Vanity weighted sit-up question

Interestingly enough, I was once told by an ex bodybuilder that doing weighted sit-ups would work to pull the rectus abs apart, leading to a very separated structure. It would look like those guys that have a huge gap between either side of their abdominal muscle. Didn’t reallly believe him because I love my weighted sit-ups, but is there any margin of truth to this?

…I feel like such a noobie for asking this.

I would not have thought so,

I have been doing weighted crunches ever since i have trained, (almost 3 years). No problem of seperation, i have been told i have good symmetry with my abs and they have ‘spaced out’ at all, i think it’s just a case of how your ab muscles are genetically spread,

keep doing em

Weighted Sit-ups will do what other “weighted movements” do for other body parts. They will make your abs large. Is that what you want?

Actually, depending on how you do them, they may affect your abs at all. Most people who do sit-ups are working their hip flexors rather than their abs, because they don’t curl their trunk much (if at all).

Ditch the sit-ups and do the exercises in CT’s Babehounds article instead. Your abs will thank you.

Old skool bodybuilders are so hilarious… he’s probably got a million ideas like that. It’d make a great article.:slight_smile:

It may make them larger & more pronounced, but they physically cannot grow very large given that the abdominal wall won’t allow it. But as far as helping to shape more of a ‘V’ look, I would think that weighted sit-ups would be less optimal than simply using them as stabilzers in compound movements and weight-free contractions; then just losing the layer of fat around them.

I know this contradicts what I said before, but I would like to get others’ thoughts on this.

Seperation in the abdominal wall is dependent on tendon insertion. Just like the “peak” on the bicep or the speration between your pecs, its all genetic. You can make the muscles bigger but you can’t change your tendon insertion.

No, there is no margin of truth to this.

Dave Tate would disagree with ditching the sit-ups, Char, although I agree that many people don’t do them very effectively.

A little bit of a hijack. I was watching one of those makeover shows (yeah, I know… my girlfriend had it on…) It really pissed me off though. Some shmoe on the show just bought abs. Since everyone already has the sixpack thing going on, he went in and had the 50lbs of lard removed and had ab-etching performed. I hope his surgery is painful.
Sorry about the hijack.

Fnord11:

Are you talking about the person who had to lose weight before he was allowed to get the makeover? If so, then most of the weight was from his own work. Then after the surgery he still worked out, and defined his abs more.

I don’t think it was ab-etching, just run of the mill lipo. But I do believe if he was able to go as far as he did without the surgery, he could have done it on his own without the lipo.

Now while some of the information they give is not the best, (like the personal trainer using triceps extensions to eliminate fat from the backs of arms,) and they do give an easy way out of being fat, I have to support any TV show that tells people, “Congratulations, you are the ugliest person we could find.”

And where else could you learn the term “Brazilian butt lift”?