When it comes to training abs, most exercises are straight-up boring and some can be downright painful, especially if you’re not used to doing direct ab work. Thanks to T-Nation, here’s one big exercise that uses continuous tension and heavy resistance, and it puts a special emphasis on the serratus (those awesome-looking “finger” muscles where your chest, lats, and abs meet).

Begin the low cable serratus crunch similar to a basic crunch, lying on the floor, with your head near a low cable pulley. Grab a straight bar and keep your arms locked and perpendicular to the ground the entire time. Perform a regular crunch, but at the top of each rep, actively press your arms even further towards the ceiling. This is what activates the serratus in a big way.

The key point with the movement is to extend the arms straight up towards the ceiling, not forward in front of your chest. It’s also important to reach as high as possible at the peak of each repetition and hold that top position for a full one or two seconds.

Using 2-3×10-12 with this exercise will be plenty. Be sure to keep your arms locked straight and pointing up towards the ceiling throughout each rep, use a full range of motion, and squeeze the serratus at the top of each rep. You should feel a solid contraction in the upper abs, just below your chest. That’s your serratus, and they’re going to be sore later.

I found this great article by Rachel Cosgrove on the web….and I couldn’t agree more!

I was just thinking that one of the number one goals I have with my clients to change their bodies is to change the negative mental chatter that goes on upstairs all day long. Most women spend a lot of time each day talking negatively to themselves and have to consciously stop themselves and catch themselves. I had a realization that when women are using the wrong type of exercise to lose fat it not only doesn’t work physically but it doesn’t work mentally as well. Long runs or steady state cardio on a machine perpetuates this negative thinking that is so common for women.

Picture this – A woman running for an hour- what is going through her mind? Maybe she is thinking about her day ahead or her kids or a vacation that she has coming up but I bet you most women spend a lot of their time thinking- “Ugghh I can still feel my stomach jiggling when I am running…my thighs are rubbing together….gee, look at that runner- why don’t I look more like her? Uh Oh, someone is coming up behind me and probably noticing how wide my ass is…How much longer…If only I hadn’t pigged out last night I wouldn’t have to torture myself like this…”

Ladies? I know you won’t admit it but aren’t these the kind of thoughts you might have while running at a steady state with nothing to think about except the tortuous exercise of repetitive motion you are doing to try to drop a few pounds and fit in your jeans so of course most of the time you will think about your body and how did you let yourself get here in the first place and beating yourself up?

Now Picture this- A woman goes to the gym to lift weights. Her focus is on the exercise she is doing, keeping her stomach tight and focusing on lifting the weight and keeping her form. She has to be thinking about what she is doing at that moment and most of her thoughts will be “I need to squeeze my butt and keep my stomach tight. I have 5 more reps, I can do this….”

I am not saying she won’t have the occasional fleeting negative thought but it will be a lot less than if she has an hour of doing nothing but the same motion over and over again with nothing but her thoughts swimming around in her head.

So not only is strength training better for women for all of the physical reasons but it is better for them mentally too. And having less negative thoughts and more thoughts about keeping your stomach tight and being strong and finishing your set will lead to better results. The mind and body are connected. If you are spending an hour everyday doing steady state cardio thinking negative thoughts to yourself you could be undoing exactly what you are trying to do while you are trying to do it…Because your body is listening to what your mind is telling it.