Needless to say, I’ve been asked this a few times in my career. Almost without exception, I either say “Eat less”, or “There is no such thing as an ‘ab’ exercise”. And again, almost without exception, people look at me oddly because they think I’m being a smart ass. But in this instance at least, I’m not being a smart ass, I’m being 100% truthful and honest.
First, the appearance of your stomach is 99.9% due to the amount of body fat accumulated on top of it, not the musculature underneath. And because this is one of the first areas on our body where excess calories are stored, you’ll need to eat less to ensure no excess calories get stored in the first place. So again, best ab exercise #1: eat fewer calories.
Secondly, there is no such thing as an “ab” exercise, an “arm” exercise, a “leg” exercise etc. If you think there are you and I are on completely different stratospheres because every single exercise you do involves your entire body as one chain of movement. If you still approach your training with the mindset of “doing arms”, “doing abs” etc, you’re about 15-20 years behind the bio-mechanics learning curve. At The Training Rim, we push things, we pull things and we squat – those are the only exercises that matter, and therefore the only ones we do. So best ab exercise #2: stop trying to isolate any muscle in an effort to spot reduce.
All of that being said…
If you’re looking to improve abdominal strength and add visible musculature to your stomach with one exercise, you’ll need to do the single arm cable chest press.
A chest press - for the abs?!?
Abso-friggin-lutely.
The first thing you need to do to alleviate your confusion is to understand the function of the abdominals. Although they are able to flex the spine and twist the spine, as in the motions done when doing situps or torso twists (altogether now – uugggghhh…), that’s NOT their primary role.
The abdominals primary job is to STOP movement, not generate it. They are supposed to stop your back from arching back too far or twisting too much. This is what provides support when your body pushes and pulls things in the gym and out. People who can provide abdominal support generally are very strong for their size. People who do not provide adequate support for their spines are generally weak and injury prone. (Have you ever heard the expressions “spineless”, and “have a backbone”? Although they are used in a figurative sense to describe people who are pushovers, they have a literal beginning: people who have wimpy spines really are wimps – literally.)
When the abdominals stop the spine form moving, it allows support for the arms and legs to move and generate force. This is why people with stiff, strong abdominal muscles are strong people. And why all the above is on display during a single arm cable chest press.
What you need to do to truly strengthen the abs is put your abdomen in a position where it is forced to stop extension of the spine and stop rotation of the spine. And if specifically needs to be an “ab” exercise, you’re going to need heavy weight.
I present to you, the one arm standing cable press.
Loading up one side of your body at chest height with a heavy weight makes your body want to bend back and twist. Imagine if, as you’re reading this, someone behind you grabbed your right shoulder and pulled you back. The right side of your body would twist to your right and your spine would arch backwards. To prevent this from happening, your abdominal muscles would have to squeeze and pull you back to a normal position. This is what a one arm cable chest press does: it forces your body to stop the arching and twisting, placing a great demand on your abs.
Now that you know the “What?” and the “Why?” check back soon for the “How?”, as we’ll demonstrate how it gets done effectively.
Check back soon for the video demonstration!
"T-Woww" knows abs. And she doesn't do crunches or situps. And as you can see, she likes to be anonymous.
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