The ONLY 2 Exercises That Built My Six Pack Abs
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- Опубліковано 16 вер 2024
- There are over 500 different abs exercises out there, but only 2 that actually helped me build my six pack. Because to get well-defined abs, it’s not just about having low body fat. It also comes down to the ab workout and ab exercises you use to train them. Increasing the size of your abs can help them “poke through” more. But here’s the thing, most ab exercises you see online won’t help you actually build your six pack. So, in this video, I’ll share the secret to how to train abs - efficiently and effectively.
Get my ab mat here:
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Click below for a step by step plan training plan that reveals all the best exercises you should do for each and every muscle group:
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Planks and butterfly kicks are both great core-strengthening exercises, but they’ll do next to nothing for actually growing your abs. All they’re doing is stabilizing your core like they would during a compound movement. See, the main function of your abs is to bring your rib cage and pelvis together by rounding the spine. And so, this brings us to one of the most common myths I hear: “When performing ab exercises, you’ve gotta keep your back straight.” But if your back stays flat and all you do is swing your legs up and down into an L shape, your abs will contract to stabilize, but really, it’s going to be your hip flexors that do all the work. And it’s not just leg raises. This is a common problem with most ab exercises, at least, with how they’re typically done. But the thing is, it’s actually pretty easy to build your abs once you stop letting your hip flexors do all the work.
And the nice part is, you can emphasize either your upper abs or lower abs more based on the type of exercise you do. So, to keep things simple, let me just share my 2 favorite ab exercises for both. Let’s start with the lower abs. A lot of new research suggests that muscle regions closest to the moving body part will grow the most. So, to target the lower abs, we just want an exercise where the bottom half of our body moves towards the top. Also, since muscles seem to grow best when challenged in their most “stretched” position, we’ll use reverse crunches.
Bend your knees in towards your body and think about raising your hips up and crunching your knees towards your chest, to actually round your spine. Think “C” shape instead of “L” shape. Go as far up as you can then slowly control the way down. For beginners, bring your knees closer to your chest and try to just lift your tailbone off the bench without swinging your legs. Once you get stronger, try to get higher and higher and then gradually straighten your legs out more to simulate the effect of adding weight to the movement. If you want to make it even more effective, you’ll want to increase stretch in your abs at the bottom. For that, I’d highly recommend getting an ab mat and placing that between your lower back and the bench.
Ok, now let’s focus on the upper abs for your six pack. Now we want an exercise where we’re now folding the upper body towards the lower body. The easiest way to hit the upper abs as a beginner is with crunches. But again, think about folding your chest down towards your pelvis into a C shape. Your spine should extend out to stretch your abs and then your abs should contract to fold your chest over your pelvis. Now, with crunches, just try to get your shoulder blades off the ground. Any higher than that and it’ll just be your hip flexors taking over. But if you want even better results from each rep, again, use an ab mat. You can also always use a stability ball, bosu ball, or - at the very least - a rolled up towel which - as you can see - still lengthens the abs a bit more.
But once that becomes too easy, I’d recommend moving onto a rope cable crunch. Pay attention to your hip flexors. If your hips are swinging back to your heels every rep, you’re just using momentum and your hip flexors to move the weight. Again, focus on the spine. Lock your hips at 90 degrees, lock your arms next to your ears, and then contract your upper abs as you try to fold your chest down onto your abs. Once you feel comfortable with it, you can make them even more effective by turning around and pulling the rope away from the cable. Once you get it right, you should feel that your abs are most challenged at the very beginning, in their most stretched position. (Exactly what we’re going for with our ab exercises.)
But when it comes to how to train the abs and get a six pack, here’s the key: train them like any other muscle. Hard with progressive overload, but also give them time to rest. I recommend doing 3 sets of each exercise for 6-12 reps. Once you can do 12 reps for all 3 sets, then bump up the difficulty or add a bit more weight. Start with training them once a week and if you're really serious, bump it up to twice a week.
Exercises 1 -> 4:22
Exercises 2 -> 5:16
Take a bow legend
U dropped this 👑
Tq
Thanks❤
God bless 🙏
I love my six pack so much I protect it with a layer of fat
💀
The most recycled joke on the internet
Reused joke, you're not funny.
But would you like to be breathless while doing daily activities, even tying your shoes? You like yourself to be exposed with NCDs like heart attack, diabetes, etc? You ever like yourself to be fallen into depression and anxiety?
Yo that's crazy give me a tutorial on how to protect a six pack
I was in the army and for years it was all about doing stupid amounts of crunches, sit ups and variations... Now I am doing to just 2 movements (sometime 3 if I hate myself that day), dragon flags and cable crunches (sometimes also GHD situps...) so basically what you just showed. And I completely agree, if done properly, that all you need.
Everything else is just cardio. You need heavy ass weights to grow. I don’t believe in 40 sets to failure to grow muscle. You need Ronnie coleman weights
Very appreciated, thank you. You're experience, combined with evidence-based findings/musings, and proof of thriving now despite being a hard gainer, is probably why you're so popular/relatable.
Full stretch ab wheel grew my abs and cable curls forsure
Ab wheel starts too difficult and ends with no overload.
Just stick to cable crunches for growth.
For exercise 2 you can simulate having the mat by just scooting back on a flat bench until your shoulder blades are off the top edge of the bench. This lets you stretch your torso backwards similarly to how the ab pad would allow for, you just have to focus on actually working the full range of motion. When I do this I put a dumbbell on the seat of the bench to offset my weight being over the edge of the bench (but depending on your bench you may not need to) just for safety to prevent the bench from tipping. I hold my legs up vertical to take my hip flexors/leg weight out of the movement and I'll hold a 10 lb weight directly against my upper chest. If you hold a weight directly to your chest you won't need a lot of additional weight, it's a lot harder than simply holding the weight in front of you while doing the movement.
but then he doesn't sell the ab mat. :)
@@AcmeRocket He says you can use a towel as well.
For the cable crunch, I recommend a bar attachment or handles unless you hate your fingers
I've only started going to gym beginning of this year, and F'd up early on by squeezing pinkies, For this motion I place the rope at dip between first finger and thumb and wrap fingers around the black knobs. For pulls thumb along in parallel on black knob, seems to take pressure of the first wrapped finger . Works for me, may not be best technique. So if anyone else can chime in. Think other lesson I learn is file down any calluses at bottom of palms, as just pressure points, and apparently can rip off completely ouch. If equipment hurts, then best to find a solution. Eg on hamstring or quad crunch machines may be set up wrong for your size , so get right adjustments or pullup bars to thin etc
V-grip handle is great
Ropes are the best.
Jeff Nippard already had a video about exactly these 2 workouts so been following that ever since
Jeff is a God.
lol jeff copied the emg analysis of jeremy and rated them from s tier to d tier
Dr Mike has a video on this and says the modified candlestick is great. I’ve seen the benefits myself.
Jeff recommends hanging leg raises, not bench leg raises
John recommended swinging abs twists
Wheel Abs did the job for me. Totally agree with cable crunch, but I added it after building basic anterior strenght core with the wheel. Quite a tushy execice though (dont break the lumbar spine!)
Rotating the hips up and tuck ups emphasize the lower abs and minimize hip flexor assists. Growing up in gymnastics we were taught to do these correctly. Your exercise at 4:07 is better done on an incline bench using the same principles you suggest. And I totally agree about cable crunches. They are amazing. One final thing I'd recommend are weighted RC sit ups where you lean back as far as you can (head toward the floor) to stretch your rectus abdominis muscles. Then curl up. Try raising the front of the RC bench if you can to keep the abs flexed throughout the set. And finally--do lower abs focused exercises ahead of upper abs exercises as upper abs fatigue quicker than lower abs. But I totally agree with your approach.
6:30 I was like … where’d his head go?
Jeremy Ethier, awesome video keep up the good content
BRO I was just watching your chest vid,AND i was wondering about abs THX THIS HELPED!!!
frick! using the facing away technique, I didn't even finish 1 set and started cramping LOL thanks!
knee raises with roes pointing as downwards as possible was a major cue for me in engaging my abs properly and you dont need to push your knees all the way up to your chest. another important cue was to always keep knees/legs extended forwards throughout the motion to keep abs engaged all the time. want your upper abs to burn like crazy? its simple - do knee raises until 2 or 3 reps in reserve and then continue in a superset with leg raises up until reaching a 90 degree angle.. wont be able to do too many but you will feel every rep. much easier to do and control than rope crunches which requires great mind muscle connection to execute properly
Been using this concept with my PT clients for years... And tbh I was gatekeeping it a little bit since it's one of those little known aspects of proper technique that you'd really only understand if you were instructed by a professional. But this was explained in a great way!
Thanks for sharing! 👍👍
I would have to say on the leg raises / strict toes to bar. If you activate your Scapula at the start of the movement keep your head forward when raising your legs and slow down on the negative you feel them working more than your hip flexors.
Thank you. This is so useful! Jeremy, I have done this exercises in classic Pilates clases. They really work my core
3:40 C-shaped instead of L-shaped reverse crunches
6:00 Rope cable crunch
Would you recommend these exercises to people with lower back issues, in particular to those that have suffered from herniated discs in the past?
Counter t with back hyper extension... But not going too hyper
Cool - you featured the The Bioneer 0:20
I use a variant as seen at 06:41.
Instead of a rope, I use a looped band.
I place the lower portion of the band around my forehead and only use the hands as a means of ensuring the looped band stay in place. Not only do your abs get a workout, but so does your neck.
I call this the FA Crunch.
YESSSS LOL BIONEER
3:42 end of the yap
⬆️ start of the ignorance
I actually like the yap 😢
Thank you. So much talking in this video that I aged by a month.
thank you! So annoying when a video has one title and the content is something else.
Start with the goods then add your yapping at the end for the weirdos that want to stick around and listen
Holy hell thank you. I kept skipping forward 10 seconds at a time waiting for the filler to stop!
I like supersets starting with leg raises then switching to knee raises. After a set of that, I switch to the rope crunch.
I use an declined bench and curl my back backwards at the bottom position (without touching) to get stretch in the abs. Fix the hips in that position and then curl upwards. It has basically the most weight in the stretched position and also trains stabilization, as you actually need to hold up the weight all the time. Add weights to increase difficulty.
Yes Lars my man! I do that too! Its known as the candle stick or dragon flag. Everybody in the gym acting gangster until you do that exercise then they are small.
Sorry having a hard time visualizing this. Is head at the bottom of the bench or the higher end with this?
Isnt that basically decline crunches?
@@DamliRonya Yeah its a crunch variation. But instead of using the declined bench to start in a lower position, I use it to get more range of motion, especially in the stretched part. Don't exaggerate the stretch. But fix your hip in a position such that your upper body would be parallel to the ground (note that due to the declined bench, your back is hovering in the air). Then bend backwards (i.e. stretch abs) without exaggeration and without touching the bench. You'll have to hold your upper body up all the time (i.e. similar to dragon flag/planck-esque exercises). And then do the crunches, with a fixed hip. Emphesize on rolling the spine, not lifting the body.
I think it is different from the usual decline crunches, as they usually fix the hip (if at all, I often see hip flexor training) in a position that the upper body is parallel to the bench instead of the ground. Which takes away both the advantage of the stretch in the abs as well as the isometric/stabilization part of this exercise (as you don't touch the bench with your back during the exercise)
Disclaimer though: Don't go so far in the stretch that you're hurting your back.
Hope that it is now more conclusive, english is not my native language.
@@shoujokakumei39 hey, I tried to describe it a bit better in my other commrnt, sorry for the confusion.
I love the way how you explain each and every exercise with every little detail and nuances.
And your visual graphic touch is just awesome.
You don't how much service you are doing by putting out these videos especially for those you are beginner in gym. 👍🙌
That’s frickin awesome because those are the two exercises I’ve already been doing from all the time I spent trying to actually target the intended muscles. Also have a couple for killer obliques.
Ive got an ab mat at home.. Gotta try these. Thanks.
you can also add a 3rd exercise: some form of vacuum to awake and tighten the transverse.
I second this.
Any tips not hurting your neck doing abs?
Yup exactly, that's the thing that gets me about those "curl-up" crunches
When you do crunches or any other exercise, do not hold your head/neck with your hands. Do not touch your head with your hands. Just keep them next to you head or chest but without touching. If you do exercises correctly and still have pains, it means there can be some other issues and you need to go to a doctor.
Definitely incorporate stretching routine into your life, especially focused around your neck so that you don’t tense up when doing these high intensity exercises
7:16 both exercises
Next: Obliques
No separate exercise is needed. Just a good diet with hanging core exercises will do.
@@kestrel3509 but that will train hip flexor
obliques are overrated, not aesthetic
@@ManishKumar-km4cv if you Got proper form, you Can still engage the abs muscle as the primary. Something that 90% of people in the gym cant find out how to do
@@TileBitannot everyone's goal is to be aesthetic
The editing is SO helpful! Thank you for these videos!
can you make a combined video/summary of all the best exercises for your body such as adding the best abs exercise shown here,then the best chest and best shoulder and anything else that you have done,or even make a complete guide to get cut.Like including the best calorie burner per minute for low intensity and high intensity,maybe posture,and diet.This would be much appreciated
I been doing dragonfly abs work out and thanks for a tip and an idea use the abs pad I doing dragonfly abs for a harder challenge. Very great and helpful advice and great video.
Going to try these. I've been doing core work for years and getting nowhere, it's so frustrating
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!! Haven't worked out in 1000yrs! Recently joined the gym again in my older years and cringe when I see people doing ab work in the gym. All that work but are mostly working their hip flexors. I read something years ago (over 20 years ago), but ppl still doing it.
first, you should also use leg weights to increase resistance in reverse crunches and second there are also curved benches which help in activating the ppt
Wow simply just wow bro you are doing a excellent and brilliant thing by telling about the only 2 exercises for buit our abs muscle and keep it up and keep up the great work as always and take care
Keep smiling always
😲😲Wow at your abs Jeremy!
That was enough inspiration in itself.
And so now, on to those exercises! 💪
What about obliques?
Amazing content! Learning something new every time you're posting a video!
ABSolutely game changer 💪🏻
Letsssss goo a vid about the muscle group i ignore and worry about the most
What about abs machines? Are they worth?
Kettle bell/dumbbell single arm swings?
What about Serratus Jabs and High to low cable wood choppers that were recommended along with these two exercises in one of your previous videos? 🤔
This video is specifically about 6 pack abs. Serratus jabs work your serratus, and the cable wood choppers work your obliques - part of your abs but not necessary for a 6 pack
@@jourdansangar Good Point 👍👍
There are about 500 exercises for "core".
But really, only two abs exercises for bodybuilding. Cable crunches and medicine ball weighted crunches.
Thnx bro, you've been looking juicer recently 👍
Great video as always. Thanks from Málaga, Spain
But I have a lower back injury and these exercises are gonna kill my lower back. Do you have any alternative to these exercises which is more lower back-friendly?
A better cable crunch variation is doing it standing, this way you can crunch more because the floor won't get in the way.
Isn't the last exercise the same as a "abdominal machine"? I have a machine in my gym where I do the same movement, except you sit down but the movement is the same.
Depends. My gym has two ab machines - one where you sit and the other you lay on your back. Problem with both is that they won't let you bend backwards far enough so that you get a good stretch on the abs.
You'll obviously still work your abs to some degree, but not as effectively.
@@GDRobbye Yeah I guess they don't let you bend back too far. However, I don't really enjoy doing exercises on the floor, so if I can prevent them I'd rather do an alternative.
Great visuals and tips … thanks !
A good six pack is Hefeweizen .
A good German beer.
😀
Great video. Can I suggest aiming for 2 minute versions.
❤ this, THANK YOU JEREMY for sharing ❤️! Going to try this today 😊xxxx
At home without cable machine I guess weighted crunches can be some kind of progress of regular crunches.
I have done it on ball but I may try it on an ab mat as well.
you could also consider resistance bands for a similar exercise as the cable crunches. not quite the same, since bands ofc offer more resistance in a stretched position, but it's an option. the main issue with crunches is a limited range of motion i think, but the ball / mat definitely helps - just make sure that it properly supports your lumbar spine, you don't want that to bend (especially backwards) under load repeatedly
@@pr-pc8fq Good point on resistance band I may try it as well. Unfortunately the load is less when the abs in stretched position so the opposite of ideal. :)
I was not fan of weighted ball crunches probably because I like to do more functional exercises (which is good for core strength but not ideal for visual as in this video). :)
Beauty needs work. :)
This video is a great update on how to build better and stronger abs, but what about the obliques? I feel like they complete how a perfect abs look like
Great educational video my guy forsure 🙌🏾🔥
Thank you so much for the amazing video
I don't have Gym access however the reverse crunches I can definitely do at home,💪 thanks for sharing!!!
Hi Jeremy,
I can't tell you how much I enjoy watching your videos-they're fantastic! 😍
Regarding the personalized program, I completed the quiz, but I’m unable to make the payment at the moment. I’ll definitely do so as soon as I can.
As I mentioned in my email reply, it might be helpful to add "neck injury" as an option in the health issues section of the quiz. I don’t recall what I selected, but I really wish I had seen "neck problem" listed, as it significantly limits my ability to perform ab exercises.
Thank you so much for the videos!
Love your videos man always a wealth of knowledge, will your workout programs get updated with new exercises?
Looks awesome, very rocky IV... wish I had a bench or table or something, lol
Good video thanks!
I just do (weighted) pullups, works as well
Can a Matt replace the bench ? My gym doesn't have many benches lol
6:09 I fully agree a cable rope crunch will do wonders BUT be careful, never go TOO heavy, done this twice now and tore an oblique
That sounds painful. I've never heard of someone tearing an oblique
The rope is kinda bad for this exercise though, the balls put a lot of pressure on the fingers.
I'd suggest doing them with the EZ bar attachment or the V bar used normally for rows or lat pulldowns.
@@GDRobbyeif you rest the side of your palm right against the ball of the rope, you don't even feel it in your fingers
Reverse bench Crunches:
Beginner:
4:20
Advanced:
3:50
Half Crunches:
5:15
thx man! very useful content
nice one great job jer
These animations are awesome
The rope cable Crunch is actually more beneficial when ou arch your back and curl in at the Top of your abs. Big Brandon Carter has short that shows how to do it
Love the videos mate. Do you have any advice for the optimal rest duration between sets?
This reminds me of a modified candlestick. Been doing it, gets you an insane burn!!
Candlesticks and Dragon flags are the same exercise, or at least the difference is minimal.
My two abs exercises are trunk flexion and trunk rotation.
Bro your arms and shoulders 🔥💪
That makes perfect sense👍
For lower abs exercise you can even use declined bench it will be more effective
My recommendation: using assisted pull up base as a resitance for abs
Exercise 1 -> 4:20
Exercise 2 -> 5:58
please make same vedio for oblique
This is what i was waiting for a long time 😁na months 🤔 years
Man u looking guuuudd gud. Thanks for the work u put on this video.
Loong time ago i get my abs and i forget how loong time ago to get that but after i see this video i remember what i must to do tomake that again
Without a rope/pulley available, would you recommend using bands looped over a pullup bar for the "cable crunches"?
I have a 6 pack. I am 62 years old and have done 10 sit-ups in my life, 10 of which were in the military. Therefore, wasted time, nutrition is everything. And HIT
I needed these exercise queues, been doing abs wrong forever it turns out, i have strong hip flexors though!
Can you share the study on the abs you talked about?
Great info Jeremy .. in 1977 our PE teacher MR STEIN (former drill sgt) showed us that crunch movement. also the same with bent legs raises pushing your hips up off the ground to activate the abs. then HELLO DOLLIES leg raises. he was a beast and we all cussed him , silently. still to this day i can do most all the calisthenics he taught us . i still say F those burpees ... ahahahaa
I was just arguing with a bodybuilder about that last week. A really lean guy had commented in a forum I'm in about how to get abs year round, and I told him that since he's already lean, he needs to add ab muscle to have visible abs all the time but that he wouldn't be able to have Zac Efron abs year round without drugs. No idea why the bodybuilder was being so belidgerant (other than the likelihood thathe was enhanced and sensitive about it), but he kept trying to say that all it takes is getting lean enough and that I was wrong. But the fact is that if someone has atrophied ab muscles, no amount of leanness will make abs that look any good. Hypertrophy is necessary to some extent, and even then they probably won't look perfect year round. There will be times of bloating, less leanness, sickness, etc. when they won't look great without being enhanced. But have having impressive, visible abs is possible year round without as much leanness if there is enough hypertrophy.
Sold out mat
i do both exercises u suggested in a ghd to maximize the stretch and started using weights along with it coz like u said u should train the abs like any other muscle.
What he does better than Athlean X is how clear he talks & teaches with more clear visuals as well .❤ both excellent though .
Is there an alternative to the rope use set up if you have no rope/gym access. Have bench, weights. Thanks!
The reverse crunch no longer does anything once you reach a point where your abs are strong enough to do it easily. So no.
The second one is much more effective since your are using progressively higher load on the muscle...but then again, lets be real, you get abs from almost every exercise you perform when you are standing on your two feet
Does the abs mat impact the spine and cause any spinal issues in the long run ? Any simulations and medical research on that ?
Hi jeremy could we get a video on back activation on muscles group using different pull up and chin variations
Astounding.... with Love
Great info
Buenas tardes Jerimy una pregunta .tengo 66 años y en una pierna tengo varices llevo dos meses sin hacer pierna ,de cintura para arriba estoy marcado pero las piernas parecen alabres.como conoces a tanta gente si pobrias decirme que ejercicios hacer de pierna que no me afecte a la pierna donde tengo las Varices.un saludo desde VIGO (España )Ah muchísimas GRACIAS