Waste Your Effort?Abs Will Do It!
September 4th 2007 10:53
Where is the most energy wasted in weight training? I think it is in abdominal training. Why? Because everyone in the gym makes the attempt to train abs. Everyone from the sad and overweight newby to the professional bodybuilder. There is practically no other muscle group that gets this kind of attention. The problem is that most abdominal training is misdirected and of limited result.
The abdominal muscles are there to bring the torso downward and the hips upward, where they come as close to meeting as is possible in the center of the body. Any movement that is going to build abs must include these movements. The fact is that the shoulders and neck can quite easily act in conjunction with the abs to move the torso toward the hips and the hip flexors can just as easily take the preponderance of the work in moving the hips toward the center of the body. This simply means that ab work is as easy to do wrong and unproductively as any group in the body.
Many accepted exercises for abs are faulty for the reason given above: they are systematic cheating movements. The old sit up is the granddaddy of a stupid exercise. It uses hips and neck pull to scissor the body. Do the abs get any work? Yes, but for the effort not enough. When I review other ab work I find much of it to be an adaptation of the sit up and therefore a lot of work with less benefit. The sit up on a decline is the best example. It is hip city. The on the back bicycle where the the legs take turns reaching for the shoulders is the same hip deal.
I am not saying that the above are a waste of time. I am saying that there are better,more direct movements for the abs. Lets start with the ab machine where we sit in the seat upright and simultaneously draw shoulders and hips to the body center against weight. This machine is the momma bear of all ab work,because it isolates the abs in the very movement for which they are designed. If you wear yourself out on this ab machine, I think you will see that the other movements for abs are a second thought at best.
Another note: people who teach you how to get a six pack are genetically predisposed to extremely low body fat and it is this condition that makes them look so good. It is not the movements they advocate or is it even the muscles in the abs that make them look so good. It is possible to look really hot without developed abs. It is diet that makes you narrow in the waist and not doing a million sit ups. If you properly train abs you will not necessarily get a smaller waist. Thicker muscles mean an increase in size and that means a wider waist. Diet is always unavoidable. Sorry to tell you the truth,but this is No Myth Fitness. Your servant, as always.
The abdominal muscles are there to bring the torso downward and the hips upward, where they come as close to meeting as is possible in the center of the body. Any movement that is going to build abs must include these movements. The fact is that the shoulders and neck can quite easily act in conjunction with the abs to move the torso toward the hips and the hip flexors can just as easily take the preponderance of the work in moving the hips toward the center of the body. This simply means that ab work is as easy to do wrong and unproductively as any group in the body.
Many accepted exercises for abs are faulty for the reason given above: they are systematic cheating movements. The old sit up is the granddaddy of a stupid exercise. It uses hips and neck pull to scissor the body. Do the abs get any work? Yes, but for the effort not enough. When I review other ab work I find much of it to be an adaptation of the sit up and therefore a lot of work with less benefit. The sit up on a decline is the best example. It is hip city. The on the back bicycle where the the legs take turns reaching for the shoulders is the same hip deal.
I am not saying that the above are a waste of time. I am saying that there are better,more direct movements for the abs. Lets start with the ab machine where we sit in the seat upright and simultaneously draw shoulders and hips to the body center against weight. This machine is the momma bear of all ab work,because it isolates the abs in the very movement for which they are designed. If you wear yourself out on this ab machine, I think you will see that the other movements for abs are a second thought at best.
Another note: people who teach you how to get a six pack are genetically predisposed to extremely low body fat and it is this condition that makes them look so good. It is not the movements they advocate or is it even the muscles in the abs that make them look so good. It is possible to look really hot without developed abs. It is diet that makes you narrow in the waist and not doing a million sit ups. If you properly train abs you will not necessarily get a smaller waist. Thicker muscles mean an increase in size and that means a wider waist. Diet is always unavoidable. Sorry to tell you the truth,but this is No Myth Fitness. Your servant, as always.
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