What's up, guys?
Jeff Cavaliere, ATHLEANX.com.
Today I wanted to make a video to show you guys how to get that more developed V cut
line.
At the risk of making sure this stays a "G" video, that line right here.
We can see that leads down toward the junk.
Now look; it's important that we understand the anatomy, which we're going to get into
because when you understand the anatomy it will guide how you train.
We always talk about following the fibers and understanding it.
But it's always got to start – whenever we talk about anything abdominal, in terms
of revealing what we're going to see here, and what we're trying to get that V-cut area
– it has to start with this good news, bad news, good news situation.
The good news is, is that you guys know on this channel I'm never going to bullshit you.
I’m going to give you the actual, real advice that you need so you can start to make the
improvements you need to make.
That's the good news.
The second thing is, the bad news is that it's going to take quite a commitment on your
part through your nutrition to make this area visible.
Especially because we know that when men lose body fat, especially from around the waist,
they tend to lose the up top first and it starts to come down here, and the last area
to go is going to be that lower abdominal area.
The most stubborn is going to be that lower abdominal area.
Meaning, your level of consistency is going to have to be very high.
You can't just do something for two weeks – a crash diet for two weeks – and think
you're going to reveal this area down here.
You're going to need to be consistent with your nutrition to the point where you can
lower your bodyfat levels significantly enough to get down where those lower abdominal areas
are lower in bodyfat.
So, you're going to need to make sure you do that.
If you're looking for something to help guide you, I did a whole video on a very simple
plate technique that I want you guys to use.
It's going to simplify the nutrition process.
Again, simplification will lead to consistency.
If you'd rather have a step by step plan, I have my entire meal plan, exactly what I
eat included in all our ATHLEANX programs over at ATHLEANX.com.
Now, the good news – because there is good news – even though you have to do that,
there's no reason why you wouldn't want to start training the muscles that feed this
V-cut.
Namely, the obliques.
We know that the obliques have the visibility far up the chain here.
They're not just visible down here at that line.
They're not just down in here.
They're all up in here.
The external oblique is feeding this area here.
We know, as we said, as we start to lose bodyfat at a higher level of the torso, so we can
start to see some of the tapering benefits of training the obliques.
So, it's good that you can start to focus on those things now even while you're still
working on the nutrition.
Now lets talk about the anatomy.
For the anatomy here, we're always going to break out the muscle markers.
When we're talking about the V-cut, we're literally talking about the obliques.
I did this in the video before I showed you and you can see here, this is what that "v-cut"
area looks like when covered with fat, and this is the same area when the bodyfat is
stripped off.
What's the difference?
Nothing.
Just the bodyfat.
The level of development of the obliques is what stands out because the bodyfat is removed.
So, we want to make sure we're focusing on the right area because there are two different
obliques.
We have the obliques that come in this direction here.
We know those are the external obliques.
They feed through their tendinous attachment into this thickened area here.
It's called aponeurosis.
The thickening, where the muscle leads into a tendinous sheath.
In the bottom border of that is this inguinal ligament.
Just the bottom border.
That feeds that bottom border.
But the bulk of this here, this whole thickening here, is all coming from external oblique
that's feeding down into that.
Now, we also have the internal oblique that goes in the opposite direction.
It feeds this way.
Interestingly, what it does is feeds perpendicularly into that aponeurosis, that thickening that's
down into that inguinal ligament.
The benefit of that, and knowing that, is that we talk about all time the importance
of following the fibers.
Shortening of fiber in that direction, along its direction here, is going to help to develop
that muscle.
We know that when a muscle contracts it transmits force through the tendon that it blends into.
So, if we can have an impact on the tendon that it blends into, we know we can feed into
this aponeurosis and start to help to develop that more.
How do we do that?
We focus on that internal oblique.
Why we can't see this – because it's deep to the external oblique – we can activate
it fairly easily.
There are three components to doing this.
The first thing you want to do is lie down on the floor like you're seeing me do and
you want to flatten that belly out.
More importantly, you want to activate the transverse abdominus.
The transverse abdominus is going to flatten the entire midsection.
You can see that as soon as I do this, I immediately see that v-cut line pop more prominently.
Why?
Because the transverse abdominus has its own tendinous sheath that blends with the internal
obliques' tendinous sheath to attach right into this area that we're trying to impact.
We know if we can flatten the stomach by pulling the belly button down – you see me here.
Again, to activate the transverse I'm here and I draw in.
You can see, once I draw in this becomes more prominent.
Again, out and relaxed, draw down, and in, and it becomes more prominent here.
So, the first part is that.
The second part is getting basic abdominal activation.
We can do that with a posterior pelvic tilt.
If I'm on the ground here – you can see me now on my back, I get that transverse abdominus
activation and I pull up with the posterior pelvic tilt.
Getting the trunk to curl, getting more abdominal contraction.
Now here comes the most important part.
Rotation in the same direction of the side that you're trying to get to contract.
Why?
Because if you follow those fibers, guys, you realize that rotation in this direction,
down in this direction following the fibers, is going to make that internal oblique contract.
If we can get contraction through that muscle, realizing that the force will transmit through
that tendon, we can get and activation in this exact are that we're trying to target.
Now, we're going to go one side at a time.
To do that, we're going to do this exercise here.
It's more of just a contraction drill.
I'm going to do the three parts I said.
I do the flattening, I do the trunk curl, and then I rotate in that direction.
You can see and feel how intense of a contraction that is right on that line.
Right on that v-cut area.
What I want you to do is use this as a neuromuscular drill.
I want you to include it with whatever ab training you're doing.
If you're on our ATHLEANX programs, we train abs every, single day.
You can incorporate the additional work just with a couple extra sets of, let's say, six
to seven second contractions, 10 good quality ones.
The fact is, if you do what I'm showing you here in conjunction with the nutrition and
getting you nutrition in check as you drop those bodyfat levels; this v-cut line will
become much more prominent.
Again, you can see here that when I make that turn, in that direction – here, and then
in – I get that v-cut line becoming more established, and again, more visible.
That's what you're trying to do, guys.
That's your attack plan for making it work.
I promise you, you're going to get better control of it.
A lot of it is that guys just don’t have good control over the area and don’t even
know how to contract their abs, let alone put a more creative pelvic tilt, let alone
get these areas to actually contract when we're talking about the obliques.
But this is your attack plan for doing that.
Hopefully you've found the video helpful, guys.
If you're looking for more science-based training and advice, you want to make sure you head
over to ATHLEANX.com and get one of our training programs.
Again, we put the science back in everything we do because it matters.
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All right, guys.
I'll see you soon.