If aesthetics are a priority, work your abs. Don’t rely on incidental core contraction during other lifts for ab stimulation. @EyeDentist 2014
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I agree
Like many different exercises, as you know there are primary and secondary muscles that are activated, and obviously select lifts that you need to activate your core are going to train them, but it seems like you touched on before that since that stigma of ab training was established, the amount of people who have a less and less defined mid section even at lower BF% seems to have risen
I know of a few people who regularly train there abs and are currently at >12<18% and you can still see there abs, whilst another friend who rarely trains them directly and is prepping for a show, and they are barely popping out even at a sub10% level
It’s kinda like the whole “spot loss for fat loss” thing is kinda a myth but kinda true
Everyone is like “oh I want a flat stomach”
Yes, diet and exercise selection is key, but if you’re stimulating a muscle for growth, it’s gunna grow
Like anything, they shouldn’t be neglected
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I think if you were to do ab wheels, heavy squats/deads/ohp, and moving style lifts (yoke, farmers, etc) you’d have a pretty beastly core and ab development honestly. The older I get, the less I believe in a ton of exercises for getting better. I used to be one of those circuit dudes and spend a massive deal of time on ab training, but once I started just doing ab wheel and decline sit ups between sets of upper and sometimes lower, I’ve seen tremendous gain aesthetically and in strength.
Obviously though, if someone were to follow bodybuilding or physique and wish to compete, direct ab work is a must, especially to have thicker abs. Otherwise, what I said prior would work for the average guy looking to have abs.
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When I trained for aesthetics I trained my abs one month out of the year usually at the end of a diet everyday with 3-4 ab exercises circuit style and I had decent ab development basically year round.
Now that I’m powerlifting and on the advice of my physio I train abs twice a week with anti-rotational exercises and sometimes throw in some planks and haven’t done a crunch style exercise in a couple years and I can say the definition is just not the same. My body fat is also the highest it’s been in a long time and I know that plays a factor but I believe you need to train them directly if you want defined abs
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500 lbs squats aren’t an issue, but maybe that’s why I suck with the yoke…
I was stalled trying to crack 500 for 2 years. I was like 15lbs shy, and every time I’d try I’d get stapled. I spent a lot of time hammering torso strength, and then 500 was no issue.
It can definitely be a contributing factor with moving events. If you’re able to brace and keep the midsection strong, you have fewer strength leaks in the movement, which allow for a faster footfall. Like running while carrying a caber vs a stack of dishes.
how’d you bring the ab strength up?
My go tos at the time were standing ab wheel and GHR sit ups with a weight plate behind my head. Reverse hyper goes a long way too.
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Were you able to do full ROM from when you started these? If not, did you use some kind of ROM progression? I switched to standing ab wheels since I can do sets of 15+ kneeling, but can barely handle 5 partial reps. Would you reccommend I just work on sets of 5, trying to build up my range?
Cheers
Second the standing Ab wheel. But I couldn’t do standing off the bat, or for quite a while. I found that doing slower ‘harder’ kneeling reps, holding the long position and making sure I lead the return contraction by tensing my abs, rather than with the arms and lats, got me to standing much faster than high rep sets. Using a weight vest for the kneeling is also a good progression.
Ab wheel + hanging metronomes / wipers whatever they are called are all I do for abs. + SSB squats, can’t really pinpoint why but that hits my abs harder than any other compound, deads, squats, front squats dont touch heavy SSB squats for me.
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Right, using tempo work makes sense 
cheers
Weighted ab wheel rollouts are great - if you can easily “load” the ab wheel to the weighted variation. Weight vest, chain etc.
Don’t have access to a weight vest or chains, unfortunately. Do you reckon there’s a way to add resistance using bands?
Why not. Never heard anyone doing that, but in theory it could work.
PS. short googling shows that there are ways to use bands with ab wheel. Check them out.
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Have you tried barbell roll outs with a decent amount of weight on the bar? Not tried them myself but have seen them in some progression videos.
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I tried them ages ago and can’t say I liked them much. Besides it’d be hard to fit them without hogging equipment since I usually superset ab wheels with squats
Couldn’t do them when I started, but no ROM progression employed. I just worked up to 25 kneeling for 4 sets and then I went to standing.
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I do not understand targeting the abs via an exercise in which the abs are a stabilizer rather than the primary mover. Anybody do triceps rollouts? Because it makes exactly the same amount of sense.
This is the flame-free thread, right?
Edit: I need to correct myself. Because the triceps crosses the shoulder, during rollouts it lengthens and shortens under tension. Thus, it is not merely a stabilizer for this movement–it is a mover. So triceps rollouts actually makes more sense than ab rollouts.
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I just know that, the day after I do them, I am very cautious about sneezing because it feels like I am going to rupture my spleen.
I have an incredibly poor understanding of biology, so I have to use different metrics, haha.
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