Unexpected Abs Workout
I'm a sophomore at a large university (which I won't mention) in the west.
Many fraternities actively recruited me and I had lots of friends my freshmen
year. I began gymnastics when I was 6 years old and swam on the boys swim
team and did both for about seven years. When I went into junior high I switched
to wrestling though I continued with gymanstics and swimming in the summers.
When I got to high school I made the wrestling team and devoted my energies
to wrestling and weightlifting.
I'm currently 5'11" and weight 170 lbs and have no bodyfat.
When I got to campus in the Fall of 1996 I become very popular on my floor
in the freshman dorm. I've been doing lots of abs exercises since I was 6
years and currently do 600-1000 ab reps 4-5 nights a week. My waist is 29-30"
and I have four rows of very muscular abs. Gymanstics gave me huge arms and
wide lats and shoulders. Wrestling and weightlifting
helped to fill out my legs quite a bit.
In order to make friends at school, I did my ab workouts in my dormroom without
my shirt. I put up a pullup bar in my room and brought to school my RC bench
and dipping station I built (they fit nicely under my loft). (My roommate
is on the wrestling team and works out often with me.) I did 6 sets of 50
hanging leglifts and by the end of them had 8 guys in my room cheering me
on. I introduced myself to all of them and asked them to write down their
names and room numbers. Four of the guys took off their shirts and asked to
try some hanging leglifts. My roommate was one of them and managed to do 40
before he was very tired and his arms were sore (years of gymnastics helps
me here). Once some of them tried the hanging leglifts they really appreciated
what my abs could do.
After chatting for about 10 minutes I pulled out my RC bench and began cranking
out my RC situps. I did 2 sets of 100 twisting RC situps. Again several guys
wanted to try these. My roommate did over 60. He's got very nice abs (wrestles
in the 150 lb range) but his abs aren't conditioned like mine. We talked for
about 20 minutes and they asked lots of questions about my abs.
I then put away my RC bench and unfolded my exercise mat. I asked if someone
would hold my ankles while I did some twisting bent knee situps. I told some
of them to count for me since I lose count (which I generally do so I time
myself--I do 40 a minute). They joked and laughed as I cranked out my situps.
Chad, who was holding my ankles counted out loud. When I got to 100 I told
Chad that if he were tired someone else could take over. Jeremy took over
for Chad at 150 and kept counting until I finished 400 reps. During this time
some guys went out to call in their friends. New people would come in and
ask how many situps I'd done so far. Someone would say 250 and the guy would
then say "Holy Shit!" and the like. After these everyone cheered.
I toweled off and a couple of guys asked if they could simply touch "my
awesome abs." I said sure and flexed my abs and four or five hands reached
to touch them. We talked about 5 minutes more and then I said I wanted to
finish by doing 100 crunches and did 100 Arnold crunches.
I readily admit that I was showing off by doing 1000 ab reps in front of a
roomful of strangers. This was my way of making friends. They asked if my
abs were sore (the soreness usually leaves after 300 or so reps) and I said
no. My roommate asked if he could give me a few light punches. I said he could
if he wrapped his fist very well with his t-shirt. He said he had boxing gloves
and dug them out of an unpacked box. For the next 30 minutes I let those who
were still around take turns punching my lower three rows of abs. I found
out my freshman year of high school that hanging leglifts in particular made
my lower abs hard as rock. Nothing they did that night really hurt me. My
abs were sore the next day but that "good, well exercised" kind
of soreness.
Four or five guys asked me the next day if they could work their abs with
me so we started working out in the dorm's weightroom. It's the kind that
you need two IDs to check the key out. Three to four nights a week a group
of us worked our abs around 10 pm. I always did 400 or so more reps then them
and twice a week we took turns punching our abs with Marty's gloves. Thursday
nights I almost always do my ab workouts alone and just borrow my roommate's
ID to check out the key. I crank up the music as I crank out my reps. There's
a mirror in front of the squat rack and on Thursday nights I try to do 400
hanging leglifts in front of the mirror. I can do more reps of these when
I can watch my abs work.
I decided to check out a number of fraternities and found out that I was already
a known commodity to these guys. All of them had heard my life's story with
athletics and what kind of conditioning I do for my abs. It turned out that
a number of them had come to see my evening abs workouts. Guys come in and
out of the large weightroom and some of them came just to see if what they
heard about me was true.
I ended up pledging a good fraternity. This left a number of disappointed
fraternities. Their attitude toward me changed quite dramatically. They gave
me the could shoulder. One Thursday night after a long ab workout of 1000
reps, five guys from our rival fraternity grabbed me as I was ready to lock
up and leave the weightroom and threw me back inside.
They were all wearing masks and ordinary gym clothes. I asked what they wanted
and they said they wanted me, "Ab Man." I asked to see what their
abs looked like. They looked at each other for a moment and then the three
most muscular guys took off their shirts and flexed their pecs and abs. They
said all they wanted to do was see how tough my abs were. I told them I had
just done 1000 reps. Two guys grabbed my arms and the third put me into a
full nelson. A fourth guy had put on some gloves used for punching bags and
stretched out his arm placing his fist into my abs. Another guy pulled my
gym trunks down low on my hips so that all four rows of abs were clearly visible.
After 11 years of serious ab work my midsection has deep cuts even when they
are fully relaxed or when fully stretched. He said, "We just want to
help you work out your abs some more."
They said that they wanted to see how tough my midsection really and was nothing
else. I flexed my abs and he gave me a hard punch in my lower two rows of
abs. This didn't phase me and so he punched again. Then again and again and
again. For the next 30 minutes or so they took turns working over every bit
of my abs.
After this they tired of holding me while they punched away. They gave themselves
and me a brief rest. My abs looked slightly red through my tan. I flexed them
and said "Not bad, guys but I've got to go now" They then made me
lay down on a weight bench with my butt at the very end of the bench. One
guy sat on my knees and another guy held my hands behind my head as though
I were going to do a situp. The other guys stood on either side of my waist
and said that they were going to pound away at my abs with the sides of their
fists and so I immediately flexed my abs. One guy again pulled my trunks down
low and then they took turns really pounding me as hard as they could. Sometimes
they used their hands and one guy started coming down into my abs with the
back of his arm and elbow like in professional wrestling. I got to admit that
those did give hard blows. They let me rest a couple of times throughout this
ordeal but no more than a few minutes at a time.
They tired of this after 20 minutes and then brought me over to the pullup
bar. They told me to put on my wrist straps and to jump up on the bar and
hold on. One guy got up on a weight bench and tied the straps to the pullup
bar and two guys held my legs. The guy with the gloves on again placed his
fist into my abs and I immediately contracted them. Again they pulled my trunks
down low and took turns slugging away my midsection. They took turns pounded
away for another 20 minutes.
It was well after midnight when someone tried to get into the weightroom to
see what was up since I hadn't returned the key to the front desk. The five
guys said "Let's get out of here now" and opened the door and pushed
past the guy at the door and took off. The guy at the door was Jon and he
quickly untied my wrists and asked if I was alright. I told Jon that I was
alright and some friends were just helping me work my abs.
I decided not to follow through on this with the Greek council. My roommate
was hopping mad.
I saw a lot of frat boys giving me this "knowing look" when I walked
by their houses the next day on the way to class. After classes I took off
my shirt and walked up to three guys who were sitting on the front porch of
one of the frat houses. My abs were fairly sore but my tan masked what redness
still remained. From the looks of me my abs were unharmed--they still had
their deep definition. They had their shirts off and I wanted to see if I
could recognized the guys who beat me. I have a good memory for bodies and
I recognized the abs and pecs of two of the guys. I asked them if their frat
was going to make a float for the homecoming parade next month. They looked
at my abs for a few seconds and then said they thought their house would have
something ready. I flexed my abs as I turned and said, "Good. Well, I
need to be going, some of us are going to lift weights and work our abs now."
This summer I was doing hanging leglifts on the soccer field off of the goal.
One of the guys whom I know beat me came over and watched for a while and
then asked how my abs were doing. I told him that my abs were never tougher.
He told me that he was one of the guys who worked over my abs first semester.
I told him that I knew. He asked how I knew and I told him to take off his
t-shirt. He did and I pointed to the distinctive asymmetry of his abs. He's
got fairly muscular abs but they don't line up evenly. Mine are perfectly
symmetric. I said I remember your abs from the night you helped beat me. That
was why I asked them to take off their shirts. He told me the other two didn't
take off their shirts because they had tatoos. He apologized and said that
the guys who worked my abs over said they really respected me and that it
wouldn't happen again. I told him that if he wanted to punch my abs to ask
next time.
I'd never been slugged in my abs for well over an hour before, but my abs
are strong enough to take it. After doing 1000 reps these guys forced me to
keep my abs flexed for about an hour more. That was definitely a new experience
for me. Eleven years of hard ab training has left my abs pretty much impervious
to punches if I'm even half way prepared for the punch.
That's my story so far as of November 1997.