Ab training and the sleep of reason.

Time and time again on this forum, I've seen the topic of ab training brought up. It's time to nail this sucker once and for all, and maybe say a few things that people are not going to want to hear. First, let's forget about the fitness hype and ask;

What do the abs actually do?
They bring the ribcage and stomach closer together. That's ALL. However, they also play an important stabilizing role in many different activities, such as weightlifting and martial arts. They are only 1 part, however, of a much more important concept; core strength. This includes other muscles you don't want to think about, such as the quadratus, the inner unit of the abs and the lower back.
Glad that's over with. Next question is;

How are the abs trained?
80% of the time, the answer is badly. The fitness industry peddles a few major myths about ab exercise;
1.Training your abs every day.
This is silly. Your abs are a muscle just like any other- they need time to rest and grow stronger.
2.Doing huge numbers of situps.
I've actually read in a fitness mag that 'sets of large numbers (30-50) will give you a strong, supportive midsection'.
Since when did high numbers focus on strength of any kind? Once we're looking at reps in excess of 20, we're already looking at something that will not improve your strength ONE LICK. As soon as you're talking about 50 and even hundreds, you're looking at something which will actually have a NEGATIVE effect on your strength training, in an ill-advise tradeoff with muscular endurance. In martial arts, we're looking at the high end of the intensity scale- you really, really need to be training strength.
3.The leg raise.
This sucks quite a lot. Understand that the abs do not move the legs. they are involved, but only isometrically. Localised fatigue is quite a poor way of measuring an exercise's impact.

Having looked at some of the things you shouldn't do, let's look at the stuff you should.

Crunches are OK as far as they go, but it's generally advised that you add in side or twist crunches(for the obliques) and reverse crunches (an exercise for the lower abdominal region that actually works, as opposed to the leg raise.) and supermans (an exercise for the lower back) as well. And that's fine as far as it goes, but;

The main way you will use your abs is as stabilizers in various movements. So why not train them that way? Personally, when I've been weight training, or even after an intense bodyweight session, I definetly get soreness in my core muscles- and not just the abs. We're talking about the entire abdominal wall, sides AND back. Do some chins, dips, and then a 20 rep squat, wake up in the morning and then tell me your core muscles are not burning like the unquenchable fires of hell. I've come to believe that training the abs on their own simply is not necessary. If you're after a six pack, what REALLY matters is that your bodyfat percentage is low enough. If you can squat your bodyweight and have a low enough percentage, you'll have a sixpack. It's as simple as that. Actually getting to this point is a different matter entirely.

A few links;
http://www.dolfzine.com/page212.htm
http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle.do?article=205abs
http://www.oztrack.com/trunk.htm

and we're done!

 

Very good article.

 

VERY good post KE!

Leg raises are PAINFULL!!

what do you think about v-sits....better than sit ups?

 

I think they're excellent and I find them harder than situps. Leg raises may be painful, but they;
1. Dont work the intended target
2. Put unnecessary pressure on the lower back

 

Yup..... i have the chiropracters receipt to prove it......

thats one reason i changed MA style. My local kickboxing instructer put to much emphasis on sit ups and stuff i did my back as i was monumentally un fit.

oh well It ment i started TKD so thats a + from a - right?

 

Well done KE .... (you got my seal of approval... not that you need it! )

But you have "nailed it" and brought up the various points that no matter how often you include in ab posts here, never seem to sink in.

Thank you for pointing them all in one very concise and to the point post on abdominal training.

 

Yup...kick chick ...KE's post was VERY useful.....a bit like you sed "quality and quantity"

 

Thanks

 

Great stuff KE.

 

I must disagree with the whole upper / lower abs thing, it is just a hype.

you cannot have an upper or lower abs, when one section of your six pack gets fired so does the rest.

The reason you have the intersections is just so that your spin can flex, so training upper/lower abs does nothing really, every part is getting trained.

also, people always say, but I feel it at the rib cage, not down below....... well if you train your bicep, you don't feel it at the points of origin, shoulder area. but you feel it at the point of insertion, at the elbow.

thus your abs point os insertion is at your rib cage, that is why you feel it there more.

I will whole heartedly agree with the showing off the six pack, it is down to body fat at that area.

ik

 

I heard that too, and it's an interesting point. Can anyone straighten me out on this one?

 

crunches + hanging sit ups (on chin bar)... thats all I do every other day for abs. Dragon flags are too hard for me

 

well you know you have "sections" of your abs?!

what to do is get yourself into a crunch position and feel (with your fingers) the muscles just below your rib cage, and at the same time feel the muscles below your belly button.

do a few crunches, you may feel that both areas have worked out as much as each other.

if you had upper and lower abs, you would have a bone between to make each section work independantly, you don't therefore there is no upper/lower abs.

remember the the sections help to bend your spine.

ik

 

crunches (where you have your legs off the floor, regular crunches are so much less efficient) and a good diet. along with whatever other lifting routine you have, this should be plenty to get that lurvly 6 pack.

 

Well you're sort of right..... the lower and upper abs aren’t two separate muscles that you can isolate such as the rectus abdominus which is one muscle. But the ab "region" (your core) is split into upper and lower abs and the upper and lower obliques.

It is possible to hit the target on each of these areas.
You can target the upper ab region by moving just the torso towards your pelvis and the lower ab region by moving your pelvis towards your torso (reverse crunches).

Bear in mind that not all the abdominal muscles are visible externally. The upper abs and at least one of the lower abdominal muscles (the pyramidalis) are visible. Most of the other muscles of the lower ab region, while not visible, are important to the development of the visible ab muscles.

 

Even so, it is pretty pointless to define upper and lower abs and work out accordingly, the abs and core will always fire. Various neural principles underlie this. It's like any other workout myth - you can't increase just the peak of your bicep by doing concentration curls just like you can't develop a huge lower rectus abdominus under a small upper section.

If you do the movements in that t-mag article, you will have solid abs without even thinking about upper and lower abs.

 

sorry kick chick,

I have been a fitness instructor for 9 years now

No your obliques are not split to upper and lower. show me where they go from upper to lower!

ik

 

Argh, the dreaded "I've been a fitness instructor for 9 years I am so 1337 with my rinsed-out Bruce Lee signature"

It doesn't matter that you are a fitness instructor. What matters is what you know. Louie Simmons, one of the best coaches in the world, has no "qualifications".

 

ok,
that's how you think, but you tell me where the obliques have an upper and lower section that can be worked independantly!!!!!

I bet you cannot, because if a part of a muscle fibre gets worked at one end, then the whole fibre get fired!!!!!

and who cares what my signature says?
Would you say anything about my signature if it was "Who's scruffy lookin'? NO
that is like saying "ha but your an idiot, so I win the argument."
And what the hell does 1337 mean???? your such a strange boy

would you go to a surgeon if he had no qualifications???????????

ik

 

Chill out. If you actually read my posts then you would realise that I don't believe in all this upper and lower abs poppycock. BTW - "get fired" isn't really the right term. If your 9 years as a fitness instructor means anything, you should at least use the right terminology. The only reason I mentioned the instructor thing is because it's really annoying when people come on this forum and shout about their certificates. Nobody cares mate, it doesn't mean you are more knowledgable than other people who don't have a certificate.

No, I wouldn't say anything about your signature if it said that, because it wouldn't be so cliched. Sorry for the joke, maybe you should grow a sense of humour.

No I wouldn't go to a surgeon with no qualifications, but I would go to Louie Simmons for strength coaching. Surgeons can't just do operations for years and gather knowledge through training himself and other people while making mistakes along the way, where as coaches can.

To end - this isn't an argument, it's a discussion on a discussion forum. If you take everything as an argument where you are trying to win, maybe you should join a debating society. If you are here to talk about health and fitness and maybe learn a few things, then you have come to the right place.