🏋️ how to get killer abs

Today’s newsletter is presented by WHOOP. If you need a wearable that accurately tracks your weight training progress, WHOOP’s new Strength Trainer feature offers a deep dive into your workouts. And since you’re a BarBend reader, head here for a free WHOOP 4.0 strap, one free month of the service, and a $0 signup fee.

Here’s what we’ve got lined up today:

• Improve your gut health for fat loss

• Everything you need to know about getting rockstar abs

• Powerlifter/strongman Jamal Browner hits massive numbers in training

Fat Loss

Gut Instinct

The human body is a complicated, interconnected, confusing machine. When it comes to weight loss, the simple arithmetic of “calories in, calories out” doesn’t tell the entire story of the complex calculus of the human organism. With hundreds of different species of bacteria living in your “gut,” totaling over 100 trillion in total population, it may do you well to keep them happy.

Whether you’re frustrated by a lack of fat loss progression even with intense dieting or tying to maximize your body’s potential, you might want to invest some energy into learning more about your gut microbiome. The hard research into this relatively new field can be scant, so do yourself a favor and begin your investigation into the possibilities your “gut health” offers you in your fitness journey.

From Our Sponsor

Find Your Strength With WHOOP

What is the worst part of lifting weights? Tracking lifts and progress during sessions.

Well, WHOOP has put all that frustration and guesswork in the past with their latest update: the Strength Trainer.

This all-new feature works by measuring the exercises you perform, the number of reps you do, and the weight you use to accurately track how your strength training routine impacts your strain, body, and recovery.

For a limited time, BarBend readers can get a free WHOOP 4.0 strap, an extra month of service, and a $0 signup fee.

Exercise Tips

Six-Packs of Love

Wanna know a secret about ab training? You don’t need the washboard stomach of an action hero to have a strong, stable core.

Whether health and performance are your goal, or if you just want to be able to grate cheese on your stomach to put on your carb-free pasta, you need to understand the fundamentals of abdominal training before you even embark upon a workout plan. For starters: optimal abdominal results require you to work your core by training it through all 360 degrees with carries, isometric holds, and bracing with heavy compound lifts.

Bottom line: get out of the 1980s and quit doing sit-ups until you puke. Follow our in-depth training guide for abs below.

Strongman

Cross-Sport Strength

Powerlifter Jamal Browner is ramping up for his strongman debut at the Giants Live World Open on September 2 in Cardiff, Wales. Browner, a sumo puller by trade, has been slowly adjusting to the rules of strongman, which requires a conventional stance (hands outside the legs).

Browner shined brightly in the social media spotlight last year when a video of him deadlifting 500 kilograms (seemingly with ease in a sumo stance) began circulating. Will Browner be able to harness his massive strength to succeed within the parameters of strongman?

His success remains to be seen, but we do know that one month out from the contest, Browner PRed by hitting two reps with a massive 435-kilogram (959-pound) conventional deadlift in training. That’s certainly not a bad start.

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Everything else

Deals! Deals! Deals!

• Aside from a Monday off work, Labor Day also brings with it a treasure trove of discounts and sales on all your favorite fitness equipment. Here are some early deals you can snag right now.

• Get the most bang for your buck out of your cable machine by introducing the bent-over cable row into your back-day arsenal. This low-stress way to increase your lat training volume is a banger in either a busy commercial environment or a minimalist home gym.

• Canadian strength coach Jeff Nippard brings us his “perfect,” scientifically calculated approach to training legs. This six-exercise routine hits the legs from all angles, and Nippard has advice for modifying the program to fit your specific goals.