Hey CB! Back with another training question. So, one of the first posts I ever put on this site was about training my obliques. Eventually the thread deviated off into abdominal training and you guys told me that training my abs bodyweight was the best way to really bring them up! Well I did this for a few months and now that I'm cutting I get to see the fruits of my labour! I'm really digging the look at the moment, my serratus branches off into my abs making that really cool longitudinal line across my stomach area which I think looks amazing! I find though that my abs are still quite small and weak looking compared to all my other muscles; not so badly that it throws off the proportions of my physique but enough that people are actually inquiring if I am a physique competitor. Besides the fact that these people have probably never seen a bodybuilder or physique competitor in real life, I can't help but agree that my abs do need much more work. I'm a bit surprised at how slow they are growing to be honest, I've improved my numbers in all the big lifts by so much (squats improved almost 100 lbs and deadlift 35 lbs added to my max) without any belts or assistance.

What I've been doing is 4 sets of leg raises for 20 reps on a bench. I do this for 4 out of the 5 days I go to the gym. I take 1 second to bring my legs up and 1 second to go down. Even though the contraction feels great I can't help but wonder if I did weighted dips if it would work better? I know I've only done this for a short period of time and it was nearing the end of my bulk, and hitting my abs with higher volume certainly helped but it seems like it got them 'shredded' and not thick, you know what I mean? The biggest uncertainty is I'm not sure if I should just keep improving my big lifts and my abs will eventually catch up (this is what I assume you guys would recommend me to do) or if I should try out weighted abdominal movements? I've heard of a few people who say they got their thick abs off years of doing weighted crunches and improving their lift numbers. My goal is to have abs so thick that if somebody decides to punch me in the stomach, they'd break their hand! Hahaha! Just kidding but I do long for very thick abdominals. Has anyone had success with weighted ab movements for thickness? Or do you all attribute your brick wall abs to bodyweight movements? Please let me know!

Thanks!

-Primal