The Best Bodybuilding Ab Workouts

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Here’s everything on tap for today:

• Inside Chris Bumstead’s Olympia prep diet

• Why you should arch your back during the bench press

• The best bodybuilding ab workouts

Bodybuilding

An Olympia Diet

Chris Bumstead is gearing up for yet another defense of his increasingly popular Classic Physique Olympia title, which means his diet and midsection are getting tighter. CBum recently provided some in-depth details about his diet, and we’ve taken the liberty of distilling them down into a fine powder for easy consumption. 

While Bumstead expects his coach to throw in refeeds to ensure he doesn’t get too depleted, his diet is a classic example of bodybuilding discipline and prioritizing function over taste. (Not that a pile of plain cod and white rice can’t be appetizing…) 

See how one of the biggest bodybuilding sensations in recent memory handles his pre-contest diet prep in the breakdown below. 

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Training Tips

Arch Deluxe

Arching on the bench press is such a powerful tool that the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) has taken steps to limit the amount of parabola lifters can create in contests.

That should tell you all you need to know about getting set up on the bench, but some people still haven’t gotten the memo that creating a (suitable) arch increases stability and force transfer, leading to a bigger, safer press.

Establishing an arch doesn’t mean you need six years of intense yoga to get into position, and it’s not just for powerlifters looking to eke out marginal gains. Bodybuilders can gain greater pec hypertrophy by placing the muscle in a more biomechanically advantageous position for complete contraction.

If you haven’t explored your arch, you haven’t really begun to bench press. Follow coach Joe Bennett’s advice and change your horizontal pressing game for the better.

Workouts

Ab Fab

Ab training is always somehow controversial, and it is no different in the bodybuilding world. Training your abs exclusively for aesthetics requires you to shape enough muscle to explicitly pop when you shred your body fat down low enough to see a six-pack. 

Just like most people aren’t going to be challenging Bumstead in his Olympia supremacy, your abs don’t always follow the same rules as the rest of the muscles in your body. The beginner-to-advanced journey doesn’t include adding five pounds a week for several years, as it might in the squat or deadlift. It does, however, involve choosing the right exercises in the right amounts. 

Want the cheat sheet for sleek abs? We’ve compiled the best core workouts for your bodybuilding goals in the guide below. Plus, we threw some science-y stuff in there so you’ll learn the hows and whys of it all.

Everything Else

The King’s Lifts

• During a recent talk with NFL great Shannon Sharpe, eight-time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman divulged some of his best-ever lifting PRs. And, uh, if you didn’t know, Ronnie was pretty darn strong.

• While “hiding paintings” and “storing gold” aren’t among the best exercises for the Swiss bar, you can find 11 perfectly morally neutral shoulder-saving movements in this article.

• Exercise sequence can sometimes matter as much as the choice of movement itself. Learn how to put together the perfect series of muscle-building lifts with Dr. Mike Israetel.