Cheesy Abs?
Tis the Season to Be Jolly, to eat rich-delicious foods, and to buy gadgets, dooddads, and gizmos that promise you “Abs of Steel” in 2010. In spite of the attention that many of these training devices and programs seem to get on late night infomercials – it is a relatively misunderstood body part. Most people flat out do not know how to train the abdominals!
To design an abdominal training workout we need to take a closer look at the underlying physiology of the abs. The rectus abdominus (to give it it’s proper name) can flex the trunk forward about 30 degrees but at this point any further movement is produced by the hip flexor muscles, not the abs. However, the rectus abdominus ALSO works through 15 degrees of spinal extension. In English? – Laying on a flat floor doing crunches is a woefully inadequate method of training the abs. Also – training on a flat surface may increase the curvature at the base of the spine, putting many of the weaker structures of the lower back at risk of injury – perhaps not a problem while lying down on the floor – but obviously not what you are looking for in the midst of a highly intense R.I.P.P.E.D. workout!
So what is the solution? Swiss Balls! Those inflatable giant cheesy poofs that you have probably seen lying around the gym or in the Physical Therapy office. Laying on these balls will allow a FULL range of motion during abdominal crunches – and brings the concept of instability into action. The more unstable the exercise – the more effective the transfer to a real world activity (like a fight!) will be. Think about it – Which is harder – free weights or machines ? And which is harder still – dumbbells or barbells ? Basically you can see that the more unstable the exercise, the harder it is to perform and generally the less weight will be used. Therefore the transfer of an unstable exercise to a real life sporting activity is very high.
Another myth of abdominal training is the fact that abs require daily training, thousands of reps and zero resistance. Is there something about the abdominals that the underlying muscle tissue does not respond to the laws of human physiology?
Most of you may be surprised to hear that the abdominals are in fact composed of primarily fast-twitch fibers – and therefore performing more than 15 reps per set (or around a 40 second time under tension) will probably reduce the effectiveness of the exercise. And ADD WEIGHT! Once your body weight is not enough resistance then you are going to have to use dumbbells or plates of some sort to increase the load, just like any other muscle group.
So having established the need to train the abdominals full range, with weight, low reps and as unstable as possible – what do we do now I hear you cry. Fear not, provided here by clicking on this link, Alex will share some valuable tips to strengthen, tighten, and properly perform some key exercises. Be sure to perform the exercises slowly and correctly and perform each routine twice a week. Enjoy!