Train your abs like you train other muscles.  If you wouldn’t do hundreds of reps to train your biceps, why do hundreds of reps to train your abs?  To improve endurance of your ab muscles, which need to work all day, do 4 sets of 15-20 crunches with 30 seconds rest between sets, increasing the number of reps or decreasing the rest period as you progress.  If you want firmer, more visible abs, hold a weight against your chest and lift your torso for 3 sets of 8 reps with 2-3 minutes rest between sets, decreasing the number of reps and adding more resistance as you progress.  Do your crunches on a stability ball, which allows greater range of motion and increases abdominal muscle activity compared to crunches on the floor.

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Drop Sets

A technique typically used by bodybuilders to stimulate muscle hypertrophy by fatiguing the muscle without recovery, drop sets drop the amount of weight after reaching muscular failure at the end of a set so that you can continue an exercise using a lighter weight.  For example, at the end of a set when muscular failure occurs, drop the weight down by a specified amount (10 to 20 pounds) so that you can immediately perform another set until failure occurs again.  Then drop the weight again and do a third set.  While this technique is usually used to squeeze out more reps after muscular failure, you can also use a specified number of reps per set rather than lift until failure occurs.  For example, you can do 3 sets of 10 reps of biceps curls with no rest in between by performing the first set using 20 pounds, the second set using 15 pounds, and the third set using 10 pounds.  

Like any method of strength training that fatigues the muscle, drop sets can increase muscle size.  Although muscle size and strength are related, hypertrophy can occur without large strength gains if the muscles hypertrophy from an increase in the sarcoplasma volume (the semifluid portion of muscle) rather than from an increase in the contractile proteins (actin and myosin).  Drop sets are more likely to cause the former given the volume of reps and the lack of rest periods, which is why they are used by bodybuilders, who are more interested in muscle size and definition rather than strength.  To increase strength, most experts agree that it’s better to use heavier weights with few reps per set (3-8) and rest at least 2 minutes between sets. 

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Athlete Spotlight

Peter Shankman

A member of REVO₂LT Running Team™ since June, Peter is an entrepreneur, adventurist, and CEO of The Geek Factory, a boutique Public Relations and Marketing firm in New York City.  He is also founder of Help a Reporter Out (HARO), a daily listing of queries from journalists looking for sources interested in being quoted in the media.  He has completed 13 marathons, a number of triathlons, and is currently training for the New York City Marathon on November 1, 2009.

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In Press...

Run For Your Life, my article that includes specific things you can do to keep running for the rest of your life and avoid injury, appears in the August, 2009 issue of SELF magazine.

Can Strength Training Make You a Faster Runner?, my article on whether strength training really works and how to do power-type workouts to improve your running, appears in the August, 2009 issue of the United Kingdom’s Ultra-Fit magazine.

How Long Should You Rest Between Sets?, my Chest Essentials piece on how long men should rest between strength training sets to maximize strength and hypertrophy of their pecs to make women swoon, appears in the July/August, 2009 issue of Maximum Fitness. 

The Final 8 Weeks of Marathon Training, my article on what you should do during the last eight weeks before your marathon, appears in the July/August, 2009 issues of Colorado Runner and Washington Running Report.  

The Myth of the Fat-Burning Zone, my article that busts the myths of the fat burning zone and explains how you really can lose fat, appears in the Summer, 2009 issue of Duke City Fit, Albuquerque, New Mexico’s premier fitness magazine.
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©2009 Dr. Jason Karp.