Unexpected Ab Workout From Ethan

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.