5. Blast the abs hard. Always end your workout with abdominal isolation exercises because they are very important stabilizers. If you fatigue them before training other key movements as suggested in #4 above, your chances of injury go way up! To have a beautiful washboard midsection, I suggest progressing to high intensity abdominal exercises. That means doing crunches while laying over a Paul Chek DuraBall (safe for weight lifting) while holding a dumbbell on your chest (Figures 1A-E).

Figure 1A
Figure 1B
Figure 1C
Figure 1D
Figure 1E

To safely perform a weighted crunch, you must begin by having dumbbells to anchor your feet, the total weight of which is equal to or greater than the dumbbell you are using for your weighted crunch. Failure to follow this directive can result in injury! To begin, place the dumbbell on the end of a weight training bench and position yourself over a Paul Chek Duraball as shown in Figure 1A.

Note the feet are hooked under the anchor dumbbells and when you roll forward to accept the dumbbell from the bench, you must keep your head and back slightly extended to keep pressure through the ball, stopping it from shooting out from behind you. Also, make sure the floor is clean, because a dirty floor makes for a slippery surface ... not good for your body!

Once you have rolled the dumbbell up onto your chest (Figure 1B), you will lay over the Duraball, inhaling as you extend backward until your head touches the ball (Figure 1C). Allow the dumbbell to roll up until it touches your collar bones. From here, make sure your tongue is on the roof of your mouth behind the front teeth and just prior to initiating the crunch, draw your umbilicus toward your spine. The crunch begins at the head and rolls progressively down the spine, like you were rolling a scroll and continues until your abdominal muscles are fully contracted.

As you perform the crunch, breath out through pursed lips and allow the dumbbell to roll slightly forward with you as you crunch (Figure 1D). When you've completed your set, let the dumbbell roll down your body to your pelvis and extend your hips high enough that you can comfortably roll it onto the weights bench, always keeping your back arched over the ball so it doesn't shoot out from under you (Figure 1E).

Start Slowly!

It is important to perform the exercise with your body weight first and then move to progressively heavier dumbbells to warm-up, particularly if you go heavy like I am in Figures 1A-E (that is a 200-pound dumbbell). After three to six weeks of preparatory conditioning using a mix of exercises, you can progress to high intensity sets of 6-8 reps using moderate to fast tempos for 3-4 sets.

Rest between training sessions and don't train the abdominals hard again until the soreness is gone from your muscles. Too much exercise keeps the muscles in a breakdown state. You won't get good results, but you may get injured!

Other helpful exercises are Reverse Swiss Ball Crunches (RSBC) (Figures 2A-B). To perform the RSBC, it is imperative that you find a firmly anchored, stable structure to hold onto such as a squat cage. The exercise generally works best with a 75 cm ball because of the increased range of motion it affords.

Anchored as shown in Figure 2A, the hips are flexed to the point at which the pelvis just begins to roll posteriorly and held there. At the same time, the lower abdominals are relaxed and the spin is allowed to extend so that you literally wrap your spine around the ball, inhaling as you do so. To initiate the exercise, draw your navel inward and roll your pelvis toward the head like you were rolling a scroll. When your abdominal muscles are fully contracted, the movement is complete (Figure 2-B).

After a few weeks doing this exercise, you can increase the resistance by holding a small dumbbell between your feet, but progress slowly with this exercise (see Figures 2C-D).

Figure 2A	Figure 2B	Figure 2C	Figure 2D

Wood Chops and Pushing With a Cable

Figure 3A	Figure 3B

Cable Wood Chops (Figures 3A-B) and Cable Pushing (Figures 4A-B) are also very effective core conditioning exercises that can give you a beautiful torso and improve functional movement skills for all work and sports environments.

To complete the wood chop, face sideways to a cable column (shown in Figure 3A) and take a stable stance slightly wider than shoulder width. Grasp the handle with the hand furthest from the cable column and place the other hand over it. Start with 70 percent of your weight on the leg closest to the cable. Draw your belly button in toward your spine and initiate the movement by bending your legs, pushing away from the weight stack and rotating your trunk away from the cable column while simultaneously pulling the handle downward across your body.

The movement ends when your hands are just above or slightly outside your foot (shown in Figure 3B). Inhale as your arms go up and exhale through pursed lips as you bring your arms down and across your body. When lifting a load under which you can only do fewer than 13 reps, you may need to hold your breath through the initial part of the movement and then release your breath through pursed lips after passing the hardest part of the movement. Perform the exercise on each side.

Here's how the Single-Arm Cable Push is executed: Stand facing a cable column that has been adjusted to shoulder height. Take a split stance with one leg forward and the other behind you. Your knees should be soft and unlocked.

Figure 4A	Figure 4B

Grab the cable handle, using the arm on the same side as the rear leg (shown in Figure 4A). Draw your belly button in and initiate the movement with your back leg and trunk and simultaneously rotate your trunk toward the forward leg while pushing the cable out in front of your shoulder (shown in Figure 4B). Keep the forearm in exact alignment with the cable throughout the movement. Do not let your elbow drop below or rise above the line of the cable. Reverse this movement with your free arm. Reverse this movement until you reach the starting position and repeat this movement.

The Wood Chop and Single Arm Cable Push exercises are best used on the same day you do pushing exercises, such as the bench press. If you are going heavy on the bench, do that before your core training. But, if you want to focus on your core, do the bench press after cable pushing or wood chops.

Cycling in explosive exercises such as forward or lateral medicine ball tosses also help because the rectus abdominus muscle (the washboard muscle) has a predominance of fast twitch muscle fibers, which means it responds favorably to high intensity and high-speed movements.

And all this time you couldn't figure out why 500 crunches a day was getting you nowhere!

I recommend using high-speed movements every third or fourth week of training for one or two workouts. You can also try including high-speed medicine ball exercises directly before or directly after some of the high intensity exercises above once you are in good shape. If you do this type of contrast training, cut the number of reps down on the first exercise so that your motor skills are not deteriorating to the point of losing control on the second exercise. This form of training is not only great for building a strong core. It also develops the nervous system.

Another important principle to follow while working toward the washboard is that if you are going to use isolation exercises targeting the upper, oblique and lower abs on the same day, always start with the lower abs first. Why? The lower abs require much more coordination to train and fatigue faster, followed by the obliques and finally the upper abs, which are real workhorses.

This form of training should always be the last thing you do before leaving the gym because fatiguing the abdominals before other exercises increases your risk of spinal injury due to stabilizer fatigue.

There are many specialized lower abdominal exercises available in my "Scientific Core Conditioning," "Gym Instructor" and "Equal but Not the Same" video programs for those of you who find it challenging to flatten your tummy. I also suggest studying my "Flatten Your Abs Forever!" program, which goes into more detail on the nutritional, hormonal, visceral and lifestyle components than I can in this short article!

Now that you know how to develop a washboard in concert with Mother Nature's principles, please do it. Today, Mother Nature is like the U.S. Marines. Both are looking for a few good men and women!

Paul Chek, Holistic Health Practitioner and certified Neuromuscular Therapist, is the founder of the C.H.E.K Institute in Vista, Calif. He is also sought-after consultant to sporting organizations, his services have benefited numerous professional sports teams, athletes and individuals seeking optimal health worldwide.

Paul has produced more than 60 videos, 17 correspondence courses and is the author of several books, audio programs and articles. For more information on Paul's popular "You Are What You Eat" audio/workbook program, or for any of his other health/exercise courses, videos and books, call 800/552-8789 or 760/477-2620 or visit online at the CHEK Institute Web site. Please feel free to request a catalog of CHEK Institute products.

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