Change Common Exercises to Get Better Ab Exercise and Stop Back Pain
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Healthline
Holding a straight pushup position is sometimes called "the plank." Holding a plank is often done in a way that reduces the exercise benefit, trains unhealthy habits, and increases compression on your spine.
Look at the photo at left. The first boy on the left is letting his lower back (and neck) sink and bow under his weight. So is the third and fourth from the left. This sagging is not healthy and is not a normal curve. The bad overarching makes the plank easier to do. That means you get far less exercise. More seriously, allowing your weight to “hammock” shifts your body weight off your muscles and onto your lower back, causing compressive force and bad positioning habits.
The second boy from the front (and left) is holding straight.
A major, often overlooked purpose of the plank is to train your muscles how to hold your back in straighter healthier position under the weight of your own body. If you can’t hold up your own body weight in a plank for a few moments without sagging, it is no wonder your spine sags painfully during the day. No matter how many planks or pushups you do, if you let your spine sag into an arch, you are missing the best benefit of the exercise - to train positioning habits for real life once you get back off the floor.
Holding a plank has so many benefits that even if you are not athletic this exercise is one to choose. To do it in a healthy way that is useful to your real life, move your spine posture to be straighter(second from left in the photo). To reduce an overly large arch while holding the plank, tuck your hip under you as if you were starting an abdominal crunch or thrusting movement. The muscles you use to reduce the inward curve (arch) are your abdominal muscles. As soon as you reduce the arch to straighten your spine, you will feel your abdominal muscles working strongly.
Use the plank as a functional exercise. That means to use it to train how to use (not tighten) your abdominal muscles during daily activity. Once you understand the hip tuck to reduce an overly large arch, use it during the day when standing to exercise your abs the way they are meant to be used – for real life to keep you standing in healthy ways.
- Understand more - What Abdominal Muscles Don't Do - The Missing Link and Fixing the Commonest Source of "Mystery" Lower Back Pain
- See photos of changing overarched lower spine (hyperlordosis) to neutral - Using Abdominal Muscles is Not Tightening or Pressing Navel to Spine
- Watch a short movie of changing plank overarched lower spine (hyperlordosis) to neutral - Fast Fitness - Strengthen by Changing Your Plank
- I will teach a workshop this coming Saturday on The Ab Revolution™, the method of holding healthy spine position for life, and having fun while exercising. See the class schedule on my web site.
- If you miss the workshop, you can get the Ab Revolution™ training manual. Make sure to get the current edition, presently Third expanded edition.
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Read and contribute your own success stories of these methods. Before asking questions, see if your answers are already here - click labels under posts, links in posts, archives at right, and the Fitness Fixer Index. For answers to personal medical questions - Replies to Medical Questions.
Subscribe to The Fitness Fixer, free. Click "updates via e-mail" (under trumpet) upper right.
See Dr. Bookspan's Books. Limited Class space for personal evaluation. Top students may apply to certify through DrBookspan.com/Academy.
Read and contribute your own success stories of these methods. Before asking questions, see if your answers are already here - click labels under posts, links in posts, archives at right, and the Fitness Fixer Index. For answers to personal medical questions - Replies to Medical Questions.
Subscribe to The Fitness Fixer, free. Click "updates via e-mail" (under trumpet) upper right.
See Dr. Bookspan's Books. Limited Class space for personal evaluation. Top students may apply to certify through DrBookspan.com/Academy.
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Photo from the book The Ab Revolution™ by Dr. Bookspan
Labels: abdominal muscles, facet joints, fix pain, lordosis, lower back, neutral spine, posture, strength, upper back, wrist
9 Comments:
At Sunday, January 14, 2007 10:42:00 AM,
Anonymous said…
Hi, I see that your saying about the truth being needed to be rammed down throats is certainly true, otherwise you would have gotten much more feedback on your excellent ideas!
I discovered I can't even DO the plank, the way you describe, which means i've got a lot of work to do on my posture!
Thanks for showing the way!
At Wednesday, January 17, 2007 7:11:00 AM,
Healthline said…
Hello, good work that you not only read the post, and tried the exercise, but found that quote on my web site:
"Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats."
- Howard Aiken
Everyday - try that plank with the hip tuck. As soon as you change from sagging your lower back to tucking the hip you will feel a big ab exercise - far better than any crunches. It is the same hip tuck that you need during standing up to keep your spine from squashing under your upper body weight. Use it when you stand up, carry things, reach up, and when you do the plank. Don't tighten your abs or behind muscles, just move your hip (tuck) to straighten your spine away from overarching. It is a great deal of abdominal muscle exercise.
Thanks for trying this and make sure to write in how it progresses. Send photos if you like and I can post them.
At Friday, April 13, 2007 11:33:00 AM,
Anonymous said…
Hello - I have just been diagnosed with medial and lateral tears to the meniscus in right knee. I have a history of back problems (none now), plantar fasciitis, Achilles pain, and one right ankle sprain. I am female, just turned 60, overweight. The knee pain is causing prblems walking & thus exercise. I want & need to lose weight to help the knees (and the rest of me!) I think my problems stem from much of what you write about. I have several of your books & have just started reading them. Any advice about this current knee problem? I can't quite grasp the concept of "straightening the knee" without locking it. Thank you.
At Sunday, April 15, 2007 2:50:00 PM,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM said…
Reply to anonymous, oh, that's suffering. Don't worry. We care and want to help you do more and get your life back.
"Locking" the knee is a colloquial term for pressing a joint against the end of its range (usually by straightening) so that the joint ends grind against each other. You can feel this readily by straightening your elbow. If you push the straightening too hard it will hurt. If you stop pushing it too straight the pressure goes away. I hope this makes sense about how to tell if you are pushing your knee straight and resting all weight there instead of feeling some weight held up on your leg muscles.
The photo in the above post that you commented to may help - the boys in the photo are creating a similar problem in their lower spine. I realize the concept looks opposite, since the problem here is not locking straight, but they are still letting body weight sag to the end of the range (overly arched) until the lower spine joints bang together - instead of holding weight off the spine and on their core muscles.
In the knee, a person may let weight push back against a straight knee to make standing and moving feel easier. It "works" to make it easier, but can hurt the knee joint, because locking the joint moves body weight more to the joint than the leg muscles. You also get less exercise.
To prevent "locking" check for pushing against a straight knee joint during common activities - when standing, descending stairs or curbs with the knee straight (instead, it is better to bend the knee when landing) when doing kicks, during the "push off" when walking, jogging, and other times.
The books have the full info on all the things you mentioned. Some posts that outline points for knees:
Healthy Knees
You Can Fix Your Own Knees
Making Thai Massage Healthier Part II - Avoid Snapping Elbows or Knees Backward
Free Exercise and Free Back and Knee Pain Prevention - Healthy Bending
A good comment on the post Improve Stretch and Strength With Better Kicking talks about preventing hyperextension (locking during movement) that hurts knee cartilage.
Quick points for rehabbing ankle sprains are in the posts:
How To Treat Ankle Sprains and Prevent Them
and
No More Ankle Sprains Part II.
For why you have the meniscus tears, check two things (of several): Do you put your foot down, then change body direction during walking, stairs, exercise? That twists the knee in a way that eventually strains menisci to the tearing range. Instead, pivot lightly on the foot, so that your foot and knee face the same direction (or lift the foot when changing direction). Next, when bending for things (half or full squat) can you keep heels down? Shifting knees forward with heels up can shift weight to the knee instead of the leg muscles.
There is more. Start with these and let us know. The idea is not to bog down on "rules" but to do fun happy activities in healthy ways. Breathe, feel encouraged, smile, get outside and have some fun.
At Tuesday, June 12, 2007 5:15:00 PM,
Amy said…
I am so glad I saw your site! I have been doing pushups every day, and I'm sure my back is sagging. Now I'll work on doing them correctly. I also have been doing crunches, so now I will switch to the abdominal exercises you recommend.
Actually, my goal is to reduce post-pregnant look. My baby is now a 2 1/2 year old toddler--he was the third of three C-sections, and I don't know if there is a way to get my flat tummy back. I'm not overweight, but my lower abdominal area really sticks out. Would your ab exercises help, or is there no hope?
At Sunday, June 24, 2007 5:37:00 PM,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM said…
Amy, ow, my goodness - three cesareans. You have suffered enough. There is much hope. Of course. Stick with us here.
No exercise takes fat off one part. As much as everyone knows and says that, somehow millions of dollars of false products are sold on that hope (hype). What my Ab Revolution does is retrain your standing and moving so that you do not damage your spine and cause mystery back pain by standing and moving with your spine tilted too much - abdomen pushed out in front and the backside out in back (hyper-lordosis). Crunches will not fix that, and also add to strain on the back and neck. Crunches and other forward bending are a poor ab exercise for health.
My Ab Revolution is called that because it changes thinking about abs - to strengthen abs while preventing the bad and unhealthy look of standing with the lower spine tilted and the belly out. The idea of all my work is to not "do exercises" but use the exercises to retrain your body movements to make them healthy ones when you go about all daily life.
Use all my exercises, not just the ab exercises, to burn extra fat that adds to the bump in front. You don't have to be overweight to have extra fat. Avoid the common pitfall of unhealthful nutritional practices and popular forward bending exercises to get a specific cosmetic look but in an unhealthful way that can leave internal fat and poor health and lack of function for daily life.
Get outside with the kids and have fun playing and being healthy. Send in your photos. I am planning some posts. Why not be part of inspiring others for health with their kids?
At Wednesday, September 19, 2007 1:18:00 AM,
Anonymous said…
Thanks for your website - just by using better posture I immediately increased my endurance and fun, for example being able to spend a full day walking in Balboa Park Zoo without exhaustion or pain.
My question is about plank pose. I have great difficulty holding this (or any other pose that puts weight on my wrist) because my wrist hurts. Any suggestions? No doubt this is due to many years in the computer business. I do lots of hand stretching and it helps and I am losing weight now that I know how to be more active. Thanks.
At Monday, October 22, 2007 3:02:00 PM,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM said…
Anonymous, Thank you for such good work reading and using the information. Keep us posted.
For wrist positioning to do great planks try the suggestions that follow for other activities in the post Stronger Pain-Free Wrists When Biking.
At Thursday, June 25, 2009 8:54:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
Thank you soooo much for your website and books. I now am pain free in the upper back and legs and feet and feel great. However, I need some suggestions of how to troubleshoot my plank. I can hold the plank, but whenever I do the plank I get excruciating pain and tightness between my shoulder blades that sometimes radiates up into my neck. I have tried working up 5 seconds at a time and still have the same problem. According to my spotter, my form is good, pevic tipped under etc. What am I missing? What do I need to change? Thanks again for everything you do.
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