AbRipperX Forcified

Muddy and I had the conversation about changing the order of AbRipperX in relation to the main workout a week or so ago, and during my repeat week I tested out his theory. One positive to this method was that I hit AbRipper with significantly more strength, and it didn't really affect my main workout. This was different than the norm of being so wasted after the main workout that I would often contemplate skipping AbRipper because I was so tired. Unfortunately Muddy's method (which we'll call AbRipperX Mudified) doesn't solve a problem that I have with the workout.

The exercises in AbRipperX are definitely done in a specific order. The first few (In and Outs, Bicycles, and Crunchy Frog) primarily work your hip flexors while warming up the rest of your abs. The exercises then begin to target the main portion of your abs while finally attacking your obliques at the end. As you progress through the workout your strength obviously starts to diminish, and each successive exercise has less and less strength. This means that the first workouts involving your hip flexors get the best form and attention, while you're generally struggling just to finish the oblique exercises at the end. I was tired of my obliques feeling like the red-headed stepchild of my core, so I decided to try and little experiment and go through AbRipperX backwards.

Let me just tell you - what a difference. Since my abs were fresh I was able to blow straight through 50 reps of Mason Twists. As expected my first few exercises had the same strength in them as the Bicycles and Crunchy Frog do in the standard order, and by the time In and Outs came around I was complete and absolute toast. Reversing the order resulted in the same overall fatigue as usual, so I was on the right track. The real result came when I woke up in the morning and my abs were SORE! Reversing the order was like putting my body through a completely different workout. Muscles were hit with load at different times than usual, and the end result was more work being done in places that usually are too tired to work real hard. I can say I was happy with the results.

When working abs you're placing load in the same general area of your core with every exercise, so in reality it doesn't matter what order you do the exercises. Obviously it's easier to follow Tony and Friends on the DVDs, but I just grabbed my book and went through it backwards. Easy as tofu as they say (well, it's really pie, but since we can't eat pie we should use a food that we can eat).

One other thought I have about AbRipperX is that the exercises are grouped so that you primarly target one section of your abs before moving onto the next one. I like the idea of treating AbRipper as more of a superset where you go through all your abs in multiple sets, so I'm going to try the following setup through at least the first week of Phase III:

Group 1
In and Outs (Hip Flexors)
Hip Rock and Raise (Hip Flexors/General Core)
Cross Leg/Wide Leg Situps (General Core)
Oblique V-Ups (Obliques)

Group 2
Bicycles Forward (Hip Flexors)
Fiffer Scissors (Hip Flexors/General Core)
V-Up/Roll Up (General Core)
Leg Climb (General Core/Obliques)

Group 3
Bicycles Back (Hip Flexors)
Crunchy Frog (Hip Flexors)
Pulse Ups (Hip Flexors/General Core)
Mason Twists (Obliques)

This should make my abs scream since I'll be fatiguing everything within 4 exercises, and then wearing my abs down for two more big sets. Sounds like fun, eh?

The final idea is to take all 12 exercises, write them on slips of paper, and throw them in a hat. Then start pulling out exercises and do 25 of each until you're done. Basically I just want to get a little variety in the ab work since it's the one exercise that does not have a second variation for us. I'm going to call my little hat routine AbForcifierY since I don't want to seem like I'm ripping off from Tony too much.
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