T2B TWIG TO BIG
Avoiding direct
AbdominAl work will
become A limiting fAc-
tor And prevent you
from mAximizing your
Athletic potentiAl.
Even if you could argue or pull out a re-
search study that disproved otherwise, there
are no downsides to making your abdom-
inal muscles as strong as possible. So why
wouldn’t you include direct abdominal work
in your programming?
On top of that, each person’s ability to
recruit muscles is different. What if you have a
low capacity to recruit your abdominals in the
first place? Just because you’re doing move-
ments that are “supposed” to engage your
abs doesn’t mean you’re still engaging them.
You see, if you can’t recruit and challenge
your abdominals with direct abdominal work-
out, otherwise known as isolation training,
then how in the world are you going to recruit
your abdominals in heavy compound lifts?
The answer is: You’re not. You’re going
to disperse the tension to other strong
bodyparts to make up for your weak links and
escalate the chance of imbalances and force
yourself into a plateau at best and a severe
injury at worst.
You see, if your capacity to recruit a certain
muscle group is minimal, then it’s the same
as trying to fire a cannon out of canoe. It’s
not a matter of if you get hurt, it’s a matter of
when. Avoiding direct abdominal work will be-
come a limiting factor and prevent you from
maximizing your athletic potential whether
you’re involved in strength competitions, a
functional fitness athlete, or you participate
in traditional sports.
Now, there are always exceptions to the
rule. I can already hear the skeptics say, “But
my buddy can deadlift over 500 pounds and
he never trains abs.” Good for him. He’s either
the rare exception (there are always excep-
tions walking among us), or he simply hasn’t
gotten injured yet. You should not be making
decisions based on exceptions to the rule;
you should be making them based on funda-
mental training principles and logic.
You’re going to want to find ways to directly
challenge your abdominals, and I have just
the workout for you to start adding into your
program. Here is my own abdominal program
directly out of my current eight-week training
cycle. (You can check out my YouTube chan-
nel to find this workout performed.) You will
perform it one time per week to begin. Just be
prepared for some deep-muscle soreness.
Put this direct abdominal training program
to work that I provided here and I guarantee
you’ll see improvements in your squats, dead-
lifts, military presses, pull-ups, and rows. IM
24 aprIl 2017 | ironmanmagazine.com
Direct Abdominal Training
A. Half-Kneeling Low-Pulley Pallof Press
2 x 6-8 reps each side
Hold for five seconds each rep
Rest 45 seconds between sets
B. Hanging Garhammer Raises
2 x max reps
Rest 45 seconds between sets
C. Superman Plank
2 x 30 seconds
Rest 45 seconds between sets
D. Scissor Sit-Ups
2 x 5 each side
Hold for three seconds in contracted position for
each rep
Rest 45 seconds between sets