Adding weight plates to ab routine?

[Marisa]

Hi ladies!

I read something on the internet yesterday regarding working out your abs, and it said that as you progress with your ab routine, instead of doing more and more reps to see better results, you should instead progressively add more resistance to see better results and get a better ab workout all around. They suggested a few different ways to do this- one being addind weights to your ab routine. They say to hold weight plates as you are doing your crunches or sit-ups (or whatever else). Now lately, I have not been seeing as good of results with my abs and maybe thats just because I need a change. They don't look bad, it's just that they seem to have stopped toning up, and darnit, I still want them more toned!! So anyway, I rested a 5 lb plate on my stomach last night while doing the ab routine from MIS, because I found it next to impossible to hold the plate to my chest and still lift my chest up to do the exercises. As far as I could tell, resting the plate on my stomach did seem to add a bit more resistance, but the only annoyance was that it kept slipping off of my somach as I pulled up, because I did not hold the plate in place, I just kept my hands placed behind my head as I normally would.

Anyway, I just wanted to know if any of you ladies do anything like this to make your ab routine more intense, or maybe you just have some better suggestions to add more intensity to a worn out ab routine.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much!

Marisa

 

[WD]

I hold a dumbell or weight plate on my chest with one hand and use the other hand behind my head. Sometimes I hold a dumbell in front of myself. I was doing 45 minutes to 1 hr of ab work with no weight and not seeing any further results. Now I use weights and shorten the duration. I have gotten more results this way.
Diane Sue

 

[wendyloo]

I have been known to be wrong, but...

I kind of think that placing the weight plate on your abs would be equivalent to strapping a weight to your bicep when doing a bicep curl, or laying a weight on your chest to do chest presses. Sort of ineffective. I would think that you need to have the weight attatched to the end of the lever that you're lifting; in other words, it needs to be either on your chest, in your hands or between your knees. Then your ab muscles have more resistance when they try to lift that part of your body... Jump in here if I'm off base!

So, if the weight plate on your chest makes it impossible for you to lift into the curl, the weight may be too heavy. Try a lighter plate, maybe. Or use a weighted ball placed between your knees or held above your head or even on your chest with your arms holding it there...

I'd like to hear what other people have to suggest!

 

[Connie1]

Similar to what Wendy has said, you can add resistance by putting your arms straight up overhead while doing crunches. Cathe does this in the ab routine from CTX Kickbox and others. I do find them more effective!

CTX Kickbox is a great bargain IMO with its power lunges and fun abs.

Weights work too- start like you have, with the weight plate close to the lever, then slightly higher up on your chest, and progress from more reps, to a few with a longer lever.

That is, put the weight plate behind your head. Then further out as you get stronger. This will really add oomph to your ab strength.

Don't feel like a wimp just doing three well-formed reps. Few means few!

Don't forget planks, and oblique exercises. There are some great obliques in Slow and Heavy and in the Intensity series.

By the way I don't use weights much at all with abs. In a lazy way I just do different ab routines mostly as-is, of Cathe's. I still do the traditional ab routines too, from Step Heat, Body Max, etc. A mix of intensities in ab work helps me a lot.

 

[missannie]

I'm always looking for something new for added resistence for ab work -- would you believe a barbell? Yep. Its part of the ab work in CIA's Powerbar Training 2102. Kinda hard to describe here on the forum but I'll try: one end of the barbell rests on the floor between your legs as you hold the other end with a straight arm away from your body, using the weight of the barbell as resistence as you "crunch" up. (Maybe someone on the forum can do a better job than I can of explaining it?) ;-)

Anyway, having the weight away from actually being against your body (as opposed to holding a plate or a dumbbell on your chest) seems to provide a lot more resistence -- or maybe I'm just pooped by the time I've made it to the ab work....

Ann

 

[kathryn]

I like to hold a light (3#) medecine ball when doing crunches. It also works nicely for adding a bit more resistance when doing crunches on the stability ball.

 

[Francine]

Hey Ann ! Cia Powerbar training is underated! What a great video! I also like the ab work using the barbell for the abs and upperbody! That's a tuff move! For those not familiar you place the barbell in front of you(while on your knees) , do an overhead grip(hip width apart) and slide out to your range of comfort! It's like the abslide/ab dolly on tv but you use the barbell!
For those of you have stopped seeing results in your abs, you just have to shake things up every 3 weeks by changing the sequence you do your exercises by reps,sets,etc. Incorporate different strategies including different variations of the crunch,standing ab work,weighted ab work,planks,side planks,jump rope,stability ball, abs on decline,medicine ball,kickboxing, or if you have a captains chair or a pull up bar you can do hanging knee or leg raises-just to give you some ideas! For those using weights for abs, I use dumbells for a couple of exercises! They stabilize my body through my ab program !I usually start out with 1 set of 12 working my way up to 1 set of 20 doing another 8 with pulses as my goal! For Lower, I put 3 or 5 lb dumbells behind my knees and do reverse crunches then combine the upper crunch with it! For upper I hold the dumbells in my hand with legs raised in the air and reach for my toes on a 3 count up 1 down(keeping my range from my knees to toes and come down) For obliques I lay down straight out with one dumbell overhead(like an overhead press)then transition my body on a right angle(knees stacked to the right) and do an upper crunch raising my extended arms slightly and shoulders off the floor(small effective move) then move legs to left side to work other side! You can do alot of exercises with the dumbell in the same position for obliques but by laying straight out with feet in the air you can alternate doing and upper crunch and lower leg lift combination! Or you can do upper,then lower then both in a 3 step move! For standing weighted ab work you can do a left side bend(3-5-8lb dumbell) on one side and when you come up have your opposite(right) hand holding a light(3-5lb dumbell)by your ear and do a front crunch motion working the opposing muscle( you can always add a knee raise here too to up the intensity)(use the right knee with right forward crunch )! Do a set of 20 then switch sides(and adjust weiights if you have to)! You have an option of going light, or lighter on one heavier on the other or both! You just don't want to do everything at once, you want to be able to have room for progress and intensity! If you have any problems with these moves I'll take pics to demonstrate! I wish you luck in creating your ab routines, remember the best abs are made in the kitchen

 

[wutherhi]

Hmmm, I wonder if you could use one or two five pound ankle weights instead of a plate. You could lay them across your chest and they wouldn't slip off as easily as a plate. This way, you could still keep your hands under your neck for support. Just a thought.