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AbdominalsABDOMINAL AREA — MIDSECTION — TORSO Taken from Dave Draper's book, Brother Iron, Sister Steel Not the most popular region of the body to exercise, often because it’s one of the first areas to store excess bodyfat and generally reminds us that we’re out of shape, in poor physical condition, negligent and vulnerable and ordinary. Attention on a midsection that’s becoming more substantial and less muscled day-by-day can be depressing and overwhelming. We eat wrong, eat too much and don’t exercise: a formula for devastation that must be undone. A weak, unmuscled torso presents further problems when we consider the integral part muscle plays in balance, protection and effective functioning in work and play. Obesity and back problems have become mankind’s recurring nightmare. (Throw in smoking and it becomes pathetic, the meanness we suffer at our own hands.) The fix is simple; let’s get to work. Crunches, leg raises and rope tucks are my favorites, and, in varying combinations (when coupled with attention on diet) are the most popular and productive in achieving a flat stomach and strong torso. Next up: Larry Scott's Ring of Fire abdominal training. And... The Woodchopper. Abdominal training thoughts from Bill Peel and Byron Chandler when asked about situps and crunches Wicked writes: Sit ups are highly over-rated as an abdominal movement. The first 18 degrees of movement (or so) is caused by the abdominals, then the frontal quads and hip flexors take over. I haven't experienced any back problems from them, but if you insist on doing sit ups, you should be diligent to stretch your lower back AND your hip flexors, lest you cause pelvic tilt. Leg raises and knee tucks share basically the same flaws...little direct abdominal stimulation after the initial first few degrees of movement...the rest is hip flexors and isometric/isotonic contraction. I seem to get enough stimulation from full body movements. However, I will still train the abs and obliques directly at times...usually two or three sets done as a warm up. If your main purpose in training abs is cosmetic... check out Gironda's frog crunch...that's really all it takes in conjunction with a diet that pares the fat away. If you're training abs for power, you need to choose movements that start from a stretched position and activate as much of the combined midsection as possible, such as hanging leg raises, roman chair sit ups, weighted side bends and similar movements. Byron continues: Crunches are the main isolation exercise for the rectus abdominus. As is usually the case, they don't achieve total isolation, but they do exercise the abdominals without working hip flexion. To limit your training to isolation exercises is questionable in general training, but it is a disaster in abdominal training. The reason people have problems with hip flexion exercises such as situps and leg raises is they are unable to stabilize the lower spine during movement. This is because the overall musculature of the core -- the hip flexors, the rectus abominus (six pack muscle), the transverse abdominus, etc. -- are not capable of working in concert to hold the spine in it's proper mechanical configuration during the movement. If your response to this is to do crunches, you just make the problem worse. (If a horse has a broken leg, you can shoot the horse, but that don't fix the leg.) If you want to be capable of healthy, active or athletic movement, you have to develop the whole core, and the ability for it to work as a unit. A better approach is to work through a progression of exercises that take you from your current abilit, to strong healthy core movement. This is not as simple as just plugging away at one exercise, but it isn't rocket surgery either. The abdominals work very hard throughout the situp or leg raise movement. Much of the work is isometric, which is exactly how the abdominals are made to work. Isometric work is still work. If you don't think so, go unrack a 500-pound barbell from the squat rack and rest with it on your back for a few minutes. Doing situps or leg raises to exhaustion is questionable because at high reps, as fatigue accumulates, form inevitably deteriorates, and the joints (in this case the low back) take a beating. Isolation exercises do have value in rehab and prehab, mainly to strengthen a disproportionately weak muscle. They may also have their place in advanced bodybuilding, to enhance the size of a key muscle, but of course this wouldn't apply to crunches. For cosmetics, low bodyfat is 99.9% of the battle. Maybe more. Some people may get enough core work from squats, deadlifts, presses, etc. to make situps and leg raises unnecessary, but most people will benefit from these at least a little. Now, then... wanna take it to the next level? Last edited by Laree. |