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The 8-Pack Abs Workout

Why settle for six-pack abs? To sculpt your own visible eight-pack in record time, eat right and add aerobic exercise to your daily regimen. Whether your eight-pack stomach muscles emerge also has to do with genetics. Most men have eight-pack abs in hiding, but weak tendon divisions don’t always define the bottom row. If you’re one of the lucky ones with taut tendons, you still need discipline to melt the fat that hides the rectus abdominis. And you need to make the abdominal muscles grow by doing advanced exercises that use weights or positions that keep the resistance high and the repetitions low (eight to 15).

The Workout
Shaping the rare eight-pack abs requires unique exercises. The smartest way to make your rectus abdominis grow is to perform a mixture of exercises that work your midsection through every possible direction, using as many forms of resistance as possible.

These eight exercises incorporate a variety of equipment and partner-assisted moves you may not have tried before. You’ll start your eight-week programme by choosing an exercise from each of the two sections. By the end of the programme, you’ll be doing all of them – in the order given – to bring out a level of muscular separation and growth you can’t achieve using traditional, high-repetition ab exercises alone. (For the medicine-ball and pulley exercises, choose a weight that allows you to do the required number of repetitions with good form. Injuries are common among men who try to speed up results by using more weight than they’re ready to handle.)

Section 1

Swiss-Ball Curlup
(upper abs, obliques)
Recline on a Swiss ball with your head, shoulders, and back in contact with the ball and your feet flat on the floor. Fold your arms across your chest, touching each hand to the opposite shoulder. Pull your belly button in towards your spine to keep your abs tight throughout the move. This helps focus the move more on your abs. Slowly curl your torso up, vertebra by vertebra, stopping just short of an upright seated position. Then lower yourself to the starting position.
Watch Your Form: The ball should not move as you curl.


Swiss-Ball Curlup with Knee Tuck
(upper and lower abs, obliques)
Recline on a Swiss ball, feet flat on the floor, arms crossed on your chest. Your head, shoulders, and back should all be in contact with the ball. Slowly curl your shoulders and upper back up off the ball as you simultaneously draw your left knee towards your chest. Lower your left leg as you lower your torso back down against the ball. Repeat the motion, this time drawing your right knee towards your chest. Continue alternating legs until you’ve completed all your repetitions.
Watch Your Form: Resist the urge to watch your knee move towards your chest.


Twisting Medicine-Ball Toss
(upper abs, obliques)
You’ll need a partner. Sit on the floor with your hands in front of your chest, knees bent, feet flat on the floor. Your partner should stand a few feet in front of you and to your right. Have your partner toss a medicine ball towards your right side. Catch it and then twist your body to your left, lowering your torso as you go. Touch the ball to the floor, then toss the ball across your body, back to your partner. After a set, reverse the exercise, with your partner throwing the ball from your left.
Watch Your Form: As you throw the ball, try to keep your arms straight.


V Raise
(upper abs, obliques)
Lie on your back with your knees bent at 90 degrees and your feet raised so your thighs are perpendicular to the floor. Slowly extend your legs so they’re at a 45-degree angle from the floor as you raise your upper body so your torso is also at 45 degrees. Extend your arms straight out in front of you. Pause, then slowly raise your arms up and back over your head until they’re in line with your upper body. Lower your arms so they’re parallel to the floor, and return to the starting position.
Watch Your Form: If balancing is difficult, raise your arms only as high as you can.


Hanging Reverse Trunk Twist
(upper and lower abs, obliques)
Hang from a pull-up bar with your hands shoulder-width apart and your legs slightly bent. Keeping your legs at this angle, raise them in front of you until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Next, tilt your pelvis and slowly raise your legs until your feet are almost as high as your chest. Lower your legs to the middle position and rotate them to the right (so your feet point to 1 o’clock), then to the left (feet pointing to 11 o’clock). Bring your legs back to the centre, then to the starting position.
Watch Your Form: Think about tilting your pelvis up, then lifting your legs.


V Raise/Knee Tuck
(upper and lower abs, transverse abdominis)
Lie face-up on the floor with your knees bent at 90 degrees and your feet raised so your thighs are perpendicular to the floor. Slowly extend your legs so they’re at a 45-degree angle from the floor and simultaneously raise your upper body so your torso is also at 45 degrees. Extend your arms straight out in front of you. Holding this position, slowly draw your left knee in to your chest, then extend it back out. Repeat the motion with your right leg. Continue to alternate legs.
Watch Your Form: Go slowly. Imagine that each foot is resisting something heavy.


Single-Resistance Double Crunch
(upper and lower abs, obliques)
Attach a bar to a low-pulley cable. Sit facing the pulley. Place the cable between your feet so that the bar rests across your insteps. Rest your head and back flat on the floor, bend your knees at a 90-degree angle, and position your thighs perpendicular to the floor. Keeping your legs at a 90-degree angle, slowly curl your head and shoulders off the floor as you tilt your pelvis and curl your legs towards your chest. Pause, then return to the starting position.
Watch Your Form: Try to curl your lower body forward to roll your butt off the floor.

Double-Resistance Double Crunch
(upper and lower abs, obliques)
Attach a rope to one of the low-pulley cables and a bar to the other low cable. Lie flat on your back with your head pointing toward the rope and your feet toward the bar. Place the bar on the tops of your shoes so the cable is between your feet. Reach back, grab both ends of the rope, and pull your fists to your chest. Slowly curl your torso up as you simultaneously tilt your pelvis and curl your legs toward your chest. Hold for a second, then slowly lower yourself.
Watch Your Form: Try to resist the urge to pull the rope with your arms.

TIME PERIOD
WEEK 1	WEEK 2	WEEK 3	WEEK 4
CREATE YOUR ROUTINE BY…
Picking one exercise from each section	Picking one exercise from each section	Picking two exercises from each section	Doing all the exercises in both sections in the order shown
SETS OF EACH EXERCISE:
2	3	2	1
YOUR TOTAL WORKOUT SHOULD BE…
4 sets	6 sets	8 sets	8 sets
REPETITIONS PER SET
8–12	8–12	8–15	8–15
SPEED OF EACH REPETITION
2 seconds up, 2 seconds down	3 seconds up, 3 seconds down	4 seconds up, 4 seconds down	4 seconds up, 4 seconds down
REST BETWEEN SETS
45–60 seconds	30–45 seconds	15–30 seconds	None
DO THIS WORKOUT..
3 times a week	3–4 times a week	4 times a week	5 times a week

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