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This has probably been brought up before at some distant point in the past but here it is. Why do superheroes have abs? Superheroes need to overpower, outmuscle, outsmart and curbstomp large numbers of people. Abs aren't useful at all in any practical application and the enourmous amount of time it takes to grow them is time that can be taken to double both your arm and leg strength. I know how hard it is to grow abs and they donate very little. I've actually doubled by bench limit from 180 to 290 in the amount of time a trainer said it would take to grow some abs .There's no known limit to how strong you can get if you do it through training and the proper diet so why would you donate time to abs? I'm kinda just looking for a conversation and we all know the answer is marketing, but let's get some comments.

Abs are sexy. That is where all things begin and end.

You don't have to spend a lot of time working on abs if you have a low enough body-fat percentage.

The Danger Room is probably sufficient cardio to maintain that sort of thing.

I remember a scene from Watchmen where Ozymandias catches a bullet in his hand by positioning and applying force to the proper areas with almost literally lightining quickness. That's probably possible & herein lies what batman style superheroes need. Lightning reflexes, a fearsome reputation, & the smarts to never end up in that situation. I look at it this way. If you go into the gym overweight but still fit you'll develop massive strength in the same amount of time it would take to get abs.

Okay, you've lost me.

Get ripped, get girls. Like me.

 Monster Rain wrote:
Okay, you've lost me.

You've never read or heard of Watchmen? Naked omnipotent blue man ring a bell? I started the thread when I saw the trailer for Kickas* 2 and the abs on the main hero who still can't hold his own in a fight. I just thought it would be an interesting topic.

You already have abs ... they just are not showing as you have a fat percentage that is too high to show them. Can you work out your midsection to help reduce the fat cells in that area? Yes you can. Will the same amount of work show better in other areas? Yes it will.
The thing about working out is that you have to be serious about it and keep to a good regiment. When I joined the Air Force I was 121 pounds .... at 6 foot tall I was just able to enter into service ... if I weighed 2 pounds less I would not have been able to join. I got into working out while I was on active duty and bulked up to 180 pounds ... I was RIPPED up and it only took 2 years of hard work to get there. I had 4 of my six pack showing and I did very little abdominal work. Proper diet and hitting the gym was all I needed.

Superheroes have abs because comics are about idealised characters. They are smarter, stronger, better looking and braver than normal people, live vastly more interesting lives and in most cases have loads of money to spend on cool toys as well.

Drawing that fantasy means showing people in their idealised form - ie showing them with the kinds of muscle and shape that represents the idealised human form.


The idea that anyone writing these comics sat down and tried to plot out what the most effective exercise regime might be, and whether that should include abs or not is honestly just kind of silly. That's not how comics work.

Abdominal muscles are actually quite important for a wide range of activities. Not only are they supporting muscles, they provide protection for organs, as well as aiding in the rotation of the body when throwing elbows, punches, and kicks. This rotation is actually where most of the power comes from. Without strong abdominal muscles you'd be severely lacking in the strength department, despite strong arms or legs. I'd be quite skeptical of someone's true power if they did not have strong abs. So "donating" time to develop them is very important.

 Barksdale wrote:
Abdominal muscles are actually quite important for a wide range of activities. Not only are they supporting muscles, they provide protection for organs, as well as aiding in the rotation of the body when throwing elbows, punches, and kicks. This rotation is actually where most of the power comes from. Without strong abdominal muscles you'd be severely lacking in the strength department, despite strong arms or legs. I'd be quite skeptical of someone's true power if they did not have strong abs. So "donating" time to develop them is very important.

Whenever you throw a punch or a kick you twist and move your entire body in the direction of the punch and follow through. strong abs would help but I can tell ya they're not necessary to getting the maximum twist and follow through you can achieve. "severly lacking" didn't say I didn't have a well developed chest. And with high pain tolerance abs are useless in minimizing damage. Compared to strong legs or arms they donate very little.
121 pounds at 6 foot? Did you have an interesting relationship with gravity?

I imagine superheroes do a lot of Pilates.

Best thread ever. Would read again. Keep'em comin' OP. Are you a poppaG sockpuppet account?

ThePrimordial wrote:
Whenever you throw a punch or a kick you twist and move your entire body in the direction of the punch and follow through. strong abs would help but I can tell ya they're not necessary to getting the maximum twist and follow through you can achieve. "severly lacking" didn't say I didn't have a well developed chest. And with high pain tolerance abs are useless in minimizing damage. Compared to strong legs or arms they donate very little.
121 pounds at 6 foot? Did you have an interesting relationship with gravity?

Believe what you want about their contribution mate. I wouldn't believe someone was really that strong without a strong core. Anyway, I'd imagine superheros would have strong and well developed, well, everything. They are superheros after all.

 whitedragon wrote:
Best thread ever. Would read again. Keep'em comin' OP. Are you a poppaG sockpuppet account?

The thread would come to an argument over the usefulness of abs because there's little to say. Its not rocket science.

ThePrimordial wrote:
The thread would come to an argument over the usefulness of abs because there's little to say. Its not rocket science.

Not just the usefulness of abs, but they're usefulness to superheroes.

Which is like trying to discuss if Tony Stark is really operating his research company in the most efficient manner, or if Batman might be better off reforming Gotham through good works programs. They're questions that make no sense given what comics are.

A strong core is pretty important for running too. Of course, having a strong core and having six pack abs isn't necessarily the same thing, but it can be.

ThePrimordial wrote:I remember a scene from Watchmen where Ozymandias catches a bullet in his hand by positioning and applying force to the proper areas with almost literally lightining quickness. That's probably possible & herein lies what batman style superheroes need. Lightning reflexes, a fearsome reputation, & the smarts to never end up in that situation. I look at it this way. If you go into the gym overweight but still fit you'll develop massive strength in the same amount of time it would take to get abs.

I'm quite certain that it is not possible.

For the same reason that female superheroes all have cup DDDDD and wear spandex/latex/lycra?

Why do Superheroes exist? Surely open carry weapons and extended capacity mags for all the AR-15's Americans own would stop any super villans?

Theres no known limit to the amount of genocidal aliens you can shoot. My weapons trainer told me this and I have doubled the amount of dead evil entities he said I would be able to destroy.

. And with high pain tolerance abs are useless in minimizing damage

Does not compute.

What is this... I don't even....

What?

Did you just say catching bullets is.. possible?

 Soladrin wrote:
What is this... I don't even....

What?

Did you just say catching bullets is.. possible?

I think it is supposed to work on the same premise of being able to catch an extremely fast moving baseball without a glove and still avoiding injury. Basically, your hand has to move at a slightly slower speed than the object moving, while cushioning it's velocity and slowing it down. It is doable with a baseball. I do not recommend trying a bullet. Only an idiot would make an attempt with a bullet. I can personally attest to the fact that it works with a baseball though.

I'm pretty sure a baseball doesn't reach 1/4th the speed of a bullet(depending on calibre etc.), it also isn't made of metal, nor is it you know.. a bullet, it's not made for damaging.. things.

Hence why they went on the same thought process...but I seriously wouldn't recommend trying it just cuz a comic character did it successfully. Lol

Through the miracles of science, we do know pretty much the limits the human body reach. Strong men for example are roughly as strong as a human can get without cheating (I e chemicals and robotics) watching the Olympics shows roughly how fast a human can run and watching a master martial arts instructor roughly shows the limits of the human reflexes.

No we can clearly see the limits, and no we certainly cannot catch a bullet, even cheating that isn't possible by a long shot. Also, high pain tolerance only limits how bad that bat to the gut hurts. It's does frack all to limit the damage caused by it, which surprisingly it limited by how strong your Core is. Do you think before posting or does it just vomit out of you?

 timetowaste85 wrote:

 Soladrin wrote:
What is this... I don't even....

What?

Did you just say catching bullets is.. possible?

<snip>It is doable with a baseball. I do not recommend trying a bullet. Only an idiot would make an attempt with a bullet. I can personally attest to the fact that it works with a baseball though.

Apples and oranges doesn't even remotely begin to describe the comparison you made.

 Barksdale wrote:

ThePrimordial wrote:
Whenever you throw a punch or a kick you twist and move your entire body in the direction of the punch and follow through. strong abs would help but I can tell ya they're not necessary to getting the maximum twist and follow through you can achieve. "severly lacking" didn't say I didn't have a well developed chest. And with high pain tolerance abs are useless in minimizing damage. Compared to strong legs or arms they donate very little.
121 pounds at 6 foot? Did you have an interesting relationship with gravity?

Believe what you want about their contribution mate. I wouldn't believe someone was really that strong without a strong core. Anyway, I'd imagine superheros would have strong and well developed, well, everything. They are superheros after all.

I won't get into how awesome I am like everyone else in this thread seems to need to, but it depends on your punching style, boxing draws a lot of power from the core on power shots where a less finessey mma style approach has you fire using your upper chest and back more so you don't broadcast and also delivers less power but you are less vulnerable since you are firing from a farther distance and are expecting to miss.
A lot of punching isn't following through it is snapping (which is much harder) which is harnessing the "reaction" of your punch hitting to "reload" your arm faster. if you were planning on following through and miss you are now off balance and a good opponent is going to lay you out in a heartbeat. With how superheroes fight all limbs are always at full extension so I imagine abs are pretty important, all we get are still frames but I'm thinking they just windmill their arms and legs and walk at eachother while talking.
Oh I'm also ripped get all the ladies and am the world high 5 champion... or so I say, this is the internet.

 Grundz wrote:
and am the world high 5 champion...

I have a trophy on my mantle that says you, sir, are a liar.

 redthirst wrote:

 Grundz wrote:
and am the world high 5 champion...

I have a trophy on my mantle that says you, sir, are a liar.

Ah we meet again Ricky Redhands Guballa, but that was LAST YEAR
I WILL DELIVER A HIGH 5 SO RIGHTEOUS IT WILL MELT THE FLESH FROM YOUR BONES !

 Grundz wrote:

 redthirst wrote:

 Grundz wrote:
and am the world high 5 champion...

I have a trophy on my mantle that says you, sir, are a liar.

Ah we meet again Ricky Redhands Guballa, but that was LAST YEAR
I WILL DELIVER A HIGH 5 SO RIGHTEOUS IT WILL MELT THE FLESH FROM YOUR BONES !

So you say, but you know your down low has always been too slow to keep up with the likes of me.

+EDIT+ And it's because your core isn't strong enough... you should really do some more ab exercises dude.