could someone recommend an abdominal workout?
get one of those wheels for $10 or so. While standing, places the wheel on the ground in front of you. Then roll away from your body and back. Your abs will scream for mercy.
Bad for the back
I heard somewhere that those wheels are bad for the back(especially the lower back). I can in no way back this up. Just passing on some information.
I have personally used one of these wheels once or twice and I can confirm that your abs do scream for mercy.
Listen, you’re probably expecting some huge ab routine with a ton of different ab exercises. Well, to truly target the abs you really only need crunches. Granted, these don’t work the obliques or anything, but for abs they can’t be beat.
Remember, the abs are really ONE muscle. There is NO difference between “upper abs” and “lower abs.” Saying an exercise works the upper abs is like saying an exercise works the upper biceps. If you don’t believe me, go read an anatomy book 
For variety, you can try weighted crunches, crunches on a decline board, etc. Remember tho, that if weighted crunches are done in a manner like other routines designed for size, your abs may get BIGGER as well as stronger, which means they may protrude from your waist, which is generally not what people are looking for.
Also, look in to something called a “Janda situp.” That’s one hell of an ab exercise.
Finally, stay away from infomercial ab products. If it has an infomercial, it’s crap.
Good luck,
Iron
PS - it’s generally senseless to be one of those people who does 1000’s of crunches every day, too. I mean, you probably take 1000’s of steps each day, but are your legs really strong as a results?
I just read that and realized it didn’t really answer your question. Here’s a sample routine using crunches:
Say you can do a max of 50 crunches
So, you might do two sets of 35 or 40, with 1-5 minutes rest inbetween. Work up to 3, 4, or 5 sets of 35-40 crunches.
Or, you might try doing a bit fewer but holding a 10lb plate across your chest as you do them.
Or, if you’re doing Janda situps, one would be good to start with.
A way to kind of “fake” a Janda situp is to get a heavy book (think college calculus book) and squeeze it between your knees as HARD as you can while doing situps. Also, if you do it this way, be sure to press your heels INTO the floor as you do it. Your feet will have a tendency to come up as you do the situp motion, so keep them constantly pressed into the ground. You must do this on your own, if you use a chair or something to hold your feet down, the entire effect will be lost. So, two points to remember:
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Squeeze the book as HARD as you can between your knees
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Using your muscle strength, press your feet and heels into the ground as hard as you can for the entire duration of the situps. If it’s not very hard to do, you’re not doing it right.
Iron
could you please describe that wheel thing again? im still a bit confused as to what you do with it, and what it is
abs
I have bought some of those “great” ab machines/tools. The ab doer, that is the one you sit in a chair and move back and forth/side to side…does nothing for me nor the people I bought it used (and a great price that I am now selling it for $25).
The ab slide is like the “wheel” that was described. You get on your knees(with a pad), keep your abs tight and roll out and back. CAREFUL with form. My abs and body hurt after doing 16 of these bad boys. Now I can do 50 up and back and 30+ to the sides.
I believe Ironfist has the right idea. Do crunchies! Do them with your knees bent and feet on the floor. Be sure to keep your abs tight or you aren’t doing them properly. Then do a set with your knees bent but in the air, then one with your legs stright up. Do a set going to the right and then left. Do leg lifts at varying heights. Don’t forget to work your lower back. Lie on your stomach and reach up with your upper torso and legs at the same time. You probably won’t be able to do a whole lot to begin with, but that is OK. This is what an aerobics instructor taught a group of us in a cross-training class for Basketball (please no questions).
Talk to a doctor, check out Men’s health on-line, Maxim Magazine on-line has a work out if you can find it through all the women.
Good luck, I hope this helps.
This one is AWESOME! Got it from a book called “Fighting Power, how to develop explosive punches, kicks, blocks and grappling” by Loren Christensen (Paladin Press). I highly recommend all of his books, but especially the fore mentioned and “Speed Training”.
Here’s the crunch routine:
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Extend your right leg and hold your left knee close to your chest
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Extend your left leg and hold your right knee close to your chest
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Hold your slightly apart and bent legs 45 degrees from the floor
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Put your legs together, knees locked, and hold 45 degrees from the floor
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Draw your knees to your chest
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Hold the bottoms of your feet together and spread your knees (ala butterfly stretch)
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Hold both legs straight up
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Feet together, on the floor. Draw your knees to your chest with each upper body crunch
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Legs straight out, resting on the floor, upper body a quarter turn to the right (right shoulder is off the floor so your only lifting your left with the crunches)
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Legs straight out, resting on the floor, upper body a quarter turn to the left
Start out with ten crunches each set. Take as much time as you need in between each set to rest. It’s important that you finish the cycle of ten sets.
Work your way up to at least 20 reps per set, no rest between. I do 250 crunches a day with no rest in between. My abs are ripped as a direct result of this routine. It works. Enjoy. 
“Master, here is a stick. Please beat me for my insolence.” - KC Elbows
Your abs are ripped because you have low body fat. Not because you do 250 crunches a day
btw, isn’t paladin press the company who publishes Ashida Kim’s books? Oh wait, they “stole” his books. My bad.
Iorn
Thanks for setting the record straight. I guess the books I mentioned suck, because the publisher stole from Ashida Kim. I’m so embarrassed to have enjoyed such mindless literature.
Don’t bother with the Ab routine, it won’t work unless you have low body fat, and if you have low body fat, you don’t need to work your abs because they are already ripped and strong enough. :rolleyes: What was I thinking?
“Master, here is a stick. Please beat me for my insolence.” - KC Elbows
I have a six pack, FEAR ME! :mad:
Pain is weakness leaving the body.
You’re just jealous. I wasn’t born with good abs, it took hard work, and they’re just a side benifit anyway.
“Master, here is a stick. Please beat me for my insolence.” - KC Elbows
i think there is a differenece in working upper and lower abs. cant different exercises target different regions of the individual muscle? biceps and abs are not a fair comparison as there is a vast size and functional difference between the two.
if you do leg raises or hanging knee raises corectly you feel the burn centered in your lower abdomen. doing crunches make your upper abdomen burn. i know that i’m not imagining this.
please prove me wrong if i am, but i dont see how one area could burn more than another unless it was being worked harder by specific targeting.
where’s my beer?
ScarletMantis said:
Thanks for setting the record straight. I guess the books I mentioned suck, because the publisher stole from Ashida Kim. I’m so embarrassed to have enjoyed such mindless literature.
Shite dude you just broke my sarcasm detector
Don’t bother with the Ab routine, it won’t work unless you have low body fat,
It will work, you just won’t be able to see your abs if you have high body fat 
In all fairness to you, though, when I was in highschool (10th grade or so) I used to do 5 sets of 100 crunches when I came home from every day. Soon I had a noticable six pack. Of course, I thought it was because I did so many situps, and I didn’t consider at all the fact that I was skinny as hell. So, when people would ask me how do you get a six pack, I would tell them how many crunches I did every day, but usually it wouldn’t work for them cuz their bodyfat was too high.
That was also back when I knew nothing about reps or sets, and I assumed more was better. You should have seen me do dumbell curls. A set of 80? Yeah I was a badass. I wonder why I never grew back then… 
Exercise develops the muscle. To see it, you must have low enough body fat. Otherwise, you’ll just look skinny and have no definition.
Iron
[This message was edited by IronFist on 10-10-01 at 01:47 PM.]
Gunned Down said:
i think there is a differenece in working upper and lower abs. cant different exercises target different regions of the individual muscle?
When a muscle fires, it’s an all or nothing deal. You can’t contract just part of a muscle. If certain exercises could work just part of a muscle, then it would logically be possible to contract only part of that muscle. Ever seen someone contract JUST their lower abs? What about just their upper pecs?
if you do leg raises or hanging knee raises corectly you feel the burn centered in your lower abdomen. doing crunches make your upper abdomen burn. i know that i’m not imagining this.
You’re not imagining it. The burning in your lower abs you feel from leg raises comes from your hip flexors. Leg raises (lying or hanging) are a very hip flexor intensive exercise. It may also invovle that muscle that is right above your groin (below six-pack; not abs) but I forgot the name so I’ll ask my next door neighbor who is a physical therapy major what it’s called.
please prove me wrong if i am, but i dont see how one area could burn more than another unless it was being worked harder by specific targeting.
I hope I explained. It’s not a different area of the abs burning. It’s a different muscle. The abs burn a bit during leg raises, because obviously they’re being burned, but they’re not the cause of the low burning you feel.
I’m not saying don’t do this or that, I’m just trying to explain what happens when you do
Iron
Thanks for having a sense of humor Iron. Too much beer that night made me a little sensitive.
I still disagree a little here though. If you’ve got underdeveloped abs, it don’t matter how low your body fat is, you won’t show much muscle. I saw this REALLY skinny guy at the beach awhile back. He looked weird because his waist was actually narrower than his hips (he looked like a woman from the waist down). :eek: No muscle on his stomach though. This guy was like 2% BFI tops.
“Master, here is a stick. Please beat me for my insolence.” - KC Elbows
fu ck you and your logical expalanitions of things iron fist.
seirously though . .. .
am i wasting my time doing leg raises? i really friggen hate them, and if crunches will do the same thing why should i bother? i don’t mind crunches at all.
where’s my beer?
on a side note .. .
what is the bennifit of having strong hip flexors?
where’s my beer?
You’re probably wasting time doing leg raises. Weighted cruches, wheel, or janda situps is basically all you need I think. Strong hip flexors? You can bend your knees to your hest stronger…
Which theoretically would benifit all of your kicks.
“Master, here is a stick. Please beat me for my insolence.” - KC Elbows