are the morally minded to do? See a plastic surgeon. Liposuction is an alternative you can explore to rid your body of specific fat deposits that seem to hang on forever, no matter what. On a guy, this is usually the low back, obliques and around to the middle stomach. A good surgeon who knows his abs from a stack of sausages can be your salvation in ridding your body of stubborn fat as well as sculpting the contours to make the job look right.
What's Under Your Shirt Matters
The underlying message here is that this journey is no walk in the park. Building and maintaining a lean muscular physique is one of the most difficult things you'll ever do. Just look around you. How many guys do you see at the gym, or walking around at the beach or by the pool have killer abs? Get my point? If it was so easy, everyone would be sporting the six- pack. The fact that you are able to attain such a feat is something to be worn proudly, even under your shirt. Your confidence will be vastly improved and there isn't a girl I ever met who complained about the ripples when she looked up. Killer abs are definitely in vogue and in demand by the opposite sex; a luxury item no amount of money can buy without the requisite suffering. It's something the fat rich guys just don't understand.
Subscribe to RxMuscle on Youtube
