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Phenomenal Abdominals

Markus Kaulius

Markus started in the supplement industry in 1999, selling sports nutrition to his friends. His focus on the health and fitness lifestyle lead to immediate success and in 2005, he started Magnum Nutraceuticals. He still trains 7 times per week and has appeared on countless magazine covers around the world.

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Putting ABS back in ABSOLUTELY SHREDDED

Prior to the 2015 Olympia, I’d never met Markus Kaulius. I knew who he was, obviously, because he owns and operates one of the most successful supplement companies in North America, and we have 177 mutual friends on Facebook. The other thing I knew from social media was that Markus had a set of the most incredible abs I’ve ever seen not on a competitive athlete. “He’s never been on stage?” I asked my friends. “He eats clean all the time, trains abs all the time, and does cardio all the time … for fun?” I had to meet this man. This myth. Did he really have a six-pack 365 days a year, or was he just one of those guys that scheduled a bunch of photoshoots in one weekend, and then cleverly distributed them on social media throughout the year?Well, colour me green with envy. Markus showed up to our shoot in Vegas looking exactly the way Instagram told me he’d look: lean and smiley. Even without the benefit of Valencia or X-Pro II in real life, Markus’ abs were ripped, dry, and hard! Pictures don’t do him justice, so I figured I’d ask the man himself exactly how he trains his abs and get literally 1,000 words about abs training. In the following interview, he leaves no stone unturned. Caveat emptor: There are no secrets to getting shredded, unfortunately (there might be a magic pill, though—Magnum’s HEAT). The key is a solid, consistent combination of the right supplements, the right diet, the right amount of cardio, and, of course, blasting your core as hard as you do anything else in the gym. Markus is a workhorse in business and in the gym. I hope after reading this interview, you become inspired and determined to train abs like Markus.

MUSCLE INSIDER: What exercises do you typically do in your ab routine?

MARKUS KAULIUS: I change it up every single time. There are approximately 10 exercises that I rotate through, and I’ll do 4 or 5 in each abs routine. I do cable torso rotations, rope cable crunches, hanging knee raises, V-outs, jackknife sit-ups, rollouts with an abs wheel, pikes (especially using a suspension, like an AK product), corkscrews (my favourite oblique exercise), side planks, and planks (1.5 to 2 minutes per side). The core is such a unique muscle group that even a 1 percent variation changes how you’re hitting your abs and what part of your abs are getting worked out. I love little change-ups, and I love when someone is standing over me and says, “Hey, try this!”

MI: How often do you vary your abs routine?

MARKUS: Every time I work out, I vary my routine. Of the 10 exercises I listed, I will pick 4 or 5 each workout. So it changes all the time because I mix and match the exercises and the order of exercises. I’m really a guy who likes to work out by feel. So some days I’m flexing so crazy that 10 to 12 reps kills me. Other days I feel like doing 15 reps, or maybe my Limitless kicked in harder than normal and I’m at 25 reps to really kill myself. It’s really about feel. I look for the deep pain where I’m uncomfortable doing 1 or 2 more, and I doubt I’d get any more with perfect form.

MI: When do you train abs relative to your workout schedule and how long does an ab-training session last?

MARKUS: I treat abs like a body part. Some people throw abs in at the end, but abs are a key part of my physique, so they get worked like their own body part. I work them 2 or 3 times a week, and at least twice a week, I’ll start my whole workout with abs then go on to another body part. A good 15 to 20 minutes each session.

MI: Why are abs so important to you?

MARKUS: I realized long ago that I’ll never have the biggest chest or shoulders or arms, so when I noticed my abs really starting to come in nicely, I thought, “Okay, this is a body part that can stand out for me.” I decided, heck, if that’s going to be my thing, let’s really make it my thing! It just became a huge focus. Not only that, I grew up with really bad back problems. Over the course of one year when I was in grade nine, I shot up close to nine inches. I was on codeine almost the whole year because my back pain was just so brutal. You can’t stretch out nine inches without your back having problems. I love training abs because I haven’t had back pain since I started getting my abs stronger, and I never want to have bad back problems again.

MI: You’ve said before that “abs are made in the kitchen, not in the gym.” Why do you still train abs so hard even though your nutrition is on point?

MARKUS: That’s an exceptional question, actually. It’s not just about looks or aesthetics for me. I notice that when I back off on abs for even two weeks, I start to feel lower back tightness, and pain in my lower back. Then when I go back to training abs harder, boom, the pain and achiness goes away. So it’s just become something I have to do now. It’s almost a pre-hab ritual for me at this point.

MI: Do you believe that going heavier when training abs will give you a “blocky” look?

MARKUS: I don’t personally believe that, no. I don’t think that if you weight heavier in the 8- to 10-rep range, you would get thicker. I think your diet has a lot to do with it, too. And some people genetically may be predisposed to having thicker muscles to give them that look, but I don’t think heavy weights will.

Abs Exercises

1. Cable torso rotations
Why do you do it?
“It’s a nice strengthening twist. It’s one of the rare oblique exercises that you can actually put some weight on. I like how it forces your whole upper body to stay strong and flex hard the entire time while working the core. I love how strong I feel when I do these using the cable and handles a little bit lower than chest height.”

How do you do it?
“Grab the weight, flex your whole upper body as hard as you can, then just rotate with your obliques. So pull your obliques through moving your arms across your body, but everything else stays tight, flexing hard, and bracing the core. It’s a pendulum motion, in a way.

I do variations of this once in a while (like having the cable higher or lower)—those ones I find a little more risky because there are more variables brought in, and it’s easier for a beginner to get injured. Sometimes I’ll even do these kneeling and pull from over top.”

2. Rope cable crunches
Why do you do it?
“I love these because you can go super heavy on them and build a thicker abs base. But I also love the feeling of releasing everything at the top of the movement, and then crunching down hard. I just like feeling a nice heavy, heavy abs exercise.”

How do you do it?
“Set up on your knees and grab the rope handles, which are at the top of the cable stack. Engage the core, flex the abs hard, and keep them flexed the whole time. Crunch hard and breathe out, so that by the bottom there is zero wind left in the belly. At the bottom of the movement, start to release and go back up slowly, so that each ab muscle lets go one at a time, until you’re at the top at a full stretch. Then take a breath in before you go back down again. I like the version where you round your back and curl your elbows in towards your stomach at the bottom, and the version where you just come straight down. They both work your core differently.”

3. Hanging knee-ups/Hanging twisting knee-ups
Why do you do it?
“I love the hanging because it’s a nice stretch for the abs, and as I contract and breathe out so there’s no wind left in me, I feel my abs get so hard and tight. As the legs drop, there’s another big stretch through the core. I also find this is one of my favourite lower abs exercises. It hits the bottom part of the abs better than most other exercises.”

How do you do it?
“Hang from a bar with your legs straight and your arms directly above your head. Then make sure everything is nice and engaged, and flex your abs hard as you try to bring your knees all the way to your chest. Blow the air out as your knees come up, crunch hard, then let your legs go down again in a controlled manner. Sometimes I do these with legs straight instead of knees bent. When I raise them, I try to get my legs a little above parallel. If parallel is 90, I bring them to about 80 degrees.”4. V-outs on bench
Why do you do it?

“This is a good one for the lower abs as well—contracting those lower abs tight and hitting them in a unique way that I don’t feel I’m getting when I’m hanging.”

How do you do it?
“The name pretty much describes it; when I kick my legs out, I’m in a V-shape. Contract your lower abs by blowing out hard, then bring your knees into your chest. Then, as your let your legs go out again, you’re still keeping your abs tight and flexed. Bring them back in, and blow out again. When your knees come in, it should feel like a perfect squeeze.

You can do them on a bench or the floor, but the bench is more comfortable for me personally. A great way to make these harder would be to keep a light-ish dumbbell in between your feet. That’s great if you’re feeling ambitious!”

5. Jackknife sit-ups
Why do you do it?

“That one is just absolutely devastating. It’s full core and body contraction. It exhausts the whole body. To slowly lower your body works you so hard! I’ve never seen someone do 10 of those fully without being just wiped. The more you get up on your shoulders and keep a stiff plank all the way down, the more exhausting it is.”

How do you do it?
“Lie down on a bench with your hands grabbing the bench behind you. Then flex your legs to keep them nice and stiff. Use your core and bring your legs and lower back up so that you’re now vertical on the bench. Put as much weight as you can on to your shoulders. Slowly release down, keeping your abs perfectly tight, and use your core to release the rest of your body. The slower you do it, the harder and better it is. Release the abs one by one, similar to how I described the rope crunches.”

Markus’s Abs Routine

  • Hanging leg lifts: 25–40 reps, 3–4 sets
  • Jackknife: 12–15 reps, 3–4 reps
  • Weighted cable crunches: 20–30 reps, 3–4 sets
  • V-ups: 15–20 reps, 3–4 sets
  • Torso rotation: 10–12 reps, 3–4 sets

The Kaulius Cardio Protocol
I love doing empty-stomach cardio, fasted in the morning. It’s a great way for me to get started, get my body started. I grab Hi-5 and Opus to protect my muscles whenever I do a lot of cardio. I’m a big fan of incline walking at 3.4 miles per hour on a 15 percent incline. When it’s shred season, I do 60 minutes 5 times a week, and for the rest of the week, it’s 30 minutes 4 or 5 days a week. I love it. I love the way it makes me feel. It helps my brain stay sharp all day, and I feel much more energetic and positive when I do it.

Supplementing for Abs
Before Fasted Cardio: 3 HEAT pills (thermogenic), 2 Rocket Science (concentrated pre-workout), 4 DNA (BCAAs + glycine/arginine + L-leucine alpha KIC)

During Cardio: 1 scoop Limitless (flavoured pre-workout), 2 scoops Hi-5 (amino acids), 2 Opus (stimulant-free pre/intra workout), 2 G (glutamine)

Breakfast: (in between cardio and training): 2 scoops Quattro (protein powder) with oatmeal and blueberries

Before Training: 3 HEAT, 1 scoop Limitless, 8 DNA, 5 Big C (creatine blend), 4 Volume (blood volumizer), 3 Thrust (male amplifier)

During Training: 2 scoops Hi-5, 2 Opus, 2 G

To see more of Markus' tips on how to get a SHREDDED 6-pack, check out his column. For more information on Magnum Supplements, click here.