Quit the Planking

The purpose of this article is to give you the hard truth about abs in hopes that you change up your training and find yourself walking down the beach with the best looking abs of your life. Does that sound good to you? 

Thought so.

For some reason, there is a massive misconception when it comes to the right approach while training abs. Just to make sure we're all on the same page, I'm speaking to those of you who want to get rid of belly fat and have washboard abs. I'm not here to tell you how to strengthen your core. At least for this article I'm not. 

Couple o' dummies..

I want to begin by giving you an analogy for abs. It also uses one of my favorite hobbies, so of course I have to apply it! Abs are like fishing in murky water. The murky water is our body fat. When we catch a small fish, it is extremely hard to see the fish until it gets really close to the surface. But if you catch a large fish, you'll be able to see it earlier as you're reeling in. So what's the best combo? Clear waters AND a big fish. AKA low body fat, AND big abs. That's what really makes a 6-pack pop. 

Question is, how do we get that thick wall of abs under our skin? I see so many people out there tirelessly doing sets of 50 crunches paired up with 60-second planks. If that's you, knock it off with the planks and super high crunch reps. 

"But why? Aren't planks good for your core? Crunches always make my abs burn so that has to mean it's working, right?" 

What are we trying to do here, build a 6-pack, or make sure your ab wall is strong enough to withstand a shin kick from your opponent in the octagon? C'mon.

If we want a 6-pack that stands out, we need to have muscles that stand out. The only way to make this happen is by forcing them to grow. And we force them to grow by training them just like any other muscle group. Yes, that's correct. Your abs are just like every other muscle group. They respond well to heavy resistance, with reps ranging from 8-20. If you wanted to build massive legs, you wouldn't do bodyweight squats for 3 sets of 50 reps and call it good would you? I certainly hope not. 

In order for our ab wall to grow, we have to force it to move against resistance, fill the tissue with blood, expose it to a lot of volume, and give it proper rest. Planking and all those other ridiculous exercises aren't going to help you do that. A plank is an isometric exercise. Meaning that during the exercise, your muscle is not lengthening or shortening during contraction. In order for hypertrophy (muscle growth) to occur, the muscle must be stretched and contracted over heavy resistance. Applying volume (more time under tension, sets, and reps,) will only force the muscle to adapt and grow even more. 

And once you've trained that muscle group and wiped it completely out, you absolutely need to give it proper rest. You can't train abs every day and expect significant results. You're not training other muscle groups every day, so why do the same for your abs? Fuel yourself properly with your macros, hydration, and supplementation while those fibers recover. That's the only way they'll be ready to take on the next challenge you give them. Put your abs in an environment where they are forced to evolve. 

So when you're training those beach muscles of yours, stick to machines, weights, and cables. Use bodyweight exercises like crunches for a burnout at the end if you'd like. When you apply it in the gym, focus on the contraction of your ab wall, as well as the stretch. Stretch and contract. Stretch and contract. Squeeze those friggin' abs as hard as you friggin' can. Then, keep your nutrition on point and by summertime you'll be lookin' reeealllll good. 

Have questions about your ab routine? Shoot me an email at adam@poehlmannfitness.com and I'll help you out. No questions, but just want more awesome fitness content? Perfect. Follow me for everything fitness!

As always, thank you for reading.

This is Why You're Not Building Muscle

"Well, I got my butt kicked, so I'd say the workout was great!"

I can't stand it when I hear this, even if it's immediately after one of my classes that I teach. I would say that I hear a statement similar to this AT LEAST once per day, and at this point it kinda just goes in one ear and out the other. But at first, oh at first it drove me crazy.

What's so wrong with a butt-kicking workout?

Hehe.

Nothing is wrong with a butt-kicking workout at all. It's not the workout that's the problem. It's the approach to the workout that's the problem.

Or lack thereof.

Most of the time, people appreciate a butt-kicking workout because they feel exhausted and their clothes are drenched in sweat. Which usually means they worked hard and they burned some 300 or so calories. 

Whoopdie freaking doo. 

Here's a thought. When you set out on your fitness journey, did you tell yourself, "ok, my goal for the next 6 months is to get my butt kicked three times per week"? Absolutely not. I really hope not. Your goal was most likely along the lines of, "I wan't to have a six pack", "I wan't to lose 10 lbs of body fat", or "I want to gain 1/4 inch of muscle on each of my arms." You had a "why" to your "what" that meant something significant to you. 

It's easy to lose sight of a "why" (the why is your purpose) with a bunch of butt-kicking workouts that only serve one purpose: burning calories. 

For the sake of this article, I want to keep things on one track, the track that I know most about, and it's building muscle. 

If you're going to the gym each and every day, mindlessly lifting weights with no strategic approach, no prior research on how to properly train, etc., building rock-hard muscle can (most likely WILL) be extremely difficult. 

I want to break this down into two different aspects of fitness since I'm both a functional fitness instructor as well as a bodybuilding style enthusiast. 

Functional Fitness

When you sign up for a class at your local functional fitness gym, you most likely have no clue what body parts the instructor is going to have you train. THAT'S OK. 

So the question is, how do you adjust and make sure that the workout assigned to you for the day lines up with the goals that you have?

Well, going frequently is going to be your first bet. The more often you attend, the higher the chance of working your entire body each week. 

When you are in class, then what? How should you approach the workout? 

MUSCLE ACTIVATION

That is the answer. Activating your muscle fibers with every single exercise is the key to lean muscle tissue growth.

I tell my students in class almost every single day. SQUEEZE. I want their focus to be on how they can best squeeze and stretch the designated muscle group in order to promote the best possible stimulation which can ultimately lead to growth. I would much rather have them grab slightly heaver weights, do slightly slower, more controlled reps rather than grab light weights and do 30 repetitions in the given amount of time. It's too easy for form to get sloppy and take attention off the primary muscle group if you're racing to get 30 reps in 20 seconds.

But it all depends on the workout. If your instructor has given you a workout full of supersets with chest, back, shoulder, arm, and leg exercises, then you've struck gold. If your instructor has given you a workout with box jumps, plyos, agility ladders, and other forms of interval cardio, no worries there either! You've just completed a cardio session for the week, and you didn't have to come up with the workout on your own!

Let's say you get one of those cardio workouts, and you've got another muscle group left to work that week, what to do now?

Resistance Training

If your functional fitness gym has an open gym time, or you belong to a separate gym with weights, machines, etc., it's time to put some work in.

"You mean like, butt-kicking work?"

Well, no. Eh, yes, kind of. Butt-kicking in the sense of your muscles are absolutely screaming and full of blood by the end of it, rather than your lungs begging for air.

Let's say you've worked everything but your biceps and triceps for the week, so you're headed to the gym, pre-workout in hand, ready to blow up your arms.

"But Adam, what are you suggesting that I do different from my usual arm day?"

Solid question. Remember what I said earlier about squeezing? Yeah, that's all I need you to do. One of the biggest reasons people plateau with their muscle building is because they don't have any mind-muscle connection (they don't squeeze).

I'll put some real world application to this so it makes more sense. Let's take a staple exercise for bicep growth, the barbell bicep curl.

You find your hand placement, grab the bar, get your core and back in position, and begin curling. Rep 1,2,3,4... It begins to burn a little.

Just a little, though. We want that arm pumped and full of blood.

Let's address the common mindset when it comes to lifting weights. It usually goes like this: If I lift the weight, it will activate and work my muscle. So if I lift the bar, it will activate my biceps.

We need to flip that upside down.

From now on, think about it this way: I am going to flex my bicep, which will cause the weight to move in order to complete the curl. Always flex your muscle BEFORE you begin the movement. As you go through the motion, don't think about moving the bar up with your hands, think about moving the bar up by squeezing your biceps even harder. Your hands just happen to be holding the bar. 

It's magic.

After using this tactic, you'll be able to command so many more muscle fibers to work and it will spark growth that you've never experienced before. 

Regardless of where you're at, on a machine or in a class, always be thinking about the activation of your muscle rather than the movement itself. The movement will take care of itself as long as the muscle is doing the work.

Use this tip, and send me a message or email (adam@poehlmannfitness.com) letting me know how it worked out for you. Remember, muscle growth and maintenance is top priority for a lean, great looking physique. 

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Thanks for reading!