What's going on nation? I'm Scott from muscularstrength.com
and as you can see I'm not in my usual studio
I'm actually in South Carolina here at the muscle and strength gym
I've been here for the last couple days filming some awesome tip
videos that I know you guys are going to enjoy
So if you haven't checked out their YouTube channel yet
I'll put a link down in my pin comment below so after you're done here
You can go check out those videos too, but today. We're going to be putting to bed a myth
It's like one of those common-sense myths that I just can't stand hearing bros talk about at the gym
So guys do me a favor after you watch this video
And you listen to what I have to say when you're at your gym
you hear Bros talking about how you can build abs doing
Powerlifting movements I want you to send them my link or just explain it
to them very slowly, okay, so let's get into it
Powerlifting versus direct ab training to build abs which is better
And why? when you build a muscle no matter
What muscle you're doing think about every exercise you do in your muscle building workouts
What are the two key things that have to happen?
You have to get a stretch and a flex if you're trying to build your biceps
you can't just sit there and flex as hard as you can in the mirror for 45 minutes and
Expect your biceps to grow right? In order for those biceps to grow you need to do a curl
You need to have full extension to get the stretch
then you have to get a
Full flexion to flex at the top to work the muscle and spark muscle growth
You need that muscle damage well
why do people think that when it comes to the ABS that the same concepts don't apply if you would like to build
Blocky abs that stick out okay?
You need to have spinal flexion and spinal extension on every single
Repetition you need to work the area in order to build that muscle up when you do
powerlifting movements or full-body lifts like rack poles squats and deadlifts
Yes
When you do those exercises you have to flex your entire core
Which does include the abs and obliques in order to stabilize throughout the movement
But you're only
statically working those muscles
In fact the entire point of doing a squat or a deadlift or rack pull is to ensure that your core does not bend
It's just like actually I did a video with muscle and strength
Comparing the plank to a floor crunch which builds better ads
When you do a plank the entire purpose of that movement
is to not have spinal flexion and extension it is a core
Strengthening movement and I think the that people get confused because when they hear the word
core they automatically assume
It's literally just the ABS, but it's not guys. It's the entire area from front to back now
Think about when you do a really heavy squat
Or a really heavy deadlift you take it one step further you still keep your core tight
But you put any weightlifting belt on to even to ensure that you 100%
do not get any sort of spinal flexion or
Extension so that you don't injure yourself if you're doing a deadlift
And you go into a full catback you're gonna blow your back out okay?
But when it comes to building muscle
You need to go into that position when on the floor doing a crunch to get the flexion and extension
You need in order to build your abs if you didn't do any ab specific work you have a low body fat
Percentage you eat correctly and you've been training your whole life and utilize you know a lot of these big
Powerlifting lifts or these full body lifts where you're keeping your core super tight you will have abs
You will have the outline of your abs
But if you want those abs to pop and really stick out and you want those blocky abs you need to train them
directly if you could build blocky abs just from doing those full-body lifts
Then you should be able to basically walk around all day long
Flexing your abs as hard as you can and then have those ab muscles start to build up
It wouldn't work
And it's for the same reason like I said in the beginning of the video
you can't walk around all day long flexing your biceps
Thinking that that's gonna make them grow. They need some direct stimulation
So guys, let's put this myth to bed right now
conclusion here's the conclusion
doing full body lifts like squats and deadlifts and rack poles where the core is heavily engaged
Can that help you build abs?
Yes, but to a degree if your body fat is low enough it will help make the area stronger
And yes the ABS will be visible
but they're only visible because the body fat is low if
You want your abs to pop and you want to build those muscles up so that they look bigger in fuller is
that gonna happen through just simple stimulation of flexing them and the answer is no you will have to do direct ab
Training in order to get those results
so
this is it guys this myth is put the bed if you enjoyed the video be sure to hit that like and subscribe button
And guys if you do want to build some blocky abs
I'm gonna link you to a video of my own personal workouts
that I've used that's helped me really train that area and for those
Of you who need a full program that targets everything
be sure to check out my programs at muscularstrength.com
I'll toss that link in my pin comment too and as always guys more good stuff coming