Thread by @Babygravy9

THE GIRONDA APPROACH TO AB TRAINING.

"Sharp, well-built abdominal muscles are worth a king's ransom. To my mind, there is no more treasured possession," said Vince Gironda. Here are the fundamentals of his approach to training the abdominals. 👇

1. NO SPOT-REDUCTION.

Sorry, but no amount of sit-ups will burn the fat off your stomach. Fat loss doesn’t work like that: it isn’t specific to the region that is being worked. Vince knew this way back when, and it’s been wholly substantiated by scientific studies as well.

2. IT'S NOT THAT HARD.

Once you know you can't spot reduce, and you instead focus on reducing your body fat levels by dieting and intense exercise, things become much easier.

3. DON'T DO THOUSANDS OF REPS.

You don’t need to do thousands of reps to develop your abdominals. The abdominals should be trained just like any other bodypart, Vince says, in the same rep ranges (8-12, generally). You don’t need to do Roman-chair crunches for an hour and a half like Frank Zane to get great abs. In fact, doing so is likely to be counterproductive.

Vince cautions that beginners shouldn't even train their abs at all, at least not directly. Training them might even hinder progress, since they’re already getting more than enough stimulation being worked as support muscles during other exercises.

4. STOP WITH THE SIT-UPS

Neither sit-ups nor leg raises are pure abdominal movements. Although the abdominals are involved, these exercises work other muscles primarily. As Vince reminds us, the abdominals function to “shorten the distance between the pelvic basin and the sternum.” So if you want to work the abdominal muscles, that’s what you need to do. For this reason, a partial sit-up—“lifting the body only one-quarter or one-half of the way”—will target the abdominals much more specifically than a full sit-up.

To ensure that the abdominals are properly worked when shortening the distance between the pelvic basin and the sternum, you must ensure the small of the back is in constant contact with the bench or board.

5. DON'T WAIT AROUND

Vince's general approach to progression was to increase density (the amount of work performed in a given period of time), rather than simply increasing reps per set, number of sets or weight. For this reason, with abs Vince recommends keeping rest periods between sets to a minimum, and reducing them consistently to progress, rather than drawing out the exercises with more and more reps or added weight.

6. DO VACUUMS

The vacuum was a staple of Silver and Golden Age bodybuilding. With the arrival of the “mass-monster” era, however, the vacuum got lost along with the trim waists of the past, as bodybuilders went all-out on size.

The vacuum is an isometric abdominal-hollowing exercise that targets the transverse abdominis, a deep muscle that acts like a belt around the waist. Tighten the belt, tighten the waist. Remember what Vince said about the importance of “creating the illusion.” If you can slim and tighten your waist, in an instant your shoulders become wider, simply by comparison.

In The Wild Physique, Vince recommended performing sets of eight reps.

7. DO THE FROG CRUNCH.

This is Vince's signature crunch, which he advocated instead of the traditional sit-up. This is a special crunch that is designed to isolate the abdominals. Lower back flat, ankles crossed. Here's how Vince describes it.

"Lie on your back on the floor. Put your heels together and place your hands behind your head. Pull head forward to a tight contracted position. Hold for two seconds and repeat."

For more Gironda ab training, check out this article on my Stack and the rest of my Gironda series, THE OG.

raweggstack.com/p/the-og-abdom…