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Quick Wits: Best Exercises for the Abs & Core (Lifting for Muscle Series) · Wits & Weights | Strength & Fat Loss Over 40

• 0:00
  Philip Pape: If you're looking for that six pack or eight pack, I've got you covered today, leaving the last lifting for muscle series to the ab muscles the core as some people call it.
• 0:10
  Philip Pape: We're talking about the best four exercises for sculpting your abs, and no sit-ups and planks are not on the list.
• 0:18
  Philip Pape: Get ready for today's quick wits.
• 0:20
  Philip Pape: Welcome to the Wits and Weights podcast.
• 0:25
  Philip Pape: I'm your host, philip Pape, and this twice a week podcast is dedicated to helping you achieve physical self mastery by getting stronger, optimizing your nutrition and upgrading your body composition.
• 0:36
  Philip Pape: We'll uncover science-backed strategies for movement, metabolism, muscle and mindset, with a skeptical eye on the fitness industry, so you can look and feel your absolute best.
• 0:46
  Philip Pape: Let's dive right in.
• 0:47
  Philip Pape: Welcome to the last quick wits in the lifting for muscle series, where we cut through the fluff and get right to the muscle of the matter.
• 0:57
  Philip Pape: Today, we're zeroing in on the abs, the centerpiece of core strength, and we're going to unpack my top four exercises for building a robust and defined midsection.
• 1:08
  Philip Pape: Before we do, however, abs are kind of a controversial thing.
• 1:12
  Philip Pape: You've heard the phrase that they are made in the kitchen, and, while it is true, for many people it requires a lower level of body fat to reveal those abs.
• 1:19
  Philip Pape: The more overall strength and size you have, the easier it is to do it at a higher body fat.
• 1:25
  Philip Pape: Also, keep in mind everybody's anatomy is different and the way that your abs pop or look is going to be very individual.
• 1:32
  Philip Pape: But having said all that, the most important thing you could be doing for your abs is lifting heavy and doing compound lifts like the deadlift and squat, assuming you are doing those.
• 1:42
  Philip Pape: Here are the four exercises I would love to add in to your routine to help you further develop those ab muscles Because, like any other muscle group, they need to be worked directly if you want them to respond even more.
• 1:53
  Philip Pape: First, we have decline sit ups.
• 1:57
  Philip Pape: So when it comes to ab muscles, we need to load them either with gravity-based kind of body weight load or with actual load from a machine or some other loaded implement.
• 2:09
  Philip Pape: So decline sit ups you actually set your bench to a decline angle, so that's far below parallel, and then you lock your legs in and you do sit ups all the way down to the bench and then all the way back up, and this adds much more intensity than the traditional sit up, because you are unraveling your entire.
• 2:33
  Philip Pape: It's kind of like a shrimp.
• 2:34
  Philip Pape: It's the opposite of a shrimp.
• 2:35
  Philip Pape: Right, you're curling in but you're then unraveling all the way to extension and targeting the upper and middle abs.
• 2:40
  Philip Pape: The decline angle increases that range of motion and the resistance and so coming out of it is where the difficulty is.
• 2:47
  Philip Pape: And again it's not about speed, it's really control.
• 2:51
  Philip Pape: You can hold a plate in your arms or you can put your hands behind your head to add difficulty to the movement.
• 2:57
  Philip Pape: So I love decline sit ups.
• 3:00
  Philip Pape: Number two I call these I don't know if this is the official name for it but incline reverse crunches.
• 3:05
  Philip Pape: So take an incline bench and sit on it at somewhat of an angle, let's say 30, 45, 60 degrees, you know, fill it out and you're basically holding the bench with your hands and then using your abs to curl up your legs.
• 3:20
  Philip Pape: Your legs can be kind of sticking out or they can be slightly bent, but that will target the lower abs and you really need to get your hips and butt off the bench and really squeeze into that at the top of the movement to maximize that ab engagement.
• 3:34
  Philip Pape: And again, this isn't loaded, but you'll see how hard it is.
• 3:37
  Philip Pape: The one way you can load it is to strap your feet to a cable machine with like an ankle what do they call them?
• 3:44
  Philip Pape: Those ankle straps and you can add load that way, but most people don't need that.
• 3:47
  Philip Pape: Number three hanging leg raises.
• 3:50
  Philip Pape: You can either hang with straps, like a pull-up hang or a narrow grip hang, or you can use slings.
• 3:57
  Philip Pape: The idea here is keeping your legs straight and then raising them using your ab muscles, not using momentum, not kipping right, and you're sort of curling your butt and having your butt face outward, if you will.
• 4:12
  Philip Pape: These are very hard for some people, so you may not be able to do many, but you would definitely feel it if you're doing it the right way.
• 4:19
  Philip Pape: And then, number four, we have the ab wheel rollout.
• 4:22
  Philip Pape: The ab wheel, the roller.
• 4:23
  Philip Pape: It looks like out of a 90s infomercial, but it's actually very effective because it targets not just the abs but also your obliques, your hip flexors, sometimes even your shoulders and back.
• 4:34
  Philip Pape: The trick is to roll out slowly, keep your core engaged, but you don't want to be in overextension either.
• 4:42
  Philip Pape: You kind of want a slight curl at the beginning so that you can roll out and then really engage those muscles.
• 4:47
  Philip Pape: Remember ab movements.
• 4:50
  Philip Pape: In addition to being loaded, the purpose of the abs is to round the back.
• 4:54
  Philip Pape: So this is one of the very few cases where you want a rounded back in certain parts of the range of motion.
• 5:00
  Philip Pape: So those are my four favorites.
• 5:02
  Philip Pape: They may have surprised you because I don't do planks, I don't do regular sit-ups, I don't do crunches.
• 5:07
  Philip Pape: I like these more loaded and gravity-based movements.
• 5:10
  Philip Pape: So that wraps up today's ab focused episode.
• 5:14
  Philip Pape: Abs are important to the overall body's strength and stability, but you're going to develop that stability primarily through compound lifts.
• 5:22
  Philip Pape: So these exercises are more for making these pop and giving you a little bit of physique development.
• 5:28
  Philip Pape: And that's it for the lifting for muscle series.
• 5:29
  Philip Pape: I hope you enjoyed it.
• 5:30
  Philip Pape: If you want to hear more like this or any other quick wits topics, reach out to me.
• 5:35
  Philip Pape: Send me an email, philip at witsandweightscom.
• 5:38
  Philip Pape: That's Philip 1L at witsandweightscom.
• 5:40
  Philip Pape: Until next time, stay strong, stay focused.
• 5:43
  Philip Pape: Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Wits and Weights.
• 5:49
  Philip Pape: If you found value in today's episode and know someone else who's looking to level up their wits or weights, please take a moment to share this episode with them and make sure to hit the follow button in your podcast platform right now to catch the next episode.
• 6:03
  Philip Pape: Until then, stay strong.