These past few years have been stressful as hell.
Let me help you with that.
by Tony Gjokaj March 10, 2020 3 min read
Abdominals are one of the most sought after muscles. The first thing to get out of the way is that the abdominals will only be visible under a lower body fat percentage. Second is the following mindset: if you do strength lifts, you MAY NOT need to directly train your abs.
Before you feel the need to skip this section, read this: while abdominal muscular development can occur with Squatting and Deadlifting, this does not mean you’re training your core in various planes.
With this being said, there are a lot of things to talk about when training the abdominal area and we are strong advocates of doing so… not just for muscular development, but also for overall health!
This is an excerpt from our Muscle Compendium eBook.
The Abdominal area consists of the following four muscles: the Rectus Abdominis, Transverse Abdominis, and the external and internal obliques. These four muscles assist in keeping our posture in check.
Now that we understand the functions a little more, let’s get into a few strategies in building these “cheese-graters”!
When it comes to effective ab exercises, I prefer to view them as “core” work: since the abs are a small muscle, we train abs for functionality. We optimize this by doing a leg raise, a crunch, and a twist exercise.
To conclude our abdominal training, let’s start by saying in regards to abdominal development, you might not necessarily need to directly train abs. This is because you may develop them from squatting and deadlifting heavy.
I prefer to utilize abdominal training to provide spinal mobility and to reduce any tightness or emphasis on my lower back. When training the abdominals, I would utilize high repetition bodyweight sets upwards in the 10-20 rep range. You should be able to get away with at least 16 sets per week with direct ab work if you’re passionate about working your abdominals.
Personally, I would do 4 sets of 10-20 reps on leg days. Which leads to the importance of training abdominals on your leg days. We emphasize this to allow adequate recovery for your next leg day. If you train abs the day before legs, for example, you might not be able to be as effective on a heavy squat or deadlift session.
Anything you would like to add or any other tips you would like to give? Throw them in the comments below!
Tony is the Owner of Reforged. He is a PN1 Certified Nutrition Coach and has been in the fitness space for over a decade. His goal is to help millions exercise their way out of depression and anxiety.
by Tony Gjokaj July 27, 2022 4 min read
Have you ever experienced anxiety that drains all of your productive energy?
Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the United States, affecting 40 million adults in the US each year.
If you're someone who suffers from anxiety, you know that it can be incredibly debilitating. It can hold you back from some positive experiences and opportunities as a result.
The good news is that there are ways to overcome it!
In this blog post, we will discuss eight best tips for overcoming anxiety, from an expert that has been there themselves!
by Tony Gjokaj July 15, 2022 7 min read
Dude.
These past few years have been stressful as hell.
Let me help you with that.
by Tony Gjokaj July 13, 2022 2 min read
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